Page 33 | Moving Forward With Minimalism

MinimalistMommi · 2013-08-18T16:23:41+00:00

This is a new thread following on from the previous 'm' thread on Good Housekeeping! All Minimalists or aspiring minimalists welcome!

educatingarti · 18/12/2013 14:44

Oooh - me too Delasi!

CadenceRoastingByAnOpenFire · 18/12/2013 17:44

I'll have some of that too delasi Sounds like you are really on track.

clearsommespace, I loved your vision of my spare room and it's quite an accurate description.

I found the missing document but gave myself a hideous migraine in the process. I've suffered from migraines for years and am always trying to pinpoint triggers but had come to no definite answers. Anyway, weirdly over the past couple of months I haven't had any. Wasn't sure why until the day in the spare room when I was struck down with one and I had a bit of an epiphany. It seems that stress is a trigger for me and having clutter and mess in the house leads to stress which leads to migraines. And where the house has been clutter free and easy to maintain I've been calmer and more relaxed. I guess I could be wrong and it could be a coincidence but I really think I'm onto something :)

I managed to clear 4 black bags of stuff for charity from the spare doom but I'm not going to step foot in there between now and new year because I have so much other stuff to do so I have shut the door and am pretending it's not there .

delasi · 18/12/2013 17:57

Well I have started taking effervescent vit. C...

Wow cadence, 4 black bags, it must be much lighter in there now. Don't blame you for shutting the door on it though! It's good to take it easy, I agree and think you could be on to something with the stress link. I don't get migraines but I do get bad localised chest pain (costochondritis, I think it's called). Doc said there isn't really anything that you can do to prevent or cure it, but I've also noticed a much higher incidence of pain due to stress over the last month which has been worsened with so much clutter.

educatingarti · 19/12/2013 09:51

How is everyone? I'm proper poorly as I've now got a cold on top of my ear infections and also I suspect a perforated eardrum. So I have earache central in one ear and snot seeping out of the other!

Sorry - as you were- good morning everyone.

delasi · 19/12/2013 10:15

arti You poor thing. Lots of ! Hope you get better soon.

DH and I are both full of cold - been trying to fend it off for a couple of days now but it's really hit, my head feels full of pressure (does that make sense?!), my sinuses hurt, I'm all gross and mucousy now, and my throat's all sore and I sound really gruff. DS seems to have bypassed all of this, but I did catch him sneeze 3 times in a row this morning so perhaps it's on its way...

I'm taking a day off from doing stuff in the house today. Well, I think I am, I might put laundry away and a quick hoover in the bedroom but we'll see about that in a bit. Looks quite lovely outside so might head for a walk with DS

CadenceRoastingByAnOpenFire · 19/12/2013 11:21

arti, you poor thing. Hope you feel better soon. You too delasi. There's seems to be lots of coughs and colds going round at the moment. That's interesting about your chest pain, it's unbelievable the things stress can do to our bodies.

AdoraBell · 20/12/2013 04:37

Cadance I used To have migraine, stress turned out To be my trigger and I haven't had one near on 6 years, and before that 15 years.

Hope both Arti and Delasi feel better soon.

Not much going on here, DD's first week off school, they have know both given up the clothes that no longer fit. DH says he's going To clear out his double wardrobe size cupboard this week, haven't seen any evidence of it so far

harrietspy · 20/12/2013 09:51

Hope everyone is feeling a tiny bit better. I broke up from work on wed pm after a crazy, brilliant semester so i can finally get to decking the halls. Hallway is finally clear of charity shop stuff. I stripped down our Christmas decs during the summer and put away a whole box that I suspected we didn't need. I haven't missed them at all and the house is looking lovely so we obviously don't need them.

The dc's dad has been buying off-list so there will be more coming into the house than I'd like. My mum will tut over how much they have (because she's a child of the 40s and thinks anything more than a ball and a stick is excessive). I will try to steer a graceful middle way between 'em. It would be churlish to get grumpy about this when people are struggling to feed their kids!

Wishing you light and warmth and space for the important things.

TeacakeMax · 20/12/2013 14:12

Afternoon everyone! Have some and delasi, arti and cadence - hope you and any other poorly ones are feeling better soon. Am a fellow migraine sufferer. Stress, tiredness and hormones are my triggers. The only time I have been migraine free was during both of my pregnancies. Heartburn and HG for several months each time, but no migraine...

Anyway, I digress. One black bin bag of too-small DC clothes to the charity shop this morning plus another bag full of baby toys, a baby walker and a ride-on car. This doesn't even scratch the surface of the cull that needs to happen of the DCs toys and books but it's a start and has freed up a bit of room (that will be filled again come next Wednesday)!

To be fair I have really thought about each and every item that is coming into the house this Christmas. In the past when GP's have asked what to get the children we've been guilty of suggesting the first thing that popped up on the argos website. This year a lot more thought has gone into it and hopefully PILs have taken the hint about giving one small present each and the bulk of the money going towards swimming lessons which start next year. That way their gift is something that will be a real benefit to their grandchildren for years to come. I'll let you know how we get on.

fuzzpig - a while ago I think it was you who had downloaded a copy of 'Minimalist Parenting'. Have you had chance to read it yet? And if so, what did you think? I keep looking at it on amazon but really shouldn't buy any more books at the moment. They are my one guilty pleasure though .

AdoraBell · 20/12/2013 19:00

Just dealt with a, split, bag of random crápula belonging To DDs which was residing on the floor in the spare room. Now need To Get the Lego which DH won't allow them To Get rid of into crates.

Kitchen is looking like a desastre zona Today and I don't have the oomf To do much about it.

MiniSoksMakeHardWork · 20/12/2013 19:02

Evening everyone. I'm looking sadly at the cluttered hallway while dd has a bath. I'm going to get on it once she's in bed and the babies finally go to sleep. If only because on Sunday we're tackling the great present wrap and I'll need the hall to stack it all in.

Someone explain the 365 thing again. I'm thinking new year, new me, new outlook. And starting as I mean to to on. Out with the old and not in with anything else unless it is functional.

clearsommespace · 20/12/2013 21:08

Sok, I think the idea is to get rid of 365 things during the year. If you bring something in then something has to go and on top of that 365 things need to have gone by the end of the year.

Here's a web site link www.365lessthings.com/about/

Two old electric radiators given away and the person who was supposed to collect the wok didn't come so I've just contacted the second person to put in a request.

A ton of food and drink in too but most of that should be gone by this time next week!

clearsommespace · 20/12/2013 21:20

Actually, that's not the right web site but I enjoyed browsing it.

delasi · 20/12/2013 22:23

Not so much done here today, but arranged the bedroom a bit more and did some serious hovering. We have a few pieces of small furniture that I really like, they had been in the living room but weren't really serving a purpose or getting proper appreciation there, but they go perfectly in our bedroom now that it has been fully cleared out and it looks all lovely Just need to deal with some rubbish that has accumulated on the top of the drawers

I seriously need to declutter one of my kitchen cupboards. It's not awful, but it really needs doing. I get irritated by having tins or jars or packets that I know we won't use which we have several of right now so I just need to go through all of them. I think that will be the next job.

Ooh, got rid of a shoe rack today! I had 2 originally, then decided to get rid of both, then just got rid of one and kept one but nope, still can't stand the thing, it's useless, so it's gone! Shoes are now in a rather lovely arrangement in our room and summer shoes are in the wardrobe.

clearsommespace · 21/12/2013 05:41

Serious hovering?
Is that a typo or are you a helicopter parent?

delasi · 21/12/2013 13:01

clear You've had me chuckle out loud...

Ahem. Serious hoovering.

I think I'll stick to the proper term 'vacuum' now!

helpineedajob · 22/12/2013 23:02

Hi. I would like to join please. You are all inspiring me to declutter. I am only up to page 6 though so will take a while to catch up.

I have a gumtree question if anybody knows as I am not ready to give up on selling things as we could do with the money.
Do you have to pay to list thigs on gumtree? Or when things sell? Or is it free? Any tips?

TIA

IsawJimmykissingSantaClaus · 23/12/2013 18:34

Hi helpineedajob. I list things on Gumtree. It's completely free. My tips are to check out similar items for sale so you can price yours that little bit cheaper. Also I have learnt the hard way to tell people I will sell to the 1st person who can come and collect. I had a few situations where I agreed to the sale then they couldn't pick up the item for a week, grrr.

MiniSoksMakeHardWork · 24/12/2013 04:02

Omg! I lost the ability to walk in most of my hall today!! Mum dropped Christmas presents round - they're coming over Boxing Day - as she 'doesn't have space' at theirs. They have a 3 bed house ffs. And only my parents live there... The mind boggles at that logic.

Have managed to wrap all presents bar a couple and dh's. Then found we have masses left over from bargains we've picked up through the year. We are really going to have to stop doing that! Thankfully they can be kept for birthdays and next Xmas. But hardly going to have a minimalist loft

helpineedajob · 24/12/2013 22:59

Thanks jimmy will give it a go next week

Downfall · 26/12/2013 20:40

Merry Christmas minimalistas
I fell off the thread a few months ago, stalled rather than regressed, but am ready to get back on track for the new year.
DH has agreed we can spend the weekend redecorating the hall and stairs, 5 litres of white emulsion is on my sales wish list!

clearsommespace · 27/12/2013 06:29

Doing a lot of hosting this year so not much free time for making progress. I do appreciate how much quicker it is to run the vacuum around and give the bathrooms a quick clean.
I was given a kitchen gadget by a relative and I have space in the kitchen cupboard for it. I think I'd have rather kept the space but the kids and DH love the gadget.

CadenceRoastingByAnOpenFire · 28/12/2013 10:15

Marking place to keep you on my 'Threads I'm On' list. Will post properly later (although there's not much to report!)

pixiestix · 28/12/2013 14:39

Me too! I hope all the Minimalists had a Merry and Clutter Free Christmas

delasi · 28/12/2013 16:26

Fell off my TIO! Well that was quick...

Ahem, anyway, more progress made here. Finally tackled the kitchen wall cupboards, 1 black bin bag gone today (a lot more than I expected!). Will be tackling the floor cupboards and the cutlery drawer at some point. Also did some toy decluttering, tbh DS doesn't have that much but some new bits came in for his b'day so it motivated me to get rid of what has never been used, so a big carrier bag went yesterday. Cleared our hallway which has been great to have so much space! Edging ever closer to completion... until I decide yet more should go!

I have noticed just how easy it is becoming to do laundry, clean floors, clean kitchen etc. Pretty much every day the house looks, well, tidy. As in, properly truly tidy. The living room is the worst as I have the bookcase to sort (probably the last big project) and all of DS' toys are in there, and yet, even in there it's alright.

I even started to make my bed every day...