Moving Forward With Minimalism

[MinimalistMommi]

This is a new thread following on from the previous 'm' thread on Good Housekeeping!

All Minimalists or aspiring minimalists welcome!

I might well do that Jimmy - I was reading this thread because BeCool posted some interesting minimalist links on the thread I was trying to post on which interested me and then I spotted this in Active Convos! I am on a rampant declutter of my finances and now my house. It's not terrible but we could do better, and I'm 20 weeks pregnant so starting early nesting I think :) I'm always much calmer in a tidy, streamlined environment, and for the most part our house is like that - bedroom usually free of crap, sitting room also. So I'm aiming to deal with some of the tough spots in our house - the study which is a dumping ground for everything but also where I work so I never have the calm workspace I really need, and a couple of kitchen cupboards which store stuff we never ever use (some of it because it's actually broken!).

Can you explain the counting in/out thing to me? Do you try to get rid of more than you bring in?

Well welcome evertonmint

Firstly, get that broken stuff out of your cupboards, there's an easy win!!

Some people have a one in, one out rule. So you are never adding to what you've got, just replacing or swapping.

Some hardcore folks are doing a 365 count for the year, so essentially an item per day must go on average. There's some debate on what constitutes an item though...is a box of 20 magazines one item or 20? And do incoming items cancel out the ones you've chucked?

Hello again. I'm feeling the urge. The urge to purge.

I've had to acquire a couple of books for work but I've found five I don't need or love.

Definitely interested in your expanding box-life, BeCool, given prospect of radical involuntary downsizing... I'd be interested to know how the sofa bed works because I'm considering something similar.

I've already got rid of 3 bags of clothes to charity shop or textile recycling this year - I reckon I'm about 50 items out already this year so maybe 365 is entirely doable :) And we're having a frugal January so hardly anything has come in beyond food.

And bearing this in mind, a book that has sat waiting to be returned for about 10 months finally went back to the rightful owner this evening. I see her 10 times a week on the school run and yet it's taken me all this time to return her book and only did it because I saw it after being on here earlier. Utterly shameful!

I've spent most of the day at my desk admiring our dictionary collection. At least 4 English dictionaries, several French ones, 3 German ones and 2 Spanish ones. They are a combination of large and portable, mine and DHs from before we got together so understandable why we have so many and they do have a shelf to sit on happily but they are not all necessary!

I think that's our problem - we have a large enough home that we can store this stuff and hence live clutter-free in the sense of having floor space and it being tidy, but we don't actually need the stuff! DH is away at the moment and I texted him to say I think we need to go on a clutter purge and he completely agreed. We both are happier when our lives are streamlined. I think this is going to be a good project for us.

Hello Everton, welcome! Me and Fuzzpig in particular are trying to minimise our spending and debts this year so all tips, even accidental ones, are appreciated!

BeCool I have requested to join your FB group. (Profile pic of me and DD looking quite Xmas-jumper-tastic!)

Yay! The ebayed and to be collected stuff is going today! No more swapping it between bath and dc's bed in the morning!

Oh. And dh has cancelled out my get rid ofs by purchasing 6 sleeping bags! In his defence they are very cosy warm sleeping bags and were £12 instead of £70!! He bought them with the theory that dd and I would use them on our rainbow sleepovers. So I've told him we will be going camping this year to make sure they and our tent get used.

Checking in as fell off my TIO, back later!

I forgot to share my fantastic tip re:cleaning products

I saw this on Pinterest and finally got around to doing it myself.

I bought a, quite frankly, revolting blue shoe organiser from IKEA for £2.50 (no one will see it as it will be inside the cupboard) and hung it inside our full length cupboard. Like this but not this one obviously!

We have been able to put all our cleaning products in it. We couldn't believe what we had crammed into the small cupboard under the sink! 3 bottles of furniture polish (I use baby wipes now ), loads of mould and mildew removers from a previous property, countless oven cleaning products unused! So, after a big clear out we now have easy to see and grab products. And the cupboard under the sink is now storing our washing powder/fabric softener/stain removers etc so the kitchen floor is clear (they were just on the floor by the machine before).

It's also a good storage idea for children's craft items eg. felt pens, crayons, glue sticks etc.

Ok, so here I am, up to speed...

Thanks to [all] of you for your updates, it's funny how you can know things but still forget them in the back of your mind. I have been re-inspired to look at what we have and get down to a basic kit. Fortunately we haven't really been adding to what we have and having spent quite some time deliberately not buying anything, we have come up with the few things we really do want/need and so have made a handful of thoughtful purchases (mainly small things, nothing bigger than an A4 book!).

Very little free time at the moment so not really doing anything more than basic maintenance. Plus ill/condition flare up so wouldn't really want to start doing much if I had the time anyway! I might get some free time in a month or so, we'll see Or I'll just have a day where I suddenly get a surge of energy and whizz around the place (it is an oddly reliable thing to happen to me about once every couple of months ).

Still keeping track of everything for 365, my incoming items are increasing and the outgoings aren't However I know that I have more stuff to go out and I just gave away a huge footmuff thing so it's not too bad.

I like "the urge to purge".

I have just decluttered the rough paper box (crammed with half finished or rejected drawings) and the pencil crayons/felt tips box (so many worn out felt tips).

It must be in the air tonight clearsommespace - I've just put a load of half-finished drawings into recycling and put the pencil/felt tip/random arty stuff box in front of the tv so I can sharpen/chuck/tidy the whole thing while watching crap telly!

I bought a big plastic box from B&Q today. All the stuff that I think we don't need but might want to keep is going in it and it's going in the garage for 6 months. If we still haven't needed it, it's going to a new home. This includes a few things DH inherited from his gran so I feel a bit mean, but they're things we took because he thought he might like them and nobody else in the family wanted them but he then just shoved them in a cupboard 7 years ago. The actual heirlooms of hers that he really loves we use or display. So I'm going to give him 6 months to ponder these and see if he misses them at all (he doesn't know this yet). Is that mean, or just sensible?

Just popping in to say hello. Not much happening on the decluttering front atm but ongoing issues with work, ear infections and other stuff are affecting this!

DD1

3 black bags

GONE

Morning everybody!

I have lurked on all the minimalism threads, right from the start and I have been so inspired. It's clearly having an effect as I cleared two kitchen cupboards yesterday - saucers where the cups have long since gone, baby bottles (dd is 6 ), drinking bottles which dd can't use etc and as I dropped the bag off at the charity shop I thought "ooooh the minimalists would be proud of me!"
I've been doing little bits for a while and we don't have too much clutter here anyway, but I've noticed how lovely my cupboard looks now without cups balanced precariously on mismatched saucers.

Welcome Freshwest!
Adorabell, looks like you've managed to nip in the bud your daughter's hoarding tendencies.
Tidied up 'My Documents' last night and deleted a whole load of docs I no longer need. It was an interesting trip down memory lane. I found the table I drew up showing who was free to take DS on which days/nights when I went into labour with DD (over 9 years ago!). She threatened to be over two months premature so it was a fair sized table.
Also I found some things I typed up when I was getting rid of bits I'd inherited from the grandparents last year. Just those couple of documents were enough to store my memories. I didn't need all the stuff I'd kept in boxes, I still have one item on display which is enough.
Everton, sounds fair but I think you should tell him when the six months is up. You can't get rid behind his back. Perhaps ask him if he can remember something he really wants to retrieve (without looking)?

Hello, mind if I join? I'm a born-again-minimalist! Used to be very good, slipped since having dd as I'm always thinking something might be used in the future or we can't afford to replace. Well I've had enough and since Friday afternoon I've had a bit of a blitz. I have an almost 10kg bag waiting yo be taken to a cash for clothes place later, 1 bag with some nice girls things to pass on to a friend and 2 small bags of stuff for a local sale. All to be out of the house by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

Feel pleased that I've now moved all toys out of sitting room to dining/playroom; this has freed up a chest to store spare blankets. Toys are still in a mess but il deal with them another time.

Jobs I'd like to get done by the end of the weekend; put stuff in the loft (Christmas decs, camping equipment, baby stuff to store - il settle for just the decs!); empty landing chest of drawers of various crap so that it can store sheets and towels; finish off decorating the bathroom (this is the 3rd weekend) so that everything can go back in.

Oh, almost forgot the most drastic thing! I'm attempting Project 333! All but 33 items of my clothing have been stored under the bed. Really pleased with my first outfit today. I was getting so sick of laundry piles that never get put away because there seems to be no room in drawers.

Off to ikea this afternoon. Will have to resists home organisation section or my intake will exceed my outgoing items!

Hello again everyone! I was quite a regular on the minimalism theads in the spring and summer but have dropped out due to new job/house move.

Back with a bang now as trying to minimalise debts and also keep our new house clutter free!

Have huge hamper of stuff to eBay tomorrow, however did buy lots in IKEA today (large rug for living room, roasting tin, 2 water glasses and tons of plants, mainly bulbs, for the garden).

Another drop out coming backmto the fold. Had some awful virus for the whole of December and have had little energy.
Bag went to a charity clothing collection (never heard of them, probably mega dodgy but it needed to go) and am acquiring bags of stuff to pass on to various people. Hopefully I can really get going again now.

Hi All, would love to join in please! I'm also emerging from horrific cold virus thing & needing / wanting to radically streamline mess / finance hangover from Christmas etc etc...

I found this cool idea Here on the Apartment Therapy website - it's a month long de-clutter and organization project with daily tasks called the January Cure. I missed doing it in Jan, but am thinking of doing it now - following the steps each day.

It looks good! I especially like the "Outbox" idea here as it will encourage me to re-evaluate things I have been hoarding keeping for no good reason.

Off to make a project list now!

Just took 6 black bin bags full of books, kitchen stuff, holdalls, hangers to the charity shop. It feels great but I still have so much stuff. I am trying to address why I keep buying so much

My bag for clothes drop ended up being 14kg! The next bag is fast filling up already!

Most of my job list has been completed. 2 drawers are emptied and refilled with towels. Part of the required declutter was medicines - some were prescribed more than 5 years ago for long gone illnesses. 1 drawer still to declutter is currently sitting in the middle of the landing but is DH's responsibility (itching to get at it with the bin bag!). Bathroom is finished, sparkly clean and everything in its place. Christmas decorations made it into the loft but nothing else. I did bring down 2 empty boxes to recycle and a box of old curtains to get rid of too.

Jobs for the next few days; dd's room is a mess; organise under sink cupboard; sort 20x books and DVDs to sell.

Artemis I am ahead on the outbox!! I hadn't seen the website until your link but on Friday started filling a large laundry basket with stuff to go.