The march towards Minimalism continues...

[MissAnnersleyismyhero]

Hey all, thought I'd make a new thread to encourage us all to keep going on the journey to minimalism!

Very true clear. Although mum asked me whether the children wanted chocolate and I did say some bigger clothes would be better, even if it's just at shirt. She's started trying to avid chocolate due to my niece's allergies.

Not much out recently but hopefully things will pick up soon. Someone is coming to get my freebie framed print tomorrow and during the Easter holidays we'll take a trip to the UK so will be able to get red of another box of books at a charity shop.

Morning! I am taking to daily visits to this thread so I can get back into the swing if things, once the dc are back at school. 5 days and counting... Parents coming Sunday so on a speed tidy/clean for the next couple of days around the children. Plan on throwing them outside as much as possible. Despite threats of rain it is really quite nice here at the minute, so taking advantage.

Congratulations pixie!

Not much going on here - well not much minimising/organising anyway, although we haven't been bringing very much in either which is good. We have builders in at the moment so the house is chaos - spare bedroom is rammed with stuff. DS moving to the loft room which is being renovated so DD can have his room and the baby can have the nursery. The stuff in the spare room is loft stuff we have just ignored for years so needs a thorough sort out, plus I am now 7m pg so starting to get that major nesting/organising/preparing urge. I suspect Bank Holiday Monday is designed for getting back on track, and the school/nursery return this week will give me the breathing space to plough on.

I must confess to a few Kindke purchases recently (I was aiming to get through the unread books on my shelves before buying more) but otherwise I haven't spent much at all: suppressing the urge to buy clothes is aided by having a massive bump, and I have sorted my skincare routine sufficiently that any purchases are just replacements for finished products rather than speculative/acquisitive. I'm consequently saving quite a bit of money at the moment so I'll cut myself a bit of slack on the Kindle for now!

DH and I are also really on top of food waste at the moment. We were always pretty good, but we seem to have been very creative the last couple of months at using leftovers well and at understanding the portions we really need to cook too, so it is very rare for anything to get chucked other than peelings and bones. Plus now the weather has turned we're starting up our food composting again (our composter slows right up in winter so best not used as food just goes mouldy in it rather than being composted) so essentially nothing will be true waste any more. This feels like becoming more minimalist above and beyond decluttering which pleases me

Decluttered ds1 to nana and grandad's, dd1 outside playing and dts 'helping' me hang a mass of clothes up - got a load of hangers from a friend who was just going to chuck them. So all the winter long sleeved clothes are on those lovely double hangers at the back of the wardrobe, summer stuff to the front and underwear only in their drawers. Am trying to give dd1 a little independence when it comes to choosing her own clothes now she's nearly 6.

Decluttered the hall into dh's car for my parents visit so now have to revisit that pile when it comes back in later today.

Counting down until Wednesday when I will have no children in the house - dts start preschool. So I'll have a whole day where I can declutter without having to work around anyone else. Woo hoo!

Morning. Bit of a non-declutter day today. Kids all at home and last day before they go back to school. So shall be mostly spent making sure everything is where I need it to be ready for tomorrow, and chasing up last minute homework for dd.

Sorting airing cupboard as we have all sorts of old bits and bobs and it's a hotchpotch of stuff. How many towels and sheets do you have per person or think is reasonable? I thought 2 towels pp (one in use, one spare) and same for bedding was a good plan. Then one set for guest room, couple of hand towels for loo and maybe a couple of spare old towels for sickness/mopping spillages. Will keep an additional spare single bedding set in case of sickness too I think.

I think we have 4 each of bath sheets, bath towels, hand towels and flannels. We also have 4 of the kelloggs towels which we use for swimming and beach trips only and dd1 has a towel with her name embroidered on which was a present. It's certainly more than enough for our family of 6 as the dc share our towels unless they have infections which can be passed on by contact.

Bedding is 2 sets each for the twins and the big two have 3 sets each, inc sheets - dts bedding is only because we used to have 3 sets of cot bedding and one is using the same cot, we just got an extra set when they were old enough. Dh and I have 3 sets of bedding but only tend to use 2. One is more a spare just incase we have anyone crash on our sofa.

I think minimalistmommi only has one set of each (but she has a tumble drier).

On a roll at the moment. Our storage area is finished so items like Christmas decorations etc are no longer stashed in random places like the bottom of wardrobes. Putting the 'storage items' into this area has meant delving into various areas and so plenty of 'bits to get rid of' have surfaced at the same time.

Morning all - back on the thread. I had a bit of a break over Easter and managed to get back to the archaeological dig for 3 days which was great. I did some cleaning/sorting too and made a trip to the tip but there's still a load more to do! Hoping to sort my workroom a bit this week!

Found this blog via another mumsnet thread and it's really inspiring:
Slow Your Home

From that I found a link to this:
Kitchen Essentials which has made me really rethink my kitchen. I thought I had decluttered but it's still too busy. I never thought of using large serving bowls as mixing bowls too. Or having one sharp knife. I think I'm going to do another sweep but put everything in a box before getting rid. Then I can see if we can do well with less. We think we need all our pots etc but really we're just lazy when it comes to washing up!!

Jimmy - I have a big box in the corner of the kitchen which has been there a while now (maybe a couple of months I guess). I put loads of stuff in that I didn't think I used. In the first couple of weeks one or two things came back out, went back in, came back out and then stayed out. The rest hasn't been touched. So it is all going to the charity shop at the weekend. Having a box is definitely a good way to work out what you really need before you finally get rid of it.

Clearsomme - ooh, the simplicity of that does appeal, but I'm not sure I could cope with just one set. Even with a tumble drier (we have one but it's broken and I'm not replacing as I survived a very wet winter without it) that would mean I'd need to be organised enough to strip beds, launder, dry and make beds in one day and I'm just not that organised!

Good idea evertonmint, I'll do that. That will also give a home to a storage box I don't know what to do with

Went through all the carrier bags of odds and ends this morning that have been piled up in my bedroom. What a load of crap. Feel great now they're gone. The dust bunnies underneath them were quite scary!!

We have two each plus a microfibre towel each for swimming/camping hols.
I couldn't do the tumble drying thing because I like my towels a bit crispy!

I don't get why a dishwasher is essential in that blog. Maybe that's just me, or perhaps when she mentions things which she could have put in the essentials list - salad spinner?? - I've missed where the section changes from essentials to wants. I couldn't see a new header to show that.

There's a heading 'nice to haves'.

A salad spinner is an essential for me. I buy lettuce or lamb's lettuce at the market once a week, wash it and spin it well and it keeps all week in the fridge. Shame the spinner takes up so much space....
Pre-washed salad isn't great:www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/03/foodsafety.fooddrinks

Crikey. Didn't know that about prewashed salads

Back to normal lettuce heads from now on I think. Thank you!

You've inspired me to clear out the kitchen again, I need to do that when I'm less knackered. I'm really worn out from Easter.

I am hoping everything will be back to normal (well, the new normal now DH is working - still doesn't feel properly normal yet as it's only been a couple of months) next week. DCs only went back yesterday so I'm still in holiday mode even though I've had three shifts crammed in (hence extra tiredness).

I've bought a few clothes lately but only because I needed a smaller size :o :o :o got rid of too-big work trousers straight away. Resisted the temptation to buy a whole load more stuff as I have a lot more weight/dress sizes to lose and am finally making progress, my fitness and diet has improved a lot so I'm hoping it will continue :)

As for decluttering though... ARGH! Was talking to my occupational therapist today, as regular housework is hard enough to keep up with let alone any proper sorting out :(

Ah. I did miss that then. I'm growing my own this year and tend to blot with kitchen paper after washing as it's washed and eaten straight away. I could've guessed about chlorine being used though as I used to work in a potato factory and there were times you could smell the chlorine then...

Decluttering is going ok. Am doing a fayre stall tomorrow to raise funds for our rainbows unit so a lot of the clutter currently in the hall will go. Anything which doesn't get won in the tombola tomorrow will go to a boot sale and from there to the charity shop. Two attempts is enough for me!

Phew I can actually report an achievement. A whole bag (a binbag sized charity thing) full of clothes :) just reached into the wardrobe and grabbed a load of stuff, DH did the same and a couple of bits from the DCs' too.

Also got a whole load of DVD cases to drop off at work (we rebox them into security-taggable ones.

God it's slow going though :( DH and I are really itching to move house and I said very firmly we are NOT moving with all this shit. He totally agrees, and suggested a skip, but that's the kind of thing that makes my hoarding tendencies come out in force and make me PANIC!

I might ask DH to take some leave (we both have two weeks booked but both in school hols) so we can make a big dent in it (I wouldn't need to take any as I only do 12hrs a week) - it is just impossible with the DCs around and I really struggle on my own . Seems like a waste of leave though :( maybe we could arrange some nice things during the week as well though? As an incentive? And at least if I am excused from the school run for a week I might have more energy to declutter.

Oh and another small thing. Seriously considering ditching all random colouring pens/pencils/crayons and getting one decent set of each from Crayola. Anyone else done similar? It'd mean I could keep them in a smaller box...

I regularly cull the colouring implements. We have an old syrup tin of felt tips which is plenty and a small plastic basket of coloured pencils. I don't let them expand beyond that. I probably do a proper sharpen/check once a month while watching telly so everything is working and I can bin what isn't. I do this for our pens too as it's amazing how often you pick up one only to discover it's not working! Crayons are the biggest pain as they break so easily - these are culled with alarming regularity.

Ah thanks, I think I'll dig out one of our smaller Really Useful Boxes if I don't do that I'll end up buying yet another one and allocate that. I've moved the crayola stuff onto my new 'buying soon' wishlist :o

In the meantime I'll bin everything else. There's lots that doesn't work or has been left lidless - now that youngest is finally into drawing it seems they are being used up much faster!

DH on board with the annual leave thing, we are going to figure it out tonight. He did say "that means you'll have to let me just get on with it" but NOOOOO I need to be there too. I can't let him chuck stuff without me there :o that's why we need to do it together. If we book it for the right week we will have most of Monday, and all of Tuesday/Thursday/Friday.

I'll need help and encouragement from my fellow aspiring minimalists to plan the week though!

Hi, room for a newbie? I'm mid-big-sort-out, done the DC's toys but next job is my clothes and I'm procrastinating like mad. I'll never be a minimalist but I think simplifying would help.

Re pens and pencils, I did exactly that fuzzpig and it works well. We have all the supplies in 5 old peanut butter (plastic) jars - one with nice crayola coloured pencils, one for decent washable felt tips etc, another for rubbers, mini hole punches etc. DD (7) has her own collection of sparkly pens etc upstairs but I gave her some drawers for such things so they are no longer my problem!

Woo hoo! Tombola was completely cleared out so didn't have to bring any of that home. All that did return was a Sainsbury's shopper full of sweets. Which we are going to use later in our rainbow term. Raised a few quid to do some activities with them. A good day generally.