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!

Cleaned out the fridge, washed it all and put things back in - one empty jar of sundried tomatoes , one off hummus and one tupperware of slightly too old spiced red cabbage were the only offenders. Feeling quite pleased, and it looks so nice now all clean and organized.

Major sunny-weather, DCs at in-laws garage and loft decluttering and organising going on here :)

I am ill AGAIN :(

Mainly trying to keep afloat with general laundry and stuff. I did manage a bit of digital decluttering today while DH took the DCs out, so at least I achieved something - just sifting through some old memos, photos, songs etc.

The book is free again if anyone wants a copy.

Austerity Housekeeping

Hi I have lurked on these threads for ages but I have a job starting in June so realy need to get the house in order and need your help.

Items I cant decide if I should chuck

• spare hair dryer (what if my current one brakes)
• slate place mats and coasters (we never use place mats or coasters)
• over shoe things to grip the ice in winter (never used but ....)
• old christmas tree (we bought a lovely big new one a few years ago, but what if we decide to have one in tje frount room and one in the back room in a few years when we can trust ds2 not to pull it over?)
• old buggy , we bought a new one for ds2 but if it brakes the old one would do as I wouldn't want to buy new (he is 2.3)

Im sure there will be more im so indecisive
And paper work

Sorry. Paper work I have mountains of it. Do you need to keep prior years insurance documents? I cant even think right now what else is in there

Hello

I would say:

• slate place mats and coasters : donate/sell
• over shoe things to grip the ice in winter: if you had the super icy/snowy winter we had in 2012/13 and they didn't get used then donate/sell
• old christmas tree: donate/sell. (two Christmas trees not very minimalistic, you' need extra decorations too...)

-buggy: if you have the space to store it out of the way, keep it until you're out of the buggy stage.

Afternoon all. Apologies for my absence! Hope everyone is well and hello to all newbies. Managed to declutter virtually all of my handbags as something had leaked onto a shelf in the cupboard that I kept them in. It was an eye opener as suddenly all of these items that I'd decided I had to keep 'just in case' or that I would put in the DCs dressing up box 'at some point' had to go as they stank to high heaven and couldn't be saved. Some of them I'd had for nearly 20 years and had been on numerous girls holidays/ nights out etc and brought back a lot of happy memories. Although I was a bit at the fact that I've reduced my number of usable bags to one (!) I've realised that if I can get rid of these sorts of things then going through the kitchen/ garage etc should be easier than I anticipated.

Have also managed to keep the kitchen table clear of clutter for an entire week. This has never happened before in the whole time we've lived in this house. It's on a small thing but it's making a big difference to the look of the whole room. Jimmy please accept some as it was something I read on the Slow Your Home blog that you linked to a short while ago that helped me get my head round the 'clear the kitchen surfaces every day' habit.

I now need to stop my new (bad) habit of 'eat vast quantities of the DCs Easter chocolate when they're not looking' . This may require much more willpower...

Just popping in again to say - not much decluttering going on here but I'm making some headway with getting into some sort of housework routine - again thanks to "Slow your Home".

Hello all. Thanks for all the congrats. Newborn is not so new now - seven and a half weeks already! The house is an absolute pigsty and driving me mad so I need to do some proper decluttering to get my head straight. Started with five things to the chazzer, one sold and one to the bin. Babysteps back in to minimalism!

What are everyones goals for the week? I need to clear the corridor which has become a dumping ground since DD2 was born and I'd like to find ten items for the chazzer. Should be manageable. Anything extra will be a bonus.

about the poster with the newborn keeping us on the march!

I seem to be spending far too much of my free time on the net trying to sort out our summer holiday.

Goal of the day is to revisit the kitchen drawer, the one that breeds odd, random things. I had to get something out of it the yesterday and had difficulty closing it as the contents only fit back in when arranged in a particular fashion.

Need more goals than that!

Hello again. It's been a (very long) while since I showed my face, but it's lovely to know you're still here!

I'm moving to a much smaller house in a couple of weeks, so I'm trying to be mindful about what we really need to take, and also trying not to be too controlling and obsessive when I've got a lot of work on, too.

I hadn't realised how much paper I've held on to... This weekend I let go of a massive plastic crate of paper including A Level and Uni notes, old letters from school friends I haven't seen since 1990 and tickets from a brilliant trip. I felt so much lighter! I've kept letters from family and my oldest friend, but I'll go through them at some point and see if I really want to keep them.

I've been at this for several years now and it's definitely onion-like. You have to do it layers and it sometimes makes you cry. Sorry. That's a terrible simile. .

Morning all - I guess my goals for the week are to just keep my head above water but also maybe sort out a few things in the spare doom!

Loving the onion simile :o

Welcome helpineedajob! I am struggling to know what to do with paperwork too.

Pixie I am well impressed at your decluttering. I was rarely out my jammies at that stage I think!

Teacake, sorry you had to ditch so many bags, but I think it's great that you managed it. I really empathise - I have had similar, where I've had to get rid of stuff that I'd kept because it's got damaged. In my case it's because I'm so untidy, stuff doesn't get stored properly and it's no wonder things get spilled etc :( embarrassing really. I am gradually learning my lesson.

Well, I'm not working tonight as DCs were sick over the weekend. My main aim is catching up with all the laundry (we'd fallen a bit behind even before the DCs puking all over the place), thankfully DH got a good start on it yesterday.

I am also going to bag up a load of clothes for my neighbour who has DCs a bit smaller than mine, and continue binning anything that isn't nice enough to hand down. DD has outgrown a ridiculous amount recently and I think we actually will need to go clothes shopping for her. She lives for dresses (certainly didn't get that from me) and not a single one in the wardrobe fits!

I'm not sure what to do with mine though. I don't have much left and the only really decent thing I have is my jeans and work trousers. Lots of my cardis have little holes and stuff, but I am really reluctant to buy more as it's nearly summer. Plus, I've been successful in gradually getting less huge slimmer, and I still have a way to go, so it seems pointless rushing out to buy clothes for myself.

You guys would be less impressed if you actually saw the state of my house...

at the onion similie. The clutter is certainly making me want to cry this week.

Are you moving with your XP as well Harriet? Or is the smaller house just for you and your DC? I remember you two clearing your lockup last year, it was really impressive how you tackled so much stuff in such a short space of time.

Hi pixie . We're trying a nesting arrangement (that's what it's called in the US anyway) where the parents move in and out of the family house according to who's in charge, but the children are always in the family house and don't have to move between two parental houses. We'll all be spending time at the house together, too, because we're still a family even though the shape has changed. It's expensive (x and I are also having to rent a little flat where we go when we're not in charge, but of course we won't be there together) and it might be logistically challenging for us adults, but it's the right thing for our (slightly weird) family. Thanks for asking!

Have been freecycling, shredding and charity-donating like a demon and it feels GOOOOOOOOOD!

That's interesting. I've never heard of that!

Kitchen drawer and shelves tackled. Unused item lurking in the living room added to charity box.

Anyone else care to share their goals so I can steal some ideas...?

As requested, clearsomme: My goal is to go through the whole crate of notebooks, birthday cards and kids' drawings and keep only what I love.

I had a moment of insight yesterday when I was worried about letting go of some empty folders and other stationery (!) : it's far cheaper to live in a smaller place with fewer things and, if I need something I've given away, then buy, borrow, or look on freecycle for a replacement. It's so bloomin obvious. When am I going to need a squillion plastic folders? What is it costing me in square footage to store all this stuff?

Not much decluttering here, i'm drowning in day to day stuff. This morning i'm doing a blitz clean for my very lovely, very tidy friend's visit. She is so fab but i always feel embarrassed about our piles when she comes!

However hopefully I'll clear the decks today and do some serious de-piling at the weekend.

Harrietspy that sounds like a fantastic idea for your children, if a huge challenge practically. Are your ex and you sharing the flat too?

Yes, Erin, but we have a room each there so will have private space and will never be there at the same time so it will be 'mine' when I'm there. We're trying to keep what we take to the flat to a minimum and not buy anything new if possible, so it's an opportunity to set up a properly minimalist home!

Good luck with the clear up and have a lovely time with yr friend.

Wow, I really respect you doing that for your children. Good luck. I imagine keeping it minimalist could be a real key to success.

Downstairs now looking fabulous, lovely friend was as lovely as ever, but I need to tackle the utter pit that is upstairs. In my defence a lot of the mess is there because i'm mid-sort - not ideal but i'm going in the right direction.

Hello everyone. Hope you are all enjoying this lovely weather.

I have done a 2nd kitchen declutter after reading the Slow Your Home blog. Glad you liked it too Teacake! I have put lots of things in a box to see if we miss them or not (not yet sure if I should throw them out).

I just looked with a fresh eye, for instance, I had 6+ mixing bowls and 2 big serving bowls. So I've packed away the plastic and mismatched china bowls and kept the serving ones which are nice to look at. I can mix stuff in them and use them when we infrequently have people over to eat. It never occurred to me that I could mix something in a serving bowl. They are all just bowls

The baby plastic. Little one now has 2 cups, one plate and one bowl. The 500 million other versions are packed away!

Plus endless plastic jugs/multiples of pyrex casserole dishes/billions of chopping boards....

Think a toy cull is coming soon. There's something about the sunshine that makes me want a clearer, cleaner house .

I'm hoping the weather will help me too!

It's certainly a lot easier to keep up with the laundry too as stuff fries quicker.

I got rid of a huge binbag of random crap today. A tiny drop in the ocean but at least it's something. Would've done more but dust set off a coughing fit

I've got a lovely image of Fuzzpig frying her laundry. Well done to all those managing to keep gong with culling stuff ( which I am not at the moment!)