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!

Sadly not as we have to lay floor and put skirting boards in place before we can put the shelves back. As we can only get on with this at weekends, it'll be the end of the month before it is done.

On a positive note, I have just deleted out all the photos of items sold and freecycled over the last 15 months. I don't regret any of them and feel quite proud of how much I've passed on, especially considering I didn't photograph anything donated to charity.

Good luck with your mum, Rosa. Sounds like this is huge progress.

Not huge amounts to report here. 6 month pregnancy bump plus badly sprained ankle means I'm mainly on the sofa when I have free time! But kitchen is slowly being more streamlined as are children's toys. Reading Simplicity Parenting. Also still weighing up every purchase with care refusing to impulse buy (started this in Jan as a sort of NYR), and feeling better for it (as is my bank balance!)

Hope you're not in pain evertonmint. That's interesting how 'not buying' is making you feel better. Seems like once you change your mindset this is a much healthier way to live.

A mini breakthrough! I have finished the filing - hurrah. Usually the folders live in underbed drawers but....I have put them on our bookcase in the living room. I have repurposed a wicker box which now sits close by on the kitchen worktop which houses the hole puncher/cheque book/pen/stamps/envelopes so that when paperwork comes in it can be (and has been ) dealt with immediately. Lightbulb moment or what?!!

Prior to this I would read the letter, stick it on top of the books in the bookcase, either forget about it or sweep it up into a carrier bag on a 'tidy'. I wouldn't be able to find the cheque book or a pen etc.

I got the idea from a minimalism book mentioned on here (will say later as it's on my kindle in the bedroom where DD2 is currently napping). This guy said that even in the messiest, most disorganised houses you will be able to find the toothbrushes and toothpaste. And they will always be in the bathroom by the sink. Such a simple, sensible idea. Put the things you need where they are used. Doh.

Also there's a piece of paper in the wicker box with bullet points of jobs to do that can't be tackled immediately (re: paperwork) eg. Car MOT on 15th/buy acceptance card to RSVP to wedding invite/renew driving licence...and the necessary paperwork is in the box. And we have been crossing items off the list!!! It's like a revelation here.

Another mini breakthrough is that the folders don't match. They don't have pretty word processed labels on them. The list in the wicker box isn't on a lovely whiteboard... I didn't let my perfectionism stop this from working

"Good is great but DONE is better!"

Good work Jimmy.
A couple of items given away and I've listed a framed print which we haven't managed to hang since we moved in 15 months ago.

Hi minimalites! Hope it's going ok.
jimmy love the paperwork 'toolbox' idea. Must try to deal with my incoming mail immediately too. The book you mentioned sounds like it's Declutter your life for good - the Toothbrush Principle. A great read!
Thanks for the good luck wishes everton I think Mum has surprised herself! We've decluttered loads:) I've been going every couple of days or so (I'm on annual leave) for a few hours and the gradual approach seems to be working well.
Going again tonight, Dad is chuffed to bits and Mum doesn't try to fob me off now!
How's the ankle?
clearsomme hope you sell your print and that the rest of the clutterbusting and house renovation stuff is going well?

I had a whiz around ours before.. Set myself the challenge of finding one item at least from each room to give to the charity shop and I now have a full 'bag for life' ready to go. Also had an hour tidying & pulling up dead brown things in the garden. A bit ago I would've thought 'oh what's the point at this time...I've only an hour before teatime - I'll sit on my arse instead start tomorrow.

Oops sorry got the title of the book mixed up... It's "Banish clutter forever - the Toothbrush Principle"

That's really great about your mother and making good use of shortish chunks of free time. (Although 1 hour is considered a decent amount of free time in this house)

We got the floor sorted in our storage room at the weekend and have moved the shelves back in. They are all empty awaiting the stuff but we are sorting it as it goes back onto the shelves.

Framed print is still in the corner is has lived in for months. I'm not even trying to sell it. It's listed on a freebie site. But we have shifted some left over paint.

Check out the OMG OMG thread!

Rosa - I have that book too. It's really good!

That's the book Rosa! Although I only have the beginning as a free kindle sample. Are there any other great suggestions in it Arti?

Thanks also for rebranding my idea as a paperwork toolbox - I like it

clearsommespace what is your framed print of? Can you put something else in the frame and hang it or is it that there is nowhere to actually put the whole thing?

Help! Dts birthday is next week! Major toy decluttering going on. We've bought them one toy between them - a toy kitchen with all the bits, inc a whiteboard so they can draw and play dough so they can make things. It was an Argos bargain! I'm trying to get it so there is at least one toy out for everyone that comes in. Although the size of this means lots are going out

I've decluttered the book shelves and we are going to run a book sale at preschool to raise funds for some work they need doing there.

The loft is scarily full again. Dts start preschool after Easter so I will have one while day with no dc and it's going to be the ideal time for that challenge. I just can't get up there enough in their hour nap time.

It's quiet on here. Is everybody out enjoying the sunshine?

DCs tidied their rooms this weekend. I'm not sure what to do with the things they have cleared out. I don't think the charity shops would want them. It's things like tiny plastic wind up toys they have obtained via party bags. But I hate to think of it all ending in landfill.

We have a plastic box filled with all the tiny cheap toys from party bags/magazines/HappyMeals It's hidden away and comes out infrequently. A total winner - it's like a treasure trove and entertains DD1 for ages. She is only just 4 though so don't know if this will work with your DC.

If you definitely want to get rid of them could you box them up and give them to a younger child? Or save them for a car boot sale, 'everything in this box 10p each' ?

You said charity shops might not want them but if you box them up they could be sold as a 'lot'. Some of the stuff in our box of 'treasures' has come from the chazzer.

The youngest is 9 so toy rotation doesn't work any more.
Good idea about 'lots'.
We're doing a street sale in June so I'll try to sell them for as lots in the morning and give them away with purchases in the afternoon.

Struggling - overwhelmed with "untidiness"!

Sorry to have been MIA for a couple of weeks. In my absence I have managed to declutter my uterus of a very chubby, very cute little girl-baby! So everything else has stalled rather. She is such a chubber that most of her newborn clothes (inherited from her tiny sister) are too small already, so I can begin my cull of the boxes and boxes of baby clothes that I have saved. I think it's going to be harder than I anticipated. I am already thinking "But what if we want a third?" even though we can't for a dozen different reasons. I guess it's like pulling a plaster off and I just need to grit my teeth and do it...

Congratulations pixiestix

It's both a wrench and a satisfaction clearing the baby stuff. I really struggled with it but a couple of weeks ago I took the moses basket to the chazzer with only a twinge of sadness Anyway, I'm sure you can leave off the minimalising for the time being!!

educatingart are you ok? I am in a similar position ATM re untidiness. We have had a rolling programme of chicken pox and general sickness bugs plus a half constructed wooden wendy house has moved into the kitchen. I can't believe how untidy the place is.

Congratulations pixie on your beautiful new baby girl. (I'm sure she is really beautiful).
Jimmy - I am kind of OK, but finding it hard going just doing the very basic stuff atm so mess is building up. I MUST catch up on washing today ( unless I want a real underwear crisis!) - just finding it hard doing that level of stuff really as well as working.

Congratulations pixie! :o

I'm in a similar state to arti, in that I'm really struggling to keep on top of all the regular stuff let alone any deeper tidying/sorting/decluttering.

DH has been at work for over a month already and I'm doing ok considering I've taken over so much of the day to day stuff. But it's hard going TBH. We are gradually getting into a routine but it feels so endless!

I am really worn out, so proper decluttering hasn't been high up on the priority list. It's frustrating, and I really need to just make myself do even a tiny bit. I wish we had some time off together to just do a bit clutter attack but it ain't gonna happen!

Congratulations! It sounds like little one is thriving!

Congratulations pixie! I completely understand how you're feeling regards getting rid of baby clothes. I am finding that the passage of time helps a great deal. I was a bit teary packing away DC2's baby things but they were only 6 months old at the time - a couple of years later and it's much easier to let go of stuff (and we're definitely not having any more!)

Am also struggling to get anything other than basic housework done at the moment. However, the areas that have been decluttered are mostly staying tidy so I'm counting that as a small victory in the ongoing battle against tat!!

Gosh I completely lost this thread!

I am completely overwhelmed at the minute. So much so I've not known where to start.

Dc have (temporarily) lost a bag of books and toys after trashing their bedroom. Dh emptied his car boot. Into the hall which is where everything has stayed! I've emptied my car yesterday so I could hover all the crumbs and heck knows what else out of it. Cue clean car but more stuff in the hall to sort out. Dc also lost the sand from their sandpit yesterday due to flinging it around the garden, after being warned and told explicitly what would happen to it. One upset little boy later...

Im drowning in a high tide of stuff. Someone tell me where to start. Even the laundry baskets, which were very nearly empty the other morning, were back to overflowing by the night. How
on earth did we do that???

Easter hols are the antithesis of minimalism

At least the chocolate gets eaten! Unlike toys given at Christmas!