Anyone up for being my minimalism buddy?! Overwhelmed by commitments and stuff...

[Bitzer]

I am feeling absolutely overwhelmed by stuff. About a month ago I began a decluttering, and I've made a lot of progress but have sort of hit a wall now and don't know where to go next so to speak. We're due to be moving in Jan and I need to get rid of a lot of stuff. Also, I want to spend more proper time with my kids - I'm so sick of spending half my life moving things from one place to another. The areas that I have managed to declutter are now so much easier to keep clean and tidy so I want to create more of them.

Is anyone else doing a similar thing? Keen to find someone for some mutual encouragement/inspiration so I don't give up. Also, thought it'd be useful to share tips/thoughts on the stuff that it is especially hard to get rid of.

Any takers?

Fencingwire That is really helpful - thank you!

Can I join please? We moved house a few months ago. We now have more space but less storage. It was impossible to sort anything in the old place. I'm pretty determined now.

I've started on clothes. We had bags and bags of hand-me-downs. Part of the issue is that there is a 6 year age gap between my two so I will have to hang on to stuff for DD2 to get the use out of it. I have weeded out stuff that isn't quite to my taste. There's only so much they can actually wear. However, as she gets older getting rid of that stuff should be straightforward.

I'm having real problems sorting out toys. We didn't pack very methodically when we moved so everything is in a muddle. I just don't know where to start. I have to gear myself up for making a bigger muddle before it looks anything like being organised! Also DD1's toys aren't necessarily suitable for the 2 year-old. There's also the toys in the middle that DD1 has grown out of and that DD2 is not quite ready for.

I'm starting to put like things together in one place to avoid doubles. As someone else said I end up buying more of the same because I can't find it when I need it. I've started small with stationery. I have discovered many many rolls of cellotape, glue sticks etc. We have this problem in the kitchen with herbs and spices. Although I did have a clear out when we moved. Some of it was quite out of date.

Anyway looking forward to keeping each other motivated!

I'm in, house has so much bloody stuff.
4 DC Ds1 20(hardly home and looking at moving in with his girlfriend soon)
Ds2 10 he will be going into Ds1 room when he leaves.
Dd1 8 she shares with ds2 at the moment.
Dd2 2, she will go in with dd1 once Ds2 goes into the small room.

I'm sick of clutter, it is everywhere, it is the kids stuff, my Mum and I are going IKEA soon and she is buying the kids a new wardrobe, their current one is a corner one and has a lot of crap in, so I have to sort that soon and I will be ruthless. The room is also being decorated.

Paperwork needs doing, we have tons of the bloody stuff, in fact everything needs sorting out.

Once I've took Ds1 work I will declutter a part of the kitchen I think.

I feel the same OP. Everywhere I look there is stuff. How is it even possible not to have all this stuff when you have 2 youngish children? It just never seems to look any better here no matter how much I
try.

I spent hours this weekend trying to get straight after holidays and some sort of organised state ready for school. I was exhausted by yesterday evening and got home from work today to find yet more mess, piles of washing, kitchen breakfast stuff needing put away and so on. So I nees to clear it all up now before starting tea! I am actually find it quite depressing. Is there even any point trying to keep
up with it all and trying to make a nice tidy home? I feel like I'm missing out on time with my kids as every spare moment is spent on this stuff and nothing ever looks better.

Help please!

Tricky I think it must be worth trying. Occasionally I get a little glimpse of what it might look like when all is clean and tidy.
Is there any way to reduce the washing up from breakfast?
I did not do clothes today, so there are still big heaps all over upstairs. I did do the eaves cupboard, and stored the Babybay away, so that's done. And cleaned all the laundry powder off the floor.

justpeachy I am in a similar situation to you, 4.5 years between my dd's. I have loads of stuff saved for dd2 which will come in useful put it is just pilled in the loft. I've bought some storage boxes this weekend and my next job I to sort through it all, keep what I need and store in labelled boxes. That way i will actually be able to find stuff when I need it!

Hi all, Tricky, I think we all struggle with young DCs! I've been told on some organising threads on here that the key is decluttering and storage. However, without a lottery win to buy all of IKEA and lots of child free time to declutter I find it difficult.

I have found tidying and decluttering threads on here helpful for motivation. I'm currently on a Flylady one and a September clean up one. Re. laundry, i have just accepted that it never ends. I don't actually mind it too much if I keep it manageable as I can do it with some programmes to watch on my phone and a nice hot drink or glass of wine. Sometimes if it feels I have laundry piles everywhere I prioritise putting clean washing away or into the ironing basket. Otherwise you can just end up adding to the piles of chaos.

Hardly decluttered anything today although have been fairly productive in other ways. Did flyover out some party invitations so might count that as decluttering. Hoping to look at stationary tonight as we have a lot of pens and pencils once DCs asleep.

You welcome :)

It's just me and my daughter, but I have the Monday to Thursday washing rule: the washing machine doesn't get used friday, sat and Sunday.
The bedding gets changed on Sunday and washed on Monday. I have enough school uniforms for a week, all folded in ikea collapsable shelves (the cheap ones you hang on the wardrobe pole). I do the whole week on Friday night (which is my ironing night, the rock'n'roll life I live!!)
All the rest gets washed when one of us gets in, I have a lakeland heated airer thingy and a dehumidifier, I can hang two big loads and they're dry by the morning.

I now have a dishwasher, I can cheat, just bung the lot in, even if I don't have a whole load, I can just do half load. It goes on after dinner. But before, I didn't go to bed before I did all the dishes, cleaned the sink etc. It was hard in the beginning, after a while it became second nature.

Cooking is always more or less in batches, portioned and frozen, I menu plan, but I'm quite relaxed about the order I'm cooking the stuff in.

I hoover and dust daily. Just quickly 5 minutes each task. Either me or my DD, or together. It helps keep things at bay a bit.
Please don't think I'm smug, I have learnt to do this after years of mess. But I think washing and washing up, cooking , cleaning and tidying on a Saturday morning doesn't work for me. By Sunday evening my house used to be a mess again.

Can I join in? We've struggled with clutter ever since we moved in together many years ago. We're both a bit lazy and also have hobbies that just have so much stuff that go with them. Add a 5 year old dc and we're packed to the rafters with stuff.

And it all gets me down. Increases my anxiety. Makes me want to run away and start over. Not at all practical or helpful, but there you go.

Anyway reading this thread earlier this evening motivated me to tackle my clothes and I've got a big bag to donate and also some to throw. It's a small thing to do I suppose but I feel like this is easier than dealing with toys and books and lots of other stuff which isn't mine!

8fencing some really good tips there thank you. I am going to enforce Mon - Thurs washing!

:) that rule only came about because we used to dry things on the radiators and doors, at the weekend we couldn't just open the door to our friends, we had to do a mad dash of gathering everything and dumping it in a damp heap till they left etc.

I like the laundry rule, too! At this point we never have people over because of the general state of our house. Laundry would be the least of our problems!

Yy to getting dishes done before bed, even if you don't manage drying & putting away.
DH has unexpected day off, so I may manage to get more done today than I expected. I want to build a small shelving unit for toys. I need to cut up a big box so it will go in the recycling.
I need to do putting laundry away, so anyone else facing that particular mountain, I feel your pain. I'll do it if you do it :)

I have done a bit of putting laundry away with ironing for good measure. And have folded the pillowcases into the duvet cover so that hassle is avoided next time without tidying the linen cupboard.

I'm back. I'm another one with a 4 year age gap between DSs, so I keep DS1's things for what seems like a very long time before they're needed again. I've sorted through DS2's clothes today and am passing on everything that he has grown out of. It filled an enormous Lakeland bag to the brim, so I'm pleased to be handing all that on.

I've also done a lot of laundry and dried it in on the line instead if in the dryer. My mum will be so proud! I dont find keeping on top of the everyday stuff a problem though, for me, it's the stuff that's tucked away out of sight that causes me the most anxiety.

Dear fledgling minimalists, how's everyone doing? I've been enjoying reading your posts and thinking about how we can practically help each other given that we're all in a similar boat. These are the things I really struggle with. Wondering what solutions other people have:

(i) Childrens' schoolwork/art/cards they've made

(ii) Birthday cards that people have given us. I like to keep handdrawn ones but then I also end up keeping whole categories e.g. everything my mum has sent me because she might not be around for much longer, anything written by elderly relatives generally.

(iii) my own school/university work - feels weird throwing away all that work but then it just sits gathering dust

(iv) things people have given me e.g. lovely 'presentation' plates that we never use, glasses that I don't really like any more and have too many off but that were wedding presents

(v) children's clothes - the massive hoard of vacuum packed baby clothes in the loft fills me with dread

(vi) photos - gaaaah, do you really just scan them and ditch the originals? Not sure I can bring myself to do that.

Any thoughts on/ strategies for the stuff above much appreciated. Have a limited time to clear the office of papers before it gets reallocated!

Ahahaha. Didn't do much over the weekend as visitors were here, and I've also just bought an enormous addition to my nappy stash. It's the only thing I've ever bought that I think I might need to conceal from DH
I will make up for it by sorting baby clothes this week.
For baby clothes I'm planning - cheap supermarket things can go to recycling, nicer things can go to a local baby charity. I will keep some things for sentimental/possible second baby.

I'm not at the 'artwork' stage, altho we have her first ever fingerpainting up on the fridge, so I suspect it won't be long. I have seen people on here suggesting keeping the best example of each thing, and photographing some others, then ditching all the rest. I think if you have selective children you could get them involved in that too?

ii) birthday cards. I have absolutely no idea. Would welcome suggestions.

iii) school I think the only thing I kept was my physics a-level notes because I'd worked so hard on them. I've ditched most university stuff, only keeping a couple of good pieces and a couple of things I thought might be handy (vocational degree). Really, if you needed to remind yourself of anything, would you be able to lay your hand on the right bit of your notes, or would you use a textbook/Google? Really?

iv) I think Kondo is good for these things. I can make it work maybe 60-70% of the time.

v) see above

vi) no idea. Mine are all in a bag in a cupboard.

Hi all, I have done a tiny bit of decluttering - sorting out DC's art / drawing materials at the moment but I can't say I've done a huge amount :( .

(i) Artwork. Depends how organised I am. Theoretically I put the best bits on display then have boxes for each DC then they get culled and decanted into big memory boxes. In reality it piles up and every so often I look at it. I am pretty ruthless and most stuff really has to be recycled as it is just constant. I've heard of things like Google Keep I think but of course never got round to trying it and fear stuff would get lost.

(v) I think with children's clothes it is really individual. I am quite lucky in that respect as I have two DDs 2 years apart so don't need to store things for years and years. Also actually they share some clothes now. Also not planning another so I get rid of clothes as they grow out of them easily. Rags get taken to charity shop, really good stuff gets sold on facebook, OK quality stuff gets given to a friend or charity shop. I keep the odd item for sentimental reasons but not much at all. I do have a bit of a problem in that I have bags of clothes in our wardrobe that are too big still for DD1 and every so often I go through them. I think it must be much harder with a big age gap or if you're not sure whether you'll have another.

No other pearls of wisdom I'm afraid!

Marking place to join you in the morning :)

Good morning, how's everyone getting on?

My big task for the moment is to get my box room a little more umm...get-in-able we tend to pile all the stuff in there that needs to go to the tip /in the attic/to charity, and then forget about it for ages...

Paperwork I managed to get sorted last time I had a tidiness kick. I basically shredded everything apart from the kind of essentials it is difficult to get copies of (health stuff, benefit stuff - I also scanned these to the PC). All statements and letters were shredded, I had years worth that needed filing!!

DCs' stuff I just display for a while then secretly chuck out, except for school reports and one or two of the very best artworks/"news" notebooks from school that talk about their life.

Greetings cards I display then recycle immediately. Any gifts DC receive that they're unlikely to use I hide, re-gift if they'll be good for another DC, or give to charity if not.

Got rid of a bunch of stuff yesterday. But was still left with four massive boxes of cards/papers/art work/school books to go through another time. I have told the DC we need to spend a day going through them all together and deciding which bits need to go in a scrap book and which can be ditched. Hoping seeing the big boxes will help them to realise why we can't keep everything.

Have bought the Marie Kondo book but not read it yet. V much hoping it'll help with the psychological aspects of getting rid of some of this stuff.

On the plus side, the areas I have cleared are really inspiring. The kitchen and living room are sooo easy to keep tidy now. Just have to apply that to the rest of the house.

Has anyone done the Marie Kondo 'does it bring you joy?' clothes thing? And if so how long did it take? Wanting to wait until I have a chunk of time to do the job properly

I did the clothes and got rid of loads. Still seem to have loads that I don't wear generally too small so think I need to do it again

Would advise against involving young DC: they are unlikely to want to chuck anything out!

It sounds like your mother might have a hoarding mental health condition OP?

The trouble with the clothes thing is that you need funds/time to get clothes you like! It can be hard to find the desired items in store/online within your budget. Better to have clothes that are "only OK" or drab than none at all!

That said, I do get rid of clothes I don't like, wear or don't fit - stuff that I love but doesn't fit I vacuum bag and review every 6 months or so. Also try to think when buying of whether it'll go with existing stuff and be worn a lot,m.