moms of minimalism

[DropItLikeASquat]

Hi Ladies,
I have been practicing minimalism now for almost a year and I couldn't find a thread about this so decided to start one.
I thought we could share ideas and how -to's and just support each other in this unconventional lifestyle.
about me: Im a single momma of 8 in a 3 bed house. I sleep on the floor downstairs on a tatami mattress and my kids have the 3 bedrooms upstairs (2 boys in one room, 2 girls in another, 3 little girls in the last bedroom and the 18 month old baby boy is still in my bed.
we have a modest dresser of toys. a lego table (trofast drawers with all 'current building' projects on top) and each child has a box/trunki with their special/personal things and we have a craft cupboard in the kitchen.
We keep clothing to a minimum (unless keeping as hand-me down) and have minimised the entire house and its an ongoing project.
Our dream is to live minimally and have our spare space/time/money free to make memories together and be happy.
Anyone can join this journey. What is minimalist for one family, won't be for another so lets all share your journeys and support one another xx

Eryri- Joshua Becker is great, and with a wife and family he is very relatable.
I love Frugi clothes. As my almost 2 year old has stopped feeding now I've just passed on my bf tops which have seen me through 3 pregnancies and BF journeys. My kids have frog clothing. If I buy new I tend to wait for the frugi sale and buy from there. Staples like t-shirts and shorts have been passed down through my kids and at times to friends kids and then back to us again.
In-fact I was recently given back a girls t-shirt from a friend that still had the cut4cloth tag in it (frugis name 9 years ago before they rebranded). Its probably been through 6 or 7 kids now and still washes up lovely.
Im about to go shopping today (by that I mean charity shopping) for a few tops as most of mine are threadbare and now I've lost 2 stone nothing looks nice on me.
I have a list of what I need and I'm going to trail the preloved/charity shops for it :-)

I find its great to capsule your wardrobe for ease.
I have .....
1 grey blazer
1 thick black cardy
1 thin black cardy
1 beige cardy (I use as dressing gown/at home)
1 cream top
2 grey tops
looking for another cream top 2 black tops and another grey top
1 black jeans
1 denim jeans with rips
1 pair levis
1 smart black trousers
1 black dress
2 pairs shorts
2 gym bottoms
2 sports bras
2 sports tops
winter boots
converses
trainers
ballet pumps
flip-flops
socks and pants
bras
Thats it and it seems plenty. I probably could scale back further if I needed too but I like what I have and will wear everything over the 4 seasons so I guess its pretty minimalist.
One thing I have stopped buying is long sleeved tops. I just get short sleeved that can be layered in the winter so they suit all year and I don't have to have l sleeved tops that don't get worn all summer.

Really just commenting to placemark as I'm finding this thread very interesting! I'm not minimalist (yet) - just posted on another thread about doing Marie Kondo and trying to get rid of stuff, but the more Kondo-ing I do, the more attracted I am to having a much simpler lifestyle and getting rid of a whole lot of other things.

welcome purplegreen xxx
get the kids off to bed, then grab a cuppa and join us xxx

This is very interesting - I love the idea of more simple living but with four DC and a wannabe-hoarder DH I find I'm fighting a losing battle! I have an old book from the 1970s called Living More with Less, which is very much of its time and culture (simple living in religious America!) but which has some inspiring ideas. Mainly about simple meals, reducing consumption and reusing items instead of buying new, which are a little antidote to the "millionaire sees the light" type of minimalism. I hope this thread continues as I'm interested in hearing how people are doing on their minimalist journeys.

A local mum set up a "baby swap" yesterday, so got rid of bags and bags of baby clothes and maternity clothes that I no longer need/ surplus hand me downs that I didn't need. Now just need to get rid of the 3 charity shop bags in the car.

Feel like I have accomplished something this week, and the house is better for it

@Eryri1981 that's great, I love swapping kids clothes. I've barely bought anything new for my 2 yo as I swapped some boys clothes with a friend.

I'm moving the end of May and although we don't have much, I'm looking forward to getting rid of more stuff!

I'm considering getting rid of some books. They have sat there, for years, untouched. I'd keep all my art books and knitting books, but get rid of novels. What do you think? I never get time to read and think that if I do, I can just go to a library.

I got rid of a load of books when we moved house a couple of years ago (a house move is a great push for decluttering and seeing if you really want to pay to bring something with you!) I used the kondo "sparks joy" question and ended up donating about half my novels which I knew I was never going to read again. I kept one's that I really enjoyed, read regularly and/or dip in and out of. I use the library or a charity bookshop which I can donate books back to when I've finished with them. I can hardly remember the books I got rid of and it was definitely worth freeing up the space by having a clear out.

Thanks, yes I think I'll keep the ones that the kids may enjoy when they're older (eg His Dark Materials and Harry Potter but donate the rest.

Mrsoutnumbered I was about to suggest keeping kids books...I have held on to my road Dahl from childhood, plus Harry potter and dark materials, but got rid of DH duplicates. We have also held on to a handful of really great books that will eventually be re read, Birdsong, thousand splendid suns, Jonathon strange etc.

3 years ago I moved from 95m2 house on my own to a 75m2 house with (now) DH, and we have since added a dog and DD. I got rid of so much stuff, sold a lot on eBay and made about £600 to put towards solicitors fees. It was really cathartic getting rid of so much, I didn't think I had a lot compared to most people, but living in a house too big for one person meant I never really needed to get rid of anything, it is amazing what you accumulated in a decade!!

@Eryri1981. Huge congrats on the huge declutter for the swap shop and charity shop run.
I bet you feel so much 'lighter'.
£600 on eBay sales id great and is a huge chunk of change off of the solicitors bill, well done, you are very inspiring.
Totally agree about the books..... Some of the timeless ones for the kids are certainly worth keeping. We have horrible histories/science and the Harry Potter series, a few enid Blyton etc My daughter loves her books and has some David Williams books that I know my younger ones will read and love too. I also have some books for uni and a cook book that I love and use all of the time. Odd books that we need for a project/school topics etc are just borrowed on our library cards, wears make use of the summer reading reward schemes in the summer and the kids love collecting their prizes for reading library books in their chosen topics/genres.

hope everyone is having a relaxing and/or productive weekend.
dropit x

Very productive evening yesterday as I shredded a load of old paperwork that was hanging around. I felt like I had really achieved something and had a few empty files to show for it. Unfortunately I managed to shred my most recent 'certificate of no claims bonus' for the car insurance, which I need to renew this week. And it will cost me €15 to get a new one - doh!

Finally managed to get rid of 3 big bags of charity shop stuff I have been driving around with for a few weeks...It is amazing how simple tasks become logistical nightmares with a 11 week old baby in tow!! Finally found a charity shop I could park right outside of and leave DD in car whilst I unloaded. Feels so good to have some much stuff gone and out of the way

I lurrrrrve shredding paperwork, Its so satisfying!!!
I picked up 3 donation bags from the local children's hospice today, I'm going to cull th excess bedding and towels and soft toys- wish me luck

Hi, I'm posting on here to start motivating myself to clear out and get minimal! Just at the very beginning of what I imagine will be a lengthy divorce process, and now H is out of the house I'm keen to, at last, get rid of stuff he'd always question me clearing. Just plastic kids tat and my old clothes, but he'd always be saying 'why did you buy/ give that if you're just going to throw it away?' (good point for future consumption, not so useful when also shouting 'why is there so much of your shit in this house?' at the DCs...)
I Kondo-d my stuff last year and it was genuinely cathartic and think somehow got me to make the changes ready to divorce.
So now to do it- but I'm working full time, solo parenting 3 and just cannot face it once the extensive bedtime ends... Then at the weekend the baby follows me round emptying bags back out, throwing clothes around while the older two are crying that they can't live without the broken plastic crap I'm sorting. So when?!! During work () I've drawn up a little goals paper of where I want to get rooms to, it's just finding the time!

hi @mynamechangemyrules,
It was the end of my relationship that set off my journey to minimalism/simple living. It's a great way to process emotional baggage as well as the physical stuff, especially post separation/mid divorce. When the kids are in bed just do one small area at a time, maybe just one Childs outgrown clothes, or a small pile of toys, little and often. Don't be hard on yourself, its hard to find the time. I do it when the kids are in bed, just 30 mins every now and then. then I hide the bag of stuff until I get a small window where I get offload to the charity shop/ post it free to collector on gumtree.

@sunsunsunsunsun. A great place to start.
The underwear drawer is always an anomaly with us too, I tend to always go for the same undies/bras and I found this easy to scale down. socks though sooooo many odd ones. It seems I always end up with a bunch of unlatching socks so now I just buy black for the boys and white/grey for the girls depending on age. now if the get 'added' its not so bad as apart from a teeny bit of variation in colour from washing......maybe everrrrrrrrr so slightly, they are identical so always have a pair.
utensils are the craziest area of our house at the moment, we never seem to have enough forks and spoons as they go walkies from lunch boxes but have. loads of bread knives lol.
its probably way past due for a shoe tidy up too. I got some new PE kit stuff this term for the kiddos and I've yet to throw out/'put back for hand me downs' the kids old trainers etc.

lovely to see this thread reviving, minimalism is such a continuous process and come in peaks and dips so I hope this thread will continue to support others.

x

I did my underwear drawer and dresses last night! (Diff time zone to UK!) Yay! I always wear the same (comfy) undies and so got rid of tonnes. Also did dresses and accessories. So not a bad start. I feel like I can't do the emptying it all out à la Kondo, because then if I don't finish I've got a pile of crap to be moved or attacked by children in the morning.

@DropItLikeASquat how do you do children's things when they're in bed? I always think about it but the thought of waking them outweighs my desire to clear out

good job @mynamechangemyrules, My kids don't have any toys in their bedrooms thankfully so all of their toys are in our living space. Aside from clothes which I will sneak in and gather up before culling and a few special things they have in their personal boxes everything else is shared/In our communal clothing boxes etc that they pass down etc.
as there is me and 9 kids in the house we don't have room in our small 3 bed for tonnes of extra stuff.
They each have a bike/scooter/helmet etc, swimming floats/toys and our outdoor toys. They each have a few toys/things that are special to them and I have limited their stuffies to one stuffed animal/bear each and thats it. we then have a tonne of boardgames/craft supplies etc that we use as a family and in our living room there is a trofast Ikea chest with play food/small dollies/ bricks/baby dolls and clothing, animals, some role play/ dressing up etc. we also enjoy reading so have lots (lots by our standard is probably small to others) and lots of books/Harry Potter etc.
we have a small tv and some DVDs for the kids to watch but we don't have regular tv or cable/sky etc.
its. modest amount for my family size but we get by fine and don't seem to miss out on the latest gadget/toy/fad (fidget spinners anyone??? we never had one).
if I'm going to clear out I will choose an are and just do it. Aside from the kids personal things and for my older ones they get autonomy on their own crap, I make the decisions about what toys and clothes are being kept and not once has any of my kids claimed to miss play with/wearing anything I've culled. (thank sweet Jesus).
once your piles/group of stuff is done, bin anything that needs to be binned and keep a secret charity stash for when you have time to get rid of it that way or just list and sell sell sell.

I've done toys!! I did the Kondo thing of getting them all in one place- I threw them out of boxes into a pile on the downstairs carpet. Got rid of loads. Still feel like a touch too much, but it's cleared 4 empty shelves which I've artfully placed random nice toys on in an effort to make myself look like a pinterester!! It was very pleasing!

Finished one child's clothes (sounds so bad compared to you real minimalists!) and tonight I'm thinking of doing my toiletries which annoy me daily so that would be good. (Some of this may be work avoidance as I have several huge papers to get in!! Deadline Monday so of course I'm barely started!)

I have kept a couple of things to sell, but hate that as it takes so long and so much faffing to get them gone. Annoying, but otherwise seems like such a waste of money having got them at all. Which it was I suppose!

Hope you're all getting through it!

OP has 8 children?? That’s not very minimalist...

Great idea about Kondo-ing all the toys. I am sick of moaning to DC about toys!

Why thanks for pointing that out @HopeClearwater. Its a little late now though, maybe I should konmarie the kids??
now.... which one brings me the most joy......???????

DropItLikeASquat fair enough