Any (aspiring) minimalists about?

[HereticFanjo]

I am a natural clutterbug but aspiring minimalist! I'm about to have a couple of months off work between jobs and with no holidays planned this feels like the time to really go for it on the minimalism front! My income will be dropping substantially so I may need to sell some stuff rather than just donate.

How did you get there if you made the leap to minimalism? I find books and household stuff especially difficult to part with.

@Rummikub - ditch the toys then and be grateful for your dd that she'll never end up in our situation with a houseful of crap needing to be sorted out!

@FlipFlops4Me you have done amazingly well!

I have mostly decluttering now but still finding more to get rid of, some things just take a while for me to be able to let go of.

I am getting rid of my sparkly gold wedding shoes but still have the dress and tiara, not quite there yet.

I have developed a new love of storage containers though, I keep finding new things to organise.

I am so chuffed. Second and last camera has been sold (surprisingly they went quickly despite everyone having camera phones). Bed barrier is going tomorrow.

DS1 had a fantastic birthday and all presents are either books or games that look really good.

Unfortunately they played a massive 10 player game of marbles with the box Id put out for charity....and now DS1 doesn't want them to go 🤷‍♀️ but I dont mind if they get used. I might secretly thin them down a bit.

We did a massive tidy so all toys have a place now that is NOT on a surface. And Ive created enough space in a cupboard for the robot hoover to live in. It get used twice a week and just sits around on the floor looking messy

@InvincibleInvisibility - that's brilliant! The sales and the homes for stuff - and it just makes you feel so good, and that you can keep going. Hopefully family are beginning to feel happier with a calmer home and are beginning to understand what it is you're doing, and how much it's for their benefit

Definitely. DS2 (7) is happy selling toys but also is the worst for making a mess. He said the living room looked really nice with all the clear surfaces and I said that all the work Im doing is to make our flat nicer. He agreed and said from now on he'll help!

I doubt it but every little helps. DH also very impressed with the selling and tidying away of robot hoover in cupboard. He had already complained about the marbles going though....sigh.

[quote FlipFlops4Me]@Rummikub - ditch the toys then and be grateful for your dd that she'll never end up in our situation with a houseful of crap needing to be sorted out![/quote]
Yes I doubt my dds will hoard as they’ve seen it’s not good.
I really don’t know how I’ve accumulated so much stuff.
My car had its mot recently and I cleared it all out. Amazing that I even hoard in my car

@Rummikub I've always used my car as extra storage too!

I'm doing a lot better now, the boot is often full of things but they are actually on the way somewhere now rather than that being where they live.

I did a charity shop run yesterday, one carrier bag of books and 6 other carrier bags of random clothes, shoes and handbags.

There were some good quality things in there which I might have been able to sell eventually but I have tried that before and it just ends up being too stressful and long winded to be worthwhile.

I decided the average hourly rate I might make plus the stress was less than my time is worth on top of a full time job so just donated it all. It was quite freeing but I do have some residual guilt!

@CornedBeef451

I feel like that too about selling stuff. It’s a lot of time and effort for sometimes little gain.

A few months ago I had an eBay stint and have made £90. But it felt like 2 weekends gone.

There’s some stuff I’ll still eBay but a lot I’ll pass on or go to charity.

Has anyone used the people who buy clothes by weight? Is it worth it?
I have a bagful of jeans that must weigh a lot!

I sent a lot to the recycling centre - the clothes will all be recycled and not wasted, and that's easier when you've not got a car than trying to get bin bagsful to the charity shop. I reached a point where I didn't want to ask my neighbour to transport any more stuff - I started to feel like I was taking advantage of their really good nature. So the clothes formed part of the 68 bags that went to recycling.

That’s an amazing amount!

I do take a lot of my unwanted clothes to the household recycling centre.
But I could also do with some extra money (ex stopped paying maintenance 😡). But if I’m o oh going to get a fiver then I won’t bother.

Wouldn't do any harm to ask the sites how much they pay, and perhaps weigh your old clothes? At least that way you'd know for sure.

Not a bad idea. I’ll check some out. Just for the bag of jeans. The rest of the clothes go to charity or recycling centre.

What do others do with old electronics and chargers?
What do the EEE (?) recycling places do?
I appreciate I am probably overthinking these things!

@Rummikub

Not a bad idea. I’ll check some out. Just for the bag of jeans. The rest of the clothes go to charity or recycling centre.

What do others do with old electronics and chargers?
What do the EEE (?) recycling places do?
I appreciate I am probably overthinking these things!

I take it all to the council recycling centre.

This webpage explains what happens after:

www.recyclenow.com/recycling-knowledge/how-is-it-recycled/electricals

Way back at the beginning of the thread there was talk about what minimalism means and any inspiring videos etc.

This is a good video that talks about her ideas on what it means for her. I really like Jolita's understated video style and her gentle humour.

I take electronics to a local chain store that recycles them.

DH asked me if I know what I want for Christmas. I said yes, some beauty goods (hair) and trainers to replace some that have a hole in them. He said he has a huge list of stuff. I said to try to be minimal and he grinned and said it was to give me more stuff to sell later

He didnt have a comeback when I said that all this sorting and selling has made me even more convinced to limit what comes into the flat!

On the plus size, all day DS1 has had his nose stuck into a science encyclopedia a friend gave him yesterday. DH looked at it and has asked to borrow it! So a very good present and worth the space. (Unlike all the Tintin and Asterix books that no one reads but were DH's and he refuses to part with them)

Useful read about WEEE recycling.
The stuff I have still works so I’ll donate to British heart foundation.

I love an encyclopaedia. My in laws had a full set. I loved them. They thought I was mad as no one had touched them for years.
I do remember inviting the door to door encyclopaedia salesman into my parents house and poured over the sample copy!

Another load of stuff to the charity. And we bought a new desk for DS1 and gave his old one to DS2 so I took advantage to have a quick sort out with them and threw away about 40 random pieces of plastic/card. No difference in storage but every little helps!

Have also decluttered and tidied so much that we have an old coffee table that used to be piled high with toys and now isn't. So we ve decided to get rid of it and replace it with a decent standing lamp (our lounge is always gloomy in the winter). Not done it yet but just getting DH to agree is progress!

Oh well done @InvincibleInvisibility

I got sent today's message by Joshua Becker's page and it is brilliant:

www.becomingminimalist.com/

I made the bed for the spare room over the weekend! I was so very pleased that I managed it.

Oh and I got rid of two more sets of bookshelves and a kitchen chair.

And I'm shocked to say it but I've been looking round each room with eyes that tell me there is still a lot of stuff to declutter......

Well done! And yes the decluttering seems never ending but im past the urgent bit. Now I'm focusing on making the flat a nicer place to live in

Thanks for the link. Ive started buying Christmas presents and its good to keep reading about minimalism at the same time! Keeps me focused on getting decent and useful things only. No one hit wonders (i hope)

Haven't posted for a while. I bag of books gone today.

I am sorting out the bookcases & trying to make all our books fit.

Am just getting rid of mine, as there will be an explosion if I try & dispose of any of his. Even if they haven't been read in 30+ years

I managed to get DH to look through his ooks after id been decluttering for a while. And when i discovered a bookshop that buys back pristine books (which DH'S always are). There's an app to scan barcodes and he saw how much money we could get. That motivated him!

Huge carrier bagful of pots & pans sorted out. And I've got my eye on a couple of open shelves that I'd like to sort out, and a couple of cupboards.

I also see several items in the sitting room - a couple of them might be put them away and see if he notices the absence, but most of them can just go.