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.

Oh absolutely I know it is rooted in childhood poverty - my grandparents were poor, my parents therefore grew up poor and so we held onto everything because ' you never knew when you would need it.'

Ironically I'm trying to clear things just as my own life is entering a fairly uncertain period but I'm trying to remember that it's so much easier to move freely with less stuff.

Good luck OP.

Definitely get rid of the drinks you don't want. Or give yourself a deadline to drink them by (ive done that for some books that i really should read but never start).

My 10 year old refuses to get rid of anything so im gradually moving all his stuff he never plays with into his room rather than the living room.

My 7 year old happily sorts out stuff to sell or throw away. But still has too many soft toys/large toys. Its a work in progress. My main focus is now reducing what comes in to the flat.

I think I keep things because I didn’t have much stuff as a child. And I still am sad that my mum threw away two fake sindy dolls that I loved as a child when I went away to university. I came back and they were gone and she was unrepentant.
I still have the baby doll I got from when I was in hospital when I was a toddler from one of the nurses. Even my mum knew that was too precious to throw away.
My children are much better than me at decluttering and will happily give away their toys. I wonder though whether that’s because they have more than enough toys?
A few years ago we had a cuddly toy cull and I kept trying to save toys that they wanted to give away.

I also think there’s something in it about money or uncertainty in your life. Makes you cling onto things.PP said about being having less staff means it’s quicker to move or react or something similar- that’s a useful mindset.

Definitely true OP.
Also, we need a lot less stuff then we think,

I have a tendency to buy stuff that I don’t need and when I do it too much, I do something very silly that I probably wouldn’t dare to admit to anyone in real life. Do you know the TLC programme ‘Extreme cheapskates’? One episode was about Kate Hashimoto who lives in New York, spends maybe £200 per month on living expenses and saves the rest. Her methods are very extreme in some ways but she’s a great poster woman for minimalism and recycling. When I need a reminder to be living with less and spend less, I look up her episode on YouTube and she gets me inspired to be more minimalist .

I'm loving all the recommendations here, thank you. I found Dana White's podcast and I'm listening to it while I clear. I'm listening to episode 247 about decluttering at times of uncertainty.

I've literally found at least thirty quid in change plus another twenty in money that's out of circulation - old pound coins. What can I do with this to get it changed? Another thirty in Euro as well and really every bit of it helps at the minute.

I do get tired from decluttering quickly - partly because I'm supposed to be on iron which I keep forgetting to take - so I'm going to put it somewhere prominent so I don't forget.

Found a few clothes I can sell too, a couple with tags on.

Everyone is doing so well!

Whenever I get disheartened by the mess I try to think that it took me 40 years to get to this state so it's not going to be an overnight fix.

My parents are definitely from the era of keeping things just in case. I realised recently I was doing the same thing but watching the Minimal Mom and Dana K White videos has really helped.

Particularly the idea that there is a cost to keeping things even though that might be your mental health or time rather than money.

My house, like my parents' house, was tidy but densely packed and finding anything meant completely reshuffling everything. Now I've junked so much stuff it's so much easier to remember what we have and where it is.

My new storage systems seem to be working as DH and the DCs can find things and are actually putting things away again, it's a miracle!

I'm slowly working on my Mom as she keeps everything, including dresses from the 80s a la Princess Diana. She just can't let anything go though.

She recently realised they use the same 4 glasses for guests despite owning approximately 100 others, nicely displayed but definitely not for use. Some of them are just ones they got free from the garage 30 years ago so not even special ones.

They're both obsessed with funerals at the moment so I've used that to talk about Swedish Death Cleaning as their house is so full it'll take a really long time to clear if/when they need to go into a home.

Dad has just pre paid for a straight to cremation funeral for himself which is fine but it means we don't get to have a funeral but we do get to empty his incredibly full shed? And allotment shed, and loft, plus every t shirt and pair of pants he has ever owned.

Sorry for the rant, I'm getting over Covid and I love my parents but the constant death talk is a bit much at the moment. I'll calm down again by the time I see them next week and will no doubt be charmed by their oddness once again.

In the meantime I've chucked a load of old makeup I will never wear again, including the slightly weird orange foundation I tried once but kept "just in case" I ever went orange.

Good luck everyone!

@CornedBeef451 this bit resonated with me:

Dad has just pre paid for a straight to cremation funeral for himself which is fine but it means we don't get to have a funeral but we do get to empty his incredibly full shed? And allotment shed, and loft, plus every t shirt and pair of pants he has ever owned.

The death cleaning thing can be really helpful. I'm hoping I'm a good few decades away from it but I do find the idea really motivating - plus the idea that I really deserve to live in a nice, calm home while I'm alive.

@HereticFanjo after seeing DH have to sort through his DMs things I'd hate to leave a houseful of junk for my DCs.

I'd much rather help my parents sort things out now rather than have to do it after their deaths while in the midst of grief and unavoidable sibling drama. Plus everything will mean something then. Maybe I will end up keeping the Diana dresses as they're so bizarrely linked to DM!

The trickle down effect is already happening as my DCs have things from DHs grandparents which mean absolutely nothing to them but mean something to DH. They won't even know what they are when they find them in the future.

Joshua becker has a video about staging your home for living. He said that so often people make their house really nice in order to sell it. So why not do it for you when you have to live in it? Little things like making your bed, clearing away clean dishes and dry clothes

@HereticFanjo

I'm loving all the recommendations here, thank you. I found Dana White's podcast and I'm listening to it while I clear. I'm listening to episode 247 about decluttering at times of uncertainty.

I've literally found at least thirty quid in change plus another twenty in money that's out of circulation - old pound coins. What can I do with this to get it changed? Another thirty in Euro as well and really every bit of it helps at the minute.

I do get tired from decluttering quickly - partly because I'm supposed to be on iron which I keep forgetting to take - so I'm going to put it somewhere prominent so I don't forget.

Found a few clothes I can sell too, a couple with tags on.

The bank can change the coins can’t they? I hope so as I’ve found about £10 in old £1 coins. And every penny counts atm! I am gathering stuff to sell too double win as it’ll help get stuff out house and make a bit of money.

@LaBellina

Definitely true OP. Also, we need a lot less stuff then we think,

I have a tendency to buy stuff that I don’t need and when I do it too much, I do something very silly that I probably wouldn’t dare to admit to anyone in real life. Do you know the TLC programme ‘Extreme cheapskates’? One episode was about Kate Hashimoto who lives in New York, spends maybe £200 per month on living expenses and saves the rest. Her methods are very extreme in some ways but she’s a great poster woman for minimalism and recycling. When I need a reminder to be living with less and spend less, I look up her episode on YouTube and she gets me inspired to be more minimalist .

That programme sounds interesting. Any tips you’ve picked up?

@InvincibleInvisibility

Joshua becker has a video about staging your home for living. He said that so often people make their house really nice in order to sell it. So why not do it for you when you have to live in it? Little things like making your bed, clearing away clean dishes and dry clothes

I really like that! Thank you :)

I actually looked up the Kate Hashimoto programme and found it thoroughly off-putting. Her apartment looks extremely dirty and cluttered with all kinds of rubbish she collected from skips and dumpsters.

When it got to how she fishes food out of dumpsters (!) I had to switch off as I was about to retch.

I think I'll stick to Marie Kondo

Oh I’ve heard of dumpster diving
Think you can get some decent stuff.
www.google.com/amp/s/www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/dumpster-diving-teacher-says-lived-19894883.amp

I'm trying to come up with a plan for today - I'll have a couple of hours later. I don't actually know where to start! I have a habit of starting decluttering benders then running out of steam early in the process. I might use the visibility thing that Dana White talks about.

@FlowerArranger

I actually looked up the Kate Hashimoto programme and found it thoroughly off-putting. Her apartment looks extremely dirty and cluttered with all kinds of rubbish she collected from skips and dumpsters.

When it got to how she fishes food out of dumpsters (!) I had to switch off as I was about to retch.

I think I'll stick to Marie Kondo

Yes I agree that she’s not very stylish that’s why I mentioned that her methods are extreme 😂. But what I do find inspiring is her fuck it mentality, she’s very anti consumerism and isn’t trying to impress anybody with stuff and I find that attitude inspiring

I’ve found my people I think, my house is just full to bursting with stuff - useful stuff, new stuff, sentimental stuff, useless stuff but stuff. Things I’ve not used or looked at for years but keep just in case - in case of what I’m not sure but still it lingers.

Starting today clearing out our drinks cabinet of stuff we literally never drink. And a bookcase of stuff that I’ve not looked at for years and is just gathering dust. I could use the storage space for things we actually need and use which ends up on counter tops looking cluttered.

I’ve always held on to things but there are four of us in the house now, all holding on to things.

I've just started going through a huge under bed tub of photos.

I'm trying to be ruthless but it's hard! I'm finding it fairly easy apart from photos of my nieces and nephews who are all grown up now, I feel like I need to keep every single one, even the unfocused ones!

With photos years ago I put the hard copies (several hundred) where I had no digital copy through the computer and stored them in the cloud, on a thumb drive, and in my laptop. Since then all pics have been digital anyway and easy to store online. (The thumb drive and cloud storage are for backup).

Now I have the images as rolling wallpaper on my laptop and it's such fun seeing pics I haven't looked at for years. I've also been able to pass my DS a thumb drive with the whole family album on. He's very pleased.

Ditching the negatives took a deep intake of breath, and all I have to do now is shred the originals!

My next task will be my jewellery box and my "treasure" box. I am absolutely sure that 80% of it all can go to the charity shop.

From today's Guardian:

Minimalist
What it is A “less is less” aesthetic that favours composed simplicity and mono-colour dressing. Keeping a capsule wardrobe or shopping for bespoke secondhand pieces.
What it tells us The pandemic has focused our minds on sustainable living and dressing, with an increase in people creating their curated capsule wardrobes to escape from over-consumption.

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/sep/27/from-minimalist-to-menocore-the-21-biggest-style-tribes-of-2021?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

So now we know that we are totally on trend. Very comforting and inspiring

An hour and a half later I’ve dumped 17 bottles of various obscure drinks (some bought for a fundraising cocktail party in 2009!), emptied 2 drawers and am clearing the very over crowded bookcase. Trying to be ruthless, rather than simply rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

@FlipFlops4Me that sounds like a good plan. I've gone through about 25 packs of photos and just kept 5 packs in the end.

After looking through photos spanning 35 years I've realised I really don't suit any kind of fringe!

We'll done @Jellycatspyjamas!

We got rid of our weird collection of booze over last summer when DH was furloughed, turns out I would rather not drink if we don't have red wine whereas he would even drink the weird stuff we got from Budapest 15 years ago. Disturbing but a useful talent.

[quote CornedBeef451]@FlipFlops4Me that sounds like a good plan. I've gone through about 25 packs of photos and just kept 5 packs in the end.

After looking through photos spanning 35 years I've realised I really don't suit any kind of fringe! [/quote]
@CornedBeef451 - Well that's one good thing to know! I always preferred a fringe and my mum wanted my hair back far enough to show my face. The older I get the more I see she was right. We live and learn.

Big excitement - I've just realised that Thursday is payday and I can order a bed for the spare room! I'll get the mattress and bedding at the end of October. Wahey!

@CornedBeef451 that’s a very useful talent - I had 3 bottles of cheap Bailies lookalike which my mum kept buying me for Christmas. I don’t like actual Bailies and the knock off one didn’t taste any better.

What do people do with books. I had a cull a while back but still have so many books, I only buy non-fiction books mainly for work (fiction goes on my kindle). Trying to find uncluttered places for them isn’t easy so they end up stacked on my desk.