S&B Minimalism / Kondo support thread

[FrugalFashionista]

Are you interested in decluttering, organizing, or downsizing? Or just being more mindful how you approach clothes, shoes, jewellery, makeup or any other objects in your home. Perhaps you are already Kondoing your belongings or are thinking about 333...

I'm a newbie, I've been decluttering our home for a couple of months now before and during a major house move. Is anyone else interested in sharing experiences, goals or ideas or just chatting with like-minded people? Please join us!

I'm a navy, grey, white girl too.
With bit of black and charcoal and slate added in.
Have had to replenish wardrobe over past year following 2.5 stone weight loss and it now looks like a rail at The White Company.
I find dressing on holiday so easy, and realised it was because I take what I love.
So I have tried to replicate that in everyday life.

That link about the capsule wardrobe has inspired me. Started on the baby's but interrupted by naptime. Will get cracking on mine this afternoon.

Another Unfancy fan here.

I'm not really minimalist, but my wardrobe centres almost exclusively around black, white, grey and denim. I then have the very occasional bit of leopard print or bright pink. Clothes I have in any other colour than those are rarely worn tbh.

I'm inspired by you lot & going to do this tonight! I know there is stuff I haven't worn for years, some of which doesn't fit that I can get rid of and won't miss at all.

When I think about what I like to wear it's always the purchases that I thought about and planned that give me the most joy. I too think I buy for a 'fantasy me' rather than real me so impulse buys rarely work.

I've just had a tax rebate so have some spare cash to treat myself with so now is a good time to go through, see what I have and think about what I need.

Will let you know how I get on!!

Sorry I've been too busy Kondoing to post We rented a van today and took lots of obsolete electronics, batteries, lamps and a few big pieces of furniture to the recycling and sorting center at the local landfill (the place was fabulously organized, there was a different place for everything).

Then we went to Ikea and with my brother helping built two new cupboards and one storage bench for shoes. Our apartment is from the 1930s and has almost no closet space - back then most people probably just had one or two everyday outfits and one good outfit and a couple of pairs of shoes and two coats. We are trying to keep things better organized by assigning every item a dedicated place.

I also unpacked the rest of the kitchen (we have an insane amount of plates and glasses - I am letting go of one dinnerware set) and organized my makeup and skincare.

I am super happy as now I can clearly see how much I have and gradually use up all multiples. This also means a S&B shopping ban for the rest of the year. I'll tackle my clothes tomorrow.

I've found my wardrobe has become so much more coherent recently. My color range is soft whites, denim blues, grays, taupes, different greens (from olive to emerald) with some pinks and watermelon reds and true reds as accent colors and some black too. I am a classical dresser and I'm noticing that many of the clothes I am letting go are either outside my core comfort colors (I just don't do brown!) or a bit too dressy for my daily life. And then there are some mistakes, clothes that are too tight, see through, sweaty, with a weird neckline, no sleeves, or other similar problems.

I have kondo'd jeans! I can't believe I now have only 4 pairs of jeans (navy skinnies, grey skinnies, white straight leg and navy bootcut). All the other ones felt like compromises so I have thanked them and set them free. Jeans are a particular bugbear of mine - I am constantly on the hunt for the perfect skinnies and end up with lots that don't bring me joy.

I will be revisiting tops now that I'm getting more practised. Similar to jeans, I'm always on the hunt for the perfect soft stretchy long sleeved, long line T shirt. I've decided to be a lot more choosy about what I bring into my wardrobe, in order to avoid having a closet full of not-quite-right ones.

So far this month I have eBayed 28 pieces of clothing (much more the previous month too). I listed another 12 items this weekend and collected another bin bag's worth to go to the charity shop. I also sent off some old silver jewellery that I never wear to be sold for scrap, and got £60! This was a revelation - in the past I've found it particularly hard to get rid of jewellery that has been gifted to me. The company I used was Hatton Garden Metals (recommended on Money Saving Expert).

I also sent a box of unused / barely used make up and toiletries items off to Give and Make Up, the charity that collects for women's refuges. Including three unused Bobbi Brown shimmer bricks (£30 each!) that I never used because they made me look sparkly, but I couldn't bring myself to throw out because it felt like such an extravagant waste. The Kondo threads made me realise it's the purchasing that's the waste, now the giving away.

As well as re-doing tops, I need to sort out make-up brushes and go over jewellery and underwear again. The part I think I will find hardest (apart from letters and photos) will be my crafty/yarn stash. What if I give some yarn/fabric away and end up needing it later for a project? I bet Marie Kondo doesn't have a hobby that requires a lot of 'stuff'.

I've kondoed my wardrobe! I've done quite a few purges already so the main focus was not to reduce numbers but to organize it properly.

This here is my everyday home & work wardrobe - tops on one rails, skirts and jackets on another. I stored fancier things that I rarely wear - summer dresses and very formal cocktail and evening outfits - elsewhere. In Italy, my wardrobe was so stuffed that I could no longer move the clothes. So now I made sure that I can move anything freely. And then I organized things by color, not by type. This instantly makes my clothes look more appealing (sorry they are still crushed from transportation).

I will do winter sweaters, t shirts and jeans tomorrow.

Oh, and I've repurposed old shoeboxes for cosmetics, underwear and sock storage and as drawer dividers. I keep the boxes open but when I can pull open a drawer and see at one glance what I have, it is much easier to find things. In the past, I repurchased items that I already owned because I couldn't find them

Wombat I am in awe of what you have accomplished. I'm not quite there yet...

While I organized my clothes, DH sorted out our CDs. We've been listening to 1990s Italian pop songs and early 2000s Brazilian megahits all afternoon. DH reinterpreted some of the more melodramatic songs and I laughed so hard that I almost fell of the ladder. (I think Marie Kondo said that if you start by organizing your own stuff, others will follow...)

I found a way to storage my big leather bags (we lack a specific cupboard for this). There is a 15 to 20 cm gap between the sliding wire basket clothing storage systems and the wall, and I tied the bags to the wire frame using some fancy boutique ribbons I had saved. In another space like that, I keep my belts and long necklaces.

Wombat and frugal -fantastic kondoing!!! Sounds amazing, well done! I've achieved nothing over the last few days...

Been Kondoing my clothes this week, and it's made a difference to be able to find stuff in my drawers. Love being able to see what I've got at a glance, and now I'm asking everyone for spare shoeboxes! Still got coats and bags to go, and take everything to charity shops/clothing banks.

Lovewearingjeans and Katiegg you are doing so well, really inspiring to read your posts!

Daimbar you'll Kondo your stuff some day soon! I've been postponing sorting out my wardrobe as I felt overwhelmed by it but it was not as bad as I thought.

I noticed another thing. We have a balcony that catches a moist sea breeze. I hung a couple of blouses and shirts there and within an hour, they were crease-free! Need to keep an eye on the clouds though as we get unexpected rain showers all the time.

Right now I'm testing an old bread machine. If it still works, I promise to make delicious homemade bread frequently (we used this a lot when DC were babies and even a trip to the supermarket was a stretch). If not, we'll purge it when we take the next load of dead electronics to the recycling center.

The other bonus (if you can call it that) was that I ended up in hospital with ds2 (9) for two nights last week, when he broke his arm on the first day of the Summer holidays that's a whole other post, and I could direct my dh to which item in each drawer, and he could find it easily! Started Kondoing dh clothes. Got rid of grotty t shirts and boxers.

I'm pretty sure I don't need to do any Kondoing of my clothes at the moment, as my entire wardrobe, apart from underwear, socks and running clothes, consists of two pairs of jeans (one with holes), 4 vests and about 5 long-sleeved tops - no accessories apart from my wedding ring. I do a lot of loads of laundry.

What I'm wondering is whether it's possible to have a capsule wardrobe that differs from the '33 items in grey, black, navy, pops of colour' that seems to be standard across minimalist sites. Even the ones that mention finding your own style (such as Into Mind) all seem to wind up recommending something that's aesthetically minimalist as well as minimal in number.

Can you have a minimalist wardrobe that has lots of brights/prints? If not, is a capsule wardrobe actually just another trend?

This thread has inspired me to have another purge! I've been through my wardrobe, folded and stored away the clothes that don't currently fit and hung up those that do. A few things to go out (I've done some big purges over the last 12 months), but mostly just tidied and put things in a suitable place.

I've also taken stock of my toiletries and made sure I know exactly what I have before I spend again. I've put together all the bubble baths (including hotel freebies) for use by DC as otherwise they'll just sit gathering dust - someone might as well get some use out of them!

I'm also guilty of not emptying handbags before I throw them in the wardrobe, so today I've been through them, emptying and cleaning them. Pretty grim job, I'll not do that again! I think I need to get rid of at least one of the bags, will psych myself up to that tomorrow...

It gets addictive to the other parts of your house, once you get started on the process. I still have jewellery to go too.

BabC - I think you can have a wardrobe full of prints, as long as the prints use similar colours - so you could have (for example) red and white trousers, that you could wear with either white/red/blue top (without the outfit looking too "busy"). I think it's all about choosing the right palette for you and buying clothes that fit in with that.

I've tried to use base colours like brown/green/cream, but also accent colours of reds, purples, some blues, that mostly go together. I have some patterned, striped clothes in these colours and generally it works OK.

Have tidied my underwear, tights and nightdresses drawers today, and got rid of a load of crap from 4 handbags.

Have decided that I am going to get 2 cosmetic cases and replicate my favourite/most used items, to store in the 2 bags I use most often. Does anybody do this? Am thinking handcream, lipbalm, lipstick, mirror, comb, mini deodorant, tissues, sanitary towels. Have I forgotten anything?

Also, how do people store necklaces? I also tidied my jewellery/glasses drawer today and everything is now beautifully organised except for the necklaces, which are all in a big tangle. I'm not v fond of those tree things.

I have bitten the bullet and Kondoed my clothes - a bin bag for charity & 5 things to eBay! I've got rid of everything that doesn't make me feel happy and those things I was keeping because I should have them!

It's so much easier to see what I have and I'm left with those things I actually wear now too.

I have made a list of things I need to unify have started to look for them.

Thank you. I really like the makeup bag on that link too, but can't find it on the Muji site.