# Mimimalist Mamas



## Serendipity

Minimalist Mamas take de-cluttering to the extreme! Chat about projects in progress, emotional detachment to stuff, our accomplishments and set-backs, helping people understand our lifestyle etc.

Welcome!


----------



## accountclosed15

Well HELLLLLLLOOOOO to all the minimalists mama's!!!! I will start with how I came to be a minimalist.... ; )

I think it just comes naturally to me. I was never one to keep stuff. That was my Mom who did all the keeping. Even as a child, I loved to play with Barbie. My mom found one of those Barbie trunks that you can put the 2 dolls in and all their things. I was in HEAVEN!!!! I organized by outfit and shoes and Barbie only had what she needed.

When I was 18, I moved out on my own. I only had the 1 bedroom at home but I wasn't interested in anything in my room. I collected some cat items, mostly figurines and I had around 50 books and maybe 2 bins of other "stuff". I donated it the animal shelter I was volunteering at for their annual yard sale. It was freeing to start completely fresh.

I joined the military a few years later. All of what I owned fit into a duffle bag, back pack and one other small bag and I loved it. This was pre-computer time, which would have saved me more space for photographs and paperwork I had to have with me. I could have scanned it all and fit it into my backpack. Still...I travelled lightly.

When I got married, we combined households and that is when I realized hubby was not a packrat, just very disorganized. It took me a complete 2 weeks of hard work to declutter, donate and organize what we had. Since then, I worked at geting down to less and less. I think in the 8 years of marriage, I have donated enough stuff to fill a 3 bedroom home, completely furnishes with all the bells and whistles.

Then came the story of my mother making me pick up the rest of my stuff and I (seceretly) donated all of it because she would have had a fit.

The now of it is- I am getting a divorce. I have my DS and myself to worry about. I just started a new job in a lovely place in Texas. We live in a 1 bedroom apartment that is around 600 square feet and I love it. I will post my list later of what we have, as I am working on this and tweaking it a bit. I am so free now. We can clean the entire apartment in less than an hour, we can find everything, it is organized and clutter free yet comfortable. I tried to create a zen like spa feel.

The best part is DS and I get a lot of fun time together when I am not working and he is not in school. He is starting to play sports and we spend a lot of time at parks and the library and finding free things to do. We also like to swim and go for long walks. it is great!!!!

We don't go without. Really- I have found that we have more than ever and it's the important stuff. The clarity is awesome as is the freedom.


----------



## accountclosed3

I also feel that I'm a natural minimalist -- with no real interest in holding onto things. But, I come from a very object-oriented family, and while we would purge and organize regularly, i would also be shamed for "overdoing it" and often my mother, father, or sister would question every item I'd "trashed" (usually to donate), and then they might grab stuff out of there and 'reorganize" it for me so that I would have it 'just in case.'

When I went to university, I got everything into one box (it was a large box, but still), and I loved living so simply. My roommate was sure I was nuts, with how little I had, but i was happy.

My big opportunity came when we moved here to NZ. We got rid of basically everything. We have 25 boxes stored in the US -- I may have them shipped here later this year (should cost about $500). Those are mostly books, CDs, DVDs, souveniers from our travels, and shoes. Also some art and a chair.

It feels good to live so minimally here. And, I already feel like I own *a lot* of stuff. So, before we move into our beach cottage, I'm doing another purge of this place and moving over those things that we need to move over. Get the keys today, so I've started taking over the suitcases that store our off-season stuff.


----------



## althara

Are aspiring minimalists welcome?


----------



## Panserbjorne

I'm here!!


----------



## accountclosed3

I think aspiring ones are also welcome.


----------



## ZakareyasMama

Hello! I'd be an aspiring minimalist... DH and I both come from pack-ratty families and try very hard to keep our 2 br townhome as clutter-free as possible. His family immigrated about 10 years ago. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but sometimes immigrants can really hold on to things as a result of having to leave everything behind before. My family... I don't know what their excuse is! My mom is a collector but has recently started thinking about freeing herself from some of the stuff.

Now that DS came along we have been given sooooo much stuff... hand-me-downs, gifts, toys I played w as a child (yep ma still has 'em)...When I was pregnant I hardcore nested. I made three crib sheets for a child who hasn't slept in his crib for more than 15 minutes his whole life. Dang I spent $200 on a crib that's used as a storage place for extra pillows and a drying rack for diaper covers!

A few weeks ago I got a claustrophobic feeling sitting in my living room. I started taking photos of the stuff I don't need and am going to put them up on Facebook and Craigslist to see if I can get rid of them. Whatever's left after a month goes to the thrift shop.

I really want to raise DS as a creative kid who's free from clutter and doesn't need a whole afternoon to clean up his toys. LVNTEXAS, I liked what you said about cleaning. I have fibromyalgia and it's hard for me to keep up with the house. I figure the less I have, the less I have to clean. For me the hardest things to get rid of are those that people gave me. Not because I have a big attachment but because they will be insulted if they come over and don't find those things here. With my parents they know how I am, but it's hard with my in-laws... they just don't understand!!


----------



## accountclosed15

Aspiring or otherwise!!! : )

I like reading all your stories. I look foward to reading some more. : )


----------



## treeoflife3

I'll join! I'm semi natura/semi aspiring. Can I be both?

I've always preferred to have space and everything organized just so. When my friends were excited to trade up from twin beds to queens and kings, I was asking to get a twin bed instead so I'd have more floor space in my room (middle school hehe) I prefer for everything to fit perfectly in a space and as a result, I've always had to let go of things so that fitting could happen.

However, I am a collector. I am MUCH better now than I used to be, but I struggle with having just SOME of something. As a teenager, I wanted to own every CD I MIGHT like just so I'd have them all and always be prepared with the right song. That turned into DVDs and now it is toys for kiddo... I can't get her just a couple of her favorite animals, I want to get one of each in case her favorite changes or she wants to play zoo or something so she always has options (I love buying the Anamalz brand wooden animals hehe)

I'm pretty good now though and only 'collect' things for kiddo and there is so little she likes (books, blocks, animals, babies) that its easy to keep her toys minimal and really organized and in fact it all currently fits on one shelving unit aside from a few larger toys (trike, rocking horse) I love shedding STUFF. We will probably be moving at the end of the year into a place smaller than our current small home and I look forward to it.

I also find cleaning is so much easier and faster with fewer things. It is less overwhelming too. Even when things are picked up, having open empty spaces makes it seem even cleaner whereas every corner filled always feels like it is dirtier than it is. I know for me personally, the more dirty the home feels, the harder it is for me to actually get up and clean it. Living minimally means I clean more often on top of cleaning already being easier <3

It is really freeing having only what we need. I feel it gives us more focus on things that truly matter, such as spending time with each other rather than with our things.


----------



## seawitch

Hi there.









I'll keep this super short as we only have a few minutes of computer access. Currently my family and I are traveling in the U.S. and essentially living out of our Civic. We're not homeless, just waiting for our house to sell so we can buy another. We'll be staying with my mom in Florida for a while and looking for a house in the mountains of Tennessee, but right now we're still just in the traveling phase. With two preschoolers, a cat, and hubby and myself in a small car, we have to be very minimalist... We do still have household stuff in storage back at our old house but we pared down a lot before the move.

The adventures of yesterday's drive consisted of out-running tornadoes - the same system I woke up to this morning featured on CNN because it killed 89 people in Missouri. Nice. There were tons of accidents and people crying and we saw three small tornadoes around us but we outdrove them. My heart goes out to the people that lost their homes or lives or loved ones. It's very sad but I'm grateful we are safe. We stayed overnight south of St. Louis and we're heading down towards Tennessee later today.









I'll write more when we have access to Wifi again.


----------



## Rainey Daye

I'm a minimalist at heart...born to at least two generations of packrats!! My mom didn't SEEM to be a packrat for most of my growing up since they were missionaries and HAD to keep things to a minimum for ease of travel every year or two...but since they moved back to the US almost five years ago I am AMAZED at how much my parents have accumulated. We almost hate to go to the farm for a visit as it feels so claustrophobic!!

I think I was a tiny bit of a packrat for my teen years, but managed to keep it from getting out of hand. After college I worked as a live-in nanny whose place was actually the above garage apartment my employers had lived in while building their custom home. It was a beautiful one bedroom (with just a bed and small cabinet in it) apartment with a small kitchen (with no real stove--just a hotplate and microwave and toaster oven)...but with a gorgeous main room with high ceilings and tiled floors and the only things in it were a couch, chair, coffee table, bar height table w/two stools, and the lightweight wooden bookshelf that served as an entertainment center. I added books to the bookshelves and to the deep windowsills and that was it. I loved having such an open space and loved to keep it all clear!! I think that was the real beginning to my desire for minimalism.

After nannying for a couple years I prepared to go to Romania as a non-conventional missionary (working with orphans, teaching English, and working with youth groups and summer camps). I did ship a small crate of stuff over (mostly ministry related or things I couldn't get hold of easily or cheaply there)...but it took almost five months for me to get it. Meanwhile I lived out of a duffle bag, a rolling carry-on bag, a big rolling briefcase, and a huge ugly purse!! I first lived in a furnished apartment and then had someone GIVE me a bed, table, chairs, and bookshelves when I moved to an unfurnished apartment. The only things I went out and bought were a CD player and a hot sandwich maker. Later after the crate arrived my roommate and I bought a TV and DVD player and my landlady provided a gas hotplate. The whole time we never had a washer, dryer, fridge, or microwave (and yet we DID have cable and internet...funny)...and we made it work!! This then was my epiphany about how little I really and truly needed!!

I moved back to the US in 2006 to get married. My husband found out after my cleaning up/clearing out of stuff that he much prefers a minimalist look to the house...yet I have the hardest time parting him from various sentimental trinkets, his Star Wars stuff (which has been in storage for most of our marriage yet he wants to keep it), his tools, and his clothes!! He is totally okay with my getting rid of and clearing out of most everything else though!! He is even the one who suggested selling our 50" TV, our Xbox360, and our DVD player...now that he has a snazzy iPad2 for us to watch Netflix on (we haven't had cable in over four years and haven't watched network television in two years...we just do Hulu, Netflix, and Redbox).

Anyway, we are constantly on a minimizing kick and seem to be continually working to get our belongings ever smaller. We moved from a 600sq.ft. apartment to our 1600sq.ft. house two years ago and love the open feel of the floorplan and lack of clutter....but our dream is to be a location independent, single car family with him having a job he LOVES and us living in a fifth wheel...spending more time with family (but in our own space) and traveling around visiting various parts of the country...and escaping the oppressive summers in Texas!!

Funny, as we drove back from a weekend away at a friend's wedding yesterday I mentioned some of the threads I've been reading here on minimalism and about keeping/not keeping sentimental stuff. I said I'd probably only want to keep my baby book and my college yearbooks (which would go into storage while we travel) and then get all my photos scanned and saved to two separate hard drives. He surprised me by saying he could get rid of all of his sentimental stuff except the letters his grandfather wrote back home when he was overseas during WWII!! Now that we are actually back home and in the process of clearing out our home office I will get to see just how serious he was!!


----------



## accountclosed15

Ohh...Texan!!! Those letters sound great...maybe you could scan them and make a book for Father's Day for him!!! With a pic of him and his Grandpa. : )


----------



## Serendipity

So glad to see everyone here!

I am not a natural minimalist, though it comes naturally to me now. We were poor growing up so I didn't have a ton but I held on with all my might to the stuff I did get.

In my late teens/early adulthood I went crazy buying things. I had my son at 17 so I was independent pretty young, and when I finally had my own money I went crazy buying stuff. Mostly clothes/shoes/purses but also stuff for my son and things for my apartment. I couldn't believe I could go to the $1 store and come home with 30 things! I cringe at that thought now.









After I got married the three of us moved to a HUGE nice house in the suburbs. It was the nicest place I'd ever lived and I couldn't believe it was my life. I continued to buy stuff, not even nice stuff cause we were broke, but I just felt the need to fill up this big house. I had my daughter and my husband worked two jobs, I was isolated and stressed and I think shopping was just all I could do. I look back at that time as such a hazy, weird time for me. I was totally lost.

Anyway, one day reading on this forum probably 5 years ago, I saw Delight's little apartment that is so popular. Something just clicked for me and I was like "what the heck am I doing?!". I realized that I was so trapped by all the stuff in my house. I realized what a huge negative effect it had on me to walk from room to room with piles everywhere and cabinets full and closets full in this big house in a neighborhood I hated, and it all just fell so out of line with who I am, or who I wanted to be. I started getting rid of stuff and immediately felt better. The more I ditched, the better I felt. We decided to move back into the city into a small apartment. It was closer to DH's work, closer to the school my son wanted to try, and it gave me the excuse to get rid of 90% of our stuff. We had a huge yard sale, gave tons away, and sadly took a bunch to the dump too.

It felt amazing! We were really happy in our little apartment for a year. Not having a yard was hard, and it was a bad neighborhood and our van almost got stolen twice so we decided to move again.

We moved further into town, into a bigger house again. My focus became clutter. I de-cluttered frequently. I didn't have unnecessary piles everywhere, and everything was organized. It was easy to maintain, except for the fact that it was big. There was an exterior storage room and a shed out back and I let things pile up in there. We ended up getting robbed there and I was shocked because it was such a nice little neighborhood. It scared me and I was ready to move again. lol

At the same time, my grandmother had a stroke and was going into a nursing home so we moved into her house to take care of it while she was in the home. That's where we live now. This house is smaller so we got rid of a lot when we moved here. Again, my focus has been de-cluttering and organizing. If something isn't clutter, and it has a 'home' and can easily be taken care of, I have felt like that was my ideal.

In the last couple months though something has clicked in me again and I'm realizing that minimalism is really what speaks to me more than having organized stuff. I love the idea of being an RV family but the rest of my family doesn't.  I thought about what it is about that lifestyle that appeals to me and aside from the traveling and seeing places and exploring, what appeals to me greatly is the simplicity and freedom that comes from having less. I decided I can at least have that part now!

I have gotten rid of all the shelves in the living room and bedroom. I got rid of all the extra tables and bookcases and everything that was held in/on them. I don't want stuff that requires something to hold it, and I don't want a surface that requires stuff to be on/in it. I don't want to have so many things that they need to be organized! I have pared down my clothes/shoes/accessories. I have purged the kitchen. The pantry. The closets and cabinets. This time not focusing on organization or clutter, but really getting down to the bare minimum.

I am loving it, it just feels right. I feel like my mind is clearer the more I get rid of. I feel like I have more time. I've still got more to do, but I'm loving the process. We have to leave this house in 6 months and I'm struggling with finding the right place. With three adults and 2 kids, there's only so small we can go.

Anyway, that's what my experience is. I'm happy to find people to talk to about this stuff because I just love it and I don't have people IRL who are interested.


----------



## francesca'smom

I'm aspiring! I have packrat relatives, although I didn't realize it at the time because we moved around so much when I was a kid. We never had time to accumulate much, but once my mom settled down the stuff really piled up, and my grandmother lived alone in a four bedroom house full of stuff for forty years. I moved once a year (at least) during my twenties, and that was great. I could move everything in the back of my car - a box of books, a typewriter, a little folding foam futon bed, some clothes. Then I married a packrat who owned a home, and who inherited lots of his dad's junk when he passed away, I feel tied down with stuff now, and it's gotten worse since we had our daughter, and people have given her so much. We've also bought some heavy furniture over the years.

We've moved a couple times in the last few years, so that's helped. I've been consciously chipping away at it for six months now, and I really value the clear space. Sometimes I lay on the floor and just stare at the ceiling, thinking that's how I want the rest of the house to be. When we moved back into the house we are in now, before the moving truck arrived with our stuff, we had a couple weeks of just a bowl, a chair, a couple plates, etc, and tons of space for cartwheels, dancing, and hanging out. It was great, but eventually I did miss the coziness of having a few more of our things. I'm just looking for a balance now. I don't want to get rid of everything, but I need to have space to move around. Fortunately my daughter has started to be able to let go of her unused things after years of clinging to them, so that's great. I"m looking forward to hearing everyone's stories and where you all are on the continuum.....


----------



## mambera

I'm a minimalist from a family of (mostly) minimalists, but my husband and his family are all maximalists. Our house is what you might expect as the result 

I am having an especially hard time figuring out how to handle all the giftiness. In my family we used to make deals on gifty holidays: I won't buy you anything if you don't buy me anything! Or we'd give flowers or food or tickets or something else that wouldn't hang around collecting dust.

DH's family give gifts all the time for no reason - almost always stuff I don't want and wouldn't choose for myself. I feel bad because I don't reciprocate (I WOH and do not have the time or energy to spend shopping for random gifts to give my ILs - not to mention I hate shopping) and at the same time I have a really hard time managing the influx of Stuff. I don't feel I can possibly ask them not to give us gifts any more than I have already without being rude.

My DH has come over to my way of thinking a little bit over time, but he still is one of those people who just really loves a Deal, and will buy three or four of an item if it's a good deal, even if he really only needs one. When I decide to buy something it is because I have thought about it a lot, I really need it, I have found exactly the thing I want, and at that point the cost is not a major factor. (This is another reason the gift thing is so irksome to me - because the need to store and manage all this stuff I don't want actually prevents me from buying the few things I do want, because I would have no place to put them. People who give me gifts I don't want or need are depriving me of things I do want/need! But I can't tell them that!)

Isn't there a whole Decluttering forum somewhere around here? Under the Mindful Home I think? I don't really go there much but I would think you might get more traffic there than here.


----------



## Serendipity

There is, a bunch of us were posting over there and decided to make it a tribe. I think it's easier this way than starting all new threads for each new convo. 

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mambera*
> 
> I'm a minimalist from a family of (mostly) minimalists, but my husband and his family are all maximalists. Our house is what you might expect as the result
> 
> I am having an especially hard time figuring out how to handle all the giftiness. In my family we used to make deals on gifty holidays: I won't buy you anything if you don't buy me anything! Or we'd give flowers or food or tickets or something else that wouldn't hang around collecting dust.
> 
> DH's family give gifts all the time for no reason - almost always stuff I don't want and wouldn't choose for myself. I feel bad because I don't reciprocate (I WOH and do not have the time or energy to spend shopping for random gifts to give my ILs - not to mention I hate shopping) and at the same time I have a really hard time managing the influx of Stuff. I don't feel I can possibly ask them not to give us gifts any more than I have already without being rude.
> 
> My DH has come over to my way of thinking a little bit over time, but he still is one of those people who just really loves a Deal, and will buy three or four of an item if it's a good deal, even if he really only needs one. When I decide to buy something it is because I have thought about it a lot, I really need it, I have found exactly the thing I want, and at that point the cost is not a major factor. (This is another reason the gift thing is so irksome to me - because the need to store and manage all this stuff I don't want actually prevents me from buying the few things I do want, because I would have no place to put them. People who give me gifts I don't want or need are depriving me of things I do want/need! But I can't tell them that!)
> 
> Isn't there a whole Decluttering forum somewhere around here? Under the Mindful Home I think? I don't really go there much but I would think you might get more traffic there than here.


----------



## accountclosed3

Sounds like your DH's family's love language is objects. Look up the four love languages, and it will explain a lot.

I had to explain to my parents/family -- whose language is objects -- that I don't experience those objects as love, but as stress. AND *i* had to learn to buy them objects regularly because my gifts of experiences or consumables was *not* a gift to them (and therefore disappointed them, rather than demonstrated love).

Took a lot for me to learn.

Because I now live in NZ, if I find something that I think my family will like, I pick it up and put it into a box. When the box is full, I wrap and label each item (we use recycled paper that DS colors on), and then pack it and ship it to them. So, they get boxes of gifts randomly. Most of the gifts also come with a little letter -- that I write at the time of purchase.


----------



## accountclosed15

So what have been the benefits of your minimal adventures so far?

1. More time with DS, less time cleaning.









2. I lost 15lbs already from eating healthier- time to focus on my health more. I also have been doing yoga for 2 weeks straight and doing more physical activity in general.

3. Refocused on my career and my Masters degree.

4. More money in the bank, less debt.









5. No more panic when someone rings the doorbell.


----------



## Serendipity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LVNTEXAS*
> 
> So what have been the benefits of your minimal adventures so far?
> 
> 1. More time with DS, less time cleaning.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. I lost 15lbs already from eating healthier- time to focus on my health more. I also have been doing yoga for 2 weeks straight and doing more physical activity in general.
> 
> 3. Refocused on my career and my Masters degree.
> 
> 4. More money in the bank, less debt.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 5. No more panic when someone rings the doorbell.


Awesome!

I think the biggest benefit for me has been just a general sense of peace. The more money thing is nice too, though our budget is still tight and we spend more on 'experiences' rather than stuff so it hasn't made a huge difference yet.


----------



## Serendipity

Oh, and not dreading moving! I think packing will be pretty easy.


----------



## Serendipity

So what do you think about minimalism being pared with smaller living spaces? I get the sense that the two go hand in hand, but a teeny house isn't necessarily what I want. I like having a big yard and I want space for my kids to grow into giant teenagers and be able to have lots of friends over comfortably. But I don't want a house full of stuff at ALL. I'm just concerned that having a bigger house will inevitably mean more stuff. I'll have to work really hard to keep that from happening.


----------



## treeoflife3

we are probably moving at the end of the year and I'm actually looking forward to it! This will be the first move where not only do we not have too much stuff so packing will be easier, but everything already has a pre planned place because of organization so unpacking will go particularly fast. I'm excited about how should we move, it'll be that much easier to move AND settle post move.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Serendipity*
> 
> Oh, and not dreading moving! I think packing will be pretty easy.


----------



## accountclosed15

I think minimalism doesn't necessarily mean a small tiny space. I think an open, larger space would be nice too. I lived in a large loft and it was 1200 square feet, which is huge for just me at the time. I still kept it simple. Eventually, I would like to find an open concept home for me and my son. I want to have some gardens and give DS some space as he gets older and also, so he can have friends over. I would like him to have a room with double bunk beds, kind of like a summer camp feel and I would need a larger room for that.


----------



## Panserbjorne

agreed. I've seen minimalists in quite large spaces. I prefer smaller spaces myself. Well, by local standards! We're in 1560 square feet for a family of 5. It's a great size for us, but I don't aim to fill it-thats for sure!


----------



## lovemyblessings

I'm loving this thread! I've been lurking around the decluttering boards for years and years. I'm a total minimalist who moved across the country in October and suddenly am swimming in stuff? So I guess I'm back to aspiring, right now. My DH and I have 6 kids, and stuff creeps back in at an alarming speed. I'm getting ready to do a major purge this summer, now that I've recovered from the exhaustion of the move.

Our previous house was 3000 square feet plus garage and biggish yard. Right now we are renting a house that is around 1200 square feet, no garage, and teeny yard. I love it. Everything is so manageable here.

Eventually I want to post photos of our old house and new house on here.... I finally feel now like we *fit* in our space. This house looks like someone lives here, LOL. We had a lot of contractors in before we put our old house on the market and the number 1 question they all asked was where to send the bill. They all assumed no one lived there. Didn't know whether to be proud or mortified


----------



## litlwons

I have really loved reading this thread and have been crazily gobbling up some minimalist threads in teh last month. I am striving for a minimalist lifestyle, I definitely don't have one yet, but I am on my way. I live with my three boys (DH and two sons) and some days are easier than others. I feel like I have been on this path, but not getting much of anywhere. At least 7 years ago I started a simple living tribe here on MDC and since then back peddled considerably. I home schooled my oldest DS until this year (5th grade) and am homeschooling my youngest DS (5.5 yrs) for as long as it works... the homeschooling seemed to bring a lot of things into my home.

Well in the last 6 weeks I have gotten 3 full minivans worth of stuff out of here and I am still going. I am going through the long process of weeding out pictures, I am game to just throw most away, but DH wants no part of it. I love my boys, my hubby and my life and I want to spend very little/none of my time taking care of stuff. I have spent way too many hours taking care of it all.

I have made a oath to myself to not go to places like Target, unless I have a specific something I need. But what do I need, nothing really. I want to get my wardrobe down to basics and I am on my way. I have never spent much time "shopping" for clothes, I really can't stand malls and I detest folding aand putting away laundry. I love looking at the pictures I see on blogs of people who have very little... it feel "free" to me. Now how do I do it with my boys... my DH isn't really attched to his stuff, but dosn't want to give away his LP's (we don't have a record player and I can't see him ever buying one...EVER!!), he also has textbooks from college (he has been out 20 years), that he says are good reference for work... so I fret over that, but it is his stuff and as long as I don't have to move it or clean around it, I will be fine...

I have already been saving money. I don't buy books anymore, what is a library for? I dream though of having a nook or a kindle, I do love books. I dream of living in a tiny space, but my boys are only going to get bigger and my DH isn't so keep on it. We will see. Next year I would love for my DH to work from "home" and take a year and live someplace that we can downsize and spend quality time with our boys in nature....

Well I have blah blahed enough.... but I feel so passionate for my life that it becomes as minamalistic as it can be..... I love reading all of this. Thank you!

Kathleen


----------



## ZakareyasMama

When yall purge, do you do yardsales? Craigslist? donate? If I can get some money for my stuff tha'd be great but I don't have a yard to do a yardsale.


----------



## Rainey Daye

I could have spent the time getting ready for and having a garage sale when a bunch of my neighbors did a few weeks ago...but totally didn't wanna spend the time and energy on it...so off went bags of clothes to Goodwill and family. We will probably Craigslist the few salable furniture items and Freecycle the rest. The books, movies, and cd's we are listing on our blog http://brackandjulieselltheirstuff.blogspot.com and what doesn't sell there after a reasonable period of time will go to Half Price Books and I'll use whatever I can get for them to help get together my new basic minimalist wardrobe.


----------



## MiniMum

I'm here too 

I'm a natural minimalist as well. I remember doing a purge and clear-out in my room as a kid.. as a child I loved to put all my important things in one bag 

When I moved together with DH my minimalism got derailed a little bit, since I was a perfectionist and if I had to look at his crap around, why bother keeping up with my own? When I got DH into paring down too, things got so much better 

Now we have a daughter and we live in 600 sf one-bedroom apartment, which I think is plenty spacious. We co-sleep but even when she wants her own bed/room, this amount of space is perfect. (The lay-out would probably not work as is though.) We rent and we will likely move out within two years, as then there will be a huge renovation in the building and we couldn't stay here while it's going on anyway. I'd eventually like a tiny house close to the sea.

I definitely like small living spaces and it's part of my minimalism and simple living. It's more financially sane, it's more ecological and leaves a smaller footprint. Not to mention easy to clean, cozy etc. For wide open spaces I can go outside. There is no need to pay for, heat (cool), clean and maintain a huge empty space. And it would be empty because I'm a minimalist









So I'm more into the radical minimalism and simplicity. I draw the line at still having our home feel homey and joyful to DD. I will not deny her toys and books, though we do keep a lid on accumulation and I'm teaching her about giving to others who don't have as much, or who might need the things we don't need anymore. I will also save a small box of mementos for her to look at later, including things from me, her grandma (who passed away the year she was born) and great grandma.

Furniture, dishes, clothes, linens, towels, anything like that is always fair game and only stays if it genuinely deserves it's spot in our home, ie. is used frequently. We don't have a TV - but DD watches some selected children's programs over the internet. I don't drive a car though we recently bought a used car (DH wanted it) that we drive approximately once a week, visiting family. IL's live in a place where it would be impossible to go without a car, no public transport. DH bikes to work or uses public transport in the winter. I walk or use public transport.

I try to really think about purchases and only get necessities, and good quality, ethical, ecological stuff.

I want to share something with you, I came across this today and it's just so heartbreaking, and makes me disgusted at all the inequality there is in the world. I want to cry.

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/03/where-children-sleep.html


----------



## accountclosed15

I have yardsaled twice, mostly Craigslist for the big stuff or I bundle like items as a group on Craigslist- children's toys, books, certain size clothing. The rest I have just donated. I figure it's good karma. : )


----------



## accountclosed15

Some more questions/insights to ponder.









1. I have found that as I get older (approaching 40 here in a few years), I just seem to want less stuff naturally. I think I have made peace with the fact that I may never own a house (we have always rented) and the fact that I just don't have the energy nor the wish to decorate said home. I want things as simple as possible. It is reflecting in all parts of my life, from my hair (just cut it into a pixie and L O V E it, it was down to the middle of my back for years) to my clothes (less logos, more simple chic but fun) and even my spiritual side (religious beliefs and I am doing yoga consistently)...which brings me to the second part of this.

2. My relationship with my religious/spiritual side. I read my Bible (and y'all can insert whatever religion/spiritual/otherwise you follow here) and think about what would Jesus want me to do? Can I live a Jesus like way in this day? I look at the terrible natural disasters happening across the world and I just want to donate what I do have and be grateful. I know that sounds extreme, but again, it also goes back to #1 up there. I just don't need things to make me happy--I am all about experiences now and helping others, including myself and my son. Am I being realistic about this? How do I balance this with raising my son? That is one I am hard pressed for an answer right now.

Your lovely thoughts please.


----------



## Serendipity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiniMum*
> 
> I'm here too
> 
> I'm a natural minimalist as well. I remember doing a purge and clear-out in my room as a kid.. as a child I loved to put all my important things in one bag
> 
> When I moved together with DH my minimalism got derailed a little bit, since I was a perfectionist and if I had to look at his crap around, why bother keeping up with my own? When I got DH into paring down too, things got so much better
> 
> Now we have a daughter and we live in 600 sf one-bedroom apartment, which I think is plenty spacious. We co-sleep but even when she wants her own bed/room, this amount of space is perfect. (The lay-out would probably not work as is though.) We rent and we will likely move out within two years, as then there will be a huge renovation in the building and we couldn't stay here while it's going on anyway. I'd eventually like a tiny house close to the sea.
> 
> I definitely like small living spaces and it's part of my minimalism and simple living. It's more financially sane, it's more ecological and leaves a smaller footprint. Not to mention easy to clean, cozy etc. For wide open spaces I can go outside. There is no need to pay for, heat (cool), clean and maintain a huge empty space. And it would be empty because I'm a minimalist
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I'm more into the radical minimalism and simplicity. I draw the line at still having our home feel homey and joyful to DD. I will not deny her toys and books, though we do keep a lid on accumulation and I'm teaching her about giving to others who don't have as much, or who might need the things we don't need anymore. I will also save a small box of mementos for her to look at later, including things from me, her grandma (who passed away the year she was born) and great grandma.
> 
> Furniture, dishes, clothes, linens, towels, anything like that is always fair game and only stays if it genuinely deserves it's spot in our home, ie. is used frequently. We don't have a TV - but DD watches some selected children's programs over the internet. I don't drive a car though we recently bought a used car (DH wanted it) that we drive approximately once a week, visiting family. IL's live in a place where it would be impossible to go without a car, no public transport. DH bikes to work or uses public transport in the winter. I walk or use public transport.
> 
> I try to really think about purchases and only get necessities, and good quality, ethical, ecological stuff.
> 
> I want to share something with you, I came across this today and it's just so heartbreaking, and makes me disgusted at all the inequality there is in the world. I want to cry.
> 
> http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/03/where-children-sleep.html


I hear ya'. I would like a super small place for all those reasons but I feel that while I'm raising kids it's not just up to me. My kids like having more space, especially in the summer because it's too hot to play outside. I absolutely forsee DH and I settling into something tiny once our kids aren't living at home anymore.

I've seen that link before, pretty sobering for sure.


----------



## Serendipity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LVNTEXAS*
> 
> Some more questions/insights to ponder.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 1. I have found that as I get older (approaching 40 here in a few years), I just seem to want less stuff naturally. I think I have made peace with the fact that I may never own a house (we have always rented) and the fact that I just don't have the energy nor the wish to decorate said home. I want things as simple as possible. It is reflecting in all parts of my life, from my hair (just cut it into a pixie and L O V E it, it was down to the middle of my back for years) to my clothes (less logos, more simple chic but fun) and even my spiritual side (religious beliefs and I am doing yoga consistently)...which brings me to the second part of this.
> 
> 2. My relationship with my religious/spiritual side. I read my Bible (and y'all can insert whatever religion/spiritual/otherwise you follow here) and think about what would Jesus want me to do? Can I live a Jesus like way in this day? I look at the terrible natural disasters happening across the world and I just want to donate what I do have and be grateful. I know that sounds extreme, but again, it also goes back to #1 up there. I just don't need things to make me happy--I am all about experiences now and helping others, including myself and my son. Am I being realistic about this? How do I balance this with raising my son? That is one I am hard pressed for an answer right now.
> 
> Your lovely thoughts please.


I've been trying to find the words to respond to this because I know what you mean. For me, minimalism has created the space for me to spend more time within myself, developing my thoughts and feelings about my spiritual side. I haven't come to any conclusions yet, but the connection between minimalism and spirituality is there for sure!

I'm all about living my own ideals and giving my kids the space to find their own. They grow up exposed to the way I live my life and I can share my feelings about things if they are interested but I'm not pedaling a minimalist agenda or anything. I think you can donate all YOUR things to help people but still support his desire to own things.


----------



## MiniMum

Kids need a certain amount of space to play for sure, but it's the same thing as with toys, they need SOME but not TONS. I grew up in 1200 sf house with a family of five (since my sister was six and I was four, before that we had a much smaller apartment). I always thought our house was big. We did have a yard but also extreme four season climate so sometimes it was just too cold or rainy to want to play outside much. All of us kids had our own room even. Still, I can imagine having lived in less space as a child and been completely happy. A lot of people do.

We often think we and our kids NEED this and that, and justify spending money and so forth (they are only young once..), though it's really about choices, about what you want and choose to have in your life.

If you lost your big home for some reason, your kids would adjust to a smaller place just fine.But I guess just trying to convince older kids out of the blue that it's a good idea to downsize, might not be easy And I understand that not everyone wants to go super tiny.. but I really think most of "Western" world overestimates their need for space.

It also comes down to whether you are minimalist for practical and aesthetic purposes, or for ecological and ethical reasons as well.

It's not always easy to find a good balance of living according to ones convictions in our culture. But for me, yes, keeping my religious beliefs in my mind helps. It helps me not get bogged down when losing money because of something stupid or getting ambitious about my art career or greedy for newer and bigger and better. I don't like a lot of stuff, but my issue is with wanting good quality, and the perfect thing (a flair of perfectionism). So I'm mostly working on that now and I've come a long way. But it does help me to when I actually NEED something, to go for good quality and something I really like, so it's a keeper and not a future declutter item.

I volunteered briefly in an orphanage, and in a way I'd love to move somewhere to do just that sort of thing. But I don't feel right taking DD away from extended family now that she is just getting to know them. She is 2 1/2 but has been very slow to let anyone besides mommy and daddy in her little world. But it might be something we'd do at a later point in life. But even if we don't have a chance to so actively help right now, we can choose not to be a part of the problem, overconsuming, living and buying unsustainably. I'm far from perfect but yes, I do think about it a lot, and strive to do better.


----------



## accountclosed15

Thanks ladies. Very thought provoking. I was thinking about this some more last night. When I was little, I was most happy with just my Barbies and pretending to be a Vet to my animals. I would carry my Bible and some books up into a notch in my favorite tree and felt so happy. I want my son to have that same feeling and I think he does. He really doesn't ask for things. He might see something out of Oh there it is in front of me but he has never thrown a fit about not getting something. He gets more upset when he can't play long at the park or in the water- simple things. Might it be genetic???









The happiest I ever saw him was when we went on vacation and stayed in an extend a stay hotel. We swam, walked, looked at the local attractions and he only had one small duffle bag of clothes and a few toys. Boy- that kiddo slept and his personality was so much better. He gets bored quickly, so I think the adventure is in his soul- it helps his soul.

I will be 49 when he graduates from high school. I am thinking for my 50th, I want to do something big- as in either give what I do have to DS, if he wants it or sell it or just donate it all and travel the US and I really want to go to France, Greece, Italy and the Caribbean. I don't want to have a place to upkeep- maybe something like that extend a stay in my favorite spots or even if I am still working, some other alternative- renting a furnished spot for short term lease. I would actually like to travel for my job, which I could do after DS is grown up. I would love that!!!

I think it would be easy for me, as I have no attachment issues. I sold my wedding ring after I got divorced and it didn't effect me like I thought it would. I have sold or donated family heirlooms (after many arguments over trying to give them back) without hesitation. When I had a home, when I didn't want something anymore, I would just sell or donate it. My only "rules" for myself are I like to be comfortable- clothing and a comfy bed (I have a down comforter that could smoosh down to fit in a bag and a nice pillow) and I like access to farmer markets for fresh fruits and vegetables. I also like to walk and swim. I think these things can be done anywhere. Oh--and I like my hi heels for work.







I truly think this was how I was meant to live and with my son, I am being given an awesome opportunity right now.

When I divorced, I was a little scared because of the way I chose for us to live. But now, I couldn't be happier and I find I am not so worried anymore.


----------



## accountclosed3

I love the book series that the link above posts to -- about how people all over the world live differently. It's amazing to me. My husband and I saw an exhibit at the Chicago airport about how families live and sleep all over the world, and we were really inspired to think beyond our modern, US ideas of what kids "need."

What I see kids "need" is love. And Lots of it. bedrooms, toys, space -- are all trumped by love.


----------



## Serendipity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *zoebird*
> 
> I love the book series that the link above posts to -- about how people all over the world live differently. It's amazing to me. My husband and I saw an exhibit at the Chicago airport about how families live and sleep all over the world, and we were really inspired to think beyond our modern, US ideas of what kids "need."
> 
> What I see kids "need" is love. And Lots of it. bedrooms, toys, space -- are all trumped by love.


I guess this is where I jump ship because my parenting diverges from most minimalists.







I think a lot of disrespect happens in the name of love. I think kids need a lot more than to be loved. Lots of parents love their kids but that doesn't mean their needs are met. I think kids have the right to decide what they need; I think ALL humans do! I think if it's not OK to tell your husband that he needs to get rid of his cherished collection of x, y or z then it's not OK to make your kids get rid of their belongings either, or restrict the amount of things they can have. I just think 'needs' should be left up to individuals to decide, children included.

I love that I've learned about minimalism and gotten to a place of comfort with it and knowing it's right for *me*. But I don't presume it's right for everyone.


----------



## accountclosed3

I think you missed my meaning. 

In my circles, a baby needs it's own room with a crib, a changing table, storage for the toys, books, games, clothes and other objects. There needs to be a mobile, a rocking chair of some kind, and then decorate around that. You need a minivan, a stroller, a jogging stroller too. You need to have a house with a yard. You need to make sure that the kid has the following other objects: a-z. Yuo need to. . ..

I have friends who have 3-4 pack-n-plays for 1 baby. One for upstairs, one for down, one at grandmas, and one in the car just in case. It's a minivan, so you can do that.

When I saw the exhibit, what i saw were families living in one-bedroom apartments, in yurts, in small homes, in "huts," in cottages, in standard US homes, in all kinds of ways. I saw that there were families that had far much less stuff, but what I didn't see was suffering. I didn't see Mongolian families freaking out because everyone slept in one room! and that room was sleeping quarters at night and living/cooking quarters by day. I didn't see the italian family upset that their small cottage had a room shared by two children of different sexes. No one was suffering because they took public transport and didn't have an SUV or minivan.

What I took away from it is that the standard idea about what a child "needs" is cultural, and that what they really need is *love*. The romanian boy in the link above lives with his family on the streets of Rome. While I work, hope, and pray that all children will have access to clean water, food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education, I am thankful that this child is still with his parents who love him.

Of course, this is barring "what is done in the name of love" that is abusive, or abuse outright.

But I know that I love my son dearly, and while it might be nice that he lives in the 5th Ave NYC apartment and goes to an expensive school and has every object he could ever desire for himself, it is simply not my lifestyle, nor one that I could afford. And it creates suffering for me if I design my life in a way that I cannot provide the financial security that is afforded us by living simply.

I do not ask my son to get rid of anything he isn't ready to let go of, and being only 2.75, he doesn't notice much. When a toy breaks, i cull it with the recent declutter, and he'll say "do you remember my truck? it broke." And I say yes and we share a memory about the truck, and I explain that it was broken and so had to be let go of. I also fix toys that can be fixed, btw.

People are questioning how we live now -- in a one bedroom apartment -- and how we are going to move into the cottage. "It doesn't have a Yard!" and so on is the common refrain. But it's on the beach, near the park, near the kindy, near the play centre, and near many friends. Does he need a big yard?

I admit, If i could afford the 1.5 million dollar cottage a few blocks down, that's about 800 sq ft and has a lovely fenced yard, then great -- I would live there. But i can't. I can afford the $1000 mo rental down the street with just a courtyard and a tiny second bedroom that he will move into when he is ready.

And that was my point. Ultimately, he'll design his own life. But so long as I'm footing the bill, I have to take into consideration everyone's needs -- our family's financial security is more important than how my son determines whether or not he needs a "collection" of objects. Also, I, too, have the right to live by my own designs and comforts -- which means NOT being taken over by another's clutter and collections -- this includes DH. We have to work together and negotiate how we want to live together.

Hope that makes sense.


----------



## accountclosed15

Very true seredipity. I think everyone is in their own unique situation. My ex certainly didn't want the whole minimalist thing, so I lived with my stuff, by example. Now I talk with DS alot about donating for others who are less fortunate and really playing with what he loves. Right now, he has a few things I would glady get rid of, but he loves them and is playing with them, so it's a compromise, which is a great life lesson. The most important lesson I can give him is to love those around him, be honest, be NICE and be giving. Yes, I have to do the normal parent thing of keeping him on the education track and going through the normal throes of being a kid. : )


----------



## accountclosed15

Ok..another thought to ponder...









Do you think minimalism is a fad or people are just doing it a temporary means to get somewhere else and will go back to their previous ways?

To me, no, minimalism is my life, it's in my soul, it's part of who I am. I know that sounds dramatic, but it's true. It is the one of several things in my life that makes me feel so free and happy. It might be that I think non-traditionally, as compared to most people I know. I don't want the house with the picket fence, I like my career and I like to travel with my DS and I don't want to wait until I am 65 to do those things when I can live simple now and have those experiences and still have some money in the bank. I thought I would feel weird about my lifestyle until I realized that it is just one thing that is different about me from my friends. We still talk about art, music, movies, OUR KIDDOS, etc...so I have relaxed a lot about it.

This definitely is not about a number either for me. I am making note of everything we own but only for the fun of it and to see what we own. I am a list girl, so this is right up my alley. I think if I wasn't working in such a formal environment, I could easily purge another 85 things without thinking about it. Also, we like to be outdoors, so that accounts for a higher count. BUT I have come a long way from the 3 bedroom home that wasn't stuffed but certainly, we used all the spaces for something.

I don't see myself EVER going back there. I do ponder buying a small home or even townhouse (leaning toward the townhouse) but even that is changing as I get older. I am actually looking at even buying a one bedroom on the 8th floor of a building that has spectacular views. I could own it and it can be my launch pad for my future travel plans. This sounds fun to me.


----------



## Panserbjorne

for me it's a way of life. I have always felt suffocated by stuff, so I didn't change anything other than my awareness about how it affects me. since it wasn't a political or environmental statement on my end I think this is just how I am!


----------



## ZakareyasMama

Yeah I think it's really a way of life. Sometimes people can be addicted to stuff. It's a way of replacing something in your life that's not there. Maybe as we get older we have those other things (family, love, self confidence, whatever...) and that's why we are more willing to part with material possessions. I do think we sometimes hold on to small tokens bc they remind us of something and that's okay to an extent. But sometimes of course that can get out of hand too. It seems like they are 2 different things: one is constantly buying new things and bringing them home and the other is never letting go of old things. For me, it was the first one that was a problem. Before I got married and I was living in a new town I would just go out and shop whenever I was bored or lonely. I constantly got rid of stuff--there wasn't an emotional attachment--but it was a budget problem!

Now I'm so much happier with my family and friends that I don't have the same need to go out and shop. I am also more conscious about money and need my house to be easier to clean bc of chronic fatigue/pain. I do struggle with managing the money-saving and minimalist aspects of my life sometimes. For example: Sugar is a great deal with a sale plus coupons and I know I'll be using it bc I bake a lot. Should I go ahead and buy 5 or 6 bags of it, saving several dollars but having it sit around my house?... or do I just buy one and pay full price when I need it later?


----------



## litlwons

My mother loved her things.... she had beautiful antiques, china, silver etc. She was a woman that should have been born in the Victorian era. Our house was covered, every single soiltary thing was covered in her stuff. The dinning room table was always set for 6 for a five course meal, she wanted her things out where she could see them. It was like living in a museum. Most of the time even our bedrooms were decorated with her stuff, I had a china wash basin in my room, until I just said no more as a teen. There was no place to do homework except on the floor, our beds were off limits most of the time because it ruined the linens (also something that stopped when I was a teen). I have relized as an adultl ( some 22 + years out of my mothers home) that I am easily overwhelmed by clutter, even beautiful clutter. it really has taken me that long to do something about it. I love my mothers memory but I remember by the acts of kindnees and loving ways, not by her STUFF! when she dies 12 years ago, we had all of her stuff to contend with. i moved a lot of it into my home and for years I lived with it, the furniture mostly, but have slowly re-gifted her things out slowly to people who would LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I feel it is wrong ofr me to keep things that I don't love, they have a life of their own and deserve to be cherished. It has taken me awhile and there are a few pieces that I will alwys keep, because I love them and they work for me, not because they remind me of my mother only...

My spiritual life is calling to help me as well with my culling of my stuff. I have collected a lot of things in my past, esp. BOOKS, that I thought would make me a better: mother, wife, homeschooler, friend etc., and they don't. i believe I have the power to be all those things without all the stuff attached to me....I am learning to just be who i am....

Kathleen


----------



## lkvosu

I want in on this! I'm definitely still in the aspiring catagory. DH is a pack-rat, but we're really working together on it. Having less stuff is so freeing to me, and thankfully dh is supportive because he sees how much peace it brings me. I literally feel a rush of euphoria when I'm decluttering, which has been an ongoing process since becoming pregnant with ds in Feb 2010.

The one area I really struggle with is the kitchen. I love to cook. Heaven to me is playing in the kitchen all day! As a result though, I've acquired all kinds of kitchen equipment: a blender, food processor, stand mixer, hand mixer...I could go on. Any tips on minimizing a kitchen without compromising my ability to cook what I want? The minimalist in me says I don't need two muffin tins, but the baker in me says I do!


----------



## Panserbjorne

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ZakareyasMama* For example: Sugar is a great deal with a sale plus coupons and I know I'll be using it bc I bake a lot. Should I go ahead and buy 5 or 6 bags of it, saving several dollars but having it sit around my house?... or do I just buy one and pay full price when I need it later?


Well, firstly I'd say if you have chronic fatigue and pain skip the sugar!









But all kidding aside the way I solve this is by knowing how much I use. I go through about 1 pound of shredded coconut a week, so if it's on sale I'd get a month's worth. That doesn't feel overwhelming and I know it will be gone soon. I try not to ever have more than a month's worth of anything in my house. That to me seems impractical and hard to navigate.

As far as minimums go, I tend to have one reserve. If I run out of something I want a back up. So even if I take two months to get through a bottle of ketchup, I still have one in the pantry. Same for toiletries.


----------



## treeoflife3

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lkvosu*
> 
> I want in on this! I'm definitely still in the aspiring catagory. DH is a pack-rat, but we're really working together on it. Having less stuff is so freeing to me, and thankfully dh is supportive because he sees how much peace it brings me. I literally feel a rush of euphoria when I'm decluttering, which has been an ongoing process since becoming pregnant with ds in Feb 2010.
> 
> The one area I really struggle with is the kitchen. I love to cook. Heaven to me is playing in the kitchen all day! As a result though, I've acquired all kinds of kitchen equipment: a blender, food processor, stand mixer, hand mixer...I could go on. Any tips on minimizing a kitchen without compromising my ability to cook what I want? The minimalist in me says I don't need two muffin tins, but the baker in me says I do!


I am of the belief that if you USE it all and you have space for it to be organized, then it isn't clutter and it's okay to have all of it. Do you routinely use both muffin tins? do they have their own space? keep 'em!


----------



## Serendipity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *treeoflife3*
> 
> I am of the belief that if you USE it all and you have space for it to be organized, then it isn't clutter and it's okay to have all of it. Do you routinely use both muffin tins? do they have their own space? keep 'em!


I agree, I think if it's what you spend a lot of time doing and you are passionate about it and have the space to keep it organized, it's worth having. I have a bin of craft stuff that is beyond a necessity. I've pared down a lot and will continue to do so. It's my one 'thing' though and since I don't have any other collections of stuff I'm OK with it.


----------



## Serendipity

I like what someone said about a month's supply, that's a good way to decide. I usually will only buy one extra of something if it's on sale, rather than 5 or 6 but I also don't have somewhere really great to store stuff and I don't use things up quickly so it would annoy me to have a bunch sitting around.


----------



## Paigekitten

So how do you declutter food you overbought, and may never use? I have things I've bought in bulk and WAY overestimated. We will NEVER use it all, it's bulk so I can't really give it away, but it's still good, so it seems silly to toss it.


----------



## accountclosed15

Can you offer the bulk food to a church or homeless shelter if it is still packaged?

Another thought I am having....

When I was in the military and deployed, several older members of my family passed away. I received several frantic calls from my mother stating I had to come home ASAP because the business of doling out the "stuff" had to be taken care of quickly. It took me 4 months to come home off deployment and barely a day into my time off, I was on a flight to my mom's. I arrived, jet lagged and exhausted and within 2 hours, the boxes started appearing from out of nowhere. Box upon box upon box...then, the next day, we had to go to a relatives house. I thought this was all on the up and up, been when we parked halfway down the street and literally snuck into the house, I was NOT having any part of this. Seems everyone was fighting over the "stuff" this relative had and though my parents were the rightful owners, by will decree, other family members felt they should all have dibs. The sneaking around and the padlocks on the doors creeped me out. You know what I found? A house that had been ransacked 2 days after my relative died, BY OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS!!! I couldn't believe it. My mother was shoving things into some totes for me, though I was declining it all. It just felt wrong and I am not a big fan of old stuff, no matter how valuable or who it belonged too. I didn't have really fond memories of these particular relatives anywho, so it didn't matter to me. I remember how stressed my family was over this. My mom boxed up 4 totes of items she choose for me and shipped them to me. 1 was lost in the mail and the other 3, I opened, organized what was acceptable to pass on and tossed the rest and quickly hauled them off to Goodwill. The time, money and the STRESS absolutely floored me with the whole situation.

I am now am adamant about not leaving my son with my things. If he wants something now or later, take it. Or he can donate it all, when I am gone and if I have anything left. I don't want him to feel obligated to keep something just because I had it. I want to leave of legacy that I helped others, travelled with great passion and loved my dear son as best as I could. I want him to know I loved my life, not my things. I am almost crazy about it but it is truly how I feel.


----------



## Paigekitten

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LVNTEXAS*
> 
> Can you offer the bulk food to a church or homeless shelter if it is still packaged?


It never was packaged, it came from the bulk bins.







Like pounds and pounds of masa harina because I made tortillas a couple of times. What was I thinking! I gave a bunch of jars and cans to a food drive though.


----------



## MiniMum

It's about balancing the needs of each family member. Like it would be silly for me to say that DD "needs" her own room, because she is 2 1/2 and has no concept of it. She isn't asking for any stuff, toys, clothes, her own bed, anything, so it would be silly for me to say she needs x amount of toys or a bed of her own.

I'm not taking away what she has (I did cull baby toys but we are past that point) and she is old enough to be asked for her opinion on letting go of books etc. By not buying her a lot of toys and by encouraging others to follow suit, I'm not depriving her, she has no NEED for those things, though I still WANT her to get some toys for birthday and christmas.

When she is older she will have different needs, and more wants, and I don't intend to override those. My aim is to raise a conscious child who appreciates what she has and is happy with less. What she needs and wants now is our TIME and ATTENTION and PHYSICAL CLOSENESS. I agree that love is not always enough, if it doesn't manifest in actions, or if it manifests in buying stuff. DD loves to BE WITH US, play outside mostly, read books, just be side by side all the time. That is truly what she needs (and wants). When she is older she will still need that, but also a growing amount of personal time and a bit more personal space.

Still, I stand by my opinion that the amount of space and stuff we think we, and our kids, need in Western countries, is just cultural and societal illusion.

In a way, WE are determining what our kids need, if we say outright that they need this and that, a crib, a room, a big house, a yard, toys, bikes, what have you. Then later it's often their friends and TV and magazines who determine what they "need". I'm not saying those do not feel like valid needs, just that they are necessarily not true needs and they are brought on by external pressure and influence, not inherent need.

If there is something my DD really really wants (keeps talking about if over again) then I will get it for her. She is not expressing any wants yet though. Her wants have to do with wanting to wear the red socks, or choosing to wear rain gear even if it's sunny  I let her practice making decisions and being trusted and her wishes respected (if it's nothing potentially harmful).

There is also the point that we adults are the one carrying the financial responsibility, and by choosing to have less space and less stuff, we may be able to feed our kids better quality food, to stand by our values, to live in a nicer neighborhood. I also think that living in smaller spaces, co-sleeping for an extended time, and siblings sharing rooms, will work towards keeping the family really close and affectionate.


----------



## accountclosed3

for me, minimalism is a part of who i am, and finally I am able to embrace it and be it.

it's kind of sad that it took me this long, but both my DH and I talked about how difficult it was to become free of stuff. even though i've been a de-clutter-er for years, and really hewed toward minimalism time and again, i was often thwarted come the holidays. LOL And, i really couldn't come up with a reason to let go of something that was "perfectly good." EG, "i dislike the sofa, but it's perfectly good!"

In selling everything to come here, i really learned about trash-to-treasure. Not that i ever felt my stuff was "trash" but there was this great fact -- everything that I needed rid of, somenoe else really wanted. It was kind of cool to see how that works.

Now that I'm here, and buying things used, i'm seeing how things another wants to be rid of becomes my new treasure. "stuff" just seems fluid in a way that it never did before.

people here, too, do a lot of trading and sharing. people are constantly borrowing things, trading, or just giving things away and others finding use for them. it's great, really. and, it helps with minimalism for sure.


----------



## accountclosed3

in regards to food, we do declutter it quarterly. that's the pantry clean out.

we use three shelves in our pantry. the top shelf is for art supplies -- which I haven't used in over 6 months, so I sold them to a friend. the second shelf has the spices and other dry goods -- all in jars. I actually went through today and culled my spices, giving them to some kids whom I really love and I know they will eventually use it.

I finally realized that we tend to use use ready-made spice blends that we like, rather than individual spices. Herbs du provence, mexican, jamaican, persian, berbere, curry powder, garam masala, and a few others. Might as well just keep those, rather than the other ingredients that we don't use much of, you know?

the bottom shelf has our oils, vinegars, sweet potatoes, and onions/shallots.

Since I don't bake, and we really don't keep a back-log of food (we are trying to figure out earth quake preparedness though -- we do have stored water), we mostly buy what we need week-to-week, and buy enough for our pantry (2-4 weeks worth of spice, ground almond, whatever).

If I have something to donate, I will -- though it's usually easiest to give it to a friend.  i gave my various baking ingredients to a friend recently too.


----------



## ZakareyasMama

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Panserbjorne*
> 
> Well, firstly I'd say if you have chronic fatigue and pain skip the sugar!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But all kidding aside the way I solve this is by knowing how much I use. I go through about 1 pound of shredded coconut a week, so if it's on sale I'd get a month's worth. That doesn't feel overwhelming and I know it will be gone soon. I try not to ever have more than a month's worth of anything in my house. That to me seems impractical and hard to navigate.
> 
> As far as minimums go, I tend to have one reserve. If I run out of something I want a back up. So even if I take two months to get through a bottle of ketchup, I still have one in the pantry. Same for toiletries.


lol I know! Most of my baking is eaten by other people so I guess that's okay  A month's supply is good but I have a hard time keeping up with it. I don't have a pantry so I have stuff organized but hidden away in closets so I guess it's hard to me to see what I have and I quickly loose track.


----------



## Serendipity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LVNTEXAS*
> 
> Can you offer the bulk food to a church or homeless shelter if it is still packaged?
> 
> Another thought I am having....
> 
> When I was in the military and deployed, several older members of my family passed away. I received several frantic calls from my mother stating I had to come home ASAP because the business of doling out the "stuff" had to be taken care of quickly. It took me 4 months to come home off deployment and barely a day into my time off, I was on a flight to my mom's. I arrived, jet lagged and exhausted and within 2 hours, the boxes started appearing from out of nowhere. Box upon box upon box...then, the next day, we had to go to a relatives house. I thought this was all on the up and up, been when we parked halfway down the street and literally snuck into the house, I was NOT having any part of this. Seems everyone was fighting over the "stuff" this relative had and though my parents were the rightful owners, by will decree, other family members felt they should all have dibs. The sneaking around and the padlocks on the doors creeped me out. You know what I found? A house that had been ransacked 2 days after my relative died, BY OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS!!! I couldn't believe it. My mother was shoving things into some totes for me, though I was declining it all. It just felt wrong and I am not a big fan of old stuff, no matter how valuable or who it belonged too. I didn't have really fond memories of these particular relatives anywho, so it didn't matter to me. I remember how stressed my family was over this. My mom boxed up 4 totes of items she choose for me and shipped them to me. 1 was lost in the mail and the other 3, I opened, organized what was acceptable to pass on and tossed the rest and quickly hauled them off to Goodwill. The time, money and the STRESS absolutely floored me with the whole situation.
> 
> I am now am adamant about not leaving my son with my things. If he wants something now or later, take it. Or he can donate it all, when I am gone and if I have anything left. I don't want him to feel obligated to keep something just because I had it. I want to leave of legacy that I helped others, travelled with great passion and loved my dear son as best as I could. I want him to know I loved my life, not my things. I am almost crazy about it but it is truly how I feel.


That sounds so awful!

When my grandmother went to the nursing home and we moved into her house we had to deal with all the stuff crammed into every surface/drawer/cabinet /closet/shelf. There was so. much. stuff. it was completely overwhelming. I swore then and there my kids would never have to go through that. My mom has caught my minimalist bug so I don't worry about her but my dad has a LOT. Not looking forward to it. :-(


----------



## Serendipity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *zoebird*
> 
> for me, minimalism is a part of who i am, and finally I am able to embrace it and be it.
> 
> it's kind of sad that it took me this long, but both my DH and I talked about how difficult it was to become free of stuff. even though i've been a de-clutter-er for years, and really hewed toward minimalism time and again, i was often thwarted come the holidays. LOL And, i really couldn't come up with a reason to let go of something that was "perfectly good." EG, "i dislike the sofa, but it's perfectly good!"
> 
> In selling everything to come here, i really learned about trash-to-treasure. Not that i ever felt my stuff was "trash" but there was this great fact -- everything that I needed rid of, somenoe else really wanted. It was kind of cool to see how that works.
> 
> Now that I'm here, and buying things used, i'm seeing how things another wants to be rid of becomes my new treasure. "stuff" just seems fluid in a way that it never did before.
> 
> people here, too, do a lot of trading and sharing. people are constantly borrowing things, trading, or just giving things away and others finding use for them. it's great, really. and, it helps with minimalism for sure.


That whole sharing/trading concept is something I wish was more prevalent around here (meaning the US). I have mentioned to a few friends that aren't into minimalism and wondering why I'd get rid of so much that I could just borrow if I needed to and they acted like that was inappropriate somehow.


----------



## Serendipity

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Paigekitten*
> 
> It never was packaged, it came from the bulk bins.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like pounds and pounds of masa harina because I made tortillas a couple of times. What was I thinking! I gave a bunch of jars and cans to a food drive though.


I would think just giving it to friends or offering it on Craigslist or Freecycle.


----------



## accountclosed15

Serendipity- I was awful. I have never seen people act like mongrels. It was horrible and I didn't want to be part of it.


----------



## simple living mama

I feel kind of like the only one who lives as minimal as I do so I can't tell you what a nice post this is to find. My minimal mindset came when my dad moved the family to South America. It was the poorest city in the world in those days. Shocking at first. I never got used to seeing the children begging but I learned some invaluable lessons while living and schooling in Bolivia. I noticed how families were tighter. I noticed how the fathers would take time with their kids after a work day. Mostly playing footbal in the streets. I noticed how one can survive on so little. Moving back to material Southern California, the waste around me really became clear. In a long story short, I have found a way to live without ever having to go in to stores for most things except food. Must go, more later.


----------



## tresleo

I think I've always been this way. I never had a lot of stuff. I hated that my mom decorated with a crazy amount of stuff that just sat there, got no use from it and we had to spend an insane amount of time making sure it was perfectly clean. I never understood the point. When I was having kids, stuff creeped up on me. I didn't realize it at the time, but it had a pretty big impact on my mental health. One day, I snapped and threw out an apartment worth of stuff. Then we moved, and I got rid of half of what we had left. That happened twice, over the period of about three years. And things were finally manageable. I've just been maintaining since. It's much easier this way, makes so much more sense to me. And as much as I'd prefer there to be even less stuff in the house, I'm comfortable with where we are right now. No clutter, everything is used on a regular basis and I like what I have. I would only be sad if I lost my pictures, my baby clothes quilt and a braided rug I'm working on. I don't enjoy shopping, so its not like I'm tempted to buy more. I just have no desire to.

Thanks for this tribe. I love reading about everyone's minimalistic lifestyle.


----------



## accountclosed15

Simple Living mama- So nice to have you here!!! Believe me, you are not alone. I have felt the same way since I was child. I never got into materialism/consumerism like my family. My mom used to say I was happiest out skinning my knees and eating an ice cream than out shopping. I started to feel weird when I went to high school in a very ritzy part of time. The education was awesome, the materialism, not so much. I took to wearing uniforms of sort because I liked things to be easy and I didn't have to think about them. I wore polos, pants, boat-shoes and I would add 2 sweaters in the winter. I also had my favorite wool dress that had a funnel neck.I actually think it was a long sweater but I wore this with my boots. I wore the same thing all the time and but this made me focus on my personality more and my education. Funny thing is, I dress the same way now.









Having travelled the world twice in my life, I am amazed at what other people don't have as compared to the things that most Americans take for granted. I have always thought that if everyone could just give up a little to help the poorest spots in the USA, wow what a difference we could make!!! I don't expect everyone to live like me- I consider myself to be on the radical side of minimalism, as defined by other, though I don't define this myself. It's just how I always lived.

The comment about the father's spending time with their children is so very true. I do the same with my son. I have to work (for now) but with minimalism, I have a lot more time and the energy to spend with DS now and it is awesome.


----------



## accountclosed15

Monkey princess-- I did the same thing after my son was born. I was tired, frustrated and just overwhelmed. Hubby took DS for a day out and instead of sleeping, I purged the entire house. I was a mad woman but it felt so good. I collapsed into the best sleep of my life that night and you know what, I swear the house made us all calmer.


----------



## Panserbjorne

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *LVNTEXAS*
> 
> Monkey princess-- I did the same thing after my son was born. I was tired, frustrated and just overwhelmed. Hubby took DS for a day out and instead of sleeping, I purged the entire house. I was a mad woman but it felt so good. I collapsed into the best sleep of my life that night and you know what, I swear the house made us all calmer.


I can so relate to this!!!


----------



## accountclosed15

I was a mad woman. My hubby went to a bbq for work and then took our son to the beach. I was extremely tired but I couldn't sleep. I started thinking about the piles of clothes/laundry and just the overall mess. I started with just our bedroom---took me 1 hour to go through everything. I was shoving everything into garbage bags. I had 10 bags just from our bedroom. Then I did DS's..which had partial storage. That used up another 4 bags. I folded all the laundry and half of it went out and then I purged all the chotskies..I seriously think I kept 4 items..all of it went..8 huge bins. I ripped things down off walls and from shelves- then I listed the shelves on Craigslist.







I felt SO free. It took me less than 3 hours- I was on fire. I then wiped everything down and vacuumed. It was awesome!!! I re-arranged a few pieces of furniture and then I fell blissfully into bed for a 3 hour nap. When I woke up, I took everything (in 3 runs) to Goodwill and AMVETS.

Hubby came home and freaked but he got over it.


----------



## accountclosed3

Sometimes I feel thwarted by my husband.

The cottage is looking great. The french cafe chairs look awesome with my table, and we'll be spray painting them white this weekend. I'm psyched about that. I'm going to call a handyman to help us put in our washer and dryer this week, and then do some major scrubbing next week.

I'm trying to decorate the place, and man, my husband is annoying. I have these two beautiful mid-century modern chairs that need to be recovered and a mid-century modern bench (also needs to be recovered). he likes them, but doesn't think they are "comfy" and he wants "comfy chair to snuggle in" -- ok, i get it, but seriously, a comfy chair costs a fortune here.

Anyway, then i started talking about colors -- and he was like "I don't agree to that!!!" and I asked him what he wanted and he doesn't know. He wants white walls, floors, etc, and then black fabric on the chairs. I think it's too stark, and would prefer grey, and then we can bring in color by painting a few walls a good color.

anyway, the man is crazy sometimes. LOL


----------



## Logan

I was so happy to see you guys start this thread. We are inbetween the move that will take us from fairly minimalist and very organized to pretty extremely minimalist. At the moment stuff is either packed or sold (except the small amount we are actually using) so the house is very empty. Only about 4 toys out. And there is so much space to play and dance and the kids ride their bikes all round the living room and there's nothing to tidy up so I can actually vacuum every night! Something which was always necessary (don't ask me how but they get crumbs/food EVERYWHERE no matter what I do) but I never was able to achieve. And we have time to just play and go to the park and they are never bored. When they had a play room full of toys they were bored out of their minds the whole day. At the moment I am just going through the boxes we have packed and taking out anything else I feel I can part with. I always ask myself now 'will this item make us a happier family and bring us together more?' If the answer is no, then why do we need it!?

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lkvosu*
> 
> The one area I really struggle with is the kitchen. I love to cook. Heaven to me is playing in the kitchen all day! As a result though, I've acquired all kinds of kitchen equipment: a blender, food processor, stand mixer, hand mixer...I could go on. Any tips on minimizing a kitchen without compromising my ability to cook what I want? The minimalist in me says I don't need two muffin tins, but the baker in me says I do!


Can you please please please come live at my house LOL If I never had to step foot in the kitchen again I would be very happy- but I do love food!

My own rules for kitchen stuff are, if I can do the same thing with something else I own then I don't need it. So for example...Kettle? No I have a stove and a pot. Toaster? No I have an oven. (its a large toaster oven as this place has no inbuilt oven). I don't have any cupcake trays because the mixes I buy







always come with the little paper muffin things you pour the mix into, so I just use those on top of the flat oven tray. But if your joy for the things trumps your need to be minimalist then there is no reason to get rid of them. You only have to be happy with it yourself. There are no minimalist police coming round to check


----------



## mags.bubble

I would like to join you ladies. When I first heard the words voluntary simplicity & minimilism they resonated with me right away. I began to read message boards, books & magazines to find out more. Then began to act on what I read. A decade later, I consider myself aspiring still because I know I am not where I want to be yet. Working slowly making changes that hopefully will last. Not just about stuff - although after this 2011/2011 challenge I realize I may be actually reach where I want to be with decluttering - but also about time & how I want to spend my life. I may even count my things just for fun.

Mom to 3 and wife to dh of 16 years. He doesn't think like I do, but I can see that changing some. I respect what so many of you have said about not imposing what I want on the others in my family, but at the same time I need them to not impose on me either. Must find balance with this. We have a small (for our area) 1200 sq ft home. Living here is 2 kids, 2 adults, 2 dogs. Dh works at home. Oldest child moved out about 6mo ago. At that time, the 2 younger ones were able to have their own room for the first time. Must admit, I am glad that they have there own space now. Not a necessity, but it is nice for both me & them.

Dh is disorganized by nature and doesn't tend to declutter anything. Luckily he has the office & garage to contain his overflow of things.That keeps me from feeling suffocated. Maybe someday he will change, if not - well that is okay too. I am learning slowly that it is still possible for me to be a minimilist even though some in my family are not. Plus, most of the community part of the house is up to me. Thotchkes are not my thing. Dh also prefers the minimal amount of furniture, that helps.

I remember when it was just my dh, dc1, and me living in a 2br 2nd floor apt. Plenty of space & easy to care for. We used to go to the park, walks, entertain etc... so much fun! So many years later I realize that my list of chores daily on top of working prn on top of volunteer activities keep me with a check list of to do's each day that parks, walks, and entertaining are sometimes feel more a burden than I would like.

I see that I need to continue to minimize the household so that I can feel lighter, than I need work on simplifying my day so that there is more free time in my life to feel more spontaneous with the kids/dh. Hmmm.....need to continue to ponder that. How do you all accomplish that?

I look forward to reading and learning from you. Helps to keep me grounded and focuses.


----------



## lkvosu

> My own rules for kitchen stuff are, if I can do the same thing with something else I own then I don't need it. So for example...Kettle? No I have a stove and a pot. Toaster? No I have an oven. (its a large toaster oven as this place has no inbuilt oven). I don't have any cupcake trays because the mixes I buy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> always come with the little paper muffin things you pour the mix into, so I just use those on top of the flat oven tray. But if your joy for the things trumps your need to be minimalist then there is no reason to get rid of them. You only have to be happy with it yourself. *There are no minimalist police coming round to check *


Thanks for that! I literally laughed out loud when I read it.

Now that I see some you took to minimalism when you had kids, I don't feel so weird. When I got pregnant with ds about a year and half ago, everyone thought I was crazy for getting RID of stuff instead of buying tons more. We eventually got a crib (which we have yet to use), and a few other must haves, or at least what I thought were must haves at the time, but for the most part I downsized substantially after I found out he was coming. I just wanted things simpler. We only have a 2 bedroom house, but somehow we had that thing packed to brim with crap. It felt so freeing to let go of all that stuff. It was like I was creating physical space for the impending emotional stress that comes with having a new baby. I don't know how, but I knew I would NEED that space to be able to feel peace.

The creation of this thread is actually very timely for me as I'm in the process of minimizing once again by getting rid of all the unused baby stuff - crib, crib bed set, & mattress, a very expensive and also unused co-sleeper, baby swing, several boxes of clothes that were handed down to me, and a few other misc items. Basically a whole nursery's worth of stuff. That's another thing we decided we don't need - a nursery! To each his own, but for us, we decided that a little 7 month old infant "needing" his own (fully stocked) room is absurd. He has a little dresser with his clothes in it, and we can keep that in our bedroom since that's where he sleeps anyway. We're turning ds's old room into a mutlti-purpose tv room/office for dh. That's a much better use of space for us. We have a little sunroom that we use a playroom and that's where we keep ds's toys and diapers - the only other things he "needs". We were going to have a garage sale and pocket some extra cash, but then that tornado struck Joplin. I'm very close to there, in Tulsa OK, so I know several people who lost everything, including baby stuff. As tragic as it is, I'm glad that I can meet someone's need with my unneeded stuff.


----------



## Panserbjorne

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Logan*
> 
> My own rules for kitchen stuff are, if I can do the same thing with something else I own then I don't need it. So for example...Kettle? No I have a stove and a pot. Toaster? No I have an oven. (its a large toaster oven as this place has no inbuilt oven). I don't have any cupcake trays because the mixes I buy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> always come with the little paper muffin things you pour the mix into, so I just use those on top of the flat oven tray. But if your joy for the things trumps your need to be minimalist then there is no reason to get rid of them. You only have to be happy with it yourself. There are no minimalist police coming round to check


yes, this will definitely vary and depend on lifestyle too. For instance, we've been grain free for years and years so I have no stand mixer and no need for one. I tossed my stainless cooking set (heath reasons) and replaced them with select pieces that I actually use. I never used the stock pot, rarely used the small sauce pan, the skillets were nightmares etc.

I now have two enamaled cast iron skillets that are used almost daily in tandem. I have a two in one cast iron pan that saves on space and I LOVE it. It doubles as a sauce pan if needed as well as a small skillet. The skillet becomes the "cover" of the sauce pan. http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-722223/Le-Creuset-Fennel-Two-in-One-Pan I have a small dutch oven for veggies, but passed on the large one as I have a crock pot and just do soups and stews in there.

No toaster (if I have to re-heat muffins or pancakes I do it in the oven) no microwave, etc. I do have a cast iron tea kettle as tea is a big vice for me! I do herbal/medicinal tea so the prep is important. The only small kitchen appliances are my juicer and blender.

For baking I have 2 jelly roll pans which double as sheet pans. I have 4 different sizes of pyrex-five if you count the pie plate-and one 12 cup cupcake tin.

So for me, this is minimal. Everything gets used and as you said, there's no real overlap. I don't have things for "special occasions" and literally all the pieces get weekly action.


----------



## lkvosu

Ahhh! I've been trying to get rid of my toaster for months now, but dh resists. I think something about using the oven is intimidating to him, even though it seems just as easy to me. Reading a few of these responses makes me think my kitchen is pretty minimalist, for me anyway. I've convinced dh (and myself) that we don't need 12 plates, 2 sets of different size saucers, 30 cups and glasses and lord knows how many coffee mugs. We don't entertain really and ds is still a baby, so it's just dh and me using this stuff. Something about staring an empty cabinet makes we want to fill it, but I'm learning to fight that urge. All of that extra stuff is going to Joplin, too.


----------



## Panserbjorne

my dh was a tough sell too. When I pared down dishware he was nutty. we have five people, so five settings. He couldn't get the concept of "if it's dirty and you need it, wash it! he's like, "I just want to have enough." It took awhile to understand that with this amount there was never a pile up in the sink.

we don't have glasses, we use mason jars. little ones for kids pint size for us an occasionally quart size too, but they double as storage for extra soups, sauces, mayo if I make it etc. they also allow little kids to drink out of actual glass since they're so sturdy!


----------



## lkvosu

The only glasses I kept are mason jars like you said, and also old peanut butter and pickle jars. I threw out my old, stained, BPA laden tupperware and replaced it various sizes of mason jars. Doubles as glasses and food storage. Works perfectly!


----------



## Panserbjorne

exactly! And I have covered pyrex storage bowls that serve also for eating yogurt, soup stew etc. right out of them. Things with a dual purpose is great!


----------



## ZakareyasMama

Ah! The kitchen is the worst for me! It's a tiny space with hardly any cabinets or counterspace...

What do yall do for entertaining? Do you keep serving platters? I have so many platters and serving spoons etc. and they take up so much space I'm trying to find a way to get rid of them or at least make them easier to store.

Also.... for those of yall that use the oven instead of a toaster/microwave... don't you find turning on the oven a pain bc it heats up your kitchen? In the winter I wouldn't mind but in the summer I don't turn on the stove during the day bc it gets too too hot. I would LOVE to get rid of my toaster AND toaster oven that clutter up my tiny kitchen workspace, but I'm worried about the heat issue









For plates/bowls/cups that we use daily (it's just DH and me) my plan is to put them all away except for a few and just use those. We always have SO many dirty dishes. How many can I get away with? Two of each? The rule would be to wash it as soon as it's been used and put it in the drying rack.

The drying rack... ugh... I have this huge thing that takes up so much space. When I lived in Spain we had this cabinet with a drying rack instead of a solid board bottom so the dishes were out of sight. What do yall do?

When I get back to my house (I'm at the in-laws' now) Yall have inspired me... I'm going to seriously purge the kitchen... can't wait!


----------



## accountclosed3

ok, after looking at some design blogs, DH is back on the wagon. LOL

I showed him a variety of designs (versions of minimalism), and he hewed again toward my preference -- "stark" minimalism as he called it. when I mentioned it before, he was like "no, it's too stark. it should be homey." He discovered that he does, in fact, prefer the stark.

Because we are in transition (moving), our current place is a bit of a mess of boxes and what not. DS is having fun unpacking and repacking, so it's a mess. DH is more anxious, and once the bed and the bean bag was gone (to the salvation army), and I'd taken the packed bags over to the new place, he felt way more relaxed. It is amazing how, when the place is more minimalist and all cleaned up, how much happier all of us are.

So, in our new place, he's going to just "trust my judgement" with the look of the design. We still have a fair bit to do, but the movers are coming this weekend, and then early next week, a cleaning crew is coming in to really scrub the place for us. Just makes life a little bit easier to have a crew do it (besides, I got a half-price deal, so I'm happy).


----------



## litlwons

I am loving this thread and reading about all that you Mama's do to get to a minimalist place/ or keep it. I have taken another load to the Goodwill. I have some furniture that I want to get rid of, DH isn't on board with getting rid of a few pieces, so I am tryingt o be understanding. I saw some pictures of our house when we first moved in and I can't believe how little we had... I want to get back to that.

I love my toaster oven I don't think I could get rid of it... but am also trying to get my kitchen into a minmalist place.

My sister came to visit for a day and she said my house is looking great, the energy moves around a lot better. I feel the energy moving better as well. Before the only way I could feel that was when I opened all the windows.... now I can feel it when they are closed.









My closet is clearing out as well... life is easier when I have less.

Thank you all for the great inspiration!!

Kathleen


----------



## Paigekitten

I ended up giving a lot of old food to the chickens, they were super happy.

We have more dishes then we need, (maybe 8 plates for the 4 of us), but we have just enough to make a full load in the dishwasher plus a few cooking pots so it works really well. If we washed by hand I'd have fewer. We do have a toaster oven, and I like it better then the large oven because it cooks things in about half the time, we also have a blender, and an ice cream maker, but that's it for appliances. We have a lot of cooking stuff though, two sizes of saucepans, a stock pot, two sizes of cast iron frying pans, a really big cast iron pot, two cookie sheets, a muffin tin, and a casserole dish. I'd get rid of some of it, but DH likes to cook more then I do, and he wants to keep them. I actually would like a bread pan though.

We use jars for drinking glasses too, I love them.


----------



## accountclosed15

I think when most men think of minimalist design, they think of something futuristic and stark. It doesn't have to be that way. Paint can change the whole feeling and the things you do have, make them shine. Paint your picture frames, recover an old chair, add a vibrant wall hanging or my favorite, take large canvases and paint them in your favorite colors and hang them. I also wonder if some people equate less stuff with being poor.


----------



## Logan

Also there is a big difference in minimalist decorating and minimalist lifestyle and the two don't have to go hand in hand. You can have a very bare minimalist home but actually have things packed away out of sight and still have a ton of it and not live simply at all. And you can have very little but not have that stark decorating sense and just have everything out in clear sight. Also minimalist decor doesn't have to mean stark and no colours (it can if you want it to of course )- you can still have it homey but simple and not cluttered.


----------



## accountclosed3

yes, i know.

my preference is for stark and minimalist (by most people's standards).

today, I came up with an interesting solution. The original way that I was going to set up the cottage may not work, so I thought of an alternative.

The salvation army was supposed to come and pick up the divan bed that we got second-hand (that I no longer want because it wasn't what I thought it was when i bought it. i was told it was "solid wood" but if you mean "solid timber" you have to say timber because "solid wood" means "wood particle board" that is not wiggling or falling apart. *annoying*

So, I thought that we might end up moving with it, so I can paint it bright white, put it into the bedroom area (which opens to the lounge) -- on the long wall. It's about 10 ft long. use that like a sofa. put my bench in front, and the two chairs one on either side. get some pallets and hack them into 3 shelves to hold our books. The draws under the bed can hold DS's toys, the extra bedding for the bed (pillows, sheets, blankets, etc), and I'll recover the mattresses with some nice fabric, too.

then, put the bed in the lounge -- under the window that looks out over the sea. This will be warmer for sleeping, too, as it would put us in the same room (admittedly, it's all one room) as the fire place/gas heater (the bed will be about 3-4 feet away from it).

Of course, I may decide to move it all around in a completely different way, too. we'll just ahve to get the furniture in there, i guess.


----------



## lkvosu

Here's a question...how do y'all decide how much/many of something is needed. For example, do you have two sets of sheets for your bed(s), a spare umbrella, etc? I like the idea of living without excess, meaning only having what I actually need, not what I may need if/when some unlikely situation occurs, which is I guess what makes me minimalistic in the first place. But, there are exceptions to that. I know so much of this depends on individual situations, like, for instance, I do have spare sheets because ds sleeps with us and, unfortunately, no diaper holds everything all the time. I'm curious what others do, though. It's fascinating to me, where needs end and excess begins. jkj

hkjh


----------



## lkvosu

Disregard that random typing. I'm not sure where that came from and it won't let me edit it.


----------



## accountclosed15

I have one set of sheets for my bed, one for the pull out couch for DS. He is out of diapers, but when he was in them or learning to sleep in big boy undies, I had 3 bottom sheets for him. I keep my umbrella in my tote/purse, it really doesn't take up that much room and I always have it with me. It all depends on your needs. I live where it stays warmer than most even during winter, so I don't need extra blankets and cold weather gear. We each have a jacket, hat and gloves and I have one extra blanket, which we use for picnics and the beach.

I don't buy bulk either. I just don't use up stuff that fast with just the 2 of us. I buy 2 soaps at a time or just 1 bottle of shampoo and I use them up. When space is at a premium, as it is in my 1 bedroom apartment, I learned to live with just what I need. I think my only exception is tp- because if I buy a huge batch, it literally lasts us a year. I just store some in the bathroom and the rest in the pantry. I move them as needed.

As a minimalist, I don't feel I make any sacrifices. I live with what we need and a few wants, for things like the sports or hobbies we are interested in. I live with our bikes in our closet because I can't leave them out on the porch and we do bike alot. But it works, because we use them and we take care of them. Most of the time, the bikes will be in the living room. I have so little, that we have the room. DS thinks it's cool and it reminds me to take a ride as often as I can.

I don't keep anything just in case or because I was into way back and now I am not. I got over that guilt quick. I believe you have to move stuff out and leave open space to let new stuff, experiences, ideas, karma, in.









I was thinking about this with some of DS's stuff- his baby items, toys and clothes that I have kept. I took his coming home from the hospital outfit and had it framed. I keep only his artwork that he either used his feet or handprints to make or some things when he writes his name or mine on them. He is actually getting selective about what I can keep. Must be genetic.







I kept his cards from his birth to his 1st birthday, a small baggie of blocks, a few favorite items of clothing- all in one skinny bin that goes on the top shelf of the closet. He can have it some day or else not...it will be up to him. I did add a few patches from when his father and I were in the military and his Grandaddy's dog tags and small flag. I have scanned all my originals into my computer, making 2 back up disks.

Ok- got off subject, but that is what I did.


----------



## mags.bubble

I was just thinking about this today. I have previously kept an extra of most items and do have 4 sets of sheets (2 cotton, 2 flannel) for each of the beds (2 twin, 1 king). I have stopped buying a spare of most consumable items. We just keep the one we are using and when we are close to running out I add it to the shopping list. I will not replace the sheets for the king bed when a set wears out. It is rare that I can't get them washed within in the same day. I will keep an extra sets of twin sheets since one of my ds's still has nightly bedwetting. Also becaue they change their sheets on saturday morning and are so good putting the fresh sheet on right away that I don't want to mess with their routine.

I don't buy in bulk either or stock up on food. I receive my CSA weekly then shop at the store for 2-3 days worth of fresh or pantry items.

Looking forward to hearing other replies..


----------



## accountclosed3

i'm like the other two.

We really only have what we need/use. We have one set of sheets for our bed, but we rarely use the flat sheet, so if there is an accident, we put the top sheet under us. Same with towels, with food, with shampoo, soap, etc etc. I think the only thing we buy in bulk is laundry detergent -- which is a 5 liter jug.

It definitely keeps things simple for us.

Right now, because of the move, we are decluttering again -- which means just letting go of jars, cardboard, and plastic containers, and any clothes that don't fit, or just destroyed. Mostly, recycling, of course. And, there are some things that I have to store -- like light bulbs for the offices (those big tube ones), so I'll need to find a home for them *in* the offices. Luckily, I have a little extra space, and if need be, we can always let them go (sell them online).

Then it's matter of cleaning up our new space to meet our needs.


----------



## Paigekitten

When I am line drying I like to have two sets of sheets. Lately I've been using the dryer more, and we really only need one set per bed. Today I posted a ton of stuff on freecycle. It's so awesome and freeing to be seeing these things go, especially when people are so thankful to get them.


----------



## accountclosed3

True, I love letting things go.

DH managed to get himself overwhelmed while we were packing the last bits today. we have one basket of "office papers" and he wondered if we "had to" keep them. we really don't, so he's going to the office tomorrow to take light bulbs and these papers, and then get rid of them during his office time next week. He really is coming along. LOL

We got our jars down to only the ones we use, and our plastic containers down to 5 (2 square actual tupper ware ones) and 3 old yogurt containers in three different sizes. That pretty much is all that we use.

I managed to donate clothes to the play group, wool to my friend (and wool felting supplies), spices and baking items to another friend. I cleared our various toiletries (why DH was hanging onto empty bottles and boxes of things is beyond me), and got those back down to our normal minimum, too.

All that's left to pack now are the dishes and the remaining clothing items (currently in the wash).

Tomorrow, we pack everything into our friend's car in the am, and at 1:00, the movers come to pick up the heavy furnishings.

Around the same time, we'll be showing the place to potential tenants, and then on Sunday at 3, showing to another set of potential tenants. Looks like someone is likely to be renting this place come next weekend, which bodes well for us being out-and-done. 

Then, we start working on making the new place nice and bright.


----------



## MiniMum

We line-dry so two sets if sheets for our one bed. When DD has her own bed, I imagine she will have two sets too. DD wears wool "panties" to bed over her diaper ( we don't do cloth diaps anymore, but buy these bio-degradable eco-diapers made of corn starch) because the diaper leaked a couple of times. The night diaper is on a long time and needs some extra protection.

I also like to have a small supply of food stuffs and shampoos etc. Having a lot doesn't make me feel safe or secure, it makes me feel pressured to use it up. It also stiffles my creativity if I have too much supplies of any kind. One spare deodorant or bottle of shampoo is okay to have, preferably no more.

I often go through the cupboards too and throw out any stuff we are not using, like baking ingredients I didn't like at all. The frugal side of me first thinks if there is a way I can use it up or give it someone else, but if it's realistically not going to happen, I put in the bio-recycling.


----------



## lucifugous

Hi!







I found the link for this tribe while reading thru the extreme minimalist thread. I think it's all relative. I've lived happily in a studio sharing it with others, I lived by myself in a 3br once (wow talk about spreading out!! even though it was only for 8 months). I was raised to be frugal but I have had to live on very little since around the time I became pregnant with my daughter, who is now nearly three. I have never moved a significant distance, I've lived within about forty minutes to an hour from downtown Chicago throughout my life. The place I recently moved into is actually very close to where I *was conceived, and I have gravitated to this neighborhood repeatedly over the short course of my adult life. That is all for now, I will read through the thread after getting DD to bed and then share some more particulars & what I'm working on at the moment. Nice to meet you all!!

Kate

ETA: was ...makes all the difference in that sentence! Let's not become so minimalist that we leave out important descriptors, LoL


----------



## lucifugous

LvnTexas- I don't think minimalism is a fad but I do think that it correlates with the excesses in our recent history as well as those that are still going on today. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's a logical response to what's going on in the world right now, so there may be more people exploring that side of the spectrum, including those to whom it doesn't come as naturally.

lkvosu- It is so relative. Comparing can be helpful, but the real goals are functionality & personal balance.

What else can I say? We've done minimal drawer space, no microwave, Tv, etc. for a while. I love that I'm on a laptop now and don't have a desk. But I definitely have stuff I can get rid of yet. Still have extra pillowcases from back when D would spit up all.the.time and I just haven't gotten to culling them because there were two that matched each sheet set, then some of the spares that didn't match anything, then I have to flannel ones for winter and two of my favorite tie dye ones my mom got me over a decade ago... LoL, and meanwhile I'm down to one pillow, just one of the sheet sets that had matching cases (and one newer one that I was able to buy fitted only ), so it's obviously quite unnecessary to have ten or a dozen pillowcases at this point. >sigh< but they take up so little space I haven't bothered. In other areas, things are not allowed to sit for so long! I do have my high school yearbooks, as I mentioned before some too-small clothes (I'll be damned if this is the size I'm staying at, no joke) and some cloth diapers that I really need to get $$ for. All this, and when someone comes over they are majorly astounded at how minimalist the home is. But they don't see that half the kitchen cabinets are unused (and I'm talking a small kitchen). They'll never know the half of it, lol.

Well thank you for starting this tribe, providing a place for me to talk these things out and realize what does need to go. I seriously want to get on it. Writing all this out has helped me get past what we don't have (not a single thing on the ugly sandy/tan colored walls, miniblinds just begging for curtains, nowhere to eat, etc.) and realize that I will need to deal with moving stuff out first. It will be a while, and I can wait, until I find the right functional &/or beautiful items to make this home into a company-friendly place (my main objective).


----------



## accountclosed3

luci:

i think it sounds like a great goal.

when we moved into our larger place, we did get some things to make it company-comfortable. We got a table and chairs so that we could eat there, and invite friends over.

we have a day bed, it was supposed to be donated to the salvation army, but they never came to pick it up. so, we brought it into our new place. and now DH loves it. we'll paint it white, dress up the bedding, and use it for storage/etc. one drawer for bedding, two for DS's toys. it's right in the living room. so now we'll have two mid-mod chairs and one day-bed.  and a book case, most likely. Though, DH is deciding whether he wants that in the living room or in the closet (small second bedroom) that we have.

it's funny how it goes. if the sallies had taken it away last week, we wouldn't have missed it. ah well. now, if it goes, i think DH would miss it (though he says he'd like to eventually upgrade to something nicer. understandable, this is literally just MDF).


----------



## Paigekitten

So our family is moving from Portland OR to Southern CA this September, so I've REALLY stepped up the decluttering a notch. Financially we probably are only going to be able to afford a 4x8 trailer on the car, so I really have to figure out what we are taking and what is staying. We moved up here after out wedding with the same size trailer, but since then we've added two kids and a WHOLE bunch of stuff. It's going to be an adventure. We are taking a full size bed, the bike trailer and our small kitchen table with 6 chairs for sure. I would love to take our chair and ottoman, and the bikes. Then of course there are the kids toys. I don't give away their things without their permission, so I am a little worried about how to handle it if we do need to, especially since they really don't have that much to begin with. So far I am just being ruthless with my own stuff. I know anything I need will come back to me in time. I am sad about leaving the piano and the chickens behind, a funny combination, but certainly replaceable!


----------



## accountclosed3

Paige,

I don't know how old your children are, but when my mother needed us to declutter our things (usually before a move), she would provide for us the number of boxes that we could have for toys. We then had to decide which were most important to move, and then we got to choose where the old toys went. My mother would then divide those that we had culled into those which could be donated and those that could not (too dirty). And then she would take care of it.

It really helped me -- as a kid -- to let go and give to others. I knew that a lot of my toys would go to children who didn't have any -- often homeless shelters and women's shelters and the like. I felt good giving things away. Not everything, but what I could. 

I'm sure you'll figure out, though, how to bend space and time to fit everything you need in that trailer.


----------



## Paigekitten

My girls will be 2 and 4 when we move. My oldest understands a little about giving things away, because she sees me doing it and we talk about it. My two year is VERY distressed by even me giving away my own things. We'll figure it out, I know. Yesterday we took another trunk load to the thrift store. I have a full box ready to go in the trunk, a salvation army pickup scheduled for a bed and couch we don't use, and a friend coming for the chickens next week. I also packed some of our dishes into a bag and set them out of sight. I want to see if we really even use them all. I just kept out 6 plates and 6 bowls, since we sometimes have people visit.

It is SO freeing. I am really excited by it. I actually am starting to not mind the thought of giving away my piano. DH mentioned we could sell one of our cars and then get a moving truck for the piano, but selling both the car and the piano sounds fine to me, in fact, that would pay for this birth. (I'm 20 weeks pregnant). I just need to make sure we can fit two car seats and a booster in the smaller car.

We just found out we are having another girl, so I need to get out the baby clothes I have saved and keep only my favorite ones to move. I am sure my family will be more then excited to get anything we might end up needing, and thrift store baby clothes are cheap.

Right now I am reading Walden. It's very appropriate and inspiring at this point as we fix up our house and pare down our things.

I've also been watching HGTV's House Hunter's online. I find it amusing, and sometimes annoying, but I like looking at these big houses and really knowing that it really isn't what I want at all.


----------



## accountclosed3

my little guy gets distressed by things going away too. But he usually does concede when clothing doesn't fit, and will tell me that it's good that they go to other children who need those clothes.


----------



## accountclosed15

Today I went WAY minimalist with my hair...as in a cute pixie and I love it. I now just have some shampoo/conditioner and a balm for my hair. Also, no more coloring. I am going my natural white/gray/brown. WOOT WOOT!!! I donated 10 products I previously needed for my middle of the back, thick, layered hair. I feel so free and cute. : )

Also, I am purging a few things again. I think I ended up with one small bag for donation, but it is still one bag. I also have been talking to my son's doctor about his allergies. She said to get rid of any stuff animals and reduce the amount of dust around him. We are discussing him keeping his one dog and one favorite bear and donating the rest. SO far so good..we shall see..I eliminated the extra and tucked them away in the closet. If in one month he doesn't ask for them, out they go. My better to have his health than a bunch of stuffed animals.

I also eliminated some clothing, donating it to a friend who knows a single mama who needs some things. With my new fangle haircut and color, certain colors are not working anymore. It's been fun.


----------



## litlwons

Cute short hair, always so much fun! I cut mine really short couple of years ago and am now at a really short bob. I will stay here until I cut it again.

I am getting my stuff down as well. 4 brown bags waiting to go to charity and always looking for more. Time has opened up in my life because of the reduction of stuff. Also trying teach my boys that yes they can have stuff, but they are ultimately incharge of taking caring of it and cleaning up around it. I can see their minds working on that and seeing that mom is not going to be responsible for them. Our livingroom has become a wonderful place for us to be, play games eat and enjoy eachothers company. Before this last major purge, I ALWAYS felt as though I needed to clean and tidy when I was in it and that is no fun and not very gratifying. I take naps occationally now, a sure sign that I have opened some space in my life..

This process that I am going through, is opening lots of other places in my heart and mind. I am thinking about things that I haven't been thinking about for years; my spirituality, eating habits, relationships..... the list goes on.

Kathleen


----------



## SubliminalDarkness

Hi everyone! Just checking in really quickly. I look forward to coming back and reading all through the previous comments.

I guess I'm a selective minimalist. I like my home to be very minimalist in general, but I don't feel the need to skimp back significantly on size. We're four people and a very large dog in a 2000 sq ft. house, and while we could get by with less, I like the space.

But things are not packed full. My counters are bare. Almost all flat surfaces are empty. I don't like knick-knacks or souveniers. I don't even like family photos on display. I find them cluttery. We do have art, however.

We keep our kitchen stocked with basics, both food and cooking/baking utensils and such.

But then you get into something like clothing, and we all have generous amounts and I like it that way. It's something I enjoy. It doesn't cause me stress or make more work for anyone, so I see no reason to cut back at this point in time.

Anyway.... I'm off to go paint a bathroom.


----------



## Paigekitten

I have another car load to to give away, and took a bunch of dry food goods to church and gave it away there, we won't use them before we move. Our living room is now almost empty, we have a bedroom with all our beds and another bedroom set up as a living room with a comfy chair, desk, and the kids toys. I'm getting excited, we might be able to fit everything we want to keep in the trailer!


----------



## MiniMum

When I had short hair it was super easy  I never did anything but wash and perhaps condition every once in a while. But now that my hair is waist length, it's still as minimalist as a longhair can go! My hair and scalp tend to be dry and only need washing about once a week. I never blow dry or use any appliances, just wash, condition and air dry. If it's in my way I put it up. I think my hair care is way more minimalist than most people with short hair, who get cuts and color every six weeks, wash and blowdry etc. daily...

I haven't dyed my hair in a year but now I have the itch to start hennaing my hair  Because I think really long red hair would be great. But alas, staying with my own color would be simpler. But on the other hand, I'm really minimalist with cosmetics and everything else.. so I could have one indulgence.

Something to think about. I'm afraid I might get tired of the upkeep. Maybe just a hint of more color so I don't have to do it very often....


----------



## accountclosed3

that's awesome paige! 

i was rather forced to have short hair by my mother growing up, so now i wear it long and love it. i don't color it, and the cut is so good that it's really no effort at all for me to take care of it. it always looks great and I only need shampoo and conditioner (i don't use anything else), and I only wash my hair every 2nd or third day, unless i get really sweaty/dirty over a day.

i have to buy this child more shoes. poor kid, he's just running right out of this pair.


----------



## Logan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *zoebird*
> 
> i have to buy this child more shoes. poor kid, he's just running right out of this pair.


Don't you love that feeling though, when you use something to death and then buy a new pair when you actually need to? I love that feeling of not consuming in excess and getting things that will be really well used


----------



## accountclosed3

yes, but also no.

here in NZ, it is hard to find children's shoes. Yes, there are shoes available, but they aren't the quality or fit that we are often seeking. And, they are expensive. So, we have to order from the US, and timing is everything.

I'm actually on a path of ordering two sizes -- the size he needs now and will use for about 6 months -- and the next size up. then, i can order ahead again. It's a lot though.


----------



## MiniMum

Uh well, I decided against coloring. My un-dyed roots blend so well with the old colored parts and I've gone a year so why ruin the effort. The first year is the hardest anyway! I just get bored sometimes.

Long hair is not un-minimalist to me as I don't do anything to it, and it's easy to braid or put up, but commitment to coloring definitely isn't and if I would color I KNOW I'd regret it and start growing out again.

One major reason for me is that I want to give my daughter an example of accepting myself as I am and not being too vain 

And it will be interesting to see my natural color long, as I've pretty much had it colored since I was 13 or so with a couple of periods of no-dye in-between. I'm naturally a dark blonde I guess, but it really is obvious only after my natural hair get a bit longer than the 4-5" that I have now. I was a light blonde kid. My DD was born dark and already her hair is as dark as mine is now and she will probably be a total brunette in a few years. My mom and grandmom were dark and I suit dark hair very well so I've colored my hair darker most of the time (with bouts of red and blonde in there somewhere hehe). I really love dark hair on me so I struggle with the blonde, LOL!

Anyway.. I think the only way to handle my natural color is to have super long hair, so I'm growing it to my hip. Then perhaps I can go without the drama of being dark, or a redhead, LOL!!

On to other subjects.. (Boy do I love this forum, having you guys is great!)

We have started dreaming about how we could make it possible to travel more or live six months of the year abroad. We'd probably move somewhere warm, and cheap where I'd do volunteer work, and we would move full time I think if we didn't think DD needed here extended family now that she has just started to let them in and get friendly with them.. She may not have siblings so she needs her cousins around, whom she adores.. Also I love the summer here, and spring and early autumn too, so if there was a way we could live here for the summery months and live somewhere far away for the other six, it would be a great compromise, or rather, best of both worlds.

I volunteered in an orphanage in Cambodia and I miss it.. the country and taking care of the children. I'm an artist by the way so my work is not a hindrance. DH's work is.. But he has his own "business" too which is more like a hobby that makes money and we could support ourselves on that if we lived somewhere cheap, but living six months here would still be costly, especially if we kept the apartment. I think it could only happen if we could in a few years buy a home with cash so we'd not have to pay rent or mortgage. We currently have about usd 100K but it's not enough in here, we'd need at least another 100K, probably like 150K to buy something small here!

My brother's fiance is from Thailand and I sometimes I say we should all move there. Yeah, not likely to happen.

I haven't made any donations, but I'm slowly collecting stuff to donate when I have a full bag to take. Gave a couple of tops to DH to use as rags to clean his bike. Oh, and I sold 4 chairs  I tried to sell only two of them but no one would buy two so I sold all four. We now have 3 chairs in the kitchen plus DD's Stokke.

And I bought 5 bras. but they replaced my old ill-fitting nursing bras.. I think I should only have bought 3 or 4 but oh well...

Okay DD wants to go outside. more later.

I do enjoy everyone's posts!!!!


----------



## Logan

Minimum, I'm also thinking of becoming semi-nomadic.







Like have only a suitcase or so each and spend 3 months (the shortest leases you can get here) here and then move on to a new place for 3 months. The seasons drive me crazy so I am thinking of spending the cold parts of the year where there is snow, then summer in tropical paradise hehe and just move with the seasons. I hate my home city so I'm hoping to find some places around the country I can really say I love.

I read a blog where the mother travels with her daughter all the time and I thought it was the perfect life! International airfares here are crazy if you have several kids- cause anywhere out of Australia is a huge distance! So I think we will have to stick to going around the country for now. Maybe put stuff we will need when we resettle at a friends house- we have very little at the moment so it wouldn't take up hardly any room. Although I'm planning another baby so just have to wait and see where it will all fit in. Most of the stuff we still have is being saved for the next baby, nappies, hand-me-down clothes, etc. So if I weren't having another we wouldn't have anything much to leave stored.


----------



## Paigekitten

I have long hair and I just was it with Dr. Bronners and brush it and put it in a clip or braid. I've always thought short hair takes much more maintenance, just from what I'v seen in my family.

We are trying to become kind of semi-nomadic. I am sick and tired of the rain here in Oregon and miss my family in California. So we are renting out our house and moving down there, by my DH really loves Oregon and doesn't want to move, so we want to build a Tumbleweed house and just live in both states as well as do some traveling.


----------



## MiniMum

It's really cold and dark here in the winter, with epic amounts of snow. Which is fun, for like two weeks  I really struggled last winter. It's just too darn long, dark and cold!

I could come here for Christmas with the family every year. 

DD is easily agitated by new stuff though so I don't think changing homes all the time would be good for her. More like, have two homes.. Or one home and then extended travel.

I do want her to have roots somewhere, and see her extended family. But I bet they'd visit us too if we lived somewhere tropical


----------



## accountclosed3

i love being a minimalist. i got all cranky this morning because I woke up and there were several little messes left behind by the good ole DH, and I was like, DUDE! because i have to get out pretty quickly on thursday mornings.

well, it took 30 minutes to clean the place up. lol! all that complaining in my mind over 30 minutes! so funny. and, we still got out early. go figure. ha!

seriously, that was DS's toys, making the bed and daybed (in the lounge), hanging the washing on the line, doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, decluttering the paper pile, and packing up for play group and an afternoon at the office. Yay me.  Yay minimalism!


----------



## Logan

Yeah I find my house still looks way messy once the kids are done with it  But once I actually try to clean up I'm always shocked by how quick it is now to pick everything up. I even manage to vacuum most days now which is big achievement for me 

Minimum you could always get a caravan (like one of those small ones attached to a car) instead and make it really homey. Then she could have her home wherever she goes!  Or just keep a home base and travel when you like and rest when you like. If we owned a home I would probably do that- but since we are renters it would be better to just take everything with us and get to stay as long as we like in new places.


----------



## MiniMum

Haha, I chopped my waist length hair to chin  I was annoyed by the layers I had and the old color that I'd been growing out for a year, plus I had chin length bangs growing out.. So I lopped it off right at chin 

It feels so light and fresh.

I'm going to start washing my hair with shampoo bars. Super minimalistic as you can wash your whole self with the same bar  Also no plastic packaging or transporting water in a bottle all over the world, so ecological to boot.


----------



## Isabelle04

Ikvosu, do you still know anyone in Joplin who needs baby stuff? I'm in Tulsa, too and I also have a lot of baby items to get rid of. I was planning to have a garage sale, but I would love to donate them to someone who really needs them.


----------



## lkvosu

I'm not sure. I heard that Guts church was taking items, but that was a few weeks back. You might contact them, or Rhema, and see if they're still making trips there.


----------



## ZakareyasMama

I'm finally back at home after 5 weeks of traveling! It was fun but it feels good to be back. I'm now starting a super clean-out kick. I think I've been partly inspired by you all and partly by the homes we were visiting. Both my and DH's parents have sooo much stuff it's crazy. I thought about it on the plane and I want to go room-by-room and take the time to really figure out what I need, what I can give away and what I can sell. My previous purges have usually been one crazy day of loading stuff up in the trunk and dropping it off at the thrift shop, so I want to take my time now. I think I'll start a thread over on "Decluttering, Organizing, Simplifying" and start with the kitchen! Join in and lend me your minimalist wisdom!

As for the haircut lol I did the same thing a few weeks ago. I thought it would be easier to take care of-- and it is-- but now I have the urge to use/buy more little clips and stuff because they look so cute







Oh well!


----------



## accountclosed3

what did you do for your minimalism today?

today, i gave my boppy pillow, the moby wrap, and too-small woolies to my friend, whose baby is due in Sept/Oct.

in addition, on saturday, some friends came over with a box of hand-me-down toys/books for hawk. I've already cleared out the "character" books (disney, thomas, etc) as a matter of preference, but have kept several others, and i'm in the process of culling the soft toys. DS seems to have become attached to several of them (about four or so small ones -- fish, shark, whale, small dog is what i can remember off the top of my head). So, those can stay but the rest will be passed along as well.

it was so funny to me. we said big 'thank you' to our friends for bringing these things over -- i know they were pleased to do so -- but man, so against my process. I'd just done a quick cull of anything too young for him, and his birthday is coming up so I know the family will want to send stuff. still, just setting things aside helps.

oh, and DS loves the box. it's his "convertible!" he likes to zoom around in it. LOL cute, really.


----------



## ZakareyasMama

I finished my kitchen!







(before and after pics on the other thread)

All the food is together in one set of cabinets so that I can quickly see what I have. It makes meal planning for the week SO much easier.

The dishes are pared down to daily use essentials: 2 plates, 2 half plates, 2 bowls, a few knives/spoons/forks, one mug and 3 glasses. They are stored in the dishwasher. The dishwasher is the new drying rack. Since we have so few dishes, they don't pile up and need to go in the dishwasher! The rest of my dishes are put away above the refrigerator for when people come over.

Baking and serving dishes and storage containers all fit in one cabinet.

I threw away my non-stick pot and loaf pans and a bunch of plastic boxes.

I am selling my useable but nonessential appliances and serving bowls (on Facebook).

I have counter space!!


----------



## Paigekitten

I took a bag of spices I don't use much to church and gave them away there. : ) I almost have all my food in one cupboard, and all my dishes in another. I've downsized over half my kitchen, cooking is SO much easier.


----------



## MiniMum

I have all the food in one upper cupboard (double doors, three shelves).

We did a quick walk-through this open air flea market wit DD. I bought one book for her and LOL, she started protesting that she doesn't want it! She was tired by then, but still. The seller thought she was so cute.

She then went on to offer DD to choose a stuffed toy from a cardboard box for free. DD just looked at them and didn't want any. The seller was like, wow, she is super cute, so unusual! I was relieved that DD didn't want anything, we have enough stuffed toys and these weren't particularly nice.. I was a bit annoyed that she took the liberty to offer her something without even asking me first. I wanted to tell her, look, we live in a small apartment. She does not have a room, her toys are in the living room. I have gone through trouble to keep her toys in check and I DO NOT WANT more random stuff she will not play with, but I can't take it away without her permission either.

Anyway, I'm so glad DD isn't into stuff that much.


----------



## alittlesandy

Hi everyone! Joining! So glad I found this thread. Stumbled on the Zero Waste blog recently while looking for something else and was intrigued. Then starting reading the simplifying thread and found my way here. I am aspiring! I have become VERY minimal myself, getting rid of most of my clothes and books and toiletries, but it's a struggle with my packrat husband and my 2-year-old son.

So, I'm working on myself right now, and also trying to simplify routines with my son, but will have to tackle the rest of the house very, very slowly. My DH is open to the idea of getting rid of stuff, but when it comes to putting in practice, he struggles. For example, last night I tried to pare down our bags. We have five suitcases and a ton of duffel bags and overnight bags. I was hoping we could pare down to three suitcases (one each) and one carry-on. My DH says, "But what if we go to Europe?" LOL!!! I finally convinced him to let me get rid of ONE small carry-on, the one that was mine.

My pantry is a disaster, because my DH will not allow me to get rid of any food, period. So I'm trying to use things up. He does like the idea of eliminating packaging and plastic, so I took one small step of buying rice in bulk when we ran out and putting it in a glass canning jar. I love the way it looks in my pantry and can't wait to see things progress.

Baby steps!


----------



## accountclosed16

Howdy Minimalist Mamas!!!! I love this subject. It's one of my favorites. I am not one to count how much I had but I think if I did, I wouldn't have much. I remember when I had 1 week to clean and clear out and move. It was quite the eye opener. AM VETS and Goodwill became my best friends that week.









I hauled out stuff like a mad women for 3 days straight after I had an initial yardsale. I decided that I can always find what I need in a thrift shop or the dollar store. For instance. I got rid of the behemouth of a turkey cooker. It holds a 25 lb turkey. I hated storing it, cleaning it, lifting it...etc. I decided this year, we are going to go out for Thanksgiving and enjoy ourselves. Just DS and myself.

I also gave away a lot of vintage style items I was going to decorate my home with. They have been hauled around and I am going simple and chic now. Not much decoration with a pop of color here and there. Mostly get that from my red couch and turquoise and beige comforter. I have a few family pics on the walls and a large barn star that I salvaged out of a dumpster. It is about 3 feet wide and awesome. I just purchased to large lamps too--tall ones. I hate squatty ones and I hate overhead lighting, so I found some crystal ones that sparkle when the light hits them. I have one in the living room and one in my bedroom.

DS has his legos, cars, bike, dog, books and his art stuff. He is happy as clam at the beach. We spend a lot of time at the beach, so entertainment is simple with a bucket and a shovel.

I do love my clothes. I have work and play clothes and I like variety, though I tend to buy multiples of my favorite things. If I find a tank top that holds up, I buy 3-4 so I have them on hand. It's really the only area I tend to keep multiples. DS and I split the walk in the closet. He has the lower hanging rack for his clothes with smaller items in the top drawer of a shared dresser. His shoes are neatly on the floor, lined up. He has about 6-7 pairs and we purge religiously throughout the year, as he grows so fast.

One big area I rid myself of is storage items- bins, baskets, shelves, trunks, or otherwise. I just downsized and purged and now everything either fits in a drawer, cabinet or closet. The only exception in my son's toys. He has a small covered large basket for these. It is decorative and is a quick solution to hide his toys and I can leave it in the living room. Oh, and the laundry basket.

Just one. All we need.

Furniture wise we have the sleeper love seat, full mattress set, 2 lamps, 3 drawer dresser, small side table in living room, flat screen, round dining table with 4 chairs. I am adding another living room chair with hassock soon. I just picked out the fabric for it. The hassock has storage for my son's bedding. : )

Otherwise, I have basics in the kitchen and bath. I am not fancy and can cook up a storm with just a few things. I did invest in some nice glasses, dishware and silverware, as I like to entertain. I also have nice curtains, as this apartment needs privacy. I bought 3 pairs for the entire place and it looks nice.


----------



## accountclosed3

today, i started for-real tackling the "garden."

I grant you, it's a stretch to call it a garden. it's a tiny little courtyard space a tthe back of my house, and two very narrow beds running along the side of the house (which is where the entrance is).

nevertheless, i got the place de-trashed and weeded. it wasn't a lot of trash, but it was a lot more trash than i expected. also, a lot of the plants are just in bad shape. I pruned several of them, but I don't know if many of those are going to make it.

my landlady is also helpful. she's going to remove the stuff in the back that we can't use, so that we can have the space. I'd managed already, this morning, to go through the shelf unit of paint cans and chemicals and figure out that 90% of them were not useable or simply empty cans (and rusted through pretty good). since she is building the house next door, the workmen are able to take care of those cans for us. I put the good paints/etc (used just before we moved in to spruce the place up) into our 'secure storage' area, but she said she'd be happy to take them when her garage is finished (week or two?). So, that means we'll be free of all of those chemicals! In addition, she'll be removing drawers (plastic) and a workbench.

we, then, will be able to garden! i'm going to transplant some agapanthus from the front walk to the hillside at the back of our house -- that is the back "wall" of our garden. I'm going to mix agapanthus with some local grasses, too, and hope that those grasses just start to take over so I don't have to weed out clover so frequently. but, clover is great green manure, so I don't mind so much. i plan on putting down gravel so that the mud from the hillside isn't so much of a problem (it rains a lot, so we get a fair bit of soil down there).

i think that will work.

then it's a matter of just putting in some potted plants, building a swing and sand box, and putting a bench out in the same area with the sand box and swing.


----------



## accountclosed3

continued work on the garden space today.

DH helped me pile the landlady's things into one corner, and from there, I was able to sweep out the greenhouse. we decided to keep the floating floor on the one side, as it keeps the place level and was difficult to move. I measured out the sand box space, and I plan on putting pallets as planters along the back wall behind the sandbox space. This will be a space for herbs and lettuces! , along one side, I'll also put some potted plants along the sides -- but not so large that they would block the ability to get to the herb/lettuce pallets.

Across from this space, I put the long bench that we have -- which DS largely uses as a play kitchen. This will be a much better space for him to play. I have space at both ends for some potted plants on the ground, and I'll probably put a few on the bench to stabilize it a bit. I haven't decided what I want to plant yet, but I'm thinking that perhaps a blueberry bush (DS's favorite!) might be a good option for the corner.

Under the kitchen window -- which looks out into the space -- I'll put in a flower box. I'm thinking of hanging a couple of tomato, bell pepper, and cucumber plants as well -- since we eat a lot of those and hanging goes well. I'll plant herbs on top, even though they'll be hung too high up to really use. The pallets will be for use, these are simply to cover and prevent pests.

I think the toughest part, at this point, will be making the sandbox.

it's winter here. i'm hoping to get this room set up by end of august, so that i can start planting in early spring. that's when there are good deals on started plants. i don't really want to start from seed (some things I will, though -- like lettuces).

then, i'll get to work on the outdoor space between the protected/covered space (which is quickly becoming a more utilitarian space), and the greenhouse/playroom (as ds calls it) started. it's a small space -- perhaps about 9 ft by about 5 feet, leading into the hillside. I found a space with a lot of native grasses and flaxes growing wild, and was able to easily draw out several bulbs. I brought them back here and temporarily planted them, and I think i'll plug them into the hillside to hold the soil. Then more containers in this section, and it should look really nice.


----------



## MiniMum

Your plans sound wonderful! I bet you are having lots of fun doing all that.

We cleaned out dad's storage (because he plans to sell the house in the near future) and most of the stuff went into donation pick up pile in the garage floor. Some stuff he wanted to keep. My sis took a few things. I took a pair of hardly used snowboarding gloves, because just last winter I thought that I really need waterproof gloves for winter, my only pair is leather and they get soaked playing in snow...

So yes, once again I was looking at the truth that is that almost all the stuff we keep in storage is something completely useless.. A lot of it was mom's fabrics and old curtains and such, and then clothes, and then more clothes dad put in there after mom had died..

There was one "memory box" of mine that I didn't finish looking through. I didn't bring it home since I plan to burn most everything in dad's oven. I will keep a few letters from my family when I was overseas as an exchange student. I have my SMALL memory box at home which has hardly anything in it so I will put them there. And a few photographs that I plan to take out of the albums and then trash the albums and burn the pics I don't want. Burn my old diaries. I will perhaps look through them, I'm not sure yet if I even want to.

There was also two boxes of old fashion magazines - I don't even read any magazines anymore and I don't want my daughter to be around any. And I sure as heck don't want to store them and move them! I was using my parents storage for that LOL!

My snowboarding boots went into donation, I just don't see myself snowboarding that much anymore. And if I do I can rent..

When my dad sells the house there will be lots more work, but not so bad. The house is only like 1200 sf and it is not packed full by any means. Of course we'll help dad with it, since he can't take all the furniture and there is many antique pieces my sis at least wants and who knows, maybe my brother and I will take something. Also all the other mom's stuff still there, dad just doesn't want to make decisions about it which I understand.

Honestly I don't know what I would take. My sis already says she wants this antique tableware, a very full set  It will be perfect for them as they have the biggest house (still only like 1600-1800sf plus storage) and they host Christmases and Easters and big birthdays etc. And there is this large wooden antique "chest", that is used like a credenza for tableware storage and such but it's higher than a credenza.. She want that too. It's gorgeous, but big and heavy and we don't need it. There is still two wooden sofas/pull out daybeds.. a writing desk.. and so on. But I think my sis will actually find room for a lot of it, she says she can get rid of some IKEA pieces or whatever.. But they do have antiques already as well.

There is this one small wall-hanging cabinet with glass doors, it's very old and quite cute. It wouldn't take any floor space either. But my brother already said that he'd like that one, and that's the only thing he's mentioned, so he can have it. I already have those green velvet upholstered antique chairs in the attic (that go with our sofa) that we have no room for. And the couch is hardly ever used. Only when we have company someone will sit there..

I offered the set to my brother, LOL, but he said that they are afraid their cat will destroy them, and they are not too keen on unpractical furniture either.. 

My sis already has an antique "dining room sofa" and green is not her color anyway... But I KNOW that she would want to keep it in case her daughters would want it when they grow up (the oldest is 8 now). Oh well. We do have room for couch for now.. If my dad didn't just spend a small fortune in upholstering the set for me I'd get rid of it..

I'm rambling now.

This is the last day of DH's vacation, sigh. At least there's still lots of summer left.


----------



## Paigekitten

I loved the pallet planter idea, I have three pallets now waiting to become strawberry planters. Last night we loaded up a friends pickup truck with nasty wood leftovers and broken tile we ripped out of the kitchen. Dh took it too the dump this morning, it was 1800 pounds! It's nice to have my garage back now!


----------



## accountclosed3

it is awesome to have a room back!

i priced out a good veggie box for the sand box for DS -- should make a nice one. Price is good (for NZ) at $129 for the kit, the fabric to go beneath, and the cover to keep the cats out.  And, found some *really cool* planters at a really great price so that I can plant the shade/cottage garden. so, i think it's going to be pretty great overall. I'm excited about it!

In addition, we are moving forward with some interior work.

our first step, actually, is to put shelving in the lounge and also in the "closet room" which is quickly morphing into a library. We will curtain off the closet side of the room, and then put shelving on the long wall for our books and DH's writing materials. I'm also greatly considering home/unschooling again, so we would need space for those supplies as well.

I'm bringing the two mid-century modern chairs from the office into the house. One will be in the corner by the shelving in the living room (which will mostly house DH's toys, some of our most-used books, and perhaps a nature table) across from and facing the day bed. Then, both the chair and the bed will need to be dressed.

The second chair will go into the "library" (the new working title for the closet room) with a mid-century modern stool which would be a table or footstool depending upon need. I think this will be great for DH -- a place for him to read, study, write, work on his stuff, but also just a comfortable spot overall. I'm excited to see it come together. It's a very chilly room, so I"ll have to recover the chair in something warm and also make sure there's a blanket or 3 in there. LOL

So, i'm excited about that as well. 

Oh, and business is growing again. Such awesomeness!


----------



## ZakareyasMama

I've been watching a show called Small Space, Big Style (it's on Hulu if you don't have tv/cable like me). It definitely not all minimalists, but some are and it gives great ideas for using a small space to it's maximum. The first episode featured this cool portable home I think like some of you were talking about. It made me think of yall anyway...


----------



## accountclosed3

sounds cool but i can't get hulu outside of the US. nifty, huh? 

i just did a closet/cabinet declutter. it's worked out nicely. not much to let go of, but enough to feel good having let it go.


----------



## MiniMum

I'm about to get rid of a couple of bags of stuff again. DD's outgrown stuff and stuff that was given to us and a couple of my own things.

We are at a place where it would actually be realistic for us to travel and / or live abroad. The thing that keeps bugging me is that DD is extremely sensitive and she was distressed when we last moved and missed our old home. Coming back to our old place was much easier since it was still familiar to her. "Home" is very important to her.

I guess I'm worried that she would be traumatized, by feeling uprooted and lost and home-sick. Maybe she is just too small? Maybe we should settle for just regular shorter trips for now.

Even a few months is like eternity to a toddler. Then just as she would get used to a place, we would move back again. Like we did with the previous apartment. But it was different as the place was really close and we still went to the same places and did the same things.... not really the same at all as moving to the other side of the world.

Then again, she doesn't really have friends yet beyond family yet, she spends all her time with us, so in that regard it would be easy now that she is small. But I feel like she is just getting to know her extended family!

So maybe it's a selfish dream, and the best thing for my daughter (for now) would be to stay here.


----------



## Logan

I don't know, you're her mom so you know her best. But I honestly think kids are a lot more adaptable than we think sometimes. I have a daughter who is very shy around anyone except her immediate family. To the point that she will stare and give anyone else (including grandma, etc ) dirty looks and refuse to go anywhere near them. We went to Africa for a month and because she is completely a home girl who loves being in her own place I was worried how she would go out of her element. She LOVED it there. Because the people there are so friendly and loving to children (not like Australia AT ALL) she began to come out of her shell. She would start conversations with very big taxi drivers LOL. She talks about the people and places there all the time and I know she misses it as much as I do. I think, if you have the ability, one of the best gifts you can give your child is to travel with them and let them see and experience different cultures and sights. You would likely regret not going when you had the chance, a lot more than you would regret going. Just my honest opinion


----------



## accountclosed3

hawk is gung ho about travel and loves living in NZ too. he remembers his old place, and he misses his grandparents a bit, but it's all good. he's game, you know?


----------



## Paigekitten

Moving stresses out my 3 year old, but loves to travel as long as DH and I are both there. I've gone to visit my family without him and she's been very upset, but other then that she seems to understand the adventure and impermanence of travel.


----------



## MiniMum

Yes, DD is great with travel too. I think it's because she knows it's temporary and we will return home soon, that she can enjoy the adventure. She is always so well behaved and a great sport!

Moving to a different country would be very stressful for her I think...

But maybe if we had a home base here, and we could always return here and she would know that, then it might be better. (Similarly, she was able to give up her pacifier when we forgot it at home when visiting my sis, and just told her, oh, it's at home.. and when we came home and she asked about it we just said that it's in a safe place, we'll look for it later, or something like that. So just knowing it was still around somewhere was enough for her.. If we said it was lost or put in the trash she would have been upset.)

If we just owned a very small home it might be plausible. Then we could come and go as we please. I guess it comes down to how much time we'd like to spend here vs. in another country.

I'm about to leave with DD to go to a cabin by a lake, my dad and brother and his girlfriend are coming. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. We are only there for a few days though.

I need to pack now...


----------



## accountclosed3

well, i have to say that the moving/transition between homes here was confusing to him. he had this idea that we would have two homes, and go between them, but I explained that we were leaving one "for good" and going to the new one "for the time being" -- he was upset about it, but he's happy with the new place.

the less stressed and anxious we were about it, the more accepting of it he was. i think the anxiety is normal.

and, we go past it on the bus a lot, and he points our old place out. 'that's where we lived before. now we live in seatoun.'


----------



## green_momma2007

Hello to everyone! I haven't read the entire thread yet but I wanted to introduce myself. This thread is a wonderful idea! I'm currently a WAHM (ok, mostly SAHM, but once every few weeks I shell out a few diapers) to two wonderful boys. We live in an office building that we take care of for my DH's boss. I got turned on to the whole minimalist lifestyle about a year or so ago and I'm really attracted to it. I can't say I'm a hardcore minimalist though, more like soft core, lol. I am trying to declutter, but I will never feel at home in a true minimalist home that has bare walls or practically no decoration. I LOVE decorating and I love the warmth that carefully selected "things" can bring to your home. For me, less is more, but none is definitely not more, if that makes sense. I guess I'm even minimal is my minimalism.


----------



## Logan

Hi Green momma, I don't think you have to be into the stark empty rooms thing to be minimalist  I am definitely not. I think if it works for you then great but I like things to be a bit more welcoming. I love nursery type decor so we kind of have a theme for every room (or will when we finally get to our new home and unpack everything again ) and my house is very kid-centred. But it's not cluttered and apart from selected special decor items we only have things we need or use a LOT for the rest of the house. So you can be minimalist and still have a nicely decorated home. Everything in moderation I guess .


----------



## bignerpie

Oooo... jumping in! I don't have time to read the replies or really write my own right now, but I'll be back!


----------



## tresleo

I was in a car accident two months ago, and have been immobile since; I just recently have started to be able to get around using a walking boot. Fortunately, I've had lots of help, but man is there a lot to do to catch up again! So much stuff has crept in and I'm not even sure how...

I have surgery again on Monday for some hardware removal, so I'm not sure how much that will set me back, but the kids start school on the 29th, which I am starting to feel a little anxious about. Basically, I went from being a kid, to having kids. And now I'm 34, getting divorced and all five of my kids will be in school (youngest is 3 days a week) so after the initial shock of wondering what in the world I would ever do with all that time, I realized I have plenty to do! 

I had been pretty comfortable with my level of stuff before, I just need to do some quick once over of everything to get back to just maintaining. Which is okay with me, I am looking forward to it! Lighting some incense, putting some music on and purging/organizing/rearranging/cleaning my house all alone sounds like soo much fun!


----------



## MiniMum

I feel a little de-clutter coming tomorrow as I'm probably spending the day alone (DH and DD visiting in-laws).

There isn't much, but I will go over everything and see if there's something we no longer use or need. Shouldn't take too long.

There is actually already a bag of stuff waiting to be donated that I've been slowly adding to.

I just want to keep on top of things 

Otherwise I'm looking forward to some knitting time, making DD wool pants for winter. Also need to shop for a snowsuit for her. And see if the coat from last winter still fits... I keep for her one snowsuit and a then a coat plus snow pants. When we go about town I like to have separates on her, so that if we go to a cafe or inside somewhere she can just take off the coat and not have to remove everything... This was if she gets her clothes completely dirty or wet, she still has another set of outer wear and can go out again 

Other than outerwear and some hand knits I think we are covered. I'll just remove the summer stuff when it's time, box up the thing that will fit next summer, and donate the things that won't.


----------



## green_momma2007

I'm taking part in Apartment Therapy's Toy Cure. Sometimes I feel like the toys in this house procreate like bunnies. Has anyone here gotten a handle on the toy situation? I would love to see pics of decluttered and simplified toy/play areas.


----------



## Paigekitten

This is the space my family lives in at the moment. It's a bedroom, another bedroom has our beds. The outside toys are in the front yard, and their books are in the bedroom with my books. It's not particularly clean at the moment. I vacuumed last night, but didn't really pick up or organize much. Their art supplies are in the desk. The second pictures shows the rubbermaid tub that has their dress up things and stuffed animals and dolls. Usually the big dog is used as seating, but since I vacuumed, I had tossed it on top. Board games are in the top of the closet. Blocks and Legos are in that blue tub under the side table with my mess all over it. I'm right in the middle of a sewing project. I also have a few baby toys that are put up with the baby clothes to be grown into. The clothes you see in the closet are for new baby, and my two year old, my four year old has just about as many right next to those, and then they each have one drawer in the other room for socks, hats, and diapers.

I tend to look at this room and go "UGH we have SO MUCH stuff" but the other night we went to visit some (very normal) friends and when got home I turned to my husband and asked "So I know I'm a minimalist, but are most people like that? Does that make me an extreme minimalist" and he said that yes, I was an extreme minimalist. Right now I am thinking about getting bunk beds with a trundle for the girls, and making a loft bed for our full and combining these two rooms into one. But then again, I find I really miss having a couch, so when we get the floors refinished in the house I want a futon for my living room.


----------



## cynthia mosher

Hi everyone!

We have a new feature that allows forum members to create "clubs" of their own that have many of the same benefits of a forum, including multiple threads, a member's list, and group messaging. All tribes are invited to switch from the one-long-thread here in FYT to the new Social Groups. You can read more about it *here. *Let me know if you have any questions but please post to that thread so I can keep everything in one place.


----------



## MiniMum

I posted pics from our home here:

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/762506/post-pics-of-your-clean-clear-space/900#post_16327779

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/762506/post-pics-of-your-clean-clear-space/900#post_16350661

Our play area with all DD's toys are on one side of the big room which is our living room, office and play room. We all sleep together in the bedroom.

It's almost the same now.

I moved my desk a little bit and the linen bean bag is now in the corner where her small desk is in the picture. Her desk was moved just a little, it's between the bean bag and my desk. The bean bag is great for playing, reading, and watching movies.

Her toys and books are stored in the shelves and in baskets. She also has a rocking horse, a doll house, and a doll buggy.

We don't buy her stuff all the time. She got a white plushie cat this summer from grandpa. She will get some books, Brio train stuff and duplo lego for her birthday and christmas (asking for grandparents and godparents for these) , and I have to see what else.

On another subject - I'm going to try and make more of her clothes myself from now on. I know how to knit and sew and I want to buy organic (possibly fair trade) and vintage fabrics for sewing. I'll make tops and dresses with pockets, that she doesn't have to pull over the head, which means zippers and buttons or snaps. I also adore knit and crochet kid clothes.

No accumulating a big fabric stash though, I have to be careful about that.


----------



## Paigekitten

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *MiniMum*
> 
> On another subject - I'm going to try and make more of her clothes myself from now on. I know how to knit and sew and I want to buy organic (possibly fair trade) and vintage fabrics for sewing. I'll make tops and dresses with pockets, that she doesn't have to pull over the head, which means zippers and buttons or snaps. I also adore knit and crochet kid clothes.
> 
> No accumulating a big fabric stash though, I have to be careful about that.


I want to start making more clothes for my kids too, but I don't know where to buy fair trade/organic fabric. So far I've just been playing around with thrift store fabric and old clothes, but it'd be nice to know where to get more.


----------



## Logan

Paigekitten- You can find it quite easily online. I just started looking the other day (I'm in Australia) and found quite a few sites just from a google search of organic cotton fabric. Definitely enough range to keep me busy for a while. So I'm sure there's a much huger range of fabric choices and online stores in the US that sell organic.

I just got a mini sewing machine (my first) about 2 weeks ago and now I wish I had gone for a really good model as I didn't know I was going to LOVE it so much! I'm not using any patterns and have made tons of cool stuff so far just making it up as I go. I had never sewed before and was worried it was another waste of money item- so just got the tiny really cheap type. But I finally found something I am really passionate about









Its a great little machine but not very good for getting through several thickness of fabric and I can't adjust the length to use zigzag for stopping seam fraying. But it will do for now as we are committed to being debt-free again (had a huge expense this year) so will slowly save for a new one as I want to get a really good one now I know it will see a TON of use. Best thing is, this one is a perfect little machine for my kids to use once I get a bigger one. Very simple for them to play around on. And I can't believe how much little kids clothes cost, now I see them and know how easy it would be to make most of them myself. And we can make things exactly the way we want them now- and in such gorgeous fabrics too!!


----------



## Mommel

I am SO excited to find this tribe. I have been running a minimalist group locally for about six months now, and while I didn't start out this way, I am definitely a practicing minimalist. The real challenge has been staying this way with baby in tow now... everyone wants to give me their perfect "whatever" that they are sure I can't live without. Ugh.

I have been doing Project 333 for almost a year now and my closet holds fewer than 50 items in total. Laundry is done for the two of us in three loads: one load for me, one load for baby and towels, and one load of diapers. Awesome. I am down to less than 10 books, plus a Kindle... no more movies or music in hard copy (all digital), and only a few pieces of cherished art. Let me tell you, it feels amazing to have so much extra time and space and emotional energy to just be with my baby and enjoy life!!

The really big challenge is that I moved my mother in with me this past summer... and she is NOT minimalist. If I could just make my kitchen as minimalist as I'd like, I feel like I'd be free from the last bit of clutter and STUFF that weighs me down, but alas... my mother would have a fit and then angrily replace all of my things that I'd donate or throw away anyway. LOL

The other thing i worry about as I read stories in this thread of minimalists who come from pack-rat homes is that my son will turn into a pack-rat because I am a minimalist. That would be just my fate! Haha!

My dream is to live in a tiny house or a refurbished airstream some day...


----------



## MiniMum

Hi and welcome Mommel 

I don't think you need to worry about turning your boy into a packrat, as long as you respect that minimalism is YOUR choice, not his - and respect his right to have his own stuff and decide whether to keep or give away things. We visit thrift shops, both to donate and buy, and I talk about giving to others who don't have as much or who may need the thing we no longer need. She is having a birthday soon (three years) and then Christmas, and if she got something I hated, I admit I would try to sneak it away and she if she even remembers getting it -if not I would donate it. Some baby toys I got rid of and she has seen them in photos and asked about them, oops! I will not give away any of her stuff without her permission anymore, except perhaps something she just got and doesn't even remember getting 

If you make your child feel like they have to protect their stuff and worry about it suddenly disappearing, then you might encourage hoarding.

If the kid stuff gets on your nerves, kindly try to steer him in the direction you want, and if it doesn't work too well, remember that they are only small kids with lots of toys for a short while...

I think that some kids are natural minimalist and other are collectors. We just visited a wonderful toy shop and my daughter just said "Mom, let's got home!"

But she does have her stuff, and she does still get gifts. I just prefer fewer and really good quality, and ones that are not really ugly in our living room if I can help it


----------



## MiniMum

Oh, and Etsy is great for organic fabrics. There are NONE here at the fabric store. Re-using second hand fabrics is great too. And there are on-line store who sell fair trade fabrics.


----------



## Mommel

Very good points! Thanks... you are so right that I can only point him in the right direction, give him control over his own stuff, breathe and remain calm! LOL

Quote:



> Originally Posted by *MiniMum*
> 
> Hi and welcome Mommel
> 
> I don't think you need to worry about turning your boy into a packrat, as long as you respect that minimalism is YOUR choice, not his - and respect his right to have his own stuff and decide whether to keep or give away things. We visit thrift shops, both to donate and buy, and I talk about giving to others who don't have as much or who may need the thing we no longer need. She is having a birthday soon (three years) and then Christmas, and if she got something I hated, I admit I would try to sneak it away and she if she even remembers getting it -if not I would donate it. Some baby toys I got rid of and she has seen them in photos and asked about them, oops! I will not give away any of her stuff without her permission anymore, except perhaps something she just got and doesn't even remember getting
> 
> If you make your child feel like they have to protect their stuff and worry about it suddenly disappearing, then you might encourage hoarding.
> 
> If the kid stuff gets on your nerves, kindly try to steer him in the direction you want, and if it doesn't work too well, remember that they are only small kids with lots of toys for a short while...
> 
> I think that some kids are natural minimalist and other are collectors. We just visited a wonderful toy shop and my daughter just said "Mom, let's got home!"
> 
> But she does have her stuff, and she does still get gifts. I just prefer fewer and really good quality, and ones that are not really ugly in our living room if I can help it


Hey, has anyone thought about starting a "Minimalist Tribe" group on MDC? The original objection of exclusivity of groups has been addressed with the ability to create a group with open membership, so anyone can join at any time. It seems like a great way to organize topical threads within the "tribe" so newcomers don't have to weed through 8 pages of varying threads to find out what's happening. I'd be happy to co-lead (it requires two leaders to moderate just like any MDC forum).

Of course, if someone prefers to have an exclusive membership type group, I'm open to hearing the reasons for it, but I'm thinking it would just be an easier way to organize many threads for the minimalism topic while still keeping the group open to anyone who'd like to post on the subject. Yes?

Anyone? I'm thinking we could have topics like: how do you get your family to not buy you stuff for the holidays, and help for aspiring minimalists, etc...


----------



## Rainey Daye

I am all for that!! I admit I am an aspiring minimalist only...as I still struggle with the ever expanding clutter that seems to appear in our house...but most of my friends and family already think I am crazy minimalist only because I have so much less STUFF than them!! Our dream is to sell our house in the near future (but only if we can do so without losing any money on it) and to buy an RV and be location-independent...with all our belongings fitting into the RV (with maybe the exception of a footlocker of a few memorabilia stored with family). It's just me, DH, and one little guy at the moment but I'm still holding out hope of little dude getting a sib at some point in the future. We want to travel, both here and overseas, and with the overseas travel we would be living out of suitcases only....which I have done before as a single person.

I tend to haunt the Decluttering, Simplifying, and Organizing forum on here, but have to admit that while there are some minimalists on there, that the majority of posters are those that have a lot of stuff and while they may be decluttering and organizing there's not a whole lot of actual minimizing going on!!

I myself have done one round of Project 333 and am currently gearing up to start a year of Project 36/365 on January 1st. I am reorganizing Bug's toys into seven categories and getting rid of any that don't fit in those categories and asking family and friends to only give from those categories as well. DH is the hard one, as he's got probably 100+ shirts (and at least half of those are t-shirts)!! He knows he will have to minimize the quantity of his clothes when we move into the RV, but sees no point in minimizing now!! He at least is on board with minimizing everything BUT his clothes and electronics...but we will need to work on those soon!!

Not sure if I could co-moderate long-term as I'm not sure how much overseeing that would entail, but I would be happy to help out at the start at least till someone else could step up in any case.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mommel*
> 
> Hey, has anyone thought about starting a "Minimalist Tribe" group on MDC? The original objection of exclusivity of groups has been addressed with the ability to create a group with open membership, so anyone can join at any time. It seems like a great way to organize topical threads within the "tribe" so newcomers don't have to weed through 8 pages of varying threads to find out what's happening. I'd be happy to co-lead (it requires two leaders to moderate just like any MDC forum).
> 
> Of course, if someone prefers to have an exclusive membership type group, I'm open to hearing the reasons for it, but I'm thinking it would just be an easier way to organize many threads for the minimalism topic while still keeping the group open to anyone who'd like to post on the subject. Yes?
> 
> Anyone? I'm thinking we could have topics like: how do you get your family to not buy you stuff for the holidays, and help for aspiring minimalists, etc...


----------



## Mommel

Awesome! I'm on it... I don't think it takes too much work. We can always recruit help if need be.









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Rainey Daye*
> 
> I am all for that!! I admit I am an aspiring minimalist only...as I still struggle with the ever expanding clutter that seems to appear in our house...but most of my friends and family already think I am crazy minimalist only because I have so much less STUFF than them!! Our dream is to sell our house in the near future (but only if we can do so without losing any money on it) and to buy an RV and be location-independent...with all our belongings fitting into the RV (with maybe the exception of a footlocker of a few memorabilia stored with family). It's just me, DH, and one little guy at the moment but I'm still holding out hope of little dude getting a sib at some point in the future. We want to travel, both here and overseas, and with the overseas travel we would be living out of suitcases only....which I have done before as a single person.
> 
> I tend to haunt the Decluttering, Simplifying, and Organizing forum on here, but have to admit that while there are some minimalists on there, that the majority of posters are those that have a lot of stuff and while they may be decluttering and organizing there's not a whole lot of actual minimizing going on!!
> 
> I myself have done one round of Project 333 and am currently gearing up to start a year of Project 36/365 on January 1st. I am reorganizing Bug's toys into seven categories and getting rid of any that don't fit in those categories and asking family and friends to only give from those categories as well. DH is the hard one, as he's got probably 100+ shirts (and at least half of those are t-shirts)!! He knows he will have to minimize the quantity of his clothes when we move into the RV, but sees no point in minimizing now!! He at least is on board with minimizing everything BUT his clothes and electronics...but we will need to work on those soon!!
> 
> Not sure if I could co-moderate long-term as I'm not sure how much overseeing that would entail, but I would be happy to help out at the start at least till someone else could step up in any case.


----------



## Paigekitten

A group would be cool.

We ended up not moving into my parents garage and now I find myself in the curious position of actually wanting more things, and of wanting to replace some of the things we gave away expecting not to need as my parents already had them. It's very odd for me to feel like acquiring!


----------



## Mommel

Okay ladies!! Here is the new group!

http://www.mothering.com/community/groups/show/18/minimalist-mamas

Please join and start threads and/or contribute to existing ones.


----------

