Minimalist chic

dawn_rose

Hiya folks

Do we have any minimalists here? I'm decluttering and would love any tips on the bare minimum you live with etc clothes and shoes. I need inspiration.

Susan1962

I'd have a look at the KonMari thread. It's not "pure" minimalism but it's all about decluttering and having only those things in your life that "spark joy". Sounds a bit airy fairy I know but it's an excellent system and the people who post have some great insights.

Bobarella

I consider myself inspired by minimalism. I recommend looking up The Minimalists Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nichodemus. Together they rejected the trappings of six figure salaries and large debts and wrote a book Everything that Remains. They created a challenge on twitter called Minsgame which you can still look up the hashtag of. Each day of the month you give away the appropriate number of items rising from 1 to 31. If you play it correctly you end up getting rid of over 400 items per month. I've played several times and am always amazed that I can easily do another month.
Anyway that's my input.

Have fun decluttering!

Bob

MandM90

Hi,

I wouldn't consider myself a pure minimalist but I have got rid of about 70% of my possessions in the last two years. I would start with something easy, like clothes or DVDs, and work from there. The first thing I did was bag up my 300 DVDs and take them to CeX to sell. I then had some empty cheap flimsy shelving to dispose of, which felt very good and I just carried on...

I now give away a book once I've read it (usually get them as gifts) unless it's a cookbook and buy everything on kindle.

If you want to go extreme read Miss minimalists blog or "100 things" - all very inspiring. Cleaning and tidying in my house is an absolute doddle!!

GreyQueen

dawn_rose wrote: »

Hiya folks

Do we have any minimalists here? I'm decluttering and would love any tips on the bare minimum you live with etc clothes and shoes. I need inspiration.

I've been moving towards minimalism for some years now, and am a reader of many minimalistic blogs. May I recommend the following http://bemorewithless.com/archives/. She has a clothing challenge which many people have followed successfully - about dressing from 33 things.

I have two items of footwear - a pair of black flats for work and anything else which is slightly tidy, and a pair of trainers for everything else. The trainers are half-worn out and when they've died, I intend to substitute them with a pair of fabric hiking boots which look very similar to the trainers but aren't presently used.

Apart from a pair of slippers, a pair of leather hiking boots, and flip-flops, that's it for my footwear inventory. Even if I was a fashionista with a bottomless wallet, there is almost no space in my home to store excess belongings, anyway.

Several things which I'm presently using in the home are slated for non-replacement when they eventually die, which will thin the belongings out naturally. A lot of clothing falls into this category, plus household textiles.

In times past, even only a few generations ago, people lived with far fewer possessions than we regard as normal nowadays. Perhaps terms like 'a wardrobe' or 'a record collection' or 'batterie de cuisine' lead us into mistaken ways of thinking; more is better.

Often more is just more nuisance, waste, mess and aggravation. But it's positively daring to say that aloud in a modern consumer-driven society.

missyrichards

I'm a minimalist and I have been culling the clutter and making way for what I truly need and love in my life.

I agree with the posters above with the links they provided.:) They are all great sources of information.

Project 333 is another good one as it can help you look critically at what you actually wear in your wardrobe and so you can get rid or donate all the clothes you don't wear or don't fit or you don't like...

Pinterest also has a lot of info on capsule wardrobes.

Clearing your house of unwanted stuff also means less cleaning/ generally sorting and organising which is a massive bonus.

Having a cluttered home can actually lead to mild depression, especially with women so I've read.

Purplesky_2

I used 'One year to an organised life' by regina leeds, which seems to follow similar principles to the Kon Marie method.


I just read of a challenge that I'm going to try.

Each week you try to find something to get rid of. And on the wall, you have a chart with week numbers on it (i.e. 1-52) and you tick off the week number with the number of items you are getting rid of! I'm doing books right now, which will for once be quite a high number, but you could get rid of pens or anything!


I also try to figure out if I was getting paid something for the item, would I remove it from my space and sell it? And often the answer is yes! So even if I donate it, I know that I don't really want the book/item of clothing/whatever.

Bathory

I am minimalist. I did use to collect tapes/cds as I'm very much into music but this has been decluttered as I find I can listen to what I want via the internet. I own no books or ornaments, all my clothes fit into 2 drawers and I have 2 coats and a jacket plus 4 pairs of various footwear. I have 4 makeup items and that's it - no back ups and nothing in any drawers or under the bed. A far cry from a few years ago when I had piles of unused cosmetics, toiletries and a lot of clothes that I kept a hold of because someday I may fit back into them - not. I mainly gave things away to charity shops or car-booted them. Some may say that it was a waste of money which, looking back now it was, but as the money had already been wasted there was no turning back the clock and nothing to gain by leaving things as they were so out they went. I found that minimalism made me feel calmer and less stressed.

However, I find that clutter can still catch you out if you are not aware of it sneaking back into your home. Unfortunately, my home is by no means minimalist as OH loves collecting things. I get round this by keeping the bedroom and bathroom minimalist and the rest of the house remains untidy as its not my stuff to worry about. My main tip for you would be to go through what you want to pare back on - a pile for keeps and a pile to get rid of. Once you have done this and you find you wish to declutter more then repeat a second or even a third time. If you have a lot of things then it may be a bit overwhelming to do it all at once so just sort through it in stages and do 1 room at a time.

A minimalist youtube blogger that I follow is lightbycoco. I find her approach to minimalism to be very calming.

dawn_rose

I'm looking into sites regarding minimalism as suggested in your posts cheers. I'd love to own less. I've started my wardrobe already we all seem to own so much in this house.

juliapenguin

I'd call myself a minimalist, but everyone's definition is different. I love having less stuff and spending money only on things which add something to my life. I'm in a meet-up group in Manchester linked to 'The Minimalists' website and get a lot of inspiration from meeting the other members - they are all very different in how they practise minimalism, and very tolerant and accepting. If anyone online tries to tell people that you have to follow any specific rules I just let that wash over me!

Ben84

Minimalist? Maybe I am in some ways. Chic? Probably not :rotfl:

Anyway, minimalism has lots of definitions, so I might meet some and not others. The idea I get from it isn't so much having a set amount of stuff or anything, but the importance of your life not being taken over by material items. Too much stuff can become a burden, with the cost in time and money to own it all taking its share, as well as the effort of shopping for and maintaining it all.

I'm pretty minimalist with things like clothes but have some larger amounts of things in places like the kitchen. The kitchen is stuffed full of things. But they're all used often, and I do cook a lot. But it doesn't matter, I'm still living within my definitions of stuff I need, as various foods need some specific items. You can't make a bundt without a bundt tin, or jam and pickles without lots of kilner type jars to hand. Where I can use something I already have, that's my first choice, and I have got rid of anything I later find I can actually do without, but sometimes it's not an option, and the kitchen is just an example of that. People with other hobbies may find the same. I do also have a big pile of electronics stuff. You can't be in to repairing electronics without owning at least a handful of thing. Repairs need tools and parts. Whatever the case, the electrical stuff and kitchenware is handy, but I have no problems parting with them if they stop being useful. The situation just hasn't come along. I also have a room with a whole wall of books, but these aren't just any old books I could find again in the library, they're specific books I've often taken years to find and know I will read again. Clearing them out would not be useful.

As I have a wall of books and a kitchen full of stuff, and a garage full of electrical bits, maybe I shouldn't consider myself any kind of minimalist? Depends how you look at it I guess. I can say every item I own is wanted for the purpose it serves, and it's a purpose I use it for. My stuff helps me do things I want to do, it doesn't burden me. Collecting stuff purely for the sake of owning it, or shopping because it's just a way to spend time are things I don't do.