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Sort of MM-related: Minimalism
For the month of January, H and I have decided to do a minimalist challenge. Basically, you get rid of the same amount of things each day that correspond to the date. For example, on the 1st, we each get rid of 1 item, on the 2nd we each get rid of 2 items, etc. etc. up until the 31st when we each get rid of 31 items. They don't have to big things--the 31 items could be 10 magazines, a few old pairs of shoes, some mugs we don't use, etc. It's just kind of a fun way to help us clear out some clutter.
While researching ideas for being more of a minimalist, I came across this article that I found interesting:
http://www.becomingminimalist.com/clutter-stats/
Some of the items listed totally shocked me to read, although I guess I'm not surprised in the end. I would venture to guess that H and I are a lot lower than 300,000 items simply because of the size of our house, but we still have way more 'stuff' than we actually need. It's things a person doesn't think about, too, like extra lightbulbs or spatulas or coats or board games. Things that take up space.
Anyways, I don't expect that we will become true minimalists any time soon, but I am really looking forward to reducing the amount of things in our home. By the end of January, we will have removed nearly 1,000 items from our home. If we enjoy doing it, we might start over for another month.
Is anybody here a minimalist? Would you consider switching to a minimalist lifestyle? How far would you go? (I've read about some people who literally only own 100 things or less, by choice).
Re: Sort of MM-related: Minimalism
Ditto this! We have stopped buying the excess "crap" over the years unless it something we need or really want that will get used for years to come. My views on money have changed over time and I am looking to have more experiences than products and other "stuff" in my house. While we had our condo on the market, we had excess stuff in storage and living with no clutter really opened my eyes and I didn't miss any of the stuff that was in those boxes, nor did I miss cleaning it or cleaning around it! We got rid of 5 to 6 boxes of kitchen stuff that we didn't use to H's brother who had just bought an apartment. Now that we are moved into a new house, we are buying those necessities and I will be using what we currently have to decorate as we buy new furniture for each room. If I don't like what we have or it doesn't match, it will get sold so I can replace it with something that works. Setting up a cozy home is important to me as we are homebodies for the most part. But this décor and curtains etc will be in my home forever unless it starts to look outdated. I like to use things to their fullest but also like things neat and clean looking. I prefer to put my money into retirement, having fun now, and taking vacations.
Good article!
Good luck with cleaning out! I do the same thing every so often..all my clothes go to consignment or we donate in those clothing/book bins along with books etc. We don't buy movies or book we rent or use the library. We went to a friends house recently and they have 2 kids...I couldn't believe the amount of movies they had on a huge bookshelf.....that would be nice amount of money to put into retirement or towards a vacation! I'm just very frugal about some things and I can't help it!
What a depressing article! There are a lot of sad statistics in there.
Though I fully admit to being a part of the problem. Not only am I not a minimalist, I feel like I am whatever the opposite of that is!
Warning, arm-chair psychologizing myself here:
But I'm trying to get better. I don't know where it came from but, from childhood, I've always had this "save it for later" mentality. For example, if I had a coloring book I especially liked. I didn't want to color it then, I wanted to "save it for later". Putting off the joy, so to speak, in case I needed joy later. Or, as an adult, don't use this lipstick or this body cream because it's "nice" and I want to save it for a special occasion or when I need a perk me up.
Of course, what usually happens, is all these "save it for later" special things...or really not so special...go bad, go out of style, get lost, lose interest for me. For the most part, I have now successfully gotten myself out of that type of mindset. But it took me incremental improvement over many years.
I also have a hard time throwing things away. Because what if I want it someday? Then I'll have to spend money to buy it again. But, but, but...it has value! Maybe I can sell it on CL or Ebay (except I never bother).
This habit is what I've been working on for the last few years. I first started by just stopping buying things unless I truly needed them. I've been more financially comfortable in recent years and, surprisingly, I think that helped a lot. I'm a lot more comfortable now telling myself, "Whatever, if I have to buy this same thing because I need one 5 years from now, I'll buy it again 5 years from now. But I don't want it now." Or "Yeah, MAYBE I could get $10 for this on Ebay or CL, but do I really want to spend the time trying? Nope, no I don't. Just get it out of here."
I'm not going to lie, I am still struggling with parting with things. I just got rid of my prom dresses this last weekend. That I dragged from CA to NOLA almost 20 years ago. Because maybe I'd wear one again to a formal event. Maybe I'd sell them. And my 25-year HS reunion is next year, lol. Seriously.
The thing that I have found most interesting is I really think of us the same way. I'm good at organizing and cleaning, and everything has its place. What I'm beginning to realize is how much time and space is needed to organize all that stuff. Yes, it's tidy, but if I just get rid of a lot more things, there is less organization needed.
Bolded #1: This is me with groceries. I think it comes from growing up pretty poor. Like, when we were kids, if we were lucky enough for my mom to afford a treat like a box of cookies or something, we had to really drag it out and make it last. I find myself still doing this without even knowing I'm doing it. If I buy a special treat like ice cream, I won't have some as often as I would like to, because I feel like I need to make it last as long as possible. And then things will go bad or get freezer burnt. It's such a weird habit.
Bolded #2: This is absolutely my husband. He thinks it's such a waste of money to get rid of a perfectly useful thing even if we don't need it. What if someday we do? I think I'm slowly getting him to come around by trying to resell some things, so it doesn't seem like we are just wasting stuff.
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My prom dresses are still hanging in my old room at my parent's house, but I won't get rid of them because someday my future children can play dress-up. I played dress-up with my cousins as a kid, with old dresses of my aunts', and have wonderful memories. They aren't hurting anyone in a closet in a room that no one occupies, so I keep them.
H and I had text rental in college so we don't have many textbooks from college, but I have fond memories of admiring my parents' old college textbooks as a kid. I remember "sneaking" into the den to look at the titles of the 'adult books' as I thought of them and my brother and I played school in the basement with them. I just loved flipping through the pages and thinking about how someday I would be able to flip through my own books. Maybe it's nerdy, but I feel that their books set a good example for my own education/life.
Anyway, my point is that although I agree with "stuff management," sometimes it's not crazy to keep certain things. The key is to manage it right and keep things organized/put away.
@julianne912, my H is a computer guy also. One of the items I found on my weekend purge was something that looked like it belonged on the inside of a computer. So I brought it to him to and he starts cracking up. He told me it was a modem. And into the trash it went.
Now my ...aaahhh...moment. I also found a plaque that had a picture of me on it holding my college diploma. I almost didn't want to show it to my H because I was like, "god damn it, I was once so young and pretty." But I brought it over to him anyway because I knew he would get a kick out of seeing it. And, I swear, without him having any idea what I had just been thinking, he said, "Look at this beautiful young lady! And she is still so beautiful today!"...with a big smile and hug.
Yeah, we don't really acquire a ton of new stuff either. Mostly when we get new things, we are getting a higher quality replacement for something else. However, we have lots of stuff from our earlier years when we were acquiring stuff. Plus, H has tons of stuff leftover from his bachelor days that he has just moved around for 15+ years.
Tonight, I decided to go through our 3 Christmas totes since they are currently down from the attic. My mission was to get rid of anything that doesn't have special meaning to us. I was able to get rid of 2 out of 3 totes' worth of stuff. I did keep 3 items that aren't meaningful that I just think are pretty, but I might still get rid of them in the future. I also found my very first baby quilt that my great grandma made for me that I had inexplicably used to line the bottom of one of these totes. So it was a win-win!
I also told H that in the future, when we are considering buying souvenirs from our travels, that we should consider buying items that can replace generic versions of things. Example--Christmas tree skirt. We currently have one I bought on clearance at Walmart one year. I would love to find some pretty, handcrafted tree skirt on one of our anniversary trips that I can display every year. We would really be putting more meaning behind bringing home souvenirs.
I'm not exactly a minimalist, but I really HATE having stuff in my house so H and I regularly get rid of stuff in our house. There is a still a lot to go thru and get rid of, but for the most part our house is pretty neat. My mom has hoarding tendencies and I think that has a lot to do with why I do not want things in my house.
We always take a big Good Will trip right after the holidays or our birthdays when people bring us gifts because we need to find homes for new things.
My goal for this winter is to do a deep clean and re-organize our house to make it more functional. During that process I'm sure we'll end up getting rid of a lot again.
But I do find it hard to get rid of things I might need in the future. I have a really old sleeping bag that I have used throughout the years. It has a spot in a closet and I don't need the space for anything else so I keep it. Last time I used it was over 10 years ago....but when I used it at that time it was probably 5-10 years until the previous time I used it. Not something I ever want to buy a new one of either so I keep it.
I also have about 15-20 dresses. I wear most of them but some I haven't worn in a few years. But I still like them and can see wearing them to the right occasion, like a funeral. I'm more in the mode of if I buy a new one then I'll get rid of an old one. But you all have convinced me to get rid of my biggest dress in the closet, a BM dress that I have worn to 3 black tie events. I haven't gone to a BT event in 6 years now. If I get an invite to another one it will be fun buying a new dress anyway
My mom has a ton of well organized stuff. I think it is too much stuff, but honestly I benefit from it. For example, she gave me an old bedding set for my fold out single bed that I use a few times a year. The quilt is now too worn and I need to get rid of it. She was like, I still have your college bedding set, you can have that to replace this one. I have to admit it is kind of nice to not have to shop for a new single bed set.