Minimalism and creating a peaceful space

[Clues_Of_Blue]

My parents are both hopeless hoarders. When I first moved out of Mum's house many moons ago, I marvelled at how much space I had in my tiny little unit. It was a new experience and I loved it. Even so, with me not being inclined to take up the torch of the hoarder, I managed to accumulate a lot. Sentimental bits from my younger days, gifts, free stuff I thought I was just too poor to say no to - could need it later, and not be able to afford it, right? There were also bills and sensitive documents I just didn't know what to do with, and boy do they pile up over the years! And worst of all, relationships - when you live with someone, they bring in their own lifetime of clutter, oftentimes leaving a whole bunch of it behind when they leave. And again related to being poor, if any money came my way I wanted to treat myself. A book, or an article of clothing was often the go to. Guess who had a bunch of books she never read and clothes that didn't get worn.

When I parted ways with my most recent ex, he left an extraordinary tonne of junk behind. I made it my mission to get rid of it, and along with it anything of my own I didn't want any more. I had gifts I neither used or particularly liked, boxes of books I bought with the thought I should get them while I had money to read when I didn't (they moved - along with the sensitive documents - from house to house in boxes that never got opened), even clothes from when I was a teenager (those suckers never gonna fit again, and they sure aren't in style any more). In the course of trying to find more and better ways to pare down all this stuff sucking the life out of me, I discovered there were a whole heap of other people who thought like me and wanted what I wanted. Minimalists. There are articles and blogs and tonnes of inspiration out there, and they helped me immensely.

I've been on the journey for a bit over four years, and it took most of that time to get my home how I want it. But now I can easily find things I want to use and don't have to clean, organise or maintain half as much stuff. I don't feel compelled to buy things on a whim or to feel good, because I just don't need them - I'm actually repelled by the idea of having more objects around me. I now have much more time and space and peace. I thought that worth sharing. What a fantastic tool it's been for looking after my mental health!

[ecomama]

Hey Blue, popped in before work and starting my day off in a woosh... having a cuppa, breathing, ya know lol.. 

My goodness what you wrote in the last couple of paragraphs reminded me of the Principles of Permaculture lol. One of them being sic "maximum return for minimum human output". Another being "examining your zones and placing things where minimum human output will be required", sic again lol. 
Permaculture being inside and outside our spaces. 

Definitely have a coat rack! lol. We have a shelved system with hooks at the bottom as soon as you enter our front door on the wall. LOVE this thing lol. It used to be for coats too but with so many of us now, it's for our car keys under each of our HATS. Your hat goes under YOUR keys. Then a small 2 tiered shoe holder for OUTSIDE shoes like thongs on the bottom shelf and gum boots on the top shelf.  
I've used either an empty pot (for plants) to hold all our umbrellas or atm I have my celadine (spelling IDK could be celamine IDK lol) beautiful green pottery container from my birth country for umbrellas now. 

All things going OUT the front door, kind of, go in the hallway. There are 2 more pieces of furniture in the hallway. A long antique work bench (about 2.5m long) which was left in this house 20y ago but looks around 100yo. LOVE this thing too! Has a rubber top which I shoe polished black. Holds a beautiful statue and a couple of decor items on the top. Then the 2 "drawers" which come out, hold all other things going OUT plus the dog walking items and his clothing lol. 

Lastly a beautiful varnished timber tall stool with a large rattan basket thing on top. This holds all the empty egg cartons for me to fill to go OUT lol... 

Following the PC Principle being things needed in the right zones. All things going out go there. Except for the HUGE things going out which are in the garage. 

Definitely have a large squeezy dish soap and smaller hand soap dispenser near the kitchen sink taps. I found stylish looking ones with Eco friendly liquids and they look great. Cheaper to fill with the squeezy packs I store under the sink. 

Off to work! Feeding the chickens first lol. 

Talk soon
Love EMxxxx

[Clues_Of_Blue]

I chuckled a little at the permaculture principles. Seems like an unrelated subject, but turns out it's not! Funny how the same basic systems can apply in so many places and ways. Everything is connected.

We used to have coat hooks on the wall, one day the whole shebang up and fell down. Turns out whoever put it up didn't consider that it might have a little weight on it, and didn't consider that it might need to be attached to something more stable than a thin bit of wall... I can't be bothered with the effort of finding a better place for it and reattaching it. Coat rack it is, can stick that wherever we like.

I'm with you about having zones for things. Stuff that's going out goes by the front door for me. And it does go out, because it makes me mad having it there and I am compelled to get rid of it.

It's the hand soap I need a big one of. I'm washing my hands all the time. I've just got the dispensers the soap came in, little 250ml ones I refill regularly, but those pumps are designed to dispense way too much (that's how they sell more soap) and I'm filling them all in under a week. As you would know, having lots of little jobs to do over and over again is the best way to raise the blood pressure of someone with ADHD. Gimme one big job, fine. A host of little, boring, repetitive things is pure stress to me.

Blue.

[ecomama]

Omg Blue you hit the nail on the wall again lol! Yes! Lots of little jobs or a trillion steps to get ONE job done & I'm nuts. 

Coat rack sounds perfect, "some people" hey? 
I have a house full of "what was demon THINKING!" when now I know exactly what it was thinking... so much to repair from it's damage. 

I thought long & hard about all those clothes still in lumps from the old, broken wardrobe we got OUT. 
I didn't know how to store the clothes & did NOT want to get any extra furniture in my bedroom at all. 
I came up with a solution (for now at least). Bought 3 flattish plastic tubs with lids. 
They're actually shoe storage tubs lol. 
I'm going to swap out my seasons of clothing. 
Store these 3 tubs under my King Sized bed on the far side so I can't see them when I walk in my bedroom door. 

And keep on getting rid of clothes I no longer wear / need. It's a PROCESS! 
5 more bags of mine and kids clothing went to the Blue Bins (charity), this week. 

My main focus is clothing in my room. 
Yeah there's always stuff I'm doing to minimalize. The bin's full again and more stuffing neighbour's bins this week again with the huge garbage bag sized seed sacks full of back yard rubbish. Broken bricks, etc. 

I burnt 16 boxes this morning. I burn something every single day. 

Yes I refill the Eco handwash container with a cheaper brand from the Reject Shop I get in bulk, like 1 or 2 litres. 

The Eco dishwashing dispenser is larger. Those containers LOOK fancy, that's why I bought them. 

Still going lol! Well done you! 
Love EMxxxx

[ecomama]

New posters are always welcome! 

Hey Blue, Captain of the Minimalism ship. 

Stumbling across areas where minimalism is helping a lot. 
FRIENDSHIPS, well so called friends. Recently I got pretty fed up with ppl demanding my time to help THEM, especially when they were nowhere to be seen, like not even answering the phone for years, when I needed them. 

Financial minimalism too. 
I started this process I saw on YT but I changed it and kept adjusting it, but it's worked amazingly well. 
I guess that's more for the Frugal living thread lol. 

Family came over to erect the new chicken coop extension lol. Sure using what they no longer wanted and we NEEDED was awesome. I asked if they could take away some of the bags of rubbish from the garden. It's never ending really. So another 7 bags of waste went OUT. 

Just maintaining is difficult here with so many kids. 
Making a DENT on things is even harder but I'm not giving up lol. 

Take care everyone
Love EM

[Clues_Of_Blue]

If I'm the captain, mayhap that makes you Lieutenant EM. 🙂

Absolutely valid, to curate your friendships and remove those who absent themselves for long periods and only turn up when they want something. Without those people taking up your time and sapping your precious energy you can be present for the relationships in your life that add value to it instead of detracting. Good on you for recognising which are which and making necessary changes to your boundaries.

Financial minimalism makes sense in general. If you're not flinging money around on things that don't matter, you've got it for what does. Feel free to expand on that in the money thread if you wish to. No pressure.

Great that your family were able to use some things they didn't need and you did to get the chicken coop built, and that they could get rid of some rubbish for you on the way out. Great!

Yes, maintaining in a full household is hard. It's tricky even with just two of us, sometimes. Making a dent even harder, albeit very worthwhile. Have you spoken to them about keeping whatever they get in their own designated spaces and keeping shared spaces clear? It might give them some perspective on how they are purchasing if their space suddenly fills up and they don't like it.

I'm on a bit of a journey at the moment, trying to streamline some systems and make things more manageable with LM's health where it is now and him unable to help me with much around the house. That means things coming in at first. Big flat packs lying around until I could get them unpacked, making the place feel more cramped and non-functional before they could come into use. Lots of packaging to dispose of once they were unpacked and assembled, then a period of large items sitting around before I can get them into use and finally remove items related to old systems (or more accurately messes-that-barely-resemble-systems) that need replacing. The coat rack is assembled and in use now, very happy about that. Drawers for LM's meds assembled but not in use yet - he has so many across various tubs and bags to organise. I know he won't do this, he doesn't have a good head for organisation or remembering it needs doing. He might help me if I push him a bit. Either way, I'll be happy when it's done.

Blue.

[eagle4031]

This is a big one… ever since i have minimilised .. the house feels fresher.. there is a sense of space.. my office has no paper .. feels good .. you don't know how good until you have done it .. we do tend to accumulate things 

[Clues_Of_Blue]

Hi Eagle, nice to meet you. Glad to hear you have had a positive experience with minimising. It's funny how things manage to sneak into our homes and multiply without us even realising sometimes. Since I started minimising I'm so conscious of how things like mail or "free" items we don't actually need or want can suddenly take over huge amounts of space. Ditching stuff like that, and stopping it getting in the door, feels really good. As you say, you only know how good when you've done it.

Kind thoughts,

Blue.

[Clues_Of_Blue]

Ol' Blue is back on the minimising train after some messy life circumstances that allowed for things to accumulate and get really disorderly again. Family being "helpful" and giving us stuff we didn't need, mostly - while my social energy was too low to fight it. Gotta pick your battles when you're not okay. Now hubby's health is a bit more stable - not good, but stable, so we are establishing our new normal - I am able to slowly dig through all this stuff and remove what doesn't belong. I've also added a few items to the house like bigger soap dispensers and bins, and a dishwasher - which may seem counter-productive to minimising, but have freed up precious time and energy for me, which are super important areas to apply minimalism to. This is also a special interest for me, so minimising gives me more energy. You could say in and of itself, it sparks joy. 🙂