Minimalist Challenge

[Codex]

I wish i could be a minimalist. Unfortunately, I am both highly materialistic, and highly sentimental; an atrocious combination for a wannabe Minimalist.

If it's any consolation kyuuei, I managed to become a bit of a minimalist. I'm not full fledged yet. There are times I fail. I don't think I'll ever be the type that can fit everything into a bag, as you mentioned.
When I moved across continents, I fit everything into 2 bags. Everything I cared about anyways. It was still too much and made me feel bad. My goal is to have as little as possible- to have what I need. What "brings me joy" I guess I have to accept that I'm the girl who likes her 10 step Korean skin care and doing her own gel nail polish.

I want to be freeer and you really do feel the weight of each item you have. The more you have the more you have to organize and clean. I want to get to the point where everything has a place and space around it. Nothing is stuffed into a box that I have to dig through, and there are no doubles of anything. I'm pretty close but I'll tell you, I'm still having issues with the fucking kitchen. Lol


I'll be frequenting this thread more often. Need a tough cookie like you.

 

[Codex]

Imagine all the dress sizes.
(Unless you're talking about shelf bras -- in which case, I totally disagree, because some people, myself included, have too much boob for shelf bras to work well.)

I generally agree, though I bought a convertible bra recently and it has been miraculous with my dresses.

I had to google what a "shelf bra" is . I didn't know that was a thing.../adult woman

 

[Snow as White]

This is a dream of mine.

And then I log into amazon.

So many books. Art supplies. Pens. Notebooks. And so much gifted furniture.

Where to begin?

 

[kyuuei]

This is a dream of mine.

And then I log into amazon.

So many books. Art supplies. Pens. Notebooks. And so much gifted furniture.

Where to begin?

Perhaps start with the essentials? What kind of art do you like to do? Just as a kitchen can have 1000 knives with different purposes, but you can cook just as beautifully with the top 3 kinds, so too can you have a small, portable art book.

My drawing kit currently:

- 1 basic package of prisma colors + a blender
- A multi-media book with rip-out pages so I can sketch, draw, etc. I also use leftover tissue paper from presents if something is chalky between the pages.
- 1 set of portable watercolors by Vivia and a basic paint brush set I've had since high school
- 1 set of arcylic paints. I use acrylic more.
- Soon adding some watercolor pens.
- 1 set of copic markers
- a pencil case that has 4 ink pens of various sizes, a brush pen, and a few basic pencils and sharpies.
- A set of sculpting tools and a block of sculpey clay

There is not much I cannot make with this set. I keep it all in a backpack because the backpack was free and I like having everything in one spot. I do have a bigger metal bin outside that holds things like spray paint cans and some odds and ends like that. But I make a ton of stuff.

With books, I've been doing them this way:
- I read during my lunch break at work to help facilitate actually using my books.
- I only buy books in person when they are super obscure, or on seriously cheap clearance.
- Otherwise, I earn amazon digital points online and buy the book digitally. Same with google play, you can sign up for google opinion and earn play points towards books and music and games.
- Crunchyroll offers manga and so I don't need to purchase it. I also rent manga from the library.
- The library is your friend, especially for popular titles you want to read, and might read again.
- I do buy lots of books for the kids and shower them in kids books everytime I go visit. It fulfills my book buying craving and it is really helpful for them.

 

[kyuuei]

So, the konmari method!

Where to begin

A big part of the Konmarie method is the order and categories.

The correct order for tidying is:

Clothes
Books
Papers
Komono (Everything else - silverware to collections)
Sentimental Items
If Categories are too big, split them into smaller categories. Under Komono, kitchen ware and your gnome collection would be subcategories. In Clothes, Tops, Bottoms and dresses could be sub categories.

Common Mistakes:

Starting with a room instead of a category.
Not removing everything from its current storage.
Not gathering everything together in the same room for a category.
Being concerned about someone else's stuff.
Not going through the categories in the correct order.
Getting distracted by sentimental items.

I started my clothes by rummaging through my drawers and picking the obvious get-rid-ofs so things were easier. Now I've pulled every last thing I own and wear out of the laundry, closet, and drawers. (I'm doing shoes too as this is a big part of my attack plan.)

My aim is to create these goals:

- Fit everything into my closet wall and get rid of the chest of drawers I have in the bedroom.
- Get adequate light in the closet area so it is more inviting to use and put away things even at night.
- Create "sets" of clothes. Quick grab-and-go outfits for all my girl clothes so that, shoes and all, I have exactly what I need to get dressed from the bra that's perfect for the outfit to the socks I need for the shoes. I aim to do this by having a small clothes section, and then everything that fits those in a cubby. For example, the same leggings/bra/socks are in a set, and then all the shirts/skirts or dresses that fit it in that cubby folded together. Take pictures in a google photos album of these outfits on me.
- Have my shoes laid out in a useful way in the closet vs under the bed tucked away.
- Anything that does not belong to a set and is not a costume piece goes. Any shoes that do not match any outfits go. Any shoes that do not fit go.
- Put costume pieces in tupperwares at the top of the closet.

After I've finished the clothes my books are next. I haven't worked on a plan of attack for those yet. Some of them I'll buy digitally and get rid of.. some I've read and won't read again and I know it. We'll see what happens.