Minimalist Challenge

[EJCC]

Been creepin' on this thread for a while... Lots of great suggestions.

Will probably take much of this advice before I move out of my apartment a few weeks from now.

 

[Society]

everything i own fits into 1 suitcase and 1 handbag (laptop included).

i win

 

[kyuuei]

Everything I need for a trip currently fits into that, but I am a long, long, looong way from being able to say something crazy like that. I have far too many obsessions and stuff that genuinely does make me happy.

Oh. Challenges.

Monday I got rid of a pile of clothes and donated a prom dress, yesterday I cleaned out some bathroom toiletries, today I am getting rid of another pile of clothes and organizing my paperwork so that I can have space to set up my scanner. I may even scan them all today, who knows!

 

[JoRae]

Hi there, this is my first reply to a threat, i just joined this cool site. anyways, I think this is awesome! i remember reading something about a guy gettin down to 100 items of ownership about six years ago, and it inspired me to want to do that, but i did a lot more thinking about it than doing it. this is a great thread to encourage and further inspire! probly too late to start now, huh? i might be doing a marathon to catch up.

 

[kyuuei]

Hi there, this is my first reply to a threat, i just joined this cool site. anyways, I think this is awesome! i remember reading something about a guy gettin down to 100 items of ownership about six years ago, and it inspired me to want to do that, but i did a lot more thinking about it than doing it. this is a great thread to encourage and further inspire! probly too late to start now, huh? i might be doing a marathon to catch up.

Glad to have you join! This thread isn't a timed event, it started out with weekly tips and sections and it sort of turned into myself and others just posting about our minimalist victories and thoughts. You could start from the beginning if you wanted to and try to do the week-by-week purge, or you can start right here with me, doing small things every single day to help contribute to your minimalist cause.

Or, you don't have to do anything and you can post about minimalist things that inspire you to clean and such. I'd say most of the people that have posted on this thread aren't actually minimalists, just people inspired by the movement.

 

[gromit]

Hi there, this is my first reply to a threat, i just joined this cool site. anyways, I think this is awesome! i remember reading something about a guy gettin down to 100 items of ownership about six years ago, and it inspired me to want to do that, but i did a lot more thinking about it than doing it. this is a great thread to encourage and further inspire! probly too late to start now, huh? i might be doing a marathon to catch up.

No I don't think it's too late to start. I personally find it to be very rewarding to donate/recycle/get rid of stuff I don't use anymore. It takes up physical space, and weirdly it seems like it takes up mental space, so when you no longer have it cluttering up your home and mind, you feel lighter, easier, calmer. Even just small things can make you feel better. And that's the best way to do a lasting change anyway, start small. As you do it more and feel the rewards of it more, you begin to develop more willpower to take on greater tasks. But if you aren't feeling some type of validation from performing the smaller tasks, then maintaining a bigger change in your life is going to feel overwhelming.

It could be as simple as going through the tupperware cabinet, chucking the mismatched and useless ones, and sorting/storing the rest in a more effective manner. Or going through your sock drawer that is stuffed too full to close when all your socks are clean.

ps welcome!

 

[Lark]

everything i own fits into 1 suitcase and 1 handbag (laptop included).

i win

Sometimes I'm envious of that sort of minimalism.

 

[kyuuei]

Sometimes I'm envious of that sort of minimalism.

As am I.. I had SO much fun on my trip just having one tiny carry on suitcase and a backpack for everything. I know if I tried harder I could have minimized it more and been more comfortable during my travel as well, but it was a great learning experience for my next adventure (I think to central america this summer, and France after). To think that I could go anywhere and have everything I love with me--to be able to set up shop easily anywhere and be set for months--it is amazing to think of that.

Alas!! I cannot live that way entire. So for now..
Yesterday I got interrupted while organizing papers, so I will finish that today and scan them all in.. At least getting rid of the garbage, and knowing what I need a physical copy of and what I can make digital makes everything way smoother.

Also, for today's challenge, I am cleaning out my car before the rain gets here tonight. Washing the seats, treating the inside mirrors, and filling my solution with rain-x solution so that I'm prepped up for the rain this weekend.

I think tomorrow I will get the materials for a couple "I love me" books and assemble those. I have a folder already to keep in my car, eventually, of important and viable documents, but I also need a nice book to sit on my bookshelf of documents I need to keep accessible but secured and safe. This is going to replace my two big paperwork filing cabinets (they're not cabinets.. they're sealing tupperware containers..) Instead of having so many physical copies though, if it doesn't require a physical copy I'm going to just keep some documents I might need on hand on a thumb drive in my car as a sort of emergency back up to my neatworks software. I usually have my laptop with me when I travel, though, so this shouldn't be much of an issue.

I think this weekend I will work on getting my neat scanner working for the portable version so that I can avoid future paperwork pile ups. I don't know when I'm going to start my sewing projects I have set aside, or how I'm going to get rid of some of the stuff in the "I've let it go but I cant find a home for it" pile, but those two projects alone will free up some space.

I do know after my paperwork project I am going straight to the photo project.

 

[kyuuei]

Oh dear God I have a ton of paperwork. Change of plans!

This weekend:
- Actually fix some of the 'issues' that I was piling paperwork up for in the first place so that I can actually file it away.
- Scan scan scan!
- Create some easy to access digital files after that that I know I'll need and email myself those files so that they're on the internet somewhere

I CAN Say that cleaning out my bathroom products really really helped a ton! My bathroom feels super fresh! I'm taking a picture of my pile of paperwork leaving my house when I am totally done. Going to go get some books and then wash out my car.

 

[kyuuei]

A small pile of clothes, a big pile of papers, and some art went out the door today. Everything got scanned finally, even though dinner was a bit of a bigger time constraint than I originally thought.

My project all week will be getting the photo albums sorted out. That project will be ongoing for quite a while--but I can do an initial push to set it up for success. Oh, and paperwork. I have to fix some things paperwork wise.. things Ive been meaning to do but just haven't.

 

[gromit]

Paperwork is the very worst!

As for me, I'm moving out of my apartment in one week, so I need to get rid of a bunch of furniture. Going to price it to sell on CL. Sad because I liked that furniture, selected it because it's sturdy and durable and attractive. My sis had originally said she wanted it, but now she has changed her mind. So. Hopefully I choose a price that people buy it and that I make as much money from it as possible.

 

[kyuuei]

Paperwork is the very worst!

As for me, I'm moving out of my apartment in one week, so I need to get rid of a bunch of furniture. Going to price it to sell on CL. Sad because I liked that furniture, selected it because it's sturdy and durable and attractive. My sis had originally said she wanted it, but now she has changed her mind. So. Hopefully I choose a price that people buy it and that I make as much money from it as possible.

Good luck with it! Furniture is one of the things I've actually had quite a bit of success on on CL when I put a fair asking price, so I'm confident you can find a good home for things.

Really, when I think about it, I almost feel great when I realize my stuff is going to a good home. I've discussed with a couple of people the reasons why they bought my items.. one lady was turning her dining room into a bedroom for her parents while they struggle with hard times and that's why she bought my wardrobe. Another lady bought my anime keychains for her daughter's birthday because she's in love with the show. It's so easy to let things go when they're going to a place where they're actually going to be appreciated.

Tomorrow I think I will side track after homework and start working on my sewing project. I think if I get into the swing of it I can actually finish most of those clothes by the afternoon.

 

[gromit]

I agree, about things going to a good home, much easier. What are you sewing, [MENTION=4939]kyuuei[/MENTION] ?

 

[kyuuei]

I agree, about things going to a good home, much easier. What are you sewing, [MENTION=4939]kyuuei[/MENTION] ?

Tiny tiny projects. Need some hemming done on my slacks and I'm adding a couple of patches I like to my favorite purse. I really ought to fix my army pants while I'm at it, but.. meh.. I'll probably just dig a new pair out instead.

 

[gromit]

I forget if I've posted this here or not, but here is a site I like that offers a lot of good tips about organizing and what you do/don't need or want.

http://www.livesimplybyannie.com/organization-chilled-how-to-organize-the-fridge/

For me today I'm going through my "craft" shelf because the actual shelf going to my sister. That means I need to decide what I will get rid of/be keeping. Already put my mini sewing machine out on the sidewalk with a "free" label (tried selling it on CL awhile ago, no bites).

ps someone already bought some of my furniture, and I have more people coming by today to look at other stuff.

 

[kyuuei]

My last pile of clothes went out today. My papers are getting shredded on Saturday (found a place that'll do it for free in the mornings), I've fixed half of my paperwork issues (got my registration, got my CPR license renewed), and I did some major cleaning around the house and grabbed all the recycling that needs to go out tomorrow.

My trade-ins from Amazon hit today. $130 for electronics just sitting there useless! Whoo! It's being converted into either a Kindle fire HD OR a bunch of books. I have not decided yet. I'm leaning on the fire hd only because my sister could then have my Fire for her house.. she really needs something like that.

For those that don't know: Amazon will buy electronics from ya'll if they're listed on their site, free shipping you just provide the box, and when they receive it and approve it they'll give you an amazon gift card. Best Buy also does free recycling of older electronics.. so broken printers and such like that that you dig out of the garage and attic can be taken there and they'll handle it from there. Almost any electronic ever can be recycled this way. Pretty cool! And they have bins for things like CDs and batteries.

I forget if I've posted this here or not, but here is a site I like that offers a lot of good tips about organizing and what you do/don't need or want.

http://www.livesimplybyannie.com/organization-chilled-how-to-organize-the-fridge/

For me today I'm going through my "craft" shelf because the actual shelf going to my sister. That means I need to decide what I will get rid of/be keeping. Already put my mini sewing machine out on the sidewalk with a "free" label (tried selling it on CL awhile ago, no bites).

ps someone already bought some of my furniture, and I have more people coming by today to look at other stuff.

You definitely did not!! I saw the fridge thing and I was instantly in love. Glad I'm done with homework so I can spend tonight looking through it!

I have a huge sewing machine that I intended on using for quilting some time in the future.. I think I could honestly sell it off and just stick with my teeny tiny one, but I'm still convinced I'll pick up sewing sometime in my life so I'm keeping it for now. I literally have everything but the space to do it in.

Congrats on the furniture selling fast!

 

[gromit]

My last pile of clothes went out today. My papers are getting shredded on Saturday (found a place that'll do it for free in the mornings), I've fixed half of my paperwork issues (got my registration, got my CPR license renewed), and I did some major cleaning around the house and grabbed all the recycling that needs to go out tomorrow.

My trade-ins from Amazon hit today. $130 for electronics just sitting there useless! Whoo! It's being converted into either a Kindle fire HD OR a bunch of books. I have not decided yet. I'm leaning on the fire hd only because my sister could then have my Fire for her house.. she really needs something like that.

For those that don't know: Amazon will buy electronics from ya'll if they're listed on their site, free shipping you just provide the box, and when they receive it and approve it they'll give you an amazon gift card. Best Buy also does free recycling of older electronics.. so broken printers and such like that that you dig out of the garage and attic can be taken there and they'll handle it from there. Almost any electronic ever can be recycled this way. Pretty cool! And they have bins for things like CDs and batteries.

Oh cool, I did not know about the amazon or the best buy sell-back things (and the CD/battery bins).

You definitely did not!! I saw the fridge thing and I was instantly in love. Glad I'm done with homework so I can spend tonight looking through it!

I also really like some of her "Meditation Mondays" posts.

Congrats on the furniture selling fast!

Thank you. My bigger stuff, bed/dresser, I haven't sold yet. I might still be pricing it too high, but they are really nice, and I don't want to sell the for less than they are worth. I *might* be able to store stuff at my parents' but, I kind of just want to be done with it if I'm not going to bringing them to Denver with me. So I may have to reduce them even further.

 

[kyuuei]

I haven't been posting my projects here lately. Oops!! That's mostly because I haven't really been working on them. :C !! Life got really busy. So, today I decided I would go take all of the disposable cameras in our house just sitting there and get them developed at the store or something... and maybe even start to sort pictures based on "ones I want to keep in a book," "ones that need to be digital," and "ones that can be trashed because they suck."

My plans for IRL photo books: Our immediate family, friends of our family, a small book with our family tree and heritage, and something for our 'new' families.. our brother and sister in laws and their children. Four books to cover all of these subjects is more than enough.
The digital photo album I want to make our family and friends as a whole.. aunts, uncles, their families, written notes about them, etc.. This will be a massive project. It'd be pretty cool to find a program that writes an album where it can be our family, and you can click on a picture and see their details and their branches. I'm not sure how I want to do this yet, but digital scrap books are a big deal now-a-days, so I figure by the time I get around to this something will be available.

But today, a bit of motivation occurred to me. Apartment therapy posed the question "How/when do you pull out your winter clothes and make the switch?" and I realized that I no longer do that. I have everything I need within easy access. It really is awesome to think that all I have to do is open two doors and three drawers and I can see everything I ever need to wear. No need to remember if this bin has this dress, or if I actually prefer this jacket over that one.. I like everything all the time now.

 

[kyuuei]

I realized that even though my parents are not minimizing nearly as much as we need to to make this land work in our favor--what we DO have on our side is that we're moving.

I have this idea that we will suddenly not value things just because we don't want to take the time to pack them up and ship them over to the other site. And even when we do all of that, when we have to unpack it all, we will not want to unpack it and thus it will lose its value. That's the idea anyways. We'll see how it works out in practice.

On the 1st I am suppose to receive all of those old camera photos back. Whoo!

 

[Randomnity]

Moving in a few months will give me a lot of incentive for this. I plan to cut down a LOT - I have way too much of things like food, toiletries, etc that I tend to stock up on sales with, alas.

As sad as I am to move (and dreading the work), I am looking forward to the decluttering aspect.

So I will probably be re-reading this thread (and elsewhere) for tips and so on.