Wannabe minimalist

The start of a packing party?

I’ve snooped around on theminimalists’ blog and they have lots of inspiring articles on their blog.

One point which caught my attention was the packing party. They have made a concept where you pack down all your possessions as if you are going to move any day soon, and than you unpack the items you need in the following weeks. Joshua (one of the minimalists) did this and discovered he only used about 20% of his stuff. Though I do think this is a brilliant idea, we will make our own version of a packing party. To us, minimising is a slow process and we must take it step by step.

I have in the past, when decluttering toys, involved the kids (at least my 6 year old), and she has willingly found toys she says she doesn’t play with anymore. However, in the picture below, you will see toys which were stored in a box in a cupboard in our living room. EVERY day, my 3 year old would empty this box, all over the floor, but not really play with any of the toys in it. He mostly plays with cars and building blocks, so I decided to pack away these toys to see if they ask for any of the pieces within the box. My 6 year old, rarely plays with any of the toys in this box. I suspect they won’t ask for them – and will have forgotten about them fairly soon, and than I will donate some of it and store what we want to hold on to (the Duplo). Thus, this will be our tentative start of a packing party. I’d love to pack more stuff away to see if we really use our stuff, or if it is just lying around, taking up space in our house.

I will try to update you on how it goes – the toys have been packed away for 24 hours now. This morning – I had no reaction from any of the kids 🙂

Have you heard of the packing party? What do you think of the idea? Would you like to try it?

Kari

PS: The sun is still shining here, so no bigger lists or projects for us for now 😉

When the sun shines..

and you live in the Western part of Norway – you don’t prioritise decluttering or other indoor activities such as cleaning and organising. You enjoy every day of sun you can get, as it may be these days which will make up your summer this year😜

So no new plan for May so far – too many people to socialise with and too good weather to stay indoors in.

Though I do have a few things I want to start, I’ll try to update you on those another day.

I hope May is good to you!

Kari

Painting kitchen: part 1

Our walls had two colours and it has been driving me insane. Though there are a lot of things I’d like to do to improve the functionality of our kitchen – I decided to start with this.

Here is a picture of my kitchen walls before painting.

And here is one after:

The reason I called this post part 1, is that I’m dreaming of painting the kitchen cabinets as well, but I’m not sure if we will prioritise this now. In addition, I’d like to remove the top kitchen cabinets and get some shelves for the things we use most. But – for now – I’m really happy about painting this wall and it has made my kitchen a lot lighter.

Lots of love,

Kari

April update

April has flown by and I have had some very busy weeks at work. Due to this, I am a bit behind my April decluttering plan. However, I will not lose all spirits. There are still some days left of April, and I will do my best to cross of a few more items of my list.

Here is my list, with the items I have managed to declutter so far. I have donated some white shirts and a black suit and I have also had a look at the kids clothes, to see if we could donate clothes that won’t fit anymore.

~~Give away white shirts and black suit (planned to give to theatre group)~~
~~The kids’ clothes: purge / donate~~
Winter clothes – make a box to go to attic
Get rid of 3 items which I find hard to say goodbye to
Sell black coat and skirt (mine)
Purge toys downstairs
~~Get rid of dresser upstairs (give away)~~
Dissemble linen closet and get rid of it
Declutter / remove at least one box under the bed
Start organising hobby cupboard downstairs

The picture is of some of the clothes I removed from my 3 year old’s drawers. It is more spacious now, which makes it easier to see what is in there.

My aim is to see if I manage by Thursday, to declutter / remove one box from under the bed and purge toys downstairs. I will keep you posted.

Have you decluttered anything lately? Do you manage to stick to your plan?

Lots of love,

Kari

Book review: “The joy of living with less” by Francine Jay

I have just finished my second book on minimalism and it has been helpful, as well as inspirational in my process of decluttering and minimising. Francine Jay walks us through four main sections in her book, starting with philosophy in part 1, continuing with part 2 where she presents her Stremaline method for decluttering. In part 3, she guides us through room by room, giving us useful tips on how and where to start, and what to be aware of in the various rooms. She introduces us to the aspects of lifestyle connected to simplifying our lives in part 4.

In part 1, she walks us through a lot of the thoughts and expectations around things, where especially two of the subchapters got to me: “You are not what you own” (Part one: chapter 2) and “The Joy of enough” (Part one: chapter 9). I think it’s easy to feel that we need more things, newer things and a bigger house to accommodate all these things in society today, as images of how we “should” live our lives often appear in social media and are orchestrated by advertisers. In addition, I have tended to keep things that I feel say something about who I am (or at least, who I want to be, or in some cases, who I used to be). After starting the process of minimizing, I still want to buy new things and keep my old things, however, I feel that I now reflect more about the things I buy and I want everything I buy to last a long time and to have a purpose.

The streamline technique which is introduced in part 2 is extremely helpful when decluttering. Before I read this book, I followed these steps to a certain degree as I think many of these steps are natural in a decluttering procerss, but I have become more aware of the various ways of organising and of where clutter “lives”. Streamline stands for Start over, Trash/treasure/transfer, Reason for each item, Everything in its place, All surfaces clear, Modules, Limits, If one comes in, one goes out, Narrow down and Everyday maintenance. I will not go into detail into these, some are probably self-explanatory, however, I have discovered that I have tended to cheat on the first point; Start over. Sometimes, when I have decluttered a shelf, or some drawers, I have not taken everything out. It does really make a difference, when you do Start over.

Another point which I found useful from this book are the Modules. I have organised some of our things, to a certain degree into modules before, but I have become more aware of this after reading the book. Furthermore, the Outbox is a brilliant concept as well. You place an outbox somewhere in the house to encourage family members to get rid of things. I have for a longer period of time kept an outbox to myself, but I think it will be interesting to see if other family members will make use of it as well.

If you want to go on a decluttering journey or simply minimise your everyday somewhat, I definitely recommend this book. It is easy to read and you can easily jump to the points relevant to you, if needed.

I feel inspired by reading books on minimalism and decluttering. Do you have any books or articles or blogs you would recommend, please share, as I love to learn more.

Lots of love,

Kari

April is here – let’s get into “decluttering mode”

We had a lovely time up in the mountains on our cabin and I forgot all about decluttering and everyday life, and it was marvellous. In addition, the weather gods were in a good mood ☀️

However, now it is time to get back in business and get started on my April action plan.

On my first Trash and transfer Tuesday I went to the recycling station with glass jars and metal boxes. I meant to transfer some clothes as well, but I am a bit behind on work, so had to prioritise that, which made me feel a bit unmotivated on the decluttering front.

However, I have given away the dresser which was on my list and I am planning on giving away the white shirts and black suit tomorrow (and I will perhaps see if I can find time to have a look at the kids clothes this evening). So though my first Trash and transfer Tuesday was not as spectacular as I had expected it to be (haha), I have gotten started on my plan and I will try to get into “decluttering mode” again. I always find it a bit hard to get back into it after being away and coming back, as there are always more of the usual chores to attend to when returning from holiday. However, I have complete one task and at least it is something.

Give away white shirts and black suit (planned to give to theatre group)
The kids’ clothes: purge / donate
Winter clothes – make a box to go to attic
Get rid of 3 items which I find hard to say goodbye to
Sell black coat and skirt (mine)
Purge toys downstairs
~~Get rid of dresser upstairs (give away)~~
Dissemble linen closet and get rid of it
Declutter / remove at least one box under the bed
Start organising hobby cupboard downstairs

I hope you have had a good holiday! Have you started a spring clean / decluttering plan?

Lots of love,

Kari

Action plan April: decluttering

This is my action plan to continue to declutter in April. I am a BIG fan of lists and suggestions on how to declutter, especially lists which will get you through a lot of decluttering in for instance 30 days. However, I’ve come to realise that we rarely manage to carry out lists like this, as we spend a lot of weekends away.

However, I do think that making a plan and having a list to cross off will help me out in the process of decluttering. Part of what I find most difficult is getting rid of furniture and larger items, and in general getting things out of the house.

The picture I have chosen for this blog post, illustrates how I feel about my home these days. Overly stuffed with things, which shouldn’t be here. However, that WILL change.

To get more things out of the house, I will rename Tuesday Trash and Transfer Tuesday. On Tuesdays, I will try to gather clothes, trash and other things that needs to be moved out of the house to recycling points, second hand shops etc and actually take the time to get these things there.

In addition I want to sort out the following:

Give away white shirts and black suit (planned to give to theatre group)
The kids’ clothes: purge / donate
Winter clothes – make a box to go to attic
Get rid of 3 items which I find hard to say goodbye to
Sell black coat and skirt (mine)
Purge toys downstairs
Get rid of dresser upstairs (give away)
Dissemble linen closet and get rid of it
Declutter / remove at least one box under the bed
Start organising hobby cupboard downstairs

Furthermore, I am considering getting rid of more dressers, or wedding china (or parts of it) and I dream of tearing down my kitchen cupboards. However, this is the more challenging tasks, which I don’t think will be realistic to complete in April. But if I manage more than on the list above, that will definitely be a bonus.

Have you got an action plan for your decluttering?

I will try to post some updates on the progress as I start.

Lots of love,

Kari