Striving For A More Simple/Minimalist Life in 2010 - Page 7

[bellasmama06]

Originally Posted by mamabain

i forget where i read it but here is how i decide what stays in my house:
is it used frequently? keep it
is it beautiful? keep it
is it precious/heirloom? keep it if it fits the two above.

Thanks, this is a nice, simple, useful method for parsing out "the stuff"! I like it.... can't wait to get started!

Joining this thread .... really hoping to make a dent in this direction this year. My mind definitely feels cluttered by all this stuff!

[Delicateflower]

LOL, zoebird, someone's in the honeymoon phase of emigration!

[ParisApril]

We have had 3 houses and all three have been good investments so far. Selling the first two for a profit.

Having said that I think Vancouver's housing market is very inflated right now. All Olympic city's end up with inflated house prices peaking at the time of the Olympics and declining afterwards.



I would sell the condo BEFORE the housing prices drop and rent the co op and then when the housing prices stop dropping look at buying a new place.

[accountclosed3]

i don't know if it's a honeymoon or not. we are happy to be here, and there have been some pretty extreme realities hit us.

for example, our visa didn't come through when expected--it's still on hold. thus, we are currently living on savings until the visa does come through. with luck, it will be by next week. DH is freaking about money--and i can understand that. I figure that once we start working, we will be able to slowly build it back up.

though admittedly, right now we are very, very unhappy with the current owners of the business because of the shennanigans. but that's another story.

we have put a stop to all purchases except for food, of course, and then when we are bringing in income, we will minimize again to scrimp and save. we are pretty good at that when necessary.

i do need to get a rolling pin.

[Delicateflower]

That's scary, to not have your visa yet.

http://www.lossesintranslation.com/s...mmigration.php

[Vancouver Mommy]

I'm so in on this. We moved into our current (rented) house five months ago. My goal is to get rid of 30-50% of what we own. I am currently going through boxes of books to purge. We did a thorough inventory of boxes when we moved out of our 2 bedroom apartment and we had nearly 150 boxes of stuff. That's ridiculous. Unfortunately my dh is a bit of a packrat and has a hard time letting go of things - mostly books and papers. I mentioned a pair of pyjamas that in our seven years together I had never seen him wear. He very grudgingly let me get rid of them.

I am learning a lot about decluttering. Specifically I am trying to incorporate the following into my process:
-assess my emotional reaction to items and recognize which cause me stress.
-get rid of things that create negative energy (guilt, anger, remorse)
-recognizing that my memories of people are not contained in things. Trying to choose a single special item that reminds me of special people.
-finding unique and meaningful ways of disposing of items that are hard to let go of.

We plan to move again in the next 7 months into a townhouse that will likely be around 1200 square feet, so I'm very motivated.

[starling&diesel]

Originally Posted by ParisApril

I would sell the condo BEFORE the housing prices drop and rent the co op and then when the housing prices stop dropping look at buying a new place.

Here's hoping that's how it goes! We haven't heard from the co-op, which leads me to think that they selected another family. So we can apply to other ones and wait, or put the condo up for sale and enter the rental market. We'll see!
Your two cents are big, smart ones!

[WorldsBestMom]

I am more for living comfortably and having my basic needs and wants satisfied.

[accountclosed3]

i don't know if that is a pro or anti minimalism statement.

i live comfortably and my basic needs and wants are met. i find that what i want and need is pretty basic and minimal, and that i also want and need to be minimal in order for my mind to stay uncluttered (i also meditate for this purpose).



anyway, we got the visa, we buy the business on monday. they are being jerks and want to pull out, but now they are legally obligated to sell to us because we have turned over the money and performed on every part of our duty that we can. if they refuse to sell, we will go to tribunal here--and our legal aid attorney and our real attorney and their attorney says that we will win.

but, i tell you, they really, really broke faith with us. they want to continue work there, but they have a lot of repair work to do.

so, anyway, minimalism still moving onwards here.

[marimara]

Hi all, just popping in to say hello. Our house has been on the market for almost one month. We've had FIVE showings, which is a really good sign. One of those, the people came back a second time and were close but I'm not sure if they decided on another house or are still deciding. I'm just soooooo anxious!!!!!!!
I know we are having some action and I should just be thankful for that, and I am, but I really want it to be over with, yk? I just worry endlessly, that the house won't sell and I will never get to realize all my plans for downsizing, simplifying, etc. I'm trying to stay positive but we are so anxious it's not even funny. My anxiety is eating me alive. The pressure of keeping the house clean (realtors call like 20 min before they want to show it!), the worries of if we're even going to sell it, do they like my paint?, is my furniture crappy looking?, all that.

But other than that I've donated tons of stuff and have plans for further simplification once we can move. We will move from a 2000+ 4bd, 2car garage home to a 2bd/2ba apartment (w/1car garage). Basically halving our living space, storage, and belongings.

Wish me luck! Thanks!!!

[starling&diesel]

Good luck! Here's good luck dust for the sale of your house!

AFU: Right after I posted about not hearing from the co-op, they called. We have an interview tomorrow, so we'll see what we think after that.

[milosmomma]

I was on such a tear a couple weeks ago. I was going through closets, donating bags and baskets of stuff, eliminating clutter....

...and then we went on vacation.

I've completely lost my focus. I've been so busy doing "after vacation" stuff (grocery shopping, laundry) that I haven't had time to spend decluttering and organizing. Hopefully after the weekend (in-laws in town AND a baby shower to attend) I can get back on track.

[Vancouver Mommy]

Originally Posted by milosmomma

I was on such a tear a couple weeks ago. I was going through closets, donating bags and baskets of stuff, eliminating clutter....

...and then we went on vacation.

I find I can only do this work when I'm in the right mood. If I'm not I just wander around looking at stuff.

[starling&diesel]

A very good reason for simplicity/minimalism ...

We heard from the co-op people and have an interview tomorrow, so we phoned our real estate agent and arranged for her to come around today at 4pm to appraise our condo in case we decide to take the co-op and get out of the housing market.

It's my birthday, so we were out most of the day celebrating ... we were at the park and I checked the time and it was 330pm. I thought we better wander home and tidy up for the real estate agent. It took us about ten minutes to walk home from our favourite park, and another five to tidy. At 345pm we were sitting on the couch reading books, waiting for her.

That's all it took to get our place show-ready! Our real estate agent said she'd be happy to bring in clients anytime! The only things we'd have to do to complete the 'staged' look is tuck the toybox away and put the bath toys out of sight. Everything else is ticketyboo! What a pleasure ... and so low stress!

[accountclosed3]

that's awesome! i hope the sale goes through quickly.

we are desparate to settle on the business here. we are in line to do it tomorrow (ready to preform). so, hopefully that wil be settled before 10 am tomorrow. whew!

[Vancouver Mommy]

I wish we'd hear from a co-op. We put our application a year and a half ago and haven't heard a thing.

[starling&diesel]

Originally Posted by Vancouver Mommy

I wish we'd hear from a co-op. We put our application a year and a half ago and haven't heard a thing.

I hear ya ... we've had several in for many years. It feels fruitless. And as we haven't heard yet, my hopes are waning ...

[That Is Nice]

I've always had the goal of decluttering and organzing, as well as simplifying life, but two years ago it was a conscious decision to declutter and downsize.

So, I went through everything that was mine in my house, and donated or got rid of anything that I didn't truly need or want.

I was tired of not having enough storage space for things to keep things tidy. And I didn't want to stress about how to afford storage for all the things, and never end up buying storage items for all those things that really don't even cost as much themselves as the storage to neatly store them.

So, anyway, my success is that I've completed decluttering and organizing of pretty much everything I can individually call my own and also about 50% of household items that I had DH's permission to get rid of.

I've also done it for baby items...anything my child has outgrown has been donated, as well. I've decided I'm just not going to keep baby items around...I don't have the space and I likely won't be having another child.

The problem left is DH. He is a packrat, and a packrat of mostly junk. He has a room, a basement, and other spots in the house full of ridiculous junk and collections. None of it is really sorted or organized, or all that useful. And he adds more to the piles.

He doesn't have the same spiritual or life changing draw to decluttering as I do. It makes him feel panicked and he doesn't want to part with his things, even if it's his college notebooks from 20 years ago. I'm serious - he hasn't looked at or referenced his college notes in about 20 years, and yet he's kept them...boxes and boxes of his old notebooks from his college classes. And all his materials, books, binders and binders full of things. And they just collect dust and sit in boxes. He literally hasn't touched them in years.

Has anyone successfully convinced a significant other to move past things they don't even use that they are just keeping for the sake of keeping?

[Oliver's Mama]

Originally Posted by That Is Nice

Has anyone successfully convinced a significant other to move past things they don't even use that they are just keeping for the sake of keeping?

Could you really use his storage space for something to better the family? An office, a playroom, etc? The only way I can nudge dh into decluttering his stuff is if I convince him we could really use that space for something better, and then he agrees that maybe he doesn't need the stuff he hasn't touched in years. It especially helps if I need the room for our kids- who wants to deny their kids free space for the sake of holding on to ten year old books that have never been touched?

[accountclosed3]

we moved to the other side of the world. DH got rid of just about everything he owned and is now reformed. seriously, that's what it took.

otherwise, i recommend you find a way to organize it that you (and he) can life with. prior to our move, i had bins with labels that had his various 'collections' in them. then, i would just stack them in the closet. as a new pile formed in the dining room (on the book case and table there), i would pick a "final" date for it, and then i would organize it. we would agree on that date. he would pull out that which was necessary to continue with his project in the immediate, and i would then take the rest of it and put it into the bins in the closet.

eventually, we ran out of closet space, and so his mother stored it. when she decided to clear out, he had to go to her place and go through the bins. what was surprising is that he was willing to let most of it go at that point, and managed to bring only a bit home, which i reorganized into our closet bins.

when we went to move, he went through each bin. each thing was questioned--do i want to haul this to the other side of the planet? most of it, he noted, did not need to be moved. so, he was able to let go.

but what surprised him was the volumn. i think he had 10 or more rubber maid bins of just old 'stuff' that didn't have importance. he didn't know why he clung to it "just in case." it was just an emotional thing, and something he didn't want ot face. but once he did, and once he had a reason to let it go, he was able to do so.