Simplifying Our Home

 Minimalism Challenge

Hello, I hope you have all had a wonderful couple of weeks. 

It has been quite busy around here, as I have been continuing on with the 30 day minimalism challenge with my sister.

At one stage as we were approaching day 20 both of us weren't sure if we were going to make it all the way to day 30 but we stuck with it and it is absolutely incredible what we both found.

There is stuff I can't believe I still had after many years, tucked away and forgotten about.

Today I will just give a highlight of some of the remaining days since my previous post.

I will just say how freeing it is to do this challenge and to sort through what to keep, to give away, stuff to throw out. I feel like my home is lighter and that what we have chosen to keep and there is still a lot of stuff, are the items we love, use on a regular basis and things we need from time to time.

I am sure if I do this challenge again next year and my sister and I are already talking about that, I will find more stuff because I find the deeper you go into something like this and learn to live with less, the more you see each time and the more you are willing to let go of.

Of course, with a family and pets and with homeschooling, there is going to be a lot of stuff we need. This challenge and the way we go forward isn't about complete minimalism and having nothing but being more aware of what we have and how much we want to own without adding to it unnecessarily.

Day 17: A selection of craft and cake decorating stuff, old baby scissors, unused supermarket bags.

Day 22: Old 2nd and 4th birthday cards from my oldest boys who are now 16!

Day 26: A random selection of different things, too small pyjamas, old socks, surplus decor that I decided I don't need, a few things broken and into the rubbish bin.

Day 28: Old maps from Europe, tops that don't flatter me, old paints, paper clutter and a few extra odds and ends.

Day 29: A spelling book we don't use and mostly old pamphlets and stuff from my trip to Switzerland when I was 21!!

Day 30: You won't believe this but this is a pile of pamphlets, train tickets, receipts, maps, everything you can think of that we collected on our trip to Europe 17 years ago. I always had the intention of scrapbooking it but obviously that never happened so out it goes into the bin! Looking at it all after all these years didn't excite me. I feel really good for getting rid of all this clutter.

And to think I was wondering if I would make it to day 30. It is absolutely incredible how much we can gather in our homes. When things are organised in cupboards and tucked away it is so easy to be blinded as to how much we really have. It can be hard to see it all.

One of my favourite minimalist YouTubers is Joshua Becker and one thing he has said is that it is better to declutter than organise. My cupboards have been proof of that for sure.

As I now look around our home, there are still areas such as a sideboard or bookshelf that have plenty on display but I feel that I now have it under control with what I have collected and loved or special things that have been given to me that I treasure. Such as my Mum's old china tea set that she brought before her and Dad got married. It is very pretty and I really love having it on display in our lounge. I now have less on the walls and have learnt to group items on display together in one space rather than having too much spread out around a room. I have less on my bedroom dresser and my bedside dresser.

Our kitchen used to be painted a darker brown shade when we moved in here nearly 16 years ago. The white is definitely better. I used to have way more stuff in here on display. As there are no shelves in our kitchen everything has to be on the benches which can quickly become cluttered and busy. I have slowly over the years learnt to have less and less and this is what we currently have. I don't know if it is still too much but I will see how I go. It is certainly a lot quicker to clean down the kitchen with less stuff.

I hope this has been an inspiration to you all, thank you for following along and I hope you are encouraged to think about your homes and spaces and how to live a more simple life with less clutter. It is amazing how freeing it is in our minds when there is less visual clutter, less to tidy and clean. It is a calming feeling to look around my rooms and not see work and mess constantly waiting to be attended to. It is much easier to keep my home tidy with less which is obvious but sometimes we can get blindsided and it is also so much quicker to clean up as well with less stuff to move around and tidy first.

Have a blessed week,

Fiona

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Colossians 3:2