Saturday, May 26, 2018

Minimalism Phase 2 - Furniture

One of the best pieces of advice I read or saw on a minimalist vlog, was not to worry about the furniture until you've minimalized your stuff. Before you're almost done decluttering, it's impossible to know what you will or won't need. I actually wrote a blog post a few years ago about how I saved hundreds of shekels on new furniture by tidying up. Minimalizing is the same - you think you need a storage solution to get all that junk off the floor and neatly behind doors, when in fact you're about to get rid of most of the junk.

I got rid of most of the junk. Last count I was on 910 clutters for The 1000 Clutter Challenge. I can't seem to stop myself - I found 16 more items to go. 2 shoe boxes, 2 photo albums, 4 toilet bags, 4 plastic shelves from my old fridge that I thought I might use for planters but I won't, 1 orphan sock, 1 coffee mug (the last of 8 bought in LA, USA in 1986) that was on DD's desk as a pen holder but she told me she didn't like it and could she have a flowery one like mine? "Of course my darling, let's add this one to the donate pile." That's 14.

15 and 16 are two big items of furniture. I've been stalling on these because they are both parts of sets. It's so difficult to break up sets. It feels like a wicked bureaucrat splitting up siblings for adoption. And then you just do it and get over it surprisingly quickly.

The display cabinet goes with the sideboard and a smaller display cabinet. I don't need all three pieces and the one without the usable surface for framed photos or candlesticks, has to go. A dark bit of wall has suddenly become white again and the room seems to have grown wider.

The chest of drawers was part of the set of a five door wardrobe, and two matching chests of drawers. I bought two because my feng shui savvy friend old me that if I wanted to bring another person into my life I had to have space for his things in the bedroom. Well he turned out to be a she and DD keeps her things mostly in her own bedroom. Seriously though, if I ever do want to live with a partner, we'll buy new bedroom furniture. Not enough storage in my bedroom will not be the deal breaker.

The five door wardrobe and one chest of drawers fit snugly along one wall and by using all the drawers and shelves recently freed up, I can do away with the other chest of drawers. The room feels luxuriously spacious. I may even get a bigger bed to fill some of the space.

The 1000 clutters Challenge is now at 922. I'm not counting 4 of the items above because when I recently read back over all my decluttering blog posts, I found that four items had been counted twice. Somehow they'd made it back into circulation and come round again. That makes only 78 items left to find.

One last word about furniture. There are three or four other pieces of furniture that I'd like to change. I have an IKEA wish list. However, those pieces will eventually be replaced by more functional and/or prettier pieces. They will be sold or donated but they won't count as being decluttered as they will be replaced. Decluttering only counts if you end up with less. Decluttering should not be confused with remodelling.


6 comments:

  1. You have done an amazing job and what you say is so true. I used to think that I needed all kinds of storage bins/boxes etc. and what I really needed was less stuff!
    I have an old TV table/bench that will be leaving soon and I think that's it for furniture - everything else fits in well and does it's job without being overstuffed or looking as though I crammed them into place.
    The one piece of furniture I keep looking at is a glass fronted IKEA cabinet that holds my extra dishes and crystal but if I do a bit better job in my kitchen cupboards I can then use this cupboard for the extra books that need a home (their new and haven't been read as yet).
    I did donate a number of books this past week to my church's annual sale and - it's a miracle - but I brought no books home with me from the sale! I manned the cash desk for two days and did not buy a single book - can't really believe it!

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    1. Thanks Margie. The Hemnes glass fronted cabinet - the short one, is on my IKEA wish list for exactly the things you mentioned. Well done on not coming home with more books. xxx

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  2. Is everything ok? You haven't posted in a couple of weeks so just wondered.....

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    1. Yes, thank you Margie. Just been a really busy two weeks. I've let the blog slip but I'll be back onto it this week. (We really should be friends on face book so that we can keep in touch. You didn't comment once for over a week and was worried about you but had no way of contacting you. I don't even know your last name. If you like to find me on facebook we could connect - Rachel Selby.)

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    2. I would love to but I'm not on Facebook I'm afraid. I think that you see my email address when I post so you are welcome to email me directly if you have the time. Glad to know that it's just being very busy and not illness. I know that I rarely see my friends who are teachers in June as they are so busy getting things finished off for the end of the year!

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    3. I searched ad they don't show me your email address. Perhaps drop me a line at midlifesinglemum@gmail.com

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