Minimalism

  • Thread starter Thread starter LiE
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placeholder said:
I like the idea of this but not so sure in practice. Currently I live in a house that has a living room with two giant bookcases filled with books and a porch full of DVDs and CDs accumulated over the years. These days I have books music and film covered digitally but I really don't feel I could bring myself to part with the physical media I have collected and spent large amounts of money on over the years. That said I would feel better with the extra space and I couldn't tell you the last time I actually watched a DVD or took a book out of the shelves. How did people square that circle? Did you all just write off the money spent acquiring things?
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You could have a car boot and sell most of it.
 
LiE said:
You could have a car boot and sell most of it.
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Oh yeah, physically getting rid of it would be easy enough in practice, I mean more the idea of getting rid of stuff that you have spent years acquiring/collecting, you would never see a fraction of what was spent by selling it and in many ways its obsolete but there is still some kind of attachment to it in a strange way I think.
 
placeholder said:
I like the idea of this but not so sure in practice. Currently I live in a house that has a living room with two giant bookcases filled with books and a porch full of DVDs and CDs accumulated over the years. These days I have books music and film covered digitally but I really don't feel I could bring myself to part with the physical media I have collected and spent large amounts of money on over the years. That said I would feel better with the extra space and I couldn't tell you the last time I actually watched a DVD or took a book out of the shelves. How did people square that circle? Did you all just write off the money spent acquiring things?
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What I did was made a spreadsheet of all my music albums, movies and books. Once done, I separated them into piles:

Start with Movies:
Pile A: Stuff on Netflix, iTunes etc. - This stuff you don't need, this is available to you for a cheap $ per month. Sell this stuff, or if you can't sell it, donate it.
Pile B: Collectors stuff or stuff that isn't online. If you do want to keep them, show them off in style, or sell them to a collector if you feel that they don't work for you anymore.
Pile C: The stuff that means something to you. Like for me, I have a book that my mum gave me. Have read it so many times but gives me so much value I am keeping it.

The thing you have there is; you are holding onto the idea of you have spent so much money on "stuff." and you are keeping it because of that. What you should be asking yourself is: Does it still bring meaning and joy? Remember, forget the money part. You have already spent the money so the money is gone, only the item remains.

The hardest part is moving past the idea of keeping it. Once you have sold, donated, binned etc. the first one, it will change and be easier. Trust me. I collected a lot of Star Trek stuff over the years that gathered dust after I got it. Once it was gone, my memory of it is still there and the money I got from it helped me take my wife down the aisle. stuff < marriage in my case.

You have already taken the first step by saying "I would feel better with the extra space." Think about it.

I feel like I am preaching... Sorry!
 
the_candyman said:
What I did was made a spreadsheet of all my music albums, movies and books. Once done, I separated them into piles:

Start with Movies:
Pile A: Stuff on Netflix, iTunes etc. - This stuff you don't need, this is available to you for a cheap $ per month. Sell this stuff, or if you can't sell it, donate it.
Pile B: Collectors stuff or stuff that isn't online. If you do want to keep them, show them off in style, or sell them to a collector if you feel that they don't work for you anymore.
Pile C: The stuff that means something to you. Like for me, I have a book that my mum gave me. Have read it so many times but gives me so much value I am keeping it.

The thing you have there is; you are holding onto the idea of you have spent so much money on "stuff." and you are keeping it because of that. What you should be asking yourself is: Does it still bring meaning and joy? Remember, forget the money part. You have already spent the money so the money is gone, only the item remains.

The hardest part is moving past the idea of keeping it. Once you have sold, donated, binned etc. the first one, it will change and be easier. Trust me. I collected a lot of Star Trek stuff over the years that gathered dust after I got it. Once it was gone, my memory of it is still there and the money I got from it helped me take my wife down the aisle. stuff < marriage in my case.

You have already taken the first step by saying "I would feel better with the extra space." Think about it.

I feel like I am preaching... Sorry!
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Excellent post and great advice, I think I will give this a try, thanks!
 
I recently sold a room full of books, cd's and dvd's to the various online sites which buy them and made several hundred pounds. They don't all offer the same price for each, so it's worth licking two or three sites, download their app and scan everything to find the optimum price. They only pay a very small amount per item but it soon adds up and if you have enough they collect it for free.
 
I cleared out the wardrobe a few weeks ago of things I don't wear, leaving me with not much. I then went and bought 5 x t-shirts in the same colour as my day to day wear. I have a couple nicer pieces to wear still and a few work shirts. I guess the benefit of working from home is not having to have a wardrobe full of work clothes. I also bought 4 x the same gym t-shirts.
 
Anyone watched the show on Netflix called 'Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo?

Really good show and some nice life hacks in keeping things organized and clean at home.

Coupled with minimalism it is heaven!
 
SpartaK said:
Anyone watched the show on Netflix called 'Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo?

Really good show and some nice life hacks in keeping things organized and clean at home.

Coupled with minimalism it is heaven!
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Watched the trailer and her voice was so annoying that I decided not to bother watching it. :o
 
SpartaK said:
Anyone watched the show on Netflix called 'Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo?

Really good show and some nice life hacks in keeping things organized and clean at home.

Coupled with minimalism it is heaven!
Click to expand...
I've heard a few people go on about this recently, apparently it's worth a watch.
 
Irish_Tom said:
Watched the trailer and her voice was so annoying that I decided not to bother watching it. :o
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:(

Maccy said:
I've heard a few people go on about this recently, apparently it's worth a watch.
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Would recommend it, managed to make my wardrobe so tidy and efficient I can't believe I've not done some of these changes before!

Muffin` said:
She's had a book for years that goes over the same concepts, it does work for keeping clutter to a minimum.
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Yep, pretty much the same method in the books.
 
Recently decluttered my phone home screen to reduce the number of distractions. Just the essentials on the home screen now, everything else is on another screen in a folder. Adding friction is a good idea to help cut down on wasted time in unnecessary apps.
 
SpartaK said:
Anyone watched the show on Netflix called 'Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo?

Really good show and some nice life hacks in keeping things organized and clean at home.

Coupled with minimalism it is heaven!
Click to expand...

My gf watched this, now folds all the clothes differently and has been going through thousands of paper photographs!
 
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