The Minimalism Game - 30 Days to Less Stuff! [Sept. 14 - Oct. 13, 2015]

[Jett]

Tempted to just coast on my small numerical advantage today... feeling kinda drowsy and not into cleaning. But I think I will still get out the box of shoes that don't get worn often, and see if any of them can go.

[Rurik Harrgath]

Today was an easy one.  I took one look at my tool kit that had become a receptacle for all of our moving day detritus...

1. Old rawhide mallet used for leatherworking that never happened.
2. Unused container of belt dressing spray.
3. Lamp cord replacement.

Into the discard box you shall go, my pretties!

[Jett]

Got rid of a Christmas decoration, a map, a casserole dish and a small box full of random crap like washers and nails. My total is now 11/10.

[Kilo]

Todays four items:

another strange unidentifiable object that I picked up adventuring

A lab coat that probably has lots of chemicals on it.

an old pair of swim shorts

and a lease agreement that I was holding onto for some reason.

[darkfoxx]

Today's 15:

 

 

Instructions for my Disney Princess lashes

2 vials of perfume I've had since I was 16 - Fetish, if anyone remembers it - I thought it was tres sexy at the time. I have no idea why I still have it. Just sprayed some on my wrist - and eew. I'm nauseous.

The instructions for my hairagami I bought to hold my bun in place for drill - NJROTC drill - in highschool

An emory board

Old BB cream

3 ranom craps from the bottom of the basket I grabbed all this crap from

Lip Smackers

3 more freaking samples!

Some sort of nail torture device

A rando liner

[rowan]

So I didn't manage to post last night, but I did get rid of a crappy bracelet, a belt that is now too large for me (WIN!) and my copy of the Deadpool video game for X-box, which I will never play again.  I think I shall sell it...

[naarasleijona]

Day 4:

Two pair of shoes, a random wall shelf, and an ugly sweatshirt of my husband's.  

(To make up for what I purchased yesterday for my class, I'm donating a sponge, a dish, and a bottle of soap to the ceramics studio at school).  

 

It was hard to get rid of the shoes. Pink patent leather Mary Jane heels left over from my 40's retro phase.  Since I've cleaned out my closet though, and upgraded my wardrobe, they don't really fit my style anymore.... Someone will be happy to have them.   

[Yraen]

Got rid of four doubles I had of books. I feel the need to explain myself there. I had doubles due to a bulk book buy. I never purchase doubles by accident.

[Dusk]

I didn't get rid of anything for day 3, because I was already ahead anyway, and my time was better spent working on the homework I procrastinated on (ugh). This morning I added an old lunchbox to my Goodwill pile. I'll add some more when I get home.

[BlackTezca]

Welp, more getting rid of useless makeup things: old messed up set of make up brushes, powder I used once...for my wedding...two years ago, lotion, and some random cleaner.

 

This drawer will be emptied dammit.  Hopefully to be used for less useless things...

[Jakkals]

4

[Rurik Harrgath]

Just tossed two DVDs into the donate box and threw an absolutely monstrous stack of old magazines and comic books into the recycling bin.

 

I'm counting that for the day, mm-hmm.

[Heidi]

Yesterday, I took everything out of the refrigerator door shelves, washed the shelves, sorted over three dozen items of stuff, pitching expired items, stuff we don't use, duplicates, and items with less than a serving. I put the remain half dozen items back into the cleaned shelves and moved all the dairy items to the newly revealed space. A H H - visual breathing room

Sent from my KFAPWA using Tapatalk

[Heidi]

Today I put an overdue library book in the jeep. It's not turned in yet, but it's a step closer.

Sent from my KFAPWA using Tapatalk

[Sloth the Enduring]

Just tossed the comic books into the recycling .

Nooooooooooo.

[ShadowLion]

4

 

Jakkals is the true minimalist among us - it extends even to his daily posts!

[ShadowLion]

Still decluttering the bathroom. I thought I'd be done in maybe 3 days max and be on to the bedroom by now. Wow, did I underestimate how much stuff was tucked away under the sink and in the backs of drawers! I mean, who needs three different half-used bottles of hair detangler?

 

I'm starting to see patterns of consumption and packratting that I didn't realize before. I'll get a product that doesn't perform to my liking or for some reason I don't particularly like and I shove it under the sink or in the closet rather than throw it away. I paid good money for that, damn it! It's still good. Well, no it's not. It's opened so can't return it or give it away and it doesn't do what I want. Why keep it? Duh. I'll never use it. Sunk cost.

 

And the nail clippers. We have 6 nail clippers. All of which work. Why?

 

Also seeing that changing one thing leads to a cascade of other decisions, which I believe is why previous efforts have stalled. I get decision fatigue. It's not so much the discarding of a particular individual item so much as that getting rid of that item changes the logic of where something else goes, and that makes me realize that I haven't checked the dates on the items in the first aid kit, which... You get the idea. This realization is really important, though, as I believe I have finally figured out how to get past it and I had a flash on how to make it easily actionable.

 

More on that later. I'm out of time for now, but I'll detail my solution in another post as I think it might help others of you when you start hitting higher numbers of things to discard.

 

120/900!

[darkfoxx]

Yay, mental hurdles jumped! That's really interesting about consumption patterns.

I'm noticing a tendency to hang on to things I'm given and things I've had for a long time (helllooo perfume from high school).

Sent on dragon wing

[Rurik Harrgath]

Nooooooooooo.

 

They're pretty brutal.  Believe me, Sloth, there was no great loss there.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Anyone else confronted with stuff they ought to chuck but can't? I have a couple of biking jerseys that will never fit again unless I drop a good 30#, but they are from teams I really enjoyed being on. So they continue to sit in my closet.

[darkfoxx]

I'm not there quite yet, but that day is coming. And has already come for some clothing items. For the clothing items, I had to mull it over for a good long time, make peace with the loss, and give myself permission to let go. Sounds kind of new-agey, but essentially that's the process that worked for me. I have yet to determine whether this method is repeatable.

Sent on dragon wing

[jmk]

I'd like to join and can get caught up with 15 things tomorrow.

[Dusk]

I contributed an old lunch box that is WAY too small to hold any reasonable amount of food in it. And a stuffed animal and a blanket, just now, because I decided that even though I'm still ahead of the game I didn't want to give up today just yet. I'll probably go find something in my bathroom to chuck too. I think that puts me at [84/903].

[ShadowLion]

Yay, mental hurdles jumped! That's really interesting about consumption patterns.

I'm noticing a tendency to hang on to things I'm given and things I've had for a long time (helllooo perfume from high school).

Sent on dragon wing

 

It surprised me a little bit at first, but I expect there will be more such discoveries. It is sort of like an archeological dig, going back through layers of life experiences represented by material objects.

 

 

Anyone else confronted with stuff they ought to chuck but can't? I have a couple of biking jerseys that will never fit again unless I drop a good 30#, but they are from teams I really enjoyed being on. So they continue to sit in my closet.

 

I sympathize. The things I have the hardest time with are gifts from friends and family, and things that remind me fondly of trips/experiences/etc. I haven't gotten to the bedroom or the study yet and I will confess to some dread about that. It will be hard, even though I have been practicing in the easiest room I could think of first.

 

I find clothing, jewelry, gifts with sentimental attachments, etc. tough to deal with, never mind that they don't fit, don't look good, I never wear them and never will, etc. I've got a bunch of clothes of my dad's - sweat suits and things that I could wear but don't - that sit in my closet when someone else could get a lot of good out of them. I have them because my mom gave them to me...because she couldn't just give them to Goodwill. And, I haven't been able to, either. I expect that I will get to those things in another week or so. I may do the pantry/kitchen first just for more practice, though.

[ShadowLion]

I'm not there quite yet, but that day is coming. And has already come for some clothing items. For the clothing items, I had to mull it over for a good long time, make peace with the loss, and give myself permission to let go. Sounds kind of new-agey, but essentially that's the process that worked for me. I have yet to determine whether this method is repeatable.

Sent on dragon wing

 

Makes perfect sense to me.