The Declutter Diaries is a series of posts I did for a former blog as a glimpse inside a real decluttering project [with occasional editorial comments from my present self]. You can start with Day One here.
Minimalism
Today was an easy day decluttering my children’s bedroom. When I say bedroom, I mean there are two beds in there and two doll beds with assorted lovies. That is all—no other toys, no other furniture. This is an incredibly small bedroom that doesn’t even have a closet. This will be the easiest room by far.
I moved the two doll beds up to the attic play area, took some “artwork” off the walls in preparation of putting in a loft bed tomorrow, and hung up a new curtain. The end. I think it took me twenty minutes because I had to write a bit on the artwork to document it.
[Sadly, I forgot to take an after picture! Doh! Imagine that I made the beds neatly, and put all the dolls and the dollbed up in the attic so there is just an empty floor. Nice!]
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The take-away from this is that the less stuff you have in a room, the easier it is to organize, clean, and keep looking good. [Oh how true this is!] I realize this bedroom is an extreme example of minimalism, but there is something to be said for this.
Sometimes when the mess threatens to overwhelm me, I kind of wish all my rooms were this simple. It inspires me to be more ruthless in getting rid of stuff in order to enjoy simple things more. [And how I wish that I had been even more ruthless about getting the junk out!
You know how when you stay in a hotel room, it is neat and tidy? (well, until you unpack the suitcase and make a mess of the beds). Even at the worst, you could pack everything back in the suitcase and make the bed in less than 10 minutes–think about that!
I am clearly not the poster child for minimalist living (ha!). But I do love how much easier it is to clean when there is less stuff. And less stuff means you are automatically more organized and have less stress.]
Do you have any minimalist areas in your home? Could this possibly spread to more areas?
[A few years later this room became an un-room during a remodel (it became a nook at the end of the hallway). But during the time this was a bedroom, it was always the simplest room to clean and organize.]