๐ Collections or clutter? Confessions of a minimalist ๐
As a self proclaimed minimalist, I am always on a mission to declutter, particularly after the excesses of Christmas.
The urge is so strong that I packed up the Christmas decorations, tree and cards on 31 December and breathed a huge sigh of relief at the newly gained space in our home.
On 2 January, I bagged up unwanted Christmas gifts, bric a brac and unworn clothes alongside old shoes and textiles ready to send them to the charity shop. I breathed another huge sigh of relief.
However, I must confess that I am far from a true minimalist as I have various collections tucked away in cupboards and wardrobes that I cannot part with!
In no particular order, I keep these unused items:
- Buttons of all shapes, sizes and colours in a box. I rarely sew but they have been used to help my little boy with his multiplication and to pacify a crying toddler;
- Stamps from all over the world of no value whatsoever. I was given a stamp collecting book when I was five and I have since kept pretty, interesting stamp, perhaps for sentimental reasons;
- A bag full of various colours and varieties of ribbons. I have occasionally used them with tags at Christmas time but I never use them in my hair as I did in my childhood. Perhaps I keep them because they are pretty?
- I also confess to having a sizeable collection of soft toys with a particular weakness for rabbits, which rivals the collection of my children. Indeed, my children often borrow my soft toys!
And then there are the hoard of candles that never get burnt, the clothes in the wardrobe that may never be worn (again) and baby items that my children once played with, wore, used...
My only consolation is that when I visit other people's homes, I am astonished by some of the things that they hoard, collect and keep. It would appear to be human nature to gather belongings and have difficulty parting with them.
One of my new year's resolutions is to continue to declutter however. Onwards and upwards...
@fleur ๐
(Images from pixabay.com)
I would certainly never claim to be a minimalist as I love objects and things far too much. But, I don't like general clutter. I LOVE to keep my collections together in little decorative ways as then I really enjoy them. I usually wait for 12th night to take down my Christmas decorations (old superstitions maybe?) I also LOVE buttons. And ribbons. Since I moved really digital with a lot of my art I find I have begun to reduce lots of extra paints and glues and things that I don't use as much, I donate them at our local dump that has an area for people to give things and art supplies are always needed and much appreciated. I love rabbits too! In fact, my latest piece I'm doing for some fabric/wallpaper design has hare (a sort of rabbit) in. Probably the oddest thing I collect is bones, animal/sealife bones and with that collection I include shells. I call them my 'treasures'. :) Oh and I'm following now too.
I love shells too and use them to decorate our bathroom. Thanks for following ๐
The cool thing about minimalism is that it is very adaptable for each person. I've been minimizing our home for a while now but there are some things I will always keep collecting. For example, I could have all my favorite books on my kindle instead of crammed into my bookshelf. But I love my books and I love re-reading them and displaying them. So hang onto those collections that mean the most and ditch the rest :)
A good idea to keep some treasures ๐ก