Sunday, November 18, 2012

The struggle to become a minimalist

I really want to be a minimalist, I want to have only what I need, including some resources so in an emergency I am part of the solution not adding to the problem.
It seems you have to keep revisiting your cupboards and scale back a bit more every time. I'm sure some hard core devoted people could do it first go, but I'm slow at it. I carefully consider every item.

I have continued to work on the linen cupboard.
How many sheets and blankets do we need?
For each bed I've reduced it to:


  • 1 waterproof underlay
  • 1 winter flannel set 
  • 1 summer cotton set
  • 1 spare cotton set
  • 1 doona with one cover only (On beds most of the year)
  • 1 cotton summer blanket


Spares are incase a vomiting bug takes hold and I don't have the luxury of washing in the morning and remaking the bed that evening. Little children tend to find their stomach contents pop out some what unexpectedly.

This means I now have two sets on sheets for each bed in the caravan. One on the bed and one spare, and caravan doona covers. I have included woollen blankets for the caravans that I'll place on the mattress under the waterproof layer for easy storage incase of unexpected cold weather.

Now my linen cupboard, while far from finished contains all the bedding, hair cutting equipment, bug lamps, christmas decorations, shoe cleaning gear, candles, light bulbs, a tub of paper party plates/cups/cutlery and fire emergency box. Hmmm that's still a lot of stuff :o(


I am proud to say I have recycled over 21 years of magazines. I had them stored and never looked at them. This was before the internet, now days you can find anything you want at the click of a few buttons. I'm glad they are gone, it's another weight lifted off.

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