The More of Less

As we are reading about other people living sustainably the concept of minimalisation keeps popping up so we have been investigating more! Also one of my new sustainable buddies, Sarah Rundle, gave me a book called “The More of Less” which is all about minimal living. Basically it is about getting rid of clutter and really thinking about owning less. Part of our modern day culture seems to be about getting and owning the latest things / gadgets / labour saving devices and we are certainly no strangers to being drawn into this.

We are about halfway through the book and it is an easy read with a convincing argument for living with less. Benefits include less cleaning, more contentment with what you have, appreciating joy in what you have and more time. We have just finished the chapter on how to start to live minimally and it suggests going round your house and finding the duplicates of everything.

So here goes……

Three hair straighteners, two hair dryers, five balls, three front door mats (not including the one in use), 4 unused mobile phones plus chargers and headphones, a fondue set that we last used 15 years ago, two tea sets unused, lots of handbags (!), 4 cables with coloured ends (no idea of usage), two cameras, Star Wars DVD duplicates….and this is within the first walk around!

We haven’t even started on Samuel’s room yet – it scares me a bit especially when I see Lego poking from under every cupboard.

We are now in the process of working out how to properly recycle all these things – these are our “go to” places at the moment – Freecycle, Recycling Centre at Chelson Meadow, Borrow Don’t Buy, St. Lukes charity shop and friends (only if they want anything!).

At the moment this process has been really intriguing especially when I donated the tea sets that used to belong to Gran to St. Lukes. I had a moment of reluctance but I just reminded myself that it had sat in box on a wardrobe for 10 years and I hadn’t looked at it once. Surely its better to be used and loved by someone!

Have anyone else gone through this reluctance stage – tips on how to get through it are welcome!