Advice for setting up new home super minimal?

[browneyedgirl]

We are moving out of state in a few months. We are going to take as little as possible. Any advice on setting up a minimal home? (Besides "don't buy more stuff?")

[cherylchoo]

Don't bring anything to the new house unless it is absolutely essential. It sounds like a no-brainer, but it is way easier said than done. That last 20% of the stuff you have to go through/purge/pack takes 80% of the time, and most of us at some point just throw in the towel and stuff it in a box to deal with later. DON'T DO IT!

IDK your moving arrangements, but for us when we have had to move out of state we used a moving service and that usually involves a quote per pound. You would be surprised when you calculate the cost of moving something, it is often cheaper just to replace it (if you even need it at all). You have this box, not sure if you can let it go, then find out it is $50 to move it. You don't have $50 of stuff in there, and you suddenly don't want to pay $50 to keep it. Or you have this large heavy bookcase, and it costs $300 to move it or $100 to replace it. So you purge it with intentions to replace it, and find out when you get there you don't need it anymore because of all the $50 boxes you let go.

[Melinda29]

Sit down and make a list of what you think a family of five needs in their home. Don't think about your own things, make it impersonal. So for bedding, IME a family of two adults and three kids would need 4 twin sheet sets (one for each child's bed plus a spare for illness), 4 wool puddle pads/mattress pads (one for each bed plus a spare), 3 twin quilts, 3 twin blankets, 1 queen quilt, 1 queen mattress pad, 1-2 queen sheet sets, 1 queen blanket, 1 queen puddle pad, 5-7 pillows, and 4 throws (for naps and extra warmth on super cold nights). Then go "shopping" among your belongings to get what you need, and ditch the rest. It makes it much less emotional to decide AHEAD of time what you need.

After you have listed, shopped, amd boxed up what you NEED, then wait a week and then go thru the rest with the mindset of keeping only things that you LOVE. You may have to determine some criteria for that, like if it is beautiful or functional AND difficult to replace.

[MDever]

YOu have to be REAL about the items that you must and do use on a very regular basis. I think most people could easily only keep a quarter of their belongings and be perfectly happy. I like to sort keep-donate-trash. For every item that you place in the keep you should put at least 2 in the donate. Also people really tend to get caught up on "worth" when they are purging. These things are not worth what you paid for them. If you do not use them ALL of the time and LOVE them to pieces you know whatthey are worth to you??? Nothing! Let it go.

[green_momma2007]

Moving is the perfect time to declutter.

You can decide what to keep, but IMO I would get rid/not bring in to the new house the following:

1. Mismatched towels. Start fresh with new towels.
2. Anything that is broken (dishes, electronics, furniture, etc.)
3. Furniture wise, just take the major pieces that you need and love.

We just brought a house too, so I'm really excited to get a clean slate to work off of.

[BNC]

Whatever you decide to bring...unpack slowl. if you dont reach for it out of a box in 2 or 3 weeks, think about getting rid of it!

[Bexo]

I think we're finally in our forever home, but I LOVED moving because it was such a great opportunity to declutter! Give yourself lots of time, and look at it as an opportunity to declutter (it will make it less overwhelming!) Make a goal of packing 3-5 boxes per/day, and instead of throwing the items in the boxes, really use it as an opportunity to make a decision about each item...have another box for get rid of/donate items.

[FernHollow]

Originally Posted by Melinda29 Sit down and make a list of what you think a family of five needs in their home. Don't think about your own things, make it impersonal. So for bedding, IME a family of two adults and three kids would need 4 twin sheet sets (one for each child's bed plus a spare for illness), 4 wool puddle pads/mattress pads (one for each bed plus a spare), 3 twin quilts, 3 twin blankets, 1 queen quilt, 1 queen mattress pad, 1-2 queen sheet sets, 1 queen blanket, 1 queen puddle pad, 5-7 pillows, and 4 throws (for naps and extra warmth on super cold nights). Then go "shopping" among your belongings to get what you need, and ditch the rest. It makes it much less emotional to decide AHEAD of time what you need. After you have listed, shopped, amd boxed up what you NEED, then wait a week and then go thru the rest with the mindset of keeping only things that you LOVE. You may have to determine some criteria for that, like if it is beautiful or functional AND difficult to replace.

I absolutely love the first part, that is an awesome way to go about it. I am totally going to try that when we move.

[leadmare]

Don't unpack into your new place. If you have a garage, for example, put all the boxes of stuff in there and then take them in to the house one at a time or as you find you want or need something. If you unload all the boxes & all the stuff into the home, it is soo hard to get it out. But, it is so much easier to just limit what you bring in.

[browneyedgirl]

These are awesome ideas! Thank you! We are going to be moving into a smaller place, so I'm committed to going minimal!