Minimalish

Not too many years ago I had the internet connected to my home. For various reasons I had put it off for as long as I could, and when it was finally connected, it turned out to be just in the nick of time. Covid hit, lockdowns were announced and suddenly I was working from home - courtesy of the internet.

During those many months of isolation I discovered an amazing thing called YouTube. It opened up a whole new world to me. One of the first things I came across, of all things, was cleaning videos. That’s right: People filming themselves cleaning their homes. Whoever originally thought to film themselves cleaning? And who knew there was an audience for such a thing, including me? I discovered there is a plethora of house cleaning systems out there (Fly Lady seemed to be all the rage.), and I found the whole thing quite fascinating.

I can’t help thinking that, sadly, YouTube cleaning videos have relegated the old schools for “domestic arts” to nostalgic history. However, as a result, those of us today who have not so clean houses really have no excuse!

Alongside cleaning videos I discovered others of people decluttering their homes. Strangely, this became quite interesting to me. Many people’s decluttering journeys led them to paying off debt and streamlining their finances, consuming healthier diets, growing their own produce, pursuing a slower pace of life, practising minimalism and/or essentialism, and making more sustainable choices for the products they use. It seems decluttering can cause people to completely change their lives, with many of them now labelling themselves with that oft controversial word, “minimalists”.

One aspect that I found interesting in this YouTube niche is the age group of the people pursuing this lifestyle. Many seem to be much younger than I would have expected - in their 20s to 40s. Well, I’m middle aged (There. I’ve finally admitted it.), and I’m starting to think ahead a little. I don’t want to leave a lot of “stuff” for my family to deal with when I take my final breath. I’m not quite at the downsizing-my-already-small-house stage, but I have been slowly “minimalising” my home.

I still have a way to go. The everyday areas have been sorted (kitchen, laundry, bathroom, wardrobe, linen closet). I found these spaces easy to declutter and the stress relieved by the reduction in their inventory is amazing. But there is a lifetime of various other categories to deal with: Books, cds, dvds, sheet music and albums, text books, photo albums - and the ever scary piles of paper.

I guess this is where the concept of Swedish Death Cleaning comes in, and that’s a lot more difficult. I gave it a go recently. A friend informed me that a well respected volunteer classical music radio station collects sheet music and albums, and cds etc to sell as fundraising for maintaining their presence on the airwaves.

So I laboured through my various music cabinets, revisiting many wonderful, sometimes painful, often frustrating memories of my former life as a music student. I rediscovered several vocal and instrumental albums that I had carried around daily for many years as I wrestled to learn the pieces within. I found I had three reactions to them:

I can’t bear to throw you away! I loved studying you and performing you.”

“I refuse to throw you away, even though I never liked you. I worked too hard on you and I won’t let you think you defeated me!”

“I can see that I worked long and hard on you because of all the markings that I made over your pages. But I have no recollection of doing so. Sorry! Thanks, though.”

I was very surprised by my visceral reaction to my attempts at reducing the contents of my music cabinets, and by my intimate relationship with the pieces. Needless to say, I didn’t manage to donate as much to the radio station as I had intended.

One day I hope to number myself among those who have control over the contents of their homes. I realise that minimalism looks different from person to person but I also don’t wish to be a minimalist. “Minimalish” is a term I came across on my YouTube journey. I’m striving for that: To have everything I need, not too much of it, and a few extra things that bring me joy.

I admit I’m somewhat overwhelmed. But that’s where YouTube is my friend. One day I’ll take its advice and suggestions and attack my “Silent To Do List”. In the meantime, I’m enjoying the spaces that I have decluttered, and the resulting decrease in time needed to manage the remaining inventory. I now have more time to watch YouTube videos about decluttering and cleaning instead of doing the deeds themselves. Perhaps I should search instead for videos about overcoming procrastination…

Nikki

If anyone is interested, here are a few of the YouTube channels that I’ve found inspiring on my minimalish journey:

The Minimal Mum

Erica Lucas

Joshua Becker

The Secret Slob