I went to a car boot sale a few years ago where a woman had a stall selling a large collection of her late mother's possessions. I found a beautiful blue and white china platter that I absolutely loved. The woman explained the fond memories she had, as a child, of her mother using it every Sunday for Sunday lunch. I told her about myself, that I was married with a little girl, that I was a teacher, and I had a big group of friends coming over for dinner that Sunday and would be using the platter to host. The woman was absolutely delighted to know that it was going somewhere it would be used and loved again and got a little emotional. Every single time I use it, which is often, I think about the lady I spoke to and her late mother. Maybe this story will help those struggling to let go of a relative's items and rehoming them ♥️
I am sure that that is what her mother would have wanted, for a new mother and daughter to make memories with this platter, may you have many fantastic meals shared with your loved ones 😁👍
There are SO many ways my family has used parts to make a new whole. Most recently, my mum took my late father's ties and deconstructed them to make into a STUNNING quilt to hang on the wall of her living room. My dad always had super interesting ties (no boring stripes here!) so it made for an absolutely gorgeous design. It definitely beats having the ties tucked away in a closet! My brother, mum, and I all have teddy bears made of my dad's shirts, and we have handmade quilts made of his old clothes - jeans, PJ pants, and button downs, and of course t-shirts. In 2018, I shipped off 24 t-shirts from my high school cross country career to be made into a quilt. I looooove the outcome. I plan to do the same again soon with shirts from my college career and post-undergrad vacations. I seriously LOVE t-shirt quilts that spark conversation....can you tell?
I got married and we got a lot of greeting cards. For several months I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't want to put them in my memory box because I share this memories with my husband. After half a year of them laying around I finally got the idea to glue them in our wedding guest book. I only kept the special ones and could part with more than two-thirds. I added all the other loose paper stuff of our wedding like the save the date card and the invitation. Now it is a fine selection and everything in one spot. We will look at it on our wedding anniversary. :-)
My husband had a button-down shirt that he LOVED but it ripped to the point where it couldn't be easily repaired and used as a shirt anymore... so I turned it into a zippered pillowcase for a lumbar pillow that he uses every night! The buttons and pocket add extra flair and it looks great as a throw pillow too.
I love the idea of one last tea party with grandma's tea set. It's a great way of honoring the person's memory. I'll remember it for when the time comes to emptying my parents house. Thank you for the tip.
My aunt passed away a few years ago, and her older daughter took her large collection of well-worn plaid flannel shirts (most not fit for donation), removed the buttons, and made bracelets for her and her sister, my mom and my other aunt, and key rings for the granddaughters and me (it was a lotta buttons). Mine hangs on the bulletin board in my entry, because I don't want to risk losing buttons by actually having it on my keys. Her younger daughter took some of the shirts and had teddy bears made from the fabric.
I think there’s a lot of value in writing down or telling why things are important or sentimental to you, whether you keep them or not. A photo book full of children holding up their artwork or the stories behind each Christmas ornament can be more meaningful than keeping the piles of stuff, especially if there’s a lot. I love your tea party idea. Sharing memories and stories with family adds so much value.
When my mom died, she had had macula degeneration and developed a large collection of jerseys with coffee and food spills. We kept adding to the supply, but she still loved her and wanted her faves. I cut them in strips, and wove a giant 4x4 ft?] potholder out of them. We had it at her memorial and my sister said it looked just like mom! I made a giant potholder weaving frame to do it. I still have lots of those strips [ and more from my clothes i paint in over the years] and I've been working on an installation kind of art ptroject with them, weaving them between two large maple trees in the front yard. I used the 2 wooden ends of a hammock no longer functioning to weave the material back and forth. I braid the strips first. I find it extemely satisfying. The hammock was too stretched out so i deconstructed it.
Recently I have found the one thing that lets me 'let go' of stuff that 'I might need/have a use for someday', or just don't want to add to a landfill, by joining my local 'Buy Nothing' group on Facebook. This allows me to pass on items to others that they need or can use immediately. This absolves me of feeling the need to hold on to something that still has life in it because it's not going in the garbage, and creates joy knowing that it became useful.
I love #1- I call it my holding tank and I do it with makeup and clothes. I set aside something I am considering letting go of. Out of sight. If I drag it out relieved I didn’t declutter it, it’s earned it’s way back but in 3-6 months whenever I do a bigger seasonal declutter I can happily let go of the rest. I’m going to flip my hangers and see what I am reaching for all the time in my seasonal capsule.
I got married last September and we got a lot of greetings cards. Because of Covid we split our civil marriage and the wedding party, so we got several cards from each family member. For months I wasn't sure what to do with it. I didn't want to put it in my memory box because I share the memories with my husband. On Easter I finally got the idea to clue a collection of them in our wedding guest book. I kept only the special ones and was able to part with two thirds of it. Then I added all the other loose paper stuff like our save the date card, the invitation and so on. Now it is all in one spot, excess thrown away and we will look at it on our wedding anniversary again.
hah! i've xeroxed love letters.., and burned the originals. That's as far as i got with that project! i need to disappear them and not leave them for my kids to go through. Either that, or write the book! I do burn journals.., but often 'need' to go over them beforehand looking for the gems i wrote or discovered. Finding there are not so mant great indispensible gems! They go into the woodstove and are gone! Lots more to burn. Favorite saved art magazines.., often really expensive.., i sneak in and gift to laundromats. What great finds for someone!
We had a chair everyone fought over because we all loved it so much. Being overused it started to deteriorate and become unsafe for us to sit in. So I had the fabric removed and turned into pillows for everyone and threw the rest away. Now I don't have to worry about my kids getting hurt, but we all still have a piece of our favorite chair!
I guess the spice rack is more or less “decor” by now. Lol. I think the ones I use the most are like 4. Maybe half a dozen more I use occasionally. The rest really does just sit there. But since it’s cute and small and up on the wall, I keep them. 😅😅 I may let it go when I move tho. Lol. Funny. What I use the most is just salt, pepper mill, Italian spices and vanilla. But sometimes I also need Chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and taco seasoning. And sometimes AuJus or gravy mix. Well prob TMI lol. Plus I bake nothing from scratch (Bisquick is really handy for so many things) so I wonder why I need all that baking stuff. Lol. (Well other than baking soda which doubles for cleaning etc). I’m going to make more of an effort tho to be more conscious of things used vs things not used vs things used only occasionally. I think having 3 categories works better for me Bcuz I do have those things I use but just not as often (or such as diff things for diff seasons etc). Maybe do it like a recurring “payment.” Check over everything “in season” in the house at the first of each month. Lol. And when the seasons change, I’ll take a fresh look at the next season’s stuff.
Mia, I design and make jewelry, and I was given a very ugly necklace by my stepmother. She actually gave it to me to recreate another piece with it, soI took the best parts of the necklace and made earrings out of them. I’m going to try the heat mapping you mentioned. It’s funny, because while watching that part of your video, I began to visualize the spaces where I want to try that. Thanks so much for your videos! 😁🙏🏻❤️
thanks for the hints. make-up is not a problem for me. We keep a lot of spices, because we use them! Otherwise, i do eliminate what i don't use all the time. I have made piles of artwork from saved patched and embroidered shirts i made for my 1st husband back in hippy days! and i got in the divorce;- a friendly divorce. I do reconstruct all the time in artwork esp. Have a wonderful dress of finely batiked material from indonesia .., never wore.., and was from a special faraway friend. .., and i made it into a skirt last year.., and i now really like and use it. The material is gorgeous. Photos online do not please me. I was in an art group that used an online place to share our work it was overwhelm for me! i like/need the tactile aspect of art. A nephew digitized a pile of old family photos i color xeroxed and distributed to family members. It is never seen. The books of photos are picked up and opened. I don't feel guilt about passing things on, but I do enjoy sharing turning the pages or sharing jewelry. Classes online: i have 2 that i just don't get back to. An exercise one on Beyond[ boring pilates], and a fairly decent one on Domestika on oil portrait painting. Both are short, but taking me forever to finish. It's been months. I'd rather just get to the artwork in studio or read a book about it to get the info. Just another view of these ideas.
I use some things in order so that I end up using all the things I have. I wear my tops in the order they're hanging. I use my essential oils in the diffuser in the order they are in the box set. This way I don't just keep using the same favorites and not others. If I come to an item I never want to use, it's time to declutter it!
I took a top that my Mom liked to wear and simply framed a square of it. It hangs in my office and I love seeing it -- I can picture her with that top on.; )
I really do like your videos but I wanted to ask you a question. Given how our economy is heading, how can I still be a minimalist when I’m being told I to start stockpiling food and supplies to survive the next year?
Who is telling you to stock like things ? The news ? I don’t feel the need to stoke pile things 🤷🏼♀️ I think the great thing about minimalistic life style is that everyone can do what works for them
Lol I'm also confused about where this message to stockpile has come from. Our family eats 75% fresh food that would not survive stockpiling (fresh fruit/veg, dairy, meat) so I guess we will just starve 🙄
A scarcity viewpoint appears to drive this idea of stocking up, but my guess would be that much of that will expire and need to be tossed. One may need to do some substitutes along the way, but there is plenty around us.
Hi dear madam, your message touches me.. i live in france and we feel the news of how the world is changing too .. wars... ecological issues too..etc. personally i do not listen too much the news since a year, just a bit to be informed of course of the main facts but then, i feel we might have to try to self care and see with what we have, now, around, we might will be called to change evolve habits in fact..going for more with what grow around maybe for subject of international evolutions and ecological too but.. we might find way to create other ways to live :) shared garden are growing in france for example, it might exist too in other countries of course, just i do not know, just sharing an example, it is not enough to feed all the needs around, but it helps to feel more serene to do a part of it, it is for example a garden that different people share and if someone has too many of something they exchange, might sound utopia and not concrete for city life, and all the needs of course.but then i admit i start to think of my needs differently even, with no privation but just unconsciously diving for more basic things and local as much as i can of course as we all do as we can. no judgement as this involves budget, so sincerely, as we can. just felt to share a wind of solidarity, we will find ways, courage and let's try to focus with what we have in the present situation/ i develop a mini garden at my window and even strawberries do not stop to grow, i even feel surprise how it works on just a window space, it is of course not a way to do smoothie for plenty of people, just to have a snack but i feel to notice less stressed since i did find this way slowly slowly, so i felt faith, we will adapt, might be focusing more with local ressources, veggies locally etc. (sorry for my mistakes in English, just felt to share as we are all living this unknown that might lead to worries sometimes. i can totally understand, and with no avoiding the reality or over stressing it, we might find a balance to adapt as we always did even this crazy mask life now..) wishing to all of you the best !
The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/miadanielle06221 (thank you for supporting my channel :)
I went to a car boot sale a few years ago where a woman had a stall selling a large collection of her late mother's possessions. I found a beautiful blue and white china platter that I absolutely loved. The woman explained the fond memories she had, as a child, of her mother using it every Sunday for Sunday lunch. I told her about myself, that I was married with a little girl, that I was a teacher, and I had a big group of friends coming over for dinner that Sunday and would be using the platter to host. The woman was absolutely delighted to know that it was going somewhere it would be used and loved again and got a little emotional. Every single time I use it, which is often, I think about the lady I spoke to and her late mother. Maybe this story will help those struggling to let go of a relative's items and rehoming them ♥️
aww, this is so sweet♥️ thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for sharing this 💕
I am sure that that is what her mother would have wanted, for a new mother and daughter to make memories with this platter, may you have many fantastic meals shared with your loved ones 😁👍
There are SO many ways my family has used parts to make a new whole. Most recently, my mum took my late father's ties and deconstructed them to make into a STUNNING quilt to hang on the wall of her living room. My dad always had super interesting ties (no boring stripes here!) so it made for an absolutely gorgeous design. It definitely beats having the ties tucked away in a closet!
My brother, mum, and I all have teddy bears made of my dad's shirts, and we have handmade quilts made of his old clothes - jeans, PJ pants, and button downs, and of course t-shirts.
In 2018, I shipped off 24 t-shirts from my high school cross country career to be made into a quilt. I looooove the outcome. I plan to do the same again soon with shirts from my college career and post-undergrad vacations. I seriously LOVE t-shirt quilts that spark conversation....can you tell?
Love this idea!!
I got married and we got a lot of greeting cards. For several months I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't want to put them in my memory box because I share this memories with my husband. After half a year of them laying around I finally got the idea to glue them in our wedding guest book. I only kept the special ones and could part with more than two-thirds. I added all the other loose paper stuff of our wedding like the save the date card and the invitation. Now it is a fine selection and everything in one spot. We will look at it on our wedding anniversary. :-)
Sounds lovely :)
My husband had a button-down shirt that he LOVED but it ripped to the point where it couldn't be easily repaired and used as a shirt anymore... so I turned it into a zippered pillowcase for a lumbar pillow that he uses every night! The buttons and pocket add extra flair and it looks great as a throw pillow too.
Oh, how cute! Very original too :)
I love the idea of one last tea party with grandma's tea set. It's a great way of honoring the person's memory. I'll remember it for when the time comes to emptying my parents house. Thank you for the tip.
My aunt passed away a few years ago, and her older daughter took her large collection of well-worn plaid flannel shirts (most not fit for donation), removed the buttons, and made bracelets for her and her sister, my mom and my other aunt, and key rings for the granddaughters and me (it was a lotta buttons). Mine hangs on the bulletin board in my entry, because I don't want to risk losing buttons by actually having it on my keys. Her younger daughter took some of the shirts and had teddy bears made from the fabric.
Wow, how creative to use the buttons!
I think there’s a lot of value in writing down or telling why things are important or sentimental to you, whether you keep them or not. A photo book full of children holding up their artwork or the stories behind each Christmas ornament can be more meaningful than keeping the piles of stuff, especially if there’s a lot. I love your tea party idea. Sharing memories and stories with family adds so much value.
My neighbor made a quilt of my mom's really ugly but oft worn dresses.
I'm working on digital book of my daughter's art. She's almost 18. Tons of art.
oh, how cool! So, you're trying a couple of these already :)
When my mom died, she had had macula degeneration and developed a large collection of jerseys with coffee and food spills. We kept adding to the supply, but she still loved her and wanted her faves. I cut them in strips, and wove a giant 4x4 ft?] potholder out of them. We had it at her memorial and my sister said it looked just like mom! I made a giant potholder weaving frame to do it. I still have lots of those strips [ and more from my clothes i paint in over the years] and I've been working on an installation kind of art ptroject with them, weaving them between two large maple trees in the front yard. I used the 2 wooden ends of a hammock no longer functioning to weave the material back and forth. I braid the strips first. I find it extemely satisfying. The hammock was too stretched out so i deconstructed it.
Recently I have found the one thing that lets me 'let go' of stuff that 'I might need/have a use for someday', or just don't want to add to a landfill, by joining my local 'Buy Nothing' group on Facebook.
This allows me to pass on items to others that they need or can use immediately. This absolves me of feeling the need to hold on to something that still has life in it because it's not going in the garbage, and creates joy knowing that it became useful.
Great mention- thanks for sharing this resource!
I made a framed collage of some family brooches that I hang as art in my sewing room.
Awesome! I'm glad to hear from someone who's tried the frame idea :)
Heat mapping sounds like a real good idea
I love #1- I call it my holding tank and I do it with makeup and clothes. I set aside something I am considering letting go of. Out of sight. If I drag it out relieved I didn’t declutter it, it’s earned it’s way back but in 3-6 months whenever I do a bigger seasonal declutter I can happily let go of the rest.
I’m going to flip my hangers and see what I am reaching for all the time in my seasonal capsule.
I have the exact same but call it my 'Use it or Lose it' box.
You have such helpful, nonjudgmental, creative ways to get rid of things and make decluttering meaningful.
I got married last September and we got a lot of greetings cards. Because of Covid we split our civil marriage and the wedding party, so we got several cards from each family member. For months I wasn't sure what to do with it. I didn't want to put it in my memory box because I share the memories with my husband. On Easter I finally got the idea to clue a collection of them in our wedding guest book. I kept only the special ones and was able to part with two thirds of it. Then I added all the other loose paper stuff like our save the date card, the invitation and so on. Now it is all in one spot, excess thrown away and we will look at it on our wedding anniversary again.
I have a few Christmas art pieces from my sons. They stay with the Christmas decorations so I see them once a year.
I see my sons more often! 🤣
Congratulations on hitting 30k+ subscribers! 🎉With your consistency, excellent content, and effort, it's well deserved! 🎉
Thank you so much!! :D
hah! i've xeroxed love letters.., and burned the originals. That's as far as i got with that project! i need to disappear them and not leave them for my kids to go through. Either that, or write the book! I do burn journals.., but often 'need' to go over them beforehand looking for the gems i wrote or discovered. Finding there are not so mant great indispensible gems! They go into the woodstove and are gone! Lots more to burn. Favorite saved art magazines.., often really expensive.., i sneak in and gift to laundromats. What great finds for someone!
Great tips. I’ve consumed so much content on this subject it’s very refreshing to actually get new advice. Thanks Mia!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you :)
Love your perspective on downsizing! A great video😊
Thanks so much! 😊
Thank you so much for your great videos❤❤❤
After my Dad passed, I took his favorite clothes and made a lap quilt for my Mom.
That sounds precious. How thoughtful too!
We had a chair everyone fought over because we all loved it so much. Being overused it started to deteriorate and become unsafe for us to sit in. So I had the fabric removed and turned into pillows for everyone and threw the rest away. Now I don't have to worry about my kids getting hurt, but we all still have a piece of our favorite chair!
Oh, I love this! How cool (and still comfy :)
lots of good tips
I guess the spice rack is more or less “decor” by now. Lol. I think the ones I use the most are like 4. Maybe half a dozen more I use occasionally. The rest really does just sit there. But since it’s cute and small and up on the wall, I keep them. 😅😅 I may let it go when I move tho. Lol. Funny. What I use the most is just salt, pepper mill, Italian spices and vanilla. But sometimes I also need Chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and taco seasoning. And sometimes AuJus or gravy mix. Well prob TMI lol. Plus I bake nothing from scratch (Bisquick is really handy for so many things) so I wonder why I need all that baking stuff. Lol. (Well other than baking soda which doubles for cleaning etc).
I’m going to make more of an effort tho to be more conscious of things used vs things not used vs things used only occasionally. I think having 3 categories works better for me Bcuz I do have those things I use but just not as often (or such as diff things for diff seasons etc). Maybe do it like a recurring “payment.” Check over everything “in season” in the house at the first of each month. Lol. And when the seasons change, I’ll take a fresh look at the next season’s stuff.
Mia, I design and make jewelry, and I was given a very ugly necklace by my stepmother. She actually gave it to me to recreate another piece with it, soI took the best parts of the necklace and made earrings out of them. I’m going to try the heat mapping you mentioned. It’s funny, because while watching that part of your video, I began to visualize the spaces where I want to try that. Thanks so much for your videos! 😁🙏🏻❤️
That's so great to hear! And I love the idea of creating earrings out of the ugly necklace :)
thanks for the hints. make-up is not a problem for me. We keep a lot of spices, because we use them! Otherwise, i do eliminate what i don't use all the time. I have made piles of artwork from saved patched and embroidered shirts i made for my 1st husband back in hippy days! and i got in the divorce;- a friendly divorce. I do reconstruct all the time in artwork esp. Have a wonderful dress of finely batiked material from indonesia .., never wore.., and was from a special faraway friend. .., and i made it into a skirt last year.., and i now really like and use it. The material is gorgeous. Photos online do not please me. I was in an art group that used an online place to share our work it was overwhelm for me! i like/need the tactile aspect of art. A nephew digitized a pile of old family photos i color xeroxed and distributed to family members. It is never seen. The books of photos are picked up and opened. I don't feel guilt about passing things on, but I do enjoy sharing turning the pages or sharing jewelry. Classes online: i have 2 that i just don't get back to. An exercise one on Beyond[ boring pilates], and a fairly decent one on Domestika on oil portrait painting. Both are short, but taking me forever to finish. It's been months. I'd rather just get to the artwork in studio or read a book about it to get the info. Just another view of these ideas.
I use some things in order so that I end up using all the things I have. I wear my tops in the order they're hanging. I use my essential oils in the diffuser in the order they are in the box set. This way I don't just keep using the same favorites and not others. If I come to an item I never want to use, it's time to declutter it!
It keeps things fresh too!
I took a top that my Mom liked to wear and simply framed a square of it. It hangs in my office and I love seeing it -- I can picture her with that top on.; )
Thank you!!
Thank you. I've never heard so many good tips and I'm 65.
My mom had one of my grandpa’s shirts made into an apron for me. ❤
That is a very thoughtful way of repurposing a special item 🥰
I really do like your videos but I wanted to ask you a question. Given how our economy is heading, how can I still be a minimalist when I’m being told I to start stockpiling food and supplies to survive the next year?
Who is telling you to stock like things ? The news ? I don’t feel the need to stoke pile things 🤷🏼♀️ I think the great thing about minimalistic life style is that everyone can do what works for them
Lol I'm also confused about where this message to stockpile has come from. Our family eats 75% fresh food that would not survive stockpiling (fresh fruit/veg, dairy, meat) so I guess we will just starve 🙄
To be a minimalist also means to be aware of what you have which can help you prevent food waste.
A scarcity viewpoint appears to drive this idea of stocking up, but my guess would be that much of that will expire and need to be tossed. One may need to do some substitutes along the way, but there is plenty around us.
Hi dear madam, your message touches me.. i live in france and we feel the news of how the world is changing too .. wars... ecological issues too..etc. personally i do not listen too much the news since a year, just a bit to be informed of course of the main facts but then, i feel we might have to try to self care and see with what we have, now, around, we might will be called to change evolve habits in fact..going for more with what grow around maybe for subject of international evolutions and ecological too but.. we might find way to create other ways to live :) shared garden are growing in france for example, it might exist too in other countries of course, just i do not know, just sharing an example, it is not enough to feed all the needs around, but it helps to feel more serene to do a part of it, it is for example a garden that different people share and if someone has too many of something they exchange, might sound utopia and not concrete for city life, and all the needs of course.but then i admit i start to think of my needs differently even, with no privation but just unconsciously diving for more basic things and local as much as i can of course as we all do as we can. no judgement as this involves budget, so sincerely, as we can. just felt to share a wind of solidarity, we will find ways, courage and let's try to focus with what we have in the present situation/ i develop a mini garden at my window and even strawberries do not stop to grow, i even feel surprise how it works on just a window space, it is of course not a way to do smoothie for plenty of people, just to have a snack but i feel to notice less stressed since i did find this way slowly slowly, so i felt faith, we will adapt, might be focusing more with local ressources, veggies locally etc. (sorry for my mistakes in English, just felt to share as we are all living this unknown that might lead to worries sometimes. i can totally understand, and with no avoiding the reality or over stressing it, we might find a balance to adapt as we always did even this crazy mask life now..) wishing to all of you the best !
🖐🏼🙂
Tan eik fai l am22 years malaysia loph😚😀🐨🐭💃hi😚😚😊
❤️👍
Yo you describe my house ..
I’ve watched a lot of videos about this topic and wow these are some great ideas I’d never heard yet and the comments are full of them too! 🩷