“Goodbye, things” – Minimalism for the family home?

Currently, I am recovering from a bit of a consumer blow-out. (I bought new clothes and craft things; they were just so tempting and I couldn’t stop myself. It’s fine though, as I feel suitably ashamed)

It therefore seemed appropriate, to reread a few of my minimalism books. That way I could be reminded of what I should be aiming towards.

My plan has been to declutter the house, and most of my belongings. The aim being, that if I want to live and work abroad, I will need to have less ‘stuff’. You can’t travel with 3 metric tons of scrapbook paper, 57 rolls of washi tape and 3 pencil cases of fine liner pens.

It is at times like this, where I am feeling tempted and should really avoid all forms of shopping, that I refer to the most extreme declutterer in my arsenal.

Fumio Sasaki.

His book ‘Goodbye, things’ gives examples of the most severe minimalism. While I can’t say I agree with all of his suggestions, some of them make great sense. If not great sense, then they are worth trying out and adapting for my own purposes. So let’s have a go at some extreme minimalism.

Consider your family dynamic

Sasaki and I are very different people. He is single, and lives in a tiny Tokyo apartment. I am married, with four children, in a tiny Bristol house.

He is in charge of every item that is brought into his home and whether it stays. I seem to be fighting a constant battle with stray socks and empty crisp packets that never find their way to where they should be.

As a man, it is socially acceptable for him to own 3 shirts and 4 pairs of trousers. In a previous piece about capsule wardrobes I mentioned a social experiment in which Nadia Sawalha wore the same top to work for a few days. It was noticed.

There are definitely areas of Sasaki’s life that I cannot copy. In fact there are some where I feel he is is too harsh on himself, and on others who enjoy their belongings. He states that he rid himself of all of his books, his desk, his dining table – even his mattress.

I have no intention of going to this extreme. The ultra minimalist look, just gives an unloved, unlived-in vibe, that is wholly unsuitable for a family home.

Some of the ideas though, are well worth exploring. So I will try a few of them out. In this post I am exploring his ideas regarding what we store in our homes and how we use the space we have.

How many loo rolls do we need?

Hannah and I are a big fan of those extreme couponing programs on TV. I say, ‘a fan’ we basically spend the whole episode ragging on them. Who really needs 500 loo rolls?

There are people on that show who have store rooms of stuff, that take up more square footage than I have in the entire downstairs of my house. And why do they keep buying more? Once you have 50 tubes of toothpaste, it doesn’t matter if it is on offer – you don’t need anymore. Stop buying stuff!

Perhaps stockpiling is an intrinsically American thing? It probably links in with a whole ‘the bomb could drop at any moment’ mindset that the government encouraged people to think about in the 1950’s.

The concept of ‘prepping’ and survivalism, is something that we tend to associate with people who have fall out shelters and bags packed, ready for when the world ends. Us Brits are more likely to just tut and shake our heads, and mutter about things. We struggle to prepare for a bit of snow, or the shops being shut over Christmas. These huge stockpiles remind me of this whole ‘preparing for the worst’ mindset.

In most of the YouTube comments on old couponing stockpile videos, the recurring thought is that they will be okay if there is a Zombie Apocalypse. I guess if they need to use excessive amounts of loo roll or toothpaste they will be. I can’t help but think that a flood will turn those basements into a soggy mess. Or, in the event of that bomb dropping, perhaps create a radioactive, papier-mâché based, Godzilla style monster.

As an interesting aside, the term for someone who is in denial about these large scale disruptive events is a ‘Polly’, no doubt named for the character ‘Pollyanna’. One of my favourite literary heroines; an optimistic child who sees the good in all situations. But I digress. What has all this stocking up on more items than you will ever need got to do with minimalism?

The world is your store cupboard

In his book Sasaki decries the idea of ‘stocking up’, considering it a bit selfish. If something is on sale and you only need 1, why buy them all? Why not leave a few in the shop for other people.

This one actually hit home for me, as I have often bought about 5 loaves of the reduced 10 pence bread, purely because it is cheap. I have generally ended up throwing it out after not eating it all too. We all love a bargain, but as it is often pointed out, it is not a bargain if you don’t really need it.

One of the suggestions the author makes is based on the work of Daisuke Yosumi. He believes we should look on shops as storehouses for goods. Rather than building up a stash that takes up your living space, let the retail outlets keep hold of everything, until you need it.

When I first read this I was a bit dubious. I don’t have time to go to the shops every 5 minutes, just because I want something. There is always going to be a certain level of ‘stock’ in my home. But many people 24 hour access to shops, so perhaps it could work for you.

The city as your floor plan

One thing we have started doing,however, is following weekly menu plans. This means I buy exactly the right amount of food to make the meals on the list. It also means if anyone wants naughty extras – like chocolate or those energy drinks that my husband seems to guzzle his way through – they will have to go to the shop and get them.

Sometimes the extra effort is enough to put people off!

Sasaki expands on this idea of shops as warehouses. He proposes that the city can be your floor plan. This is probably more difficult for a family, but the basic concept is that instead of paying over the top rents for a massive home, you could have a smaller place, and then utilise your city and the space in it.

For example: why have a massive bookcase and buy loads of books, when you can sit in the library and read for free? Or why have a home with a massive garden, and pay out for loads of plants, when you can walk through the park and see flowers and trees in all their glory.

I know that when we bought our house we were drawn to the large garden, as we assumed the kids would play in it all the time. It has actually just become an overgrown mill-stone around our necks. I love the idea of having a nice garden, but I have neither the time or inclination to keep it up-together. If the British weather were more reliable, perhaps I would use it more, but as it is, it has been wasted on us.

I fully understand the need for a comfy base; home is where the heart is after all. But it has gotten to a stage where people are going into tremendous debt to secure a space that is often unnecessarily large, just so they have room to store ‘stuff’.

What do you need to make you happy?

I think a lot of us use buying ‘stuff’ as a temporary stop gap. That small burst of happiness we get when we treat ourselves to something new keeps us going back for more; even though we know that the feeling never lasts, we keep returning to those ‘Cathedrals of Consumerism’ – the shopping centres.

As I look around my house, I am reminded that my ultimate plan is to teach across the other side of the world. Which of the things here will I take with me? What in my home will I still be using next year, or in 6 months?

I recently found a Christmas bag, with presents I was given last year. Had totally forgotten about them all. When you have so much ‘stuff’ it is hard to concentrate on what is truly important. The first step is to declutter, and then you are in a position to curate your space as you want it.

While my place may never be as minimalist as Fumio Sasaki’s flat in Tokyo, I will certainly be happier once I have implemented some of his ideas regarding how I use my space.

Over to you

Are you a ‘Less is More’ kind of person, or do you cherish your collections and mementos?

How much is too much in a home? Where is the fine line between ‘homely’ and ‘stark’?

What kind of home do you want to create? Is it important to have a ‘base’ or is home wherever you happen to be when you are with the right people?

Would love to read your thoughts.