A MINIMALIST mum says her house is empty after throwing away 2,000 items – and she's now able to clean it top-to-bottom in just ten minutes.
Lauren Tyson decided to "hire a skip and go crazy" following a travelling trip, desperate to declutter her space.
Having lived off just the contents of her backpack, she realised she didn't need loads of possessions.
Lauren and her husband, Roy, now keep as few items as possible in their home.
She says she first became interested in minimalism two years ago – and quickly became "hooked".
"My husband and I went backpacking for a year where we travelled to Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and New Zealand,” the 30-year-old from Suffolk says.
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"It was such a chilled out and easy time – we didn't have to think about what we wore or anything, and it was fine.
"It made us think long and hard about whether we needed most of the stuff we owned in our lives."
Lauren adds that she was “hooked” on the minimalism movement from the moment she discovered it.
Minimalism is a way to live a simpler life with fewer possessions, with followers of the movement hailing it as a way to live more intentionally.
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"The pure amount of stuff that comes with owning a house is ridiculous,” Lauren says. "It helps my mental state to have everything minimal.
“The less I can have the better. Clutter and mess stresses me out, if I know I'm going out and it's messy I can't control."
Lauren, who used to have a job selling skincare products, previously lived in an old 1700s cottage, where she and Roy, 36, accumulated a "mass of stuff."
They had two boys, Roman and Lennon, aged one and five, after their travelling trip.
But it wasn't until 2021 that Lauren said she started reading up on minimalism.
"When we were moving, we just thought let's get rid of everything,” she recalls. We hired a skip and went crazy.
"If we hadn't used it in a while, we found another home for it.
Lauren’s Top Tips To Declutter Your Home
- Don't tackle a whole room at once, otherwise you'll get fatigued
- Start on your wardrobe and smaller things to de-clutter at first, rather than getting overwhelmed
- Do five to ten minutes per day… you'll be surprised how much progress you can make
- Donate the stuff you get rid of to refuges and charity shops, don't just throw it in the bin
- If you're moving and you can buy a thing for under £5, then you don't need to hold on to it
Lauren tries to always rehome items rather than throw them away, and advocates for sustainable minimalism.
"I'm not a massively sentimental person,” she says. "We have one box in the garage of children's stuff which is special paintings and crafts they have done.
"Apart from that, I have an outfit they wore home from the hospital in, but I have trained myself to not have sentimental attachment to items."
Lauren now has a list of rules she lives by to keep her life as minimalist as possible.
"When you're moving house, if you wouldn't spent £1 to move the item, then you should get rid of it,” she explained.
"The other thing is holding onto clutter. We say if you can buy it for under £5, then you don't need to hold on to it when moving.
"Everyone keeps everything, thinking one day they'll need it, but they never do.
"We don't have lots of furniture, our lounge is sparse. We don't have cushions on the sofas.
"We don't have ornaments, they are just things you have to clean.
"Lots of people think I love cleaning, but I don't actually enjoy it. I do a full 'house reset' in ten minutes."
Lauren has made a living through her minimalist lifestyle, building a following on social media by talking about it.
She can make a few hundred pounds from viral videos – but is wary of doing brand advertising.
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"It would kind of be hypocritical if I was advertising loads of brand stuff, as I am all about not keeping lots of stuff,” she says.
"It's more of a hobby. I would earn more if I had a full-time job. It doesn't really pay my mortgage."
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