Minimalist lifestyle page 2

[Figlio di Moros]

Unceph, good idea. Whenever I have anyone in my apartment, I get a "You could get a couche here..." No, don't need one. I suppose I could get rid of things, but not sure how much to get rid of or what.

[texas.grok]

I suppose I could get rid of things, but not sure how much to get rid of or what.

I ended up with a 6 month rule. If I did not use it in the past 6 months, I didn't figure I would use it in the next 6. Of course this doesn't apply to everything, like first-aid kits and fire extinguishers but for the more mundane things, it has worked well.

Here in Egypt, I ended up giving a bunch of clothes and kitchen stuff to my housekeeper. In the US, it goes to a local charity.

[Figlio di Moros]

Too broke for charity; actually, selling a bunch of shirts and buying a new pair of jeans or two isn't a bad idea. Funny how everyone likes to give you a bunch of shirts they think is cute that you'll never wear, but you have to replace your jeans on your own.

[EvRevFit]

Sent you a friend request and a short message. I've been contemplating simplifying my life and minimizing...especially distractions. My primary work is personal training, but I'm also a blogger and attempting to become a writer of fitness-related educational material. My main issue is distractions. The more you have, the easier it is to become distracted...

[Crabbcakes]

[QUOTE=texas.grok;899542]Annie Leonard also pushed me this direction when I read "The story of stuff", The Story of Stuff Project.QUOTE]

My two oldest daughters and I went to a free local college showing of "The Story of Stuff" as part of the town's annual Sustainability Festival. Good viewing. They also showed "Bag It", which is the story of single-use plastic bags - the ones at the grocery stores. We saw both.

This family is a stuff family. That said, I have a philosophy something like this: everything you own must have be easily accessible; have a permanent home in a closet (or equivalent); and you must use it regularly. The only things barred from the use-it-regularly rule are intensely personal, usually highly irreplacable items like wedding photos and family jewelry. We trade with Goodwill, the Salvation Army, a local Hospice store, etc. often. With 4 kids and 2 adults who each have wildly varying interests, stuff accumulates. The kids are growing up weeding often, and we don't have any of those rented storage rooms or storage pods. Our garage does house our cars, too.

Having almost nothing in the house? Nah - couldn't do it. It's all well and good for singles, but try that with a pack of active and intellectually hungry young 'uns. Buy quality so you only buy once, though? Yup!

[Figlio di Moros]

Never seen it. How much does it cost?

[texas.grok]

Never seen it. How much does it cost?

"The story of stuff" is about $11 on Amazon. There is a lot of free information, including videos on her site.

[zoebird]

figlio. lol

i was really lucky in that, when we moved from the US to NZ, I was able to let go of *so much stuff*. Everything was condensed into 25 boxes plus the 8 pieces of luggage that we brought with us. 2 of the 25 boxes are my very best kitchen things; the remainder are books, special items -- and get this, shoes and bags. LOL I do laugh at myself.

When we moved here, we moved from a 1300 sq ft condo to (where we are now, there was a small apt in between) a 600 sq ft cottage (might be 500, I can't really say. I can't figure it to be honest.). It's essentially one large room.

For furnishings we have: bed, dresser, day bed (will be DS's. currently used by guests when we have them), two chairs (free! mid-century modern), one mid-cent modern bench; dining table and 4 cafe chairs; one shelf/wardrobe thingy that we have in the closet.

I have a capsule wardrobe that utilizes 4 hangers and 1 small drawer. My son and husband both have two drawers each plus their hangers. I currently have 4 pairs of shoes here. I did bring my jewelry box; I tend to wear 5 pieces of jewelry regularly (some all the time, like my nose rings -- that's two bits).

We have no extraneous appliances -- washing machine, fridge, range, crock pot (used daily), and our computers and cell phone. The cell phone is as basic as they come, as we don't use them. We have a flip video camera. Our other camera broke, so we'll either get it repaired or replaced (we're looking into it).

We are toy minimalists for DS -- he has two baskets (one hard toys like blocks; one soft toys). He has books and puzzles as well, several musical instruments, but really, probably about 1/10th of what other kids his age have. We are cautious about what we buy for him -- making sure it holds his interest. We purposefully hold people back from buying things for him (and we don't buy much ourselves. I think I've spent a total of $150 on toys for him in his 4 years of life).

At the office, I do much the same. I like to keep things as simple as possible -- even and perhaps especially in the yoga room. Less clutter equals more space for people to "be."

I declutter my house each week, and hte office bi-weekly. This usually means recycling paper. It accumulates the most. My second largest accumulation is "rags." BY that I mean "clothing that has holes in it, that I plan on turning into family cloth or other rags, that sits in a pile." I also have clothes that no longer fit DS, that I want to sell/pass along/etc to friends. It's mostly just a matter of organizing myself enough to do so.

I tend not to buy much by way of much of anything (books, music, movies). We mostly rent, or people give us things (like "mix tapes" via Itunes via drop box or some such), and I read through my kindle -- usually books that people just "loan" to me via kindle, or stuff in the public domain that I haven't read before. I love reading for free.

I consider minimalism an on-going project. When I do a declutter, I label things with a "last used" date. If I haven't used something in 3 months and have no intention of using it within th enext three months, I put a date on it (last used date). At the next declutter, if I haven't used it. it goes into storage in the clsoet. If I haven't dug it out after another 3 months, then it finds a new home. This makes things pretty easy.

I tend to refuse a lot. People like to try and help out and give you stuff. But, if I can't use it or don't need it, I just tell them "thanks for thinking of us, but we don't need it." Sometimes I take it to pass along to someone else -- being clear "We won't use this, but my friend was looking for one. Can I take it to her?" Since most people are offering us their decluttered items, they are happy just to be rid of it.

Now, I should actually make those rags into rags and family cloth, and actually box up those clothes to take to my neighbors. I have several who could probably use the stuff (babies aged 6 months to 3 years, so surely DS's old clothes won't go amiss).

What's also cool is that cleaning my house -- as in scrubbing it, including the fridge, takes about an hour.

[Figlio di Moros]

I think my 1-bedroom apartment's about the same size as your cottage, Zoebird. I have a fridge(came with the apartment), microwave, crockpot, coffeemaker, a refurnished table and two chairs my landlady was nice enough to supply, a small desk that used to be owned by my great-grandfather, another chair, a book shelf, punching bag stand(need to replace the punching bag), a weightbench & tree- then, in my bedroom, a small bed(twin size?); TV, stand, & DVD player; and my dresser.

Then, of course, I've got clothes stacked up in my room because I can't fit them in the dresser and/or can't use them, got paper clutter(bills, receipts, etc.) laying around my desk and table, and books not only filling my shelf, but in plastic bins on both sides of it, and even somebeyond that. Oh, and a toaster that happened to be with my stuff.

[JoanieL]

I consider myself to be living a sparse life, but I'm not sure about minimalist.

I have some extravagances - my bed is huge and high off the floor. I have some artwork and jewelry I've collected over the years. And I have some small appliances that some would consider unnecessary.

That said, all my other furniture is from thrifts or given to me by people moving. My great clothing joy is not a pair of $700 shoes, but finding the perfect suede Anne Klein skirt in a thrift store for $4.

I have a computer, but no TV. My car is 20 years old (I've owned it for eight of those years) and has a book value of about $600. All of my glasses, dishes, eating utensils, except for one dish and one bowl, are from thrifts.

Except for mortgages, I don't buy on credit. But, if I want something and I can afford it, I do it or buy it.

For me, it's not the having, but the deal you get. It's not a carbon footprint thing. It's just how I've evolved from hippie to corporate drone to little ol' me.