8 replies to this topic

[Padme]

Minimalism 

 

I know this has been somewhat discussed on the forum before but I would like to talk about it again, and maybe get peoples current feelings on it!

 

How do you currently feel about minimalism?

 

Are you interested in a minimal approach for some aspects of your life? Why or why not?

 

Have you ever been minimal and moved away from it? What is your story with this?

 

 

Personally, I have a conflicted relationship with minimalism. I love the aesthetic of it (wow, much millennial) and when I embrace minimalism I do find that I am less stressed out. This can sometimes be a catch-22 however since getting rid of things seems to make me really anxious. Just this evening I disposed of a bunch of makeup and I stared at it in the bin for a while so tempted to take it out. 

 

Wardrobe - I adore the idea of a capsule wardrobe, as I know a lot of other people face the same morning dilemma: what to wear? The more we have the more difficulties it seems we have with getting dressed in the morning. I've been diving into the idea of a capsule wardrobe and am leaning towards the idea of having some seasonal pieces that cycle in & out. As someone who lives in a place with four very drastic seasonal shifts a year and a range of 30C to -40C. 

 

Food - I am SO guilty of wasting food; I will buy a wide assortment of produce, dry goods, sauces, etc only to throw them out because I never eat them or they expire. The last couple of weeks I have limited myself to buying only a few types of veggies and fruits, from there I find myself actually being more creative with my preparation. It's been pretty exciting and less stressful for more, I still may end up throwing up the small amount of excess I don't eat but it's much better than throwing out a container of kale, a bag of potatoes, and whatever else has turned bad. 

 

Home - Decorating my own space has been a process to say the least..... I have more laundry baskets than I need, more decor to hang up and four couches that really are not necessary. A large part of this is due to the fact that my house is larger than I need so I'm trying to find a happy medium between what is appropriate for the space while not overdoing it just for the sake of it. I'm not going to downgrade my house since I could very well have kids in this house and it would be mean a financial loss with what I've put into it this far. 

 

That's my jumping off point, there's a lot of ways I could declutter, and minimize my space but I'm taking it one step at a time hoping to not become too overwhelmed with the changes.  

[jcrdude]

Less is almost always more. The fewer things you have, the fewer things you need to keep track of, the more time you can spend doing things that enrich life.

 

I highly recommend looking into Marie Kondo and the little game-changing pointers that make decluttering easier. She recommends that every deep clean begin by taking out all of your things. And then you pick up every single individual thing. With every item, you consider whether or not this belonging beings you any joy. If it no longer brings you joy, you must thank it for its service and recycle or dispose as appropriate. If the thing still brings you joy, you must then find it a home.

 

She's a little out there, but in a good way.

 

She believes it is cruel to ball up your socks. Why would you ask your socks to work even when they are at rest?

 

I've mostly achieved minimalism via the upper lower class life. It's pretty liberating.

 

As for food minimalism, I've achieved this by being a single person. I buy my proteins in frozen bulk and cook small simple meals that usually feed me twice. Luckily, I kinda like being in ruts, so committing to a style of meal for a couple weeks isn't that offensive a concept to me.

[Futurama]

Big things come in small packages.

[Kaddict]

While I enjoy the concept of minimalism, it is hard for me to do in real life. I grew up poor, so I have difficulty passing things up that are free, even if I dont need them. I think "but what if I do need it in the future, then I wont have to spend my own money on it" but the majority of the time, I will never use it. I have gotten better, bc my wife is sorta a minimalist. She did a month purge, there were lots of things to do, but one of them was to sell/donate/trash 1 hefty bag full of stuff a day for 3 weeks or something. And she did it. You dont think you have that much stuff, let alone extraneous stuff, but she did it, and I dont miss it. I will get free shirts all the time, from conferences or whatever, and I will always take them, thinking "ya, this is a stupid shirt, but i can use it to work out or do yardwork" but I am realizing, "do I need 12 shirts to do yardwork in?" So I am getting better about throwing the extra shit away. 

My wife and I compromised however, because she grew up sorta wealthy, so she would just toss stuff out. But I asked her to try selling stuff on facebook before donating/throwing away. Half of it she sells, the other stuff I can feel better about donating/trashing since it isnt gonna sell. 

Then, a year ago, I was purging all the old medical records from an medical office that were stored in a storage unit. I was there a lot, and saw dozens of open storage units, absolutely filled with shit. And I was thinking, why are you paying $200 month to keep this garbage? So what if you end up using something again eventually. You certainly aren't saving $2400/year, that helped me further realize there are things that I am holding onto. If it isnt worth saving in a storage unit, maybe it isn;t worth saving in my house. As our family grows, our house gets smaller and minimalism becomes more important.

 

 

 

 

Big things come in small packages.

Keep telling yourself that

[Padme]

 

 

I highly recommend looking into Marie Kondo and the little game-changing pointers that make decluttering easier. She recommends that every deep clean begin by taking out all of your things. And then you pick up every single individual thing. With every item, you consider whether or not this belonging beings you any joy. If it no longer brings you joy, you must thank it for its service and recycle or dispose as appropriate. If the thing still brings you joy, you must then find it a home.

 

 

I heard about this! I guess the joy question seems simple but can be complicated in that while you might not think something brings you joy at first it may serve a function that in turn does. The approach definitely intrigues me

 

Big things come in small packages.

 

Quoi? 

 

While I enjoy the concept of minimalism, it is hard for me to do in real life. I grew up poor, so I have difficulty passing things up that are free, even if I dont need them. I think "but what if I do need it in the future, then I wont have to spend my own money on it" but the majority of the time, I will never use it. I have gotten better, bc my wife is sorta a minimalist. She did a month purge, there were lots of things to do, but one of them was to sell/donate/trash 1 hefty bag full of stuff a day for 3 weeks or something. And she did it. You dont think you have that much stuff, let alone extraneous stuff, but she did it, and I dont miss it. I will get free shirts all the time, from conferences or whatever, and I will always take them, thinking "ya, this is a stupid shirt, but i can use it to work out or do yardwork" but I am realizing, "do I need 12 shirts to do yardwork in?" So I am getting better about throwing the extra shit away. 

My wife and I compromised however, because she grew up sorta wealthy, so she would just toss stuff out. But I asked her to try selling stuff on facebook before donating/throwing away. Half of it she sells, the other stuff I can feel better about donating/trashing since it isnt gonna sell. 

Then, a year ago, I was purging all the old medical records from an medical office that were stored in a storage unit. I was there a lot, and saw dozens of open storage units, absolutely filled with shit. And I was thinking, why are you paying $200 month to keep this garbage? So what if you end up using something again eventually. You certainly aren't saving $2400/year, that helped me further realize there are things that I am holding onto. If it isnt worth saving in a storage unit, maybe it isn;t worth saving in my house. As our family grows, our house gets smaller and minimalism becomes more important.

 

 

Ya, I am definitely a clothing hoarder. I try to go through it but I still have shirts from elementary school (!!!) so a few things I keep for sentimental reasons but I recently purged a massive amount of stuff that I had not worn in forever. I also get a lot of free clothing, this past weekend I was doing a clothes purge and counted 56 free/promo shirts that I have gotten for various reasons. Now some of them make sense to keep, I wear them when I volunteer for the company but others I never wear because I am not a free billboard and it's just hideous. I grew up on hand-me-downs so it freaks me out to just chuck something.

 

I donate a lot of clothing but I don't do the whole FB selling because often I find it's a waste of my time but cousin has a lot of success with it like your wife. 

 

I like that you touched on time v.s money. It's a privilege for some but I think about what my time is worth and how much I'm receiving out of something. It isn't really to do with minimalism (maybe a stretch) but I like the conversation. I know people who drive across town to save a few dollars on gas but the time and the cost of fuel to get there kind of minimizes what they saved. Or with groceries, I know people who go to several stores to save a few dollars but then shopping takes them way longer. 

[jcrdude]

I heard about this! I guess the joy question seems simple but can be complicated in that while you might not think something brings you joy at first it may serve a function that in turn does. The approach definitely intrigues me

 

In her approach, function is a form of joy bringing... but specifically in terms of clothing, I think the overall concept is that as you're touching every item, you'll rediscover buried treasures that fit perfectly or specifically speak to your style and prune back the "just because I already have it" clothing.

 

I also come from a world of hand-me-downs, so I'm definitely rocking a few pairs of jeans that have been in and out of rotation for 14+ years now >_>

 

I think it's an interesting approach to life that I could stand to channel more often. I think the best point of the article came at the end (which is probably good form for an article, if we're honest)

 

 

 

All sorts of decisions are falling into place. This might be the best payoff of all: Once you’ve looked at hundreds of things and asked yourself if they give you joy, decision-making gets a lot easier: which book to read, which projects to pursue, what to make for dinner, whether to say yes or no to the many optional obligations that come our way.

[Coops]

I like the concept of minimalism for myself and despite growing up lower class and being impoverished for the first portion of my marriage, I am still a minimalist in practice. I have a lot of internalized guilt when it comes to buying myself things I need and want because as a kid I was shamed for needing new shoes, new underwear, etc. That said, I find the whole minimalist movement kind of uncomfortable and privileged. Obviously, not everyone who practices minimalism is oblivious to the amount of financial security you'd need just to throw shit out, but I find a lot of the articles and stuff about it reek of ignorance and they sort of shame people who don't follow that particular ideal.

[Mishelle]

I would definitely consider myself a minimalist. The grand majority of furniture I own was given to me by other people because I refused to buy it myself. I’ve lived here for 3 years and I still only have barely half of a closet full of clothes. Instead of buying a lot of things I’ll buy a couple pairs and wear them until they wear out and then replace them with new things. At this point I own the most pairs of shoes I’ve ever owned in my life. Four.