live a minimalist lifestyle

I don’t have that much stuff to begin with, but I could live with much less. I moved to my present flat a couple of months ago and all my belongings fitted into a quite a small car. I buy clothes very seldom, but books, CDs and DVDs are my weakness. I know, there are libraries, but buying (paperback) books nowadays is so cheap and I read quite irregularly.. I know these are just a bunch of poor explanations and I do want to get rid of my books. At least the ones with no greater importance.

Otherwise I’m getting along with quite little. I live in a fully furnitured flat, and have nothing too valuable here. Even most of the dishes is owned by our landlady so I barely have any plates or forks.. However, I know I could get by with a lot less materia than what I own now, and I’ll work for that goal every day.

I too live a minimalist life. One classic example is my living room. I refuse to have furntiure there, and cant stand any clutter. In my living room I have one piece of fitness equipmet that our whole family uses, and a large exercise ball for the children to experiment with. I also have a stereo, and we use this room for yoga, dancing, and exercise. All my friends call me “weird” or “strange” for refusing to put furniture there even though I have ample room. I have minimal dishes (just enough for each person in the house). Our bedrooms are minimal with just a bed and one table in each room (no dressers) and the kids like to put their own art, drawings, or athletic medals on their walls.

I want to get rid of more, if possible (I HATE owning a television, but the kids protest BIG TIME on that one, so I allow this….for now) and I would like to learn to be even more self sufficient (growing more of my own foods, herbs, etc….and relying less on manufactured products) For instance, I don’t use toilet paper anymore, but rather a perio-bottle and a reusable soft washcloth (which you wash daily)...These may be extreme examples, but I want to become as minimal and self reliant as possible while lowering reliance on everyday conventional lifestyle tools. I must admit, I haven’t figured out a way to give up the washing machine yet, but I’ll get to that eventually !!!

I lived for six months in a tiny, shared cabin whilst working on a cruise ship. I brought one suitcase and one backpack (and my laptop). While I did go home with two extra suitcases (eek), I was perfectly happy without all the extra “stuff.” I need to get back to just having the necessities and spending money on great experiences and memories rather than “stuff.”

It occurred to me that I have way too much “things”, and that I have been carrying these “things” from place to place and wasting so much time and money doing so. So, I looked minimalist up on google and found a number of resources, including this site. I will be logging my progress and the feeling that comes from it on a regular basis. Hopefully my experience will motivate and inspire someone else as some of the prior posts here have me.

I own a lot of things but they are mostly stored tightly in shelves or in boxes. I don’t like to see a single loose wire or stray pencil anywhere.

on my way

I heard about this minimalist lifestyle and immediately knew I needed to make this my goal. I have 2 storage units that cost me so much money, they are both full of stuff that I bought when I had spending money. I have no savings and looking for a career change. I know that this junk issue needs to be addressed so that I can move forward with my life. My house and my life are full of clutter and expensive-but-useless stuff. Every time I go to storage I can make a small dent in the heaps of stuff, but never enough progress to empty the storage units. I love what you guys are saying, and I hope I’ll someday be truly living a minimalist lifestyle. I just am having trouble making major progress right now.

I’ve been gradually paring down over the last 5 years. However, as I face yet another cross-country move, I am suddenly realizing the stuff I have isn’t worth the time, effort, and fossil fuels required to get it to my new abode. I am finding most of my stuff is a pretty burden – and my next challenge is to see what is the least amount of stuff I can live with. I am in the process of selling/giving away virtually everything in my apartment, except for my air mattress, laptop, ipod, clothes/shoes, and some kitchen stuff. My goal is to be able to fit everything in my car. I have over 300 books, and am going to condense my collection down to 25. However, since I am a bibliophile, I will keep the books in my parents basement instead of getting rid of them. The strangest thing is how LIBERATING this feels! I’m realizing how totally entwined my identity was with my junk; and how my identity seems to become clearer and stronger as I jettison it all. My stuff used to comfort me; now this strange transformation is occurring where getting RID of it is comforting me. I’m so glad I found this group of people – bless you all on your journeys. What an adventure, eh?

When I got my first job all I did was buy crap. It almost made me feel more empty than when I didnt have money to buy the stuff. It was like the more I bought the more I tried to fill an empty space with more stuff. The first time I realized how much I could do without was when I was on a hotshot crew (wildland firefighting) and was “spiked out” for 2 weeks with a small bag of clothes, a sleeping bag, and my fireline gear. I was happier than I had ever been amongst all of the crap I had at home. My dream is to get rid of my car and keep only a big backpack with a couple days worth of clothes, a tent, and a sleeping bag. I will have a house when Im working, but most of my money will go to a small peice of land somewhere. Spending my money on something whole and real is my goal.

I’m renting a table at a flea market next week, so I can rid of a lot of stuff, maybe. If I don’t,then I’m going to have to give up and accept that I’m like a hungry ghost and I’ll never live free of my possessions and I’ll buy voraciously and mindlessly until the day I die.