It was through blogging that I learned about the minimalist lifestyle. Till then, I'd never met a minimalist and the theory that one could live that way was totally foreign to me.
I've always liked order but achieving order on a daily basis by drastically reducing belongings was just not in my DNA.
To tell you the truth, I've always loved stuff! Gadgets - trinkets - organizers - decorations. Whoa, I'm listing the things that I still love. And yet, I've come to realize that I don't have to own all of that to be happy. In fact, owning LESS of that will make me really happy.
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe
to be beautiful.”- William Morris (Quote shared by Becoming Minimalist's Joshua Becker)
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In the process of re-inventing my house (we are renovating), I pulled all of the frames photos off my tables and boxed them to protect them. But here's what I learned about myself: I've seldom dusted my house because of the obstacles I had to manage in the process. Lovely photos from 7 family weddings, at least 5 group family photos, baby pictures, graduation photos. All cherished gifts. All in really nice frames. All needing dusting, dusting, dusting!
Rather than putting them back on the tables and risking having someone etch "Dust Me!" on the surface, I have a new plan.
First, purchase a digital photo frame (maybe even two) and upload all these great photos to be seen over and over again...easy to dust!
Next, give the old frames away and keep the originals in a photo album for safe keeping. One baby step toward minimalism...how about you? Any great discoveries on how to simplify your life?
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I was forced to become a minimalist by moving overseas too often. Every time I'd be long enough in one country to acquire possessions, I'd move again and have to shove it all in one suitcase.
ReplyDeleteIt never really bothered me. When I'm in the US, I'm bothered more. I feel more pressure to live up to a certain lifestyle, and even if I were to rebel against it, there's a certain lifestyle to be maintained for that!
I like living only with what I need. I like the feeling that if I had to leave suddenly, I'd be okay with leaving my possessions behind.
That said, software is the place to splurge. I run xubuntu and adore the ubuntu software center. I regularly "shop" there for new toys. So while my material life is fairly simple, my digital life is a bit cluttered. I promise myself each day that I'll clean up one of my five gmail accounts or sort one of my many document folders. My follow through is at about 15%.
Moving a lot will certainly promote minimalism. I totally understand your cyber-clutter dilemma, Nemetona. Check out my post Speed Clean Your Email for a pep talk!
Deletehttp://sinea-pies.hubpages.com/hub/Speed-Clean-Your-Email
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Sinea