I have been spending my spare moments delving into everything I can find about minimalism online. There are a ton of blogs (I mean a TON) that are really very useful and informative and just overall spiffy. I’ve linked to a few of them in my Big Decisions post. But there’s one thing that never really settled with me and that is just who can be a minimalist.
Ok, read this with a grain of salt, because I am overgeneralizing. Many or most of the minimalist blogs I read give very solid, sound, and sometimes specific advice. The thing is, most of this advice seems to be geared toward single people whose goal is to make money online, usually by writing a blog, while frequently moving from place to place. That’s awesome. I think that would be an amazing lifestyle. But it’s not for everyone. It’s not necessarily easy to have 100 things or 150 things. Especially if you’re into analog stuff, like me.
I love film photography. Love it! But every time I take a roll of film, that’s one more thing I have to keep. If I wanted to start a darkroom in my house, that would probably be half of 100 things. Every time I put photos in an album, that’s another thing. I could have a digital camera and a digital darkroom and even digital photo albums all in one thing, but the fact is, I like film.
I also like coffee. One of my biggest goals is to open a coffee shop. At home, I have a little home espresso machine and along with that I have a frothing cup, tamper, measuring spoons, demitasse, etc. These things are all things and they are all important to me. However, if you plan on moving around all the time like Colin Wright then no, having darkroom equipment and espresso machines are no good for you.
Now I understand, once again, that I am overgeneralizing. I also understand that obviously minimalism isn’t a set of strict guidelines as much as it is a mindset and a lifestyle. However, I think it needs to be said (and I need to say it for my own reference) that minimalism can be practiced in all walks of life, even with… things.
Two Guidelines:
What I mentioned before comes with a caveat, though. I think you should have stuff, but be much more careful about that what you have. Here’s an example of what I mean:
Back in the days when I had a computer with Windows XP, I would get frustrated by how quickly the hard drive got filled up and the computer slowed down (mind you, it was a 10 GB hard drive). I used to go into the handy dandy “add/remove programs” utility and see what I could erase. I could tell what to take off by the fact that under each program’s listing was an estimate of how frequently I used that program. It was easy to remove the ones I never used. The ones that I used “rarely” I would evaluate and if I didn’t think I needed it, it got the boot.
I think we as people, need to evaluate our own things in this same manner. No, there is no program to tell you how often you use your stuff (I wish!), it’s up to you to find out. Start keeping tabs. After a month, everything that was used never should be gone, unless it’s something you KNOW you’ll NEED later. Think about your life as a 10 gigabyte hard drive.
Back in 1995, people had no idea how they would ever fill even 1 gigabyte. It seemed huge, but over time things changed, files got bigger and more numerous. Now, my laptop with it’s 120 gigabyte hard drive seems tiny and outdated. When you fill your hard drive, the whole computer starts to slow down (I’m not making this up). Then you have to go through and erase all the junk you don’t need. That’s just like people’s lives, as you fill up your life with priorities and things you start to slow down and get less done. I’m sure we’ve all cleaned up hard drives before. Now we have to, clean up our lifestyle and erase the clutter.
The second guideline is sort of a two parter and it’s about the kind of stuff you have. Instead of buying cheap stuff that you’ll keep having to replace, get something that’s going to last you and not go out of style or become useless to you. Now I’m sorry if I seem oldschool, but I love buying T-shirts in little 4-packs from Hanes or Fruit of The Loom or whatever. This is ok for me, because even though these shirts are insanely cheap, they never go out of style, they last for years and they are just what I like.
The second part to this guideline is along a similar vein. If you do plan on buying big stuff (like an espresso machine) and you also plan on moving around and fitting your life into a backpack, make sure you buy stuff that can easily be resold. With resources like eBay and Amazon, it’s easy as pie to sell your stuff. You could even have a yardsale for cripes sake. When you buy stuff, think “is this something that will still be valuable enough to sell in a year or two down the line?” Maybe not so easy with all that darkroom equipment.
Also see Joshua Becker’s blog about applying minimalism to a suburban family environment: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/
