Mind the Beginner

Yes, it takes just one step to transform your home into a minimalist living space. It’s huge actually and if you want to give it a go there are a lot of smaller steps to go through:

• Throw away everything you haven’t used in a year
• Get rid of paperwork/magazines
• Find a way to properly manage all the cable work
• “A place for everything and everything in it’s place”
• Stop yourself (and others!) from letting more stuff get into your home
• Get rid of anything with strong patterns (floral curtains….)
• …
• …

There are probably hundreds of tips you can find all over the net but in the end it comes down to my one step:

1. Keep every surface clear

Be it your desk, a wall, the floor, a table… Assign one (an only one) space in your home here you can “dump” stuff and don’t ever dump anything anywhere else. Everything has it’s own place and should be in that place and nowhere else. The simplest of examples that comes to mind right now is dirty laundry and the hamper. Dirty socks somehow have this tendency to land on the floor. Make it easier on yourself and undress in the vicinity of the hamper, or put the hamper closer to where you undress. The floor is a very popular storage place for all kinds of stuff. Just imagine the average dorm room, everything is all over the place and more often than not you can’t see the floor. The same goes for desks: stacks of paper, piles of books, (half)empty cups, maybe even your phone charger.

Take a look around your home and see all the surfaces, now imagine how they would look without anything on them. See the minimalism? It’s right there under all the clutter, just waiting for you to uncover it.

Why would you want to create a minimalist living area? Again, there are huge benefits. For ease of reading (and just because I can’t say it any better myself) I’ve copied a bit of a blogpost on Zenhabits

Benefits of a Minimalist Home
I could probably go on for awhile about this, but let me just list a few key benefits:

1. Less stressful. Clutter is a form of visual distraction, and everything in our vision pulls at our attention at least a little. The less clutter, the less visual stress we have. A minimalist home is calming.
2. More appealing. Think about photos of homes that are cluttered, and photos of minimalist homes. The ones with almost nothing in them except some beautiful furniture, some nice artwork, and a very few pretty decorations, are the ones that appeal to most of us. You can make your home more appealing by making it more minimalist.
3. Easier to clean. It’s hard to clean a whole bunch of objects, or to sweep or vacuum around a bunch of furniture. The more stuff you have, the more you have to keep clean, and the more complicated it is to clean around the stuff. Think about how easy it is to clean an empty room compared to one with 50 objects in it. That’s an extreme example, of course, as I wouldn’t recommend you have an empty room, but it’s just to illustrate the difference.

You don’t need modern furniture, a stainless kitchen and all those other fancy things to be a minimalist. It’s simply the byproduct of minimalist living: because minimalists don’t buy a lot of clutter they save huge amounts of money and can spend that on nice quality things. The few items they do buy tend to be highly functional and of a superior quality.

Go have some fun in your home, one room at a time clear all the surfaces and find a place for everything you want to keep. Good luck and above all, enjoy yourself and reward yourself at every step!

I just got back from a two week vacation. There were three of us and we had a car at our disposal. Although I consider myself a minimalist I still was packing a big weekend bag, a backpack (my laptopbag) and my mediation mat (even rolled up it’s still quite big). My in-line skates were thrown in the trunk as well as a jacket.

All in I had filed the trunk of the car for about 1/3

After everything was packed the three of us wanted to take along, not only the trunk was full, but the back seats were covered as well, leaving a niche for the backseat driver to fold in to.

Something went wrong there, don’t you think?!

Here I am, blogging (among other things) about minimalism and I need 1/3 of a car trunk to haul everything! That’s just wrong. Upon getting home I did what everything does when home: unpack. But I did it consciously. Not just stuffing everything back to where it belongs, but looking at it and asking myself “did I use this?” and in several cases following the answer with a second question “Then why the *bleep* did I bring it along?!”

Going through my bag this way took some time and served the dual purpose of being my meditation for the evening. Meditative unpacking, give it a try.

In the end I had a nice pile of stuff I actually didn’t use in the whole two weeks. Among them: a pair of shoes, two books, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of socks and a math book I’m supposed to be studying to get ready for University. Unlike Pareto’s law roughly 60% of the content of my bag got serious use, the rest was fluff. I used the skates, but only once. I used my meditation mat every evening and the jacket was used almost every day.

All in I could have packed a lot less and still be on vacation but I need to take this packing more seriously if I’m ever going to be truly location independent. After all, everything has to fit in a carry-on, even if the vacation lasts for  year.

If I dropped the skates AND found a portable solution for my meditation mat AND didn’t pack the fluff I think I could have gotten it all in a single bag.

Sorry for the rambling post but there is a message here, a lesson: Next time you unpack your bag after a vacation do it consciously. Ask yourself if you used it and if not why you brought it along. After a few passes I’m sure you’ll be packing far less next time.

Thanks everyone for the nice tweets and comments the past two weeks, I’ve been far less active than I was hoping to be but I’m back home now and read to start kicking again.

I’ve been looking into minimalist homes a lot lately and at how the Japanese tackle this challenge in particular. In my previous article on minimalist living I identified what it is exactly that we need to live somewhere, for convenience I’ll give the list again:

A bed

A desk/table and chair

A toilet

A shower

A kitchen

A place to store our 100 items

I still feel this list is all we need. We could simplify and make the bed a mattress on the floor and the kitchen a gas stove on the table but that would bemore like camping. Nobody said that minimalist living should be hardship right?
The Japanese have gotten this minimalistic living down to an art form. With the congestion of the urban area’s plots to build a home are getting smaller and smaller. They even have a name for it: kyosho jutaku (狭小住宅). If we let babelfish loose on that phrase we end up with the translation “narrow small residential” which does seem fitting. In proper English I’d like to stick with micro home or micro living.

These homes being so small don’t let you live a cluttered life. Anything out of place will become an obstruction somehow.

Now I was in the Ikea last Friday and they’re advertising with a 37 square meter home. To bad they had to stuff it with all kinds of “nifty storage solutions” which made it a tight fit. Storage was everywhere and everything had several functions it seemed. I never thought that in 37 square meters I could still feel like a sardine. You couldn’t swing a cat in there. I bet they never heard of the 100 items challenge.

These Japanese micro homes take living small to a new level. The Ikea apartment was 37 square meters. The plots the Japanese build these houses on are no bigger than 30 square meters. Granted they do get to add a few floors if they want but still. Some of these homes sacrifice a part of the plot to accommodate a parking space for their car as well.
To get an idea of pricing over there. The average-of-the-average Tokyo married couple may be looking to buy a brand-new 70 square meters apartment at a cost of ¥45,000,000 and above. (That’s over $456,000.- dollars). With those prices it’s not strange that micro living is so popular in cities like Tokyo and Kobe.
Although not all the homes in this list will fit in such a plot I found a few examples of minimalist homes that I’d really like to share with you.

The first one is Tadao Ando’s 4×4 house. A concrete tower rising 4 stories above ground and a basement below. It stands 13.4m tall. The “three cubes” that make up this house are roughly 4×4x4 meters in size. The top cube is offset one meter in both of the horizontal axis. Actually on this building the plot was exactly 5×5 meters. The total floor space is 117.19 m2
“Each floor of the house is used for a different activity: storage in the basement, access and service on the ground floor, bedroom on the first floor, study on the second, kitchen and dining room on the top floor. The spaces are almost completely enclosed on three sides, while they are open on the fourth facing towards the sea.”
The amount of light that comes in through the massive windows is staggering and the view is to die for. I can definitely see myself live in this house. More than enough room to store the 100 things. Park the motorcycle under the overhang of the top cube and enjoy sunsets over the sea with a good book and a glass of sake.

On to our second home, this one is bigger than the 30 square meter plot but I think it’s really to nice not to share:
The Garden and Sea House by Takao Shiotsuka
If white is not your color you’re in trouble with this one. Again, this house has a view of the sea. There is a lot of glass here, from floor to ceiling. Combined with a completely white “garden” this house has the feel of a sacred place. The total floor space is 237.14m2. Quite large actually, although it’s not living on a small footprint it definitely is a minimalist home.

The third home in our list is Satoshi Kurosaki’s Slit. A very thin house on a narrow and long plot squeezed in between two other plots. 85 m2 living area if I’m correct. Not much to say about this one. It was designed for a family of three who needed (job) to live in the city but on a tight budget. It’s simply amazing how much can be done with so little room.

I’d like to give you a bonus house toend this post: Ghost by Jin Otagiri. It’s white, it’s minimal, it’s empty. Either you love it or you hate it. No words, just a picture:

It seems minimalism is getting more popular every day. Now in my about page it states that I’m a minimalist, however I’m still working on the 100 items challenge I’ve written about all those weeks ago. It’s much harder than it would seem and I think this is going to take some more time.  But why do I want to go on with this challenge and succeed? It’s because I believe in it and in the power of minimalism.

A closer look

Let’s have another look at the basics of minimalism and it’s power. To me minimalism is having exactly those things you need in life and nothing more. The things you do have are of such quality that you don’t need redundancies and all those thing do exactly what they are supposed to, nothing more, nothing less.

Everything is designed with pure functionality in thought. Aesthetics come in second.

No I’m not saying that comfort and fun should be thrown out the window just because you want to be a minimalist, far from it! It’s inherent to minimalism as I understand it to have the best *whatever you need* you can find and can afford. Keep in mind however that up to a certain amount of money you are paying for function, after that it’s all about the looks, the name or whatever else is on there.

The minimalist’s Ferrari

Take a Ferrari for instance. Totally useless if you ask me. Sure, it’s a great car, but to me a car is a means of transportation. A car needs to get me from A to B safely and comfortably while having enough room in the trunk to haul whatever I need hauling. Preferably without costing me to much gas. A Toyota Prius could do all that, right? If I don’t have much stuff to haul (minimalists generally don’t have a lot of stuff) I could even choose to drive a Smart. What can a Ferrari do that a Smart can’t? It much much faster and it gets you noticed, it’s a status symbol…. it’s something little boys need to feel secure and feel like they are something. And that’s what you pay for, image.

Image isn’t functionality and so a Ferrari is useless. I’d rather spend the more than 100k I save by driving a Smart or Prius and do other fun things with all that money. (Maybe rent a Ferrari for a day.)

Is image everyhting or nothing?

This way of thinking applies to just about everything with a brand name on it. What can Nike shoes do for you that regular non-brand shoes can’t? Image. A Louis Vuitton bag? Again it’s image. Something you need to belong to a certain tribe.

Now it’s here that people who have this stuff start to protest, telling you that you probably don’t have the money to buy these things and that you are just jealous.

But let’s turn that one around. How would you feel about living a life where you need to wear certain brands, drive a certain type of car and have the latest gadgets just because they are the latest. I bet you it would feel totally fake. Not to mention the possible financial problems that come from it. I’ll let you in on a secret, most of the people who wear these brands don’t have the amount of money they try to fool other people into thinking they have. It’s part of the image they are trying to have. To them however, the image is so important that they spend all their money on it.

To cut things short: minimalism saves you a hell of a lot of money. You can easily live below your means. Living well below your means offers you one of two options:

1. You can reach Financial Independence within your lifetime.
2. You can afford not to work for months every year

Most people will respond to the idea of living below their means in one of two ways. Either they’ll say “I know, I know I should be saving more,” or they’ll scoff “how can I live below my means? I’m just scraping by already.” – Freepersuits.com

This quote shows exactly where things go wrong for “image” people: “I’m just scraping by already”. It’s probably because of all stuff the think they need to maintain the image.

I’ll stop the ranting now like I’m a poor little kid who hasn’t got the money it takes to join the tribe and so starts kicking against it and tell you what minimalism is in what I believe is the shortest possible definition. I already gave it away in the title of this post but here it is again in all it’s glory:

Minimalism = Simplicity = Freedom

Nothing more, nothing less

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Here in The Netherlands there is a whole subculture around squatters. Squatters are people who occupy buildings without having a lawful claim to it. Squatting over here is legal as long as the building has not been used for over a year. Buildings that would otherwise stay empty and in disuse. This has been going on since the latter half of the 20th century and however annoying it can be to property owners they serve a function. No property owner here can get away with leaving a building empty for to long. It’s a constant game between owners and squatters.

You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this one: Squatters were my inspiration for this post or rather the skills these squatters have learned to be able to live like they do. They have a minimalist lifestyle. According to law when you occupy a building you need a bed, a table and a chair in order to establish yourself. A mattress, a barstool and a wooden board on a couple of crates is all they need. Some squatters literally own nothing more than the clothes on their back and a mattress.

 Traveling for an extended period of time is becoming less of a dream and more of a real goal for people to aim for

The difference between them and the homeless is that they choose to live this way and quite often do have an income. There are even grad students who live this way with nothing more than their books and a place to sleep. A computer can be used at the public library or at university, washing yourself might be done by going to the local swimming pool every few days. Their lifestyle certainly is not for everyone but there is one thing they got down to an art form: minimalist living. I admire them for that skill and their creativity.

Digital Nomads

On a slightly different level there are the digital nomads who are gaining popularity on the Internet. People who quite literally live out of a backpack. Earning enough money to sustain their travels and day to day activities through Internet entrepreneurship.

There is an immense sense of freedom to be had when living this way. A freedom I would almost encourage you to try and experience if you ever get the chance. Most digital nomads I know of run a blog as a means of income. Take Carl Nelson for instance, a professional dancer who has been traveling through the USA the last few months with nothing more than his single suitcase and shoulderbag. He already knows I envy him for this. A bit higher up the nomadic food chain we find people like Tim Ferriss (yes, the 4 hour workweek guy) and Chris Guillebeau. Although as far as I know both these do have a “home base” from where they travel and come back to. (and receive snail mail probably.)

Flashpackers

Another name that sometimes is used for these people is “flashpackers”. Although not applicable to every digital nomad a flashpacker is someone who travels in the same way a backpacker does, but with less stuff. More digital toys (iPod, laptop, GPS perhaps, high-end digital camera) and far less clothing. What they need while traveling they buy. Clothing can be very cheap is you don’t mind not wearing a certain brand and when shirt’s cost you maybe 4 dollars each (in Asia for instance) you might opt for the same strategy unless you want to be frugal. Wear it until it’s time to move on. Toss all the cheap clothing you can’t fit in your bag and take the rest with you to replace later on. You can easily travel the world with only two of everything, washing one while wearing the other.

• Now we hit on a slight problem a lot of people share: missing the ability to throw something out that doesn’t serve a real purpose anymore (other than sentimental value).

To often we are tied down by the things we own. All those little things that clutter our home or our desk. That porcelain dog figure your aunt gave you, the useless collection of pens that just sit there drying up when you have that one favorite pen you always use, the DVD collection you built up but never watch. Let’s face it, humans are pack rats by nature. We have evolved (I a strong believer of Darwin’s evolution theory but also harbor some Buddhist thought patterns.) in an environment where more was always better. Throwing away anything that might some day be useful could be deadly. (deadly taken literally here) So we waste nothing keep everything. 

And now we live in our huge homes, with everything we could ever want and it’s still not enough because now we’re trapped by our belongings. Traveling the world can’t be done because we worry about out plasma TV being stolen or the priceless tropical fish that needs to be fed and only we know how exactly to do that. 

Materialism isn’t everything, freedom is

Not only our physical belongings tie us down, our social ties also “help” in staying put. “What will the neighbors think” or “how am I going to explain this to my parents”. Our species started out as nomadic but ever since we started farming we got tied down. Sometimes living our whole lives in the same region just because we grew up there and knew everyone. And we were happy. 

But now with the ever diminishing size of the globe due to all the means of transport and the Internet traveling for an extended period of time (Vagabonding or living like a digital nomad) is becoming less of a dream and more of a real goal for people to aim for.

What sets squatters, digital nomads and flashpackers apart from the rest of us? They have acquired the skill to travel very lightly for extended periods of time. Not being tied down by their worldly possessions. They also acquired the skill to generate an income, wherever they are. 

The beginner’s mind

How do we begin with this? – This blog is about beginning after all so I’d better tell you how to get started – It starts with recognizing the things that tie us down and adopting a minimalistic lifestyle. Materialism isn’t everything, freedom is. I leave it up to you to decide what freedom is and if you should adopt this way of life. Who is happier, the squatter who can live anywhere? Or the CEO with his giant house and obligations? If you’re happy where you are right now by all means do stay there. If there is some place else you’d rather be, know that many have gone before you.

How to we begin setting up an income? The fun bit is you don’t have to. Money isn’t everything either. You need enough of it to get to where you want to and maybe to pay for your food and a place to sleep. On other continents however it’s not that hard to find a cheap place to sleep or even to get invited to stay somewhere. It’s not about money, it’s about social skills and people. 

I’m not a digital nomad myself nor am I a world traveler. I’m an outspoken minimalist however who is always looking for ways to strealine my worldly possessions so eventually I’ll have only those things that can be contained within a backpack. My biggest problem will be my book collection for which I will probably have to rent a very small apartment somewhere. A place to call “home base” so to speak. With nothing more than a bed, a table and a chair… hundreds of books, an Internet connection and a meditation pillow.

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As I promised I’m showing you want exactly is in my bag. As I’m a blogger nowadays my laptop goes with me wherever I go. But that’s not all that goes along with me every day. I’m not only a blogger, I’m also a frequent visitor of EDC forums. A forum dedicated entirely to all the things we carry with us every day.

For me it all started with my father, who carries a simple swiss army knife with him every day. But that was not all, he also carries a small stone egg with him that serves no purpose at all other than being a stone egg.  Many people find the idea of carrying a knife strange at first, but anyone who carries one will quickly come to appreciate its value.  A knife is the most basic of tools and, even in a urban environment, I use it almost daily.

Although I do carry a lot of stuff, it’s still minimal compared to people on the EDC forum. So I’ll just stick this blogpost under minimalism.

Let’s take a look in my pockets first:

Well, actually not all in my pocket but it’s on my person or first level EDC as they call it. So what’s actually in my pockets:

Seiko black monster automatic watch deemed indestructible by a lot of people. All I can say is that I’ve been wearing it every day for a year now and still no scratches on the glass. It’s about 4 seconds slow a day but I don’t have a need for the time down to the second.

Victorinox compass, magnifier and thermometer combination, cm and inch marked on the side. Brilliant piece of kit, the most important being the fluid filled silva compass. It points north and does so every time, what more do you need. I carry it for those times that someone tells you “walk to the end of the street and there go east to find that nice temple half a mile down the road”

Keyring with tritium vial and fox40 whistle. The ring is stainless wire allowing the keys to lie flat inside my pocket. The tritium vial will glow for about 10 years (radioactive, not glow in the dark) so I can always find my keys in the dark. The whistle is great for attracting attention for whatever reason.

Bigskinny wallet with bankcard, credit card, driver’s licence (showing, a strange shade of pink) and health insurance card inside. Probably a little cash in there too but I do almost everything with a bank card. The wallet itself is very thin and I carry it in my front pocket. Much harder to steal and I don’t like having a “butt brick”. There isn’t much room in the wallet so I can’t stuff it with all kinds of things. No pictures, no receipts, no whatever it is that people tend to stuff in there. Only the essentials.

Black Buff I have that around my right wrist. It’s great for keeping my hair out of the way when needed. These things are highly multifunctional: bandanna, bacalava, hat, headband, facemask and for me usually a wristband.

Lip balm There is something about cracked lips I don’t like.

A stone egg As a tribute to my dad. I gave him a nw egg a while back when he lost. I also bought one for myself at the same time and have been carrying it ever since. I don’t know what kind of stone it is though but I don’t mind. It’s a nice conversation piece.

Nitecore EX10 flashlight with a pocket clip. You’d be amazed how often a flashlight (this thing produces about 120 lumes, that’s more than a 3D maglite) is useful to have.

HTC Touch smartphone, I’m going to replace this one with an iPhone one of these days. I’d like to be able to listen to music properly and perhaps read some eBooks while at it. This phone isn’t very useful for that. It’s a great little phone but there are a few things that I’m missing.

Victorinox huntsman my main pocket knife. A great little tool with all the extras you could want without being to thick. It’s sharp enough to shave with (seriously) I use it every single day and feel “naked” without it. I’ve attached a short lanyard to it (with a glow in the dark end) so I can easily get it out of my pocket.

Something not in the picture There should be a fisher bullet space pen in there but I lost it resently. I think I know where I lost it and still have to look there. If I can’t find it I’ll get a new one. It’s one of those things that you quickly learn to appreciate, alays having a pen in your pocket. (Goes great with my moleskine)

On to the second level or “What’s in my bag”

A lot more in here of course, in here we have:

My laptop a PB R1801 easynote dualbooting windows 7 and ubuntu jaunty. It’s an old laptop and I’m looking to replace this with a thinkpad. Battery life is down to about an hour and everything is going slower day by day. It’s the only computer I own at the moment and it’s not very reliable anymore but it works and so far has never completely let me down. Will be replaced with either a thinkpad T400 or something Apple.

A 16 oz nalgene bottle. Every chance I get I fill it up with fresh water. I’m not much for soft drinks or spending money on drinks so I always have fresh water with me. If needs be I can use it to wash my hands or clean my knife. Ever had a bird do it’s thing on your bike saddle? You’ll instantly appreciate a waterbottle .

A hairbrush I have long hair and it does need some care. Put on and take off a motorcycle helmet and you’ll know what I mean.

Reading material at the moment Probogers book and Peter Ralston’s Ancient wisdom new spirit. You probably know probloggers book but I would really recommend Ralston’s book if you can get a hold of it. It’s an investigation into being so to speak. Ralston is a world class martial artist and founder of Cheng Hsin.

My sunglasses and hardcase, polarized glasses, a great way to keep bugs from hitting your eyeballs when riding.

A reflective vest just in case. I always wear it when riding in the dark, in rush hour and with a low sun but you never know when you might need one in an emergency.

A small bottle of alcohol handrub Not every public space is very sanitary, public transport for instance. Shake enough hands and you’re bound to shake hands with someone who has a flu and transfers it to your hands.

4GB USB stick with a lanyard attached to it. Just so I can instantly recognize which one is mine and it makes for easier grabbing.

Spyderco jester with LED light attached. A very small pocketknife and flashlight combo. I havn’t used this in a long while and I think I’ll get rid of it as part of my 100-things challenge. Razorsharp but not used.

Victorinox knife my backup pocketknife. Thankfully I’ve never used it, because that would mean I’ve lost my huntsman.

“Jordan Go” toothbrush and paste combo There’s always the chance to get stuck somewhere and having to spend the night. (Major problems with public transport) It’s a comforting thougth that I can brush my teeth (and have a fresh breath) if the situation calls for it.

A ferrocerium rod Only the real outdoor-people will know these (or anyone who has seen Ray Mears in action). Scrape it with a knife and a shower of hot sparks will be produced. It’s small, light and means I can always start a fire. I can start a fire without it (”rubbing stick” or other ways) but this is much faster. A lighter would be faster, but less reliable.

A bundle of cable ties You never know where these can be used for. Emergency repairs and “locking”  bag zippers come to mind.

My little black book A moleskine sketchbook. Used for all sorts of things but mainly for writing down quotes when I’m reading and investigating new ideas though mindmaps or drawing. There is a small pocket in the back of these notebooks. I have a few bandaids in there.

A CD with “memtest86″ on it The memory of my laptop has been acting up. It makes a nice mirror as well.

Random reader a calculator style thing that lets me log in to my bank account from any computer. Great for paying bills and checking the balance on the go.

An MSR towel Don’t panic! But always have a towel.

Pens and pencil these don’t need a further explanation right?

Ti Spork Somehow you always get plastic utensils with “street food”. Those always break with me. I don’t see this one breaking, ever. I heat-colored it.

Tire pump When you live in the Netherlands you’ll be using a bike a lot. A soft tire make for a terrible ride so I have a small pump with me. You’d be amazed how many people over here spend hundreds of euro’s on a bike but don’t have a proper tire pump. If needs be I could even use this one to add some air to the tired on my motorcycle.

10 Meters of paracord (30 feet) Replacement shoelaces, emergency repairs and recently used to lift some chairs 3 stories through a stairwell.

Power supply to my laptop and an USB to mini USB so I can charge my laptop and use the portable HD

Two things not in the picture The portable HD I just mentioned is not in the picture. a 320 GB lacie 2,5 inch disk. Also not in the picture is a small black collapsible umbrella, actually a special “wind resistant” umbrella. Can take winds up to 7 on the Beaufort scale without breaking.

Everything from this second layer is carried in a booq Boa 3m Backpack. A brilliant backpack, low profile but very though. It’s hard to see there is a laptop in there. It’s specially designed with laptoptransport in mind but with more than enough room in there for other things as well. You can easily stick a pair of running shoes and some college books in there along side all the stuff I carry every day. Yes it’s expensive, but it was worth it, if I’m correct it’s small enough for carry-on luggage and big enough to take everything with you you’d need for some time away from home.

A very long post indeed but I’ve always wanted to do one like this. Everything I EDC has had considerable thought put into it and it’s constantly evolving. It’s the constant "challenge" of getting the most utility out of the least number of things that appeals to me. If you add a passport, a change of clothing, a pair of sandals, a silk sleepingbag liner and loose the knives you’re set for minimalist international travel. Okay maybe a bit more work to it but the basics are here for a decent flashpacking tour of the world.

The bag is actually exactly the right size to fit inside the overhead compartment on a plane. Just imagine that, world travel with just a backpack, not having to wait at the luggage belt and hope your suitcase survived the trip. One backpack to navigate the world, my entire “office” is in here. Less stuff to carry, less stuff to loose.

I chalenge you, do a “what’s in my bag” on your blog and link back here. I’m really curious as to what yuo have with you every day.

You can find inspiration everywhere and today it came in the form of an article on architecture. A special about small living spaces which made me think about my current living situation.

How much space does a human need to be able to live and thrive? If we take a look in the direction of third world countries people live in very confined spaces with little to no comfort at all. At the other end of this spectrum we have the mansions that stand on huge estates, getting the mail from the beginning of the driveway is a ten minute drive. Going to the toilet requires deciding which one to use this time.

So, what is enough room and what is to much? I don’t think it’s about the number square feet, you have but more centered on what is available in the living space. An advantage of small living is that you’re limited in the amount of things you can own. The 100-items challenge I wrote about earlier would almost be vital to keeping a tidy home. Yes, I see this as an advantage. I’m a minimalist after all.

As a college student most of us experience living in tight quarters, but after college it’s off to a good job, getting a nice house and sometimes having so much space we don’t know what to do with it all. The typical Dutch house has a living room, kitchen and toilet downstairs and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. There might even be a converted attic on top of it all. Converted to bedroom, office or something else. All this space can be rented to a single person. Just imagine that, 3-4 bedrooms for one. Do we actually need all this? Such a waste of space. And what’s worse, we end up filling all those rooms with stuff just so it doesn’t feel so empty. That’s where things go wrong. We feel the need to have all those rooms, to have all those things we stuffed in every room.

But what do we really need?

• A bed
• A desk/table and chair
• A toilet
• A shower
• A kitchen
• A place to store our 100 items

All those things an be found in even the tightest living quarters. Think of mobile homes, ship’s cabins, trailers. If we leave out the kitchen we can even add the hotel room to our list.

What are the implications of all this? If we realize that we don’t actually need all that room we can live smaller and much more mobile. I found a few great examples of small living that I would like to share with you:

The Micro Compact home

The rotor house (Click the picture and be amazed)

And if you don’t mind living in something that resembles a garbage truck

All these homes are tiny but have everything I mentioned in the list. The rotor house isn’t mobile but has the most room. The Micro Compact can even be airlifted, the garbage truck.. ..well it’s a truck. Do we need more? Living in a small home does mean you have to change your mindset about what a home actually is. And with kids it’s not a good idea but if you’re alone or there is just the two of you it’s very doable. You might even start to like this way of living.

Take a look around when you’re home and wonder. How much space do you have and do you really need it all? I know living so small isn’t for everyone. Few people would be happy in the small places I just showed you, but it’s something I’d like to offer you so you can think about it. Really go take a look around in your home and wonder if you really need it all. I’d like to hear about your findings.

Not only your home offer ways to implement minimalism, there are more places to minimalize. Over the next few weeks I want to write more articles on this subject and try and show you why I like minimalism so much and what the effects of it are on our mental state and piece of mind.

If you liked this article you might also like living on a small footprint, minimalist living: the Japan edition or One step to creating a minimalist home

Looking for even more on minimalism? Try this guide to developing a simplistic lifestyle that allows you to finally do the things you love. This is an action plan to get you where you want to be.

As I was walking down the street today I had a thought about something, I dug my smartphone from my pocket and started to look something up. Only a few seconds later a bicycle almost ran me over. “Look in front of you, in stead of at that thing!.” I followed quickly with “This is a pedestrian area!”… Okay, a fast response  and he didn’t counter it. I doubt if he realized he had a point there. 

The sun was shining, the fragrance of spring in the air… and I was concentrated on my smartphone. I quickly tucked it back in my pocket and started to look around. Earphones everywhere, a laptop set on a table outside a cafe, suits walking by while phoning. Everyone was more active in their own little plugged world than what was actually going on. I wonder if people actually noticed the nice weather and feint smell of flowers in the air. 

When getting home I went through the usual motions of flicking on the TV and my laptop because I had a great idea for a post, this post. Hang on a second, I’m writing about the level of “pluggedness” in modern society while I’m no better myself. How’s that for a realization during blogging. I wonder, what would it be like if I shut down all electricity at home for a few days. I wouldn’t be able to blog (the horror), no music except my acoustic guitar, which -come to think of it- I haven’t touched in months, no TV (well, that’s not a loss I guess). I would be deprived of every manner of influence from the media on my life. This sounds interesting…    ..but is life possible in the western world without internet, a computer, tv and a phone? I could live without TV easily, without a phone would be harder but doable. Without a computer with internet access? I don’t know if that’s for me just yet. Even if I were to go vagabonding I would bring along a simple laptop just to stay in touch. On the other side of the coin, I spend hours a day staring at a computer screen, blogging, reading, working. No computer would mean hours a day to spend differently. 

How do they survive in places without all those electronics? How do they spend their days? if they are not working they are enjoying each others company, talking, singing, making music. They spend time outdoor, walking, listening, watching. 

The pro’s of plugged life:

• Huge social network
• Always up to date on the latest scoop/news
• Vast amounts of information at the push of a button

The con’s of plugged life:

• Less social time in real life
• Information overload
• Feelings of failure because of all the “you should be like him/her to be successful” messages in the media

The pro’s of unplugged life:

• More here and now instead of there on that screen/in that earphone
• The addiction to social media will get less
• Happier with yourself (less negativity from the media)
• you start to see what really matters

The con’s of unplugged life:

• You might not be up to date (I like living under a rock from time to time)
• It’s social suicide not to have the latest gizmo (or so I’ve heard)
• You might seem “strange” to other people

This all being said, from time to time I think I’ll unplug for a few days and enjoy the real life right here. My life is being dominated with plugged life and I realized it just from almost getting run over by a bicycle. I’ve survived just fine for most of my life without a smartphone (online 24/7), so why not do it again. I don’t need it. 

How plugged are you?

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I had a look at my book collection yesterday and somehow it made me feel good. Knowing that just about every book there has passed through my hands and all the words have been read. Some times several times over. We’re talking about almost 6 meters (that’s 19 feet) of books I’ve read so far an most of them are informative. I’m not much of a fiction reader, although I must confess, some of the so called “self-help” books or books on achieving goals seem a total fantasy. Why would you want to work as few hours as possible anyway? If you enjoy doing something, is it still work? I don’t think so. Just enjoy your work and it’s not really work anymore now is it? It’s a hobby.

Books have a certain charm about them, all that paper and a bit of dust, the smell of glue in a new book and the feel o flipping a page in an old book. I don’t think that for me a kindle will ever truly replace my books. There is however something to say for gadgets like the kindle, to me the two most important would be the enormous amount of space you can save (remember I’ve got 19 feet of books, and it’s growing and inch or so every week) and the reduction in weight in your bag. I EDC (Every day carry) at least one book in my backpack. Most of the time this is a pocket, but even pockets can become quite big. My current EDC is Neil Strauss’ Emergency. It weighs 476 grams against the 289 grams of the kindle 2. One last big advantage to me would be all those nice eBooks blogers write. I don’t EDC my laptop and really would like to read those like a read my other books: in public transport or just sitting in the garden. I know a laptop is portable, but it’s not that portable. It reduces my enjoyment of reading.

The positives of getting a kindle (or some other reader, I’ll call it plugged reading) for me would thus be a space saver, a back saver and a way to read eBooks (without having to print them)

And now the negatives for me. First off, not all books I want to read are available as an eBook. Secondly my main source of books is the second hand bookstore. Books can be had there for just a few bucks and with some luck you even get a book with added notes in the sidelines from previous owners. The last bonus is that I can easily let friends borrow my books if they want to.

So for me the negative of a kindle  are the availability of books, the costs (not only of the books but also the reader itself) and not being able to share my books as long as my friends don’t have a reader, although my friends don’t borrow books that often. We now end up with only those two major drawbacks. The availability of books and the costs.

Would I love having a kindle? I certainly would! I have more than enough eBooks on file to keep me busy for a year or two. Would I buy a kindle? I would not, as long as I’m on a student budget that is, maybe some day when readers become cheaper and/or I have a decent income.

What is your opinion on eBook readers?

I keep wondering, what makes people care and why don’t people care about certain things. This came to mind while changing the oil on my motorcycle. A simple rule my father taught me was “you can borrow anything from me, as long as you put it back where you found it, and in the same state or better.”  Applying this rule I used his tools, cleaned them from any oily fingerprint and put them back exactly where I found them. To me this comes naturally, it’s just something you do. You take care when using something and you take care not to make a mess out of it. It also means cleaning up after yourself. 

Here another example comes to mind. I’ve seen my fair share of student dorms and I keep being amazed at the mess some people make, especially clothing and dirty dishes. Once used it’s “discarded” somewhere in the dorm and perhaps once a month things get cleaned up. Why is that? isn’t it just about the same amount of work to throw your dirty clothing directly into the laundry hamper? A flick of the wrist in stead of just opening a hand and it’s less clutter. 

You can actually see this in all of society, the mass consumerism and the rapid discard of anything not immediately functional anymore. Once something has served it’s purpose it’s tossed aside, not even a second thought goes into caring where it’s going to end up.

I’m sorry for ranting a bit but I wonder, is it normal to cast things aside when they have served their function? Or is it normal to take care in disposing of them properly? ….if taking care of proper disposal is the norm, how come there is so much garbage in the streets and so many dirty socks on the floor?

Once you have the 100 items challenge done, you simply can’t be careless about your things can you? Is this the key to caring perhaps? To not have so much stuff you don’t really know what to do with it all. To have so little stuff that everything is valuable. I think caring and minimalism go hand in hand, they just have to. 

What do you think?