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:

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.

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it. You might also want to subscribe to my RSS feed.

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

And if you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it. You might also want to subscribe to my RSS feed.