Minimalist

[SierraRocks]

I probably hang on to too much stuff. I am trying to simplify my house. I do think the younger generation find it easier to let things go because they have been blessed beyond measure. Never having to do without they don’t have the the fear of not having what they need.

finding accessible space for tools, tool/machines & big expenditures in a budget not likely used day to day but too expensive or expansive to re-afford- is a challenge for me especially relocated to a smaller housing after selling our last house. Accessibility to the power of a machine or tool despite small space is something rarely stressed or strategized on TV shows seems to me. I'm figuring on finessing my way through life without ceding access to musical instruments or a sewing machine and darned if I see that on those reality TV shows- where do they put a keyboard> where do they keep sheet music? where do they put the poetry they write anyway Its not there in the sit coms- none of it. They rarely show gas stations and fueling vehicles up, either come to think of it but needed.

 

[ozentity]

dreams of retiring on the cheap

You should still go for that,i did, but had to give up a lot for spiritual peace.

 

[ozentity]

if any of you minimalist have any pesky old baseball cards or those god awful old comic books i'll gladly relive you of the burden.

That's the problem with us minimalists,we would have burnt them after looking at them.

 

[SierraRocks]

THE NEW TREND IS A MINIMALIST LIFESTYLE. THIS REQUIRES LIVING WITH LESS "STUFF". IT'S SPRING, AND AS WE HIT SPRING CLEANING, I'M ONCE AGAIN RIDDING MYSELF OF "STUFF" I HAVEN'T SEEN OR USED IN THE LAST YEAR.

ARE YOU ONE THAT KEEPS EVERYTHING? ARE YOU WILLING TO WORK ON GETTING RID OF THE OLD STUFF YOU'RE NOT USING? OR WILL YOU HANG ON TO THINGS....JUST IN CASE YOU NEED THEM?

WHAT'S YOUR MIND SET ON THIS?

Believe in tools talents & things in the right place yield skills flow and positive energy, supports relationships. I believe Rocks inexpensive tumbled rocks, religious icons and an incense run fairly frequently get left out if media images of smaller houses. I was glad to see my wall rosary & handy hand beaded chaplets especially when my house care routine collapsed for the week when my spouse and I jointly shared a respiratory virus. Got up and got cooking got laundry got going. Just need to put things away again begin again.

In small house space everything needs to be needed selected and sorted each time you fall back. Guess this is pretty predicable. Do minamilists set types of tools in bags or sorted? One thing I am sure glad of is having made a purse and identified cold and allergy breathing support beforehand / for RX/ inhalers before the air quality dipped and then caught a respiratory virus. Is it minimalist or purposeful living? After months down wind of fires One neighbor had hospital pneumonia and one had quadruple bi pass so know we dodged a bullet having inhalers RX and cozy tea and coffee on hand initially. So how to store necessary- have what you use what you have life style.

Work on finding which tools to keep what tools you need to blossom talents not just survive down sizing challenges me. The spare room became a closet then things started tumbling loose when family farm land sold & I was the last generation raised on a farm . Faced with no family barn, loosing shared tools family farm access made me, a town person, surrounded by county farms. Building my own toolkit, And finding out what to put inside , seemed like something between splurging and minimalizing because it’s not the whole farm shop of course so it’s less, but it’s choices of mine instead of my granddad & co.

Leisure changed what stuff to keep, minimalists make things right? Or do they only work at work and plan to sleep in their minimal space? I once had leisure sleepouts until drought killed hillsides of trees to so my husband turned back the pick up truck and said we can't camp here tonight when we reached the green Sequoias- if there's a fire starts there's no way out and he refused to take us to camp, the small house became a leisure space as well. I felt my temporary house complete with its strategically placed filing cabinets between us and the street after the neighbors' drive by shooting wrecked their SUV tajes strategic placement of possession in downsized living to a whole new level. The bullet holes in the stucco behind the roses near the door step remind me to Enjoy the sago palm and practice mindfulness gratefully living. It’s a good place to do breathing excersizes when my hand brushes against the billet hole through the thick stucco into the garage thank my angel .

You notice not being on the edge of open land and small spaces more urban . When the homeless man climbed in to the tool chest in my husband's pick up truck and carefully pulled the hinged metal lid down on himself to settle in the night and a neighbor came yelling get out of there & my now my husband's very careful he says to always lock the pickup box, that and the drought turning hills sides tree needles red tan brown instead of green in treekill seemed to make the house I live in cramped, small. It impacted me the world seemed less expansive and the house seemed smaller suddenly come to think of it.

Well at at least I can organize it

 

[SierraRocks]

yeah. a tool station or easel near a tool box. confined pantry armoir or shelf. something. Working on it. I think I can get this.

 

[Donna K.]

I raised my kids in this little cabin which is 488 sq ft... so... I'm pretty minimalist. I tend to hang on to natural stuff like rocks, feathers, strange looking piece's of wood or bark. Then there are the books... and all my kid's drawings, pictures, story's they wrote etc.

 

[Paintman]

Can't believe I missed this thread.
Sierrarocks posts....wow, I read every word and truly believe that sometimes this is a great way to unclutter your thoughts. Put them on a post.
Yesterday at Sunday dinner I made a comment Straight Out of The Addams Family but it fits here." If I die right now you guys are going to have the easiest cleanup in family history."

I used to own a painting company that required the tools to outfit 10 painters. You also need tools to maintain that equipment. Today this is shared with all of the tools I need to remodel a house and the tractor and yard equipment. Add in Christmas decorations, and knickknacks and whatnots,and you have a lot of stuff. Add in 3 custom built workbenches, and a unique way I can turn that into a dust-free spray booth on one side of the garage.

Needless to say that is a ton of stuff. But everything is maintained and in working order, and highly organized. I hung the old cabinets of two kitchens for smaller items. Cabinets are dedicated to specific things like drill bits or saw blades or specific hand power tools . Car cleaning products or lawn and garden potions, or electrical supplies, stuff to maintain my axes - are separated in plastic containers and put in a specific cabinet . Labeled.

Plus floor-to-ceiling 3 foot deep shelves. Everything has a dedicated place.

Needless to say I am very proud of this. Sure it helps living alone. The house is similarly organized. I'm also thrifty - what with my grandparents living through the Great Depression. So torn blue jeans and stained shirts become work clothes.

My Tupperware is in order. So if I drop dead, the clean up is going to be pretty easy. The mortal benefit are saving money, working efficiently, working profitably, and making free time for fun.

 

[ParanormalMom]

I use to hang on to everything one day yrs ago I decided to have a yard sale to my shock and surprise i couldn't believe how much stuff I really had! Mostly my daughter toys stuffed animals ect.... I just didn't wants to give up stuff I have some teenage years clothes I wish I could get in again. So I said to heck with it and I have the yard sale in three days I made over $1,000 dollars. Now I go through everything and I get rid of it if it's not use or worn anymore.