The Minimalist Lifestyle

It’s a new year! Time to concentrate on what matters.

What does matter?

If what matters is letting go of the new car, the new TV, the new whatever, then you are on your way to a less stressful life, and consequently, a much happier life.

And while you are at it, why not let go of the need to be right all of the time? The need to have the last word? The need to show off? The need to be critical? The need to feel “better” than others? If that’s your mindset, then letting it go will make you feel so much lighter! Your spirit will soar, and your well-being will increase beyond measure.

And it’s easy to do — you just “let it go.”

Letting go is not hard. Letting go is a choice.

Choose to give others the opportunity to feel good when they are around you. Choose to grow. Choose to surround yourself and your family with beauty. Choose to be love.

My personal wish for you this year is that you grow as a person. That you take control of your life and get rid of the excess. The stuff that doesn’t matter. In doing so, it’s a sure bet that growth will happen, you’ll feel better, you’ll feel more productive, and you’ll want to become an even better you.

Taking control of your life, working to become the person that you were meant to be is a far worthier goal than getting new “stuff.” Here, at the Minimalist Lifestyle blog, let’s learn and grow and see just how far a minimalist attitude will take us. In a year’s time, you may be surprised to learn that you’ve grown beyond what you may imagine now.

You may even grow to love some of the more extreme minimalism in home design. Well, maybe not, but you will probably, at least, have learned to love many aspects of minimalist living.

This year, what can you let go? What will that make room for?

Photo credit: Olga Lyubkina – Fotolia.com

As some of you know, a much-loved member of my family passed away during Thanksgiving week. At a time like this, one has to reflect upon one’s current path. Is it where I want to go? Am I making the right choices? Am I using my time wisely? Are my goals solid or sketchy?

The new year is coming soon, too, which makes it another time for reflecting upon one’s path.

So, for myself, I have two very big reasons to ask myself these questions.

The Minimalist Lifestyle blog, though still in its first stages, is something I have grown very fond of, and I intend to write here more often. However, for the rest of the year, I’ll be planning and streamlining how I live online, so I hope you’ll stick by me and tune in once I go full steam ahead with minimalist living in 2010.

You are welcome to offer your suggestions for this blog. I want to help you thrive in your minimalist life, and can do that better if I know what your concerns are.

My thinking is that the blog will grow to be one of minimalist tips, minimalist designs, minimalist zen and spirituality…even minimalist products that help make life easier. Drop me a line when you can; it would be a real pleasure to be in tune with what your needs and concerns are…to have your say in how the blog evolves. . .

In the meantime, minimalist living is organized living. Are you planning to be more organized in 2010? What energy drains do plan to cut out? What time wasters are you going to eliminate? What items in your home do you plan to throw away or give away?  Does your New Year’s resolution reflect that? Are you committed to being the best you can be? It starts with organizing your life.

I wish for you that your best year yet will be the year 2010!

At one point in time, my front door was a dark red color. It contrasted nicely with our gray siding and dark gray shutters. And boy, I should have listened to my father-in-law when he told us to go with brick instead of cedar siding; I had never even heard of carpenter bees until they found our house.

Anyway, contrast is what you want in a front door. It needs to stand out and be a beacon to your guests.

Right now, and for the past several years, my favorite door color is hunter green. It gives a nice contrast, and the statement I make with it is that we like to be stylish, but we aren’t too showy, and we love natural colors. The red door was screaming a little too loudly for my taste, and since I figured this out, I have been very happy with hunter green. There was a time when I noticed lots of red doors, and it just goes to show that what you admire in other houses just may not be right for your own house.

To paint a front door, some folks take the door down and remove all of the hardware before painting the door, but you can use masking tape if you’re good with your hands. Wrap everything you don’t want to paint. I place tape over the hinges, then cut around the tape with a utility knife in order to have only the hinges covered. The door knob is a little tricky, but the key is patience. Once you have done your prep work, use a mini roller brush to paint it so you won’t have brush strokes.

Use a paint like this, which is latex for easy clean up, but doesn’t stick windows and doors. Load the roller; apply a thin, even coat. Allow to dry. If the door looks like the painted door you dreamed of, you are done. If you don’t have a thick enamel look like you want, apply coats as needed, but allow the paint to dry between coats (this helps the latex’s ability to not be a sticking problem). Once dry, the door will be smooth and glossy.

With a shiny new door, it will not only look beautiful, but its smooth surface will be so easy to clean! And don’t forget your kick plate.

Over time, this fact has been established as it regards money — you cannot take it with you. But, today, I’m talking about “things.” You cannot take things with you when you pass away. Things, those cards, trinkets, souvenirs and other symbols of the love in our lives.

My mother gave me some roses she had hand picked one Mother’s Day. They were bright red. Symbols of a happy time. They had grown wild by the roadside, as lots of roses do here in the South and all over, no doubt — remnants of the past lives of families from homes long since vanished brick by brick and board by board.

My mom had gone for a walk on that gorgeous day some fifteen years ago. I saved the flowers she brought me from that trip. But, these roses are only on film. I recorded them, the camera slowly taking in the scene. With each viewing I feel as I did that day. It’s such a peaceful scene — a couch, a window, a bookcase, a coffee table with wild roses in a vase…on Mother’s Day, from my Mother. Truly a day to remember.

Thinking about what we hang on to as we progress through this world, I’ll posit that all we are really doing is leaving a mess for others to clean up. Yes, because who, after you are gone, is going to want to be the caretaker of your sentimental keepsakes? This is something we need to keep in mind as we go.

I bring up the roses story because it’s a great way to simplify life. We keep our memories and we make true family heirlooms that bring the past to life for the next generations. Take a picture or film the scene. It’s a certainty that your descendants will value a photograph or a scene on film immensely more than a dead and dried up rose they find in one of your books.

By now, you know that dust and I are not the best of friends. That’s why I never recommend blinds. They attract dust like nobody’s business and are a time-consuming hassle to keep clean. And some manufacturers even put fake wood grain on them which gives you even more cracks and crevices to keep up with.

One way to minimize upkeep in the home is to use curtains or drapes. They need only to be thrown in the washer periodically and rehung. The rest of the time, you just get up in the morning and swing them open to let in the sunshine.

If you have curtains with a track for inserting a curtain rod, make sure the rod is smaller than the track so that the curtain is easily moved down the rod to open it. If you use a rod and hooks, make sure the hooks are twice the size of the rod for easy gliding. I love to hear the clink and tinkle of curtains on hooks as they are being swished open.

Curtains give you more privacy than blinds. Yes, there are blinds made for privacy’s sake, but they’re more costly, and you still have the dust and maintenance problem. With the cheaper ones, there are usually holes manufactured into them for the draw strings and such. A person could look into your home at night through these holes! And the holes don’t have to be huge, either. In fact, a really small hole gives a good view! With privacy concerns, curtains are far better. If you have just blinds in your bedroom right now, you might take a quick look at your windows from the outside, at night, just to see what someone could see if they are so inclined. Get out there and see what you can see through one of those tiny holes.

Upholstery fabric for use as curtains has built-in privacy because of what it’s made for — sitting, feet, bodies scrubbing and squirming on it — too thick to see through, and some of it has backing. My bathroom curtains have a white, rubbery backing. And, much upholstery fabric can be washed (look for “machine washable,” and do wash it before making your curtains). Treat your upholstery-fabric curtains with a fabric protector and you won’t have to take them down and wash them as often.

With some of the deals at Amazon, you might just find some great fabric. (This upholstery-fabric deal could be gone at any moment, and it’s not an affiliate link for me; I just want to let you know about it.) And be on the lookout for bolts and remnants on sale at flea markets, too.

Image credit: monamakela.com – Fotolia.com

When I was a little girl, we traveled a lot and met people from all walks of life. Going into their homes was a learning experience. I’d notice everything about the decor and furniture arrangements — from how close to the walls they had the couch to how unnaturally high some had hung their pictures. I’d notice what they allowed on their breakfast table. Napkins and salt and pepper shakers? The family’s medicines? Tools, trash, dirty dishes? I’d notice all kinds of things.

To this day, I mentally rearrange every house I go into. Can’t help it. I guess you could say that my interest in interior design started since I don’t know when.

Over the years, I have grown a dislike for anything commercial. I don’t even want to see a price tag left on my books, backs of picture frames…

And take dish liquid. Does yours sit at the sink as mine does? It’s handy there, for sure. But, I don’t like the advertising to show. So, I took a bottle of dish detergent in the small size and used everything I could think of to get the container not to show the company name and the “beats grease” or some such that was on it (they burn the images and text on somehow). Well, after some carb cleaner and some fine-grain sanding, I had a place to paint a little kitchen window scene on it. It has served me well for years and always gives me a feeling of happiness when I look at it.

My daughter-in-law, who has made a lovely home, has a great idea, too. Her dish liquid is dispensed from a cruet. Hers is clear glass (sort of like the one on the left in the image shown) and the color of the dish liquid is a little bright spot by her kitchen sink. It looks just beautiful.

Cruets from the Minimalist Lifestyle store at Amazon.

Photo credit: Comugnero Silvana – Fotolia.com

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. —Vernon Howard

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. —Albert Einstein

When there is too much, something is missing. —Hasidic Saying

Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things. —Elise Boulding

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. —William Morris

How many things are there which I do not want. —Socrates

Clutter always begins in your mind, and then it ends up on the floor. —Jessica Duquette

Who is rich? He who rejoices in his portion. —The Talmud

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail. —Henry David Thoreau

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. —Immanuel Kant

Joy is not in things; it is in us. —Wagner

Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. —Lao Tzu

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. —Leonardo da Vinci

Our affluent society contains those of talent and insight who are driven to prefer poverty, to choose it, rather than submit to the desolation of an empty abundance. —Michael Harrington

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. —Henry David Thoreau

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. —Confucius

People say “I want peace.” If you remove I (ego), and your want (desire), you are left with peace. —Satya Sai Baba

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires. —Lao-Tzu

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on. —Havelock Ellis

Having a nightstand by the bed (with drawers or doors) helps the minimalist eliminate clutter.

You’ll be able to store your lotion, your manicure set, those three or four books that you’re reading at the same time… And, what about that bag of secret candy? Messy goings-on at night are eliminated in the morning by opening a drawer and putting everything back in its place.

Nightstands come in all shapes and sizes. Some with doors, some with open shelving, some with a pull-out surface (see image), and some with just a table top. They also come in all kinds of woods and veneers. However, some important things for the minimalist to look for are simplicity in design (ease of cleaning), and height and size. The height matters a lot because you want it to be at a comfortable reach from your bed. The ideal height is within a close range of the height of your mattress.

Books are an issue if you read more than one at the time. A nightstand with drawers will keep them out of sight when not in use. Some nightstands have a deep drawer, like a filing cabinet (see image). You can place your books in there with the spines up so that you just have to reach in and pick up the book you want. Ensure that you don’t overload the drawer. Incorporate a careful routine of placing finished books back on their bookshelves when you’ve finished reading them.

If you are choosing a nightstand, but not a bed, make sure that it matches (or harmonizes with) your bed (or the bed you plan to purchase). Some bedroom set ups look great as mix and match, but any mix in any room will look more complete if there is a harmony among the pieces.

The nightstand pictured (Modus Furniture Brighton 2 Drawer Nightstand Cinnamon) will hold even the messiest night-timer’s bag of tricks.

Wood floors or other hard surfaces are a must for the minimalistic lifestyle. To stay with the theme of easy upkeep, maintaining today’s wood floors takes just a regular sweeping (a swivel-head dust mop is best), immediate cleaning up of spills with a very damp cloth, and a professional wood-cleaning product on occasion.

If you’re planning a new home or are renovating, reject carpet (a haven for dust mites, mold, smells…) and plan for hard-surface, easy-to-clean floors.

Image: Cappuccino Finish Solid Wood Dining Table And Chairs Set

When choosing minimalist items, look for ease of cleaning and upkeep.

Let’s use the Umbra Boomba Waste Can, Designed by Matt Carr, as an analogy for all minimalist purchases.

See how simple in design it is? There are no edges, lips, indentations or crevices that will take too much time and care to clean. This waste basket can be cleaned in moments with a quick spray and wipe.

Not all products will have the simplicity of a trash can, of course, but we can remember its simplicity as we are looking for anything from a bed to a vacuum cleaner to a washer and dryer. How close can you get, with each of your purchases, to this bathroom trash can with its ease of cleaning and upkeep?

Living simply really is all in the details. Train yourself to look for the simple in design.