Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words. If you’d like to participate, click here for details.
Today, we have a wonderful contribution from Irene. She shares the inspiration behind her minimalism, and the techniques she uses to achieve (and maintain) her simple lifestyle.
Irene writes:
Hi, I’m Irene from California and this is my minimalist story:
I was 17 years old when I discovered Elaine St. James’ book, The Simple Life, on display at Barnes and Noble. Elaine’s minimalist philosophy resonated with me and I reread her book several times.
My parents set great examples and taught me to value relationships and life experiences more than material things. We traveled often and we lived in 10 different homes before my 20th birthday. Through those journeys I began to consider which of my belongings were actually meaningful to me and worthy of shuffling from place to place. I wanted to be ready for the next adventure without unnecessary clutter weighing me down.
I flew off to college over 2,000 miles from home, bringing only a few boxes of possessions. There I realized that while I missed my family, friends, and the widespread availability of authentic Mexican restaurants, I didn’t miss any of the material things that I had left back home.
After graduating from college, I returned home and began to sell and donate many of my belongings that weren’t getting much use. I moved to a condo in a nearby city and filled it only with things that I used regularly. Less than a year later, I got married and my husband moved in with me. Fortunately, he shares my quest for simple living.
A few years after our wedding, we purchased our first home, which by most standards appears a bit empty. After five years in this house, we switched internet service providers; when the representative arrived to install our new system, he glanced around our spartan living room and asked if we had just moved in. I understood his confusion, since unlike most of our neighbors, we do not own a television and our decorations are sparse. By keeping only the pieces of furniture and decorator items that we use or truly enjoy, we save time cleaning and maintaining our home
After reading Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine, I went a year without spending any money on clothes, shoes, jewelry, or handbags. I made one exception for an alteration and fabric fee to tailor and add straps to a strapless bridesmaid dress.
Now that my year without buying clothes had ended, I generally practice a one-in-one-out strategy by making purchases only to replace a similar product. For example, if I buy a new pair of jeans, I will consign or donate my old pair. I’ve found Ebay and Twice to be excellent resources for selling used clothing.
My minimalist wardrobe saves me valuable time getting ready in the morning, and makes packing for vacations stress-free. My clothes are almost all in the same color scheme (solid black, denim, and khaki skirts, pants, and jackets, with colorful solid or print shirts) so everything coordinates. I also try to avoid buying clothes that require ironing, hand washing, or dry-cleaning.
During my year of reduced spending, I discovered that many of our needs, especially our clothing needs, are artificially created by marketers hawking their wares. I also learned that most of the things we rarely use can be easily borrowed instead of owned. Aside from my two Bibles and a few bible study books that I read frequently, I usually choose not to own items that I can borrow for free, such as books and DVDs. Our library even loans e-books, which I read on my cell phone during lunch breaks, and while riding airplanes or waiting in waiting rooms.
We are blessed that our parents have been very supportive of our simple lifestyle. For holidays, we usually share experiences, such as dinners at restaurants, a game of bocce ball, or a night at a magic show, instead of traditional gifts. Rather than giving each other birthday, Christmas, anniversary, and Valentine’s Day presents, my husband and I put a chunk of each paycheck into a vacation fund and take turns choosing our destinations. Together, we have visited Alaska, Canada, the Caribbean, Maui, Italy, France, Great Britain, and Portugal, and are planning many more vacations together in the future. We do not buy souvenirs on vacations, but we preserve the memories by discussing them and saving digital photos on our hard drives and flash drives.
I love that the minimalist lifestyle is so diverse, with varying goals, ages, and family sizes. My husband and I do not have children; other minimalists, such as Miss Minimalist, The Minimalist Mom and Becoming Minimalist practice minimalism with their children. The common thread connecting all minimalists is simply a mission to live within or below our means and eliminate the things we do not use or enjoy.
It has been inspiring to read the tips here and implement them at home. Thank you, Miss Minimalist, for providing this fantastic resource!
Irene’s living room
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or subscribing to my RSS feed.}
A wonderful post. Memories, experiences and knowledge are the only things nobody can take away from us. “Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping” is a truly inspirational book.
I LOVE your lounge!!!!
A wonderful post! Love your color scheme in the living room. Such a restful retreat.
I love the one-in-one-out strategy! I too have benefited greatly from a minimalist wardrobe. I don’t run out of things to wear, which seems like a paradox, but it’s so freeing to have a closet (semi)full of dependably wearable clothes.
Very inspiring! I love that you’ve got your parents on board with not giving you stuff, but rather sharing experiences. Unwanted gifts are such a burden! Usually, I slip them in our Goodwill bag, but I always feel a bit guilty doing that…though I know I shouldn’t! Blessings on your journey.
Your home is beautiful! We had to declutter our living room a bit when the toddlers started using the coffee table and ottoman as jumping-off point for acrobatics on the couch. I was surprised how much better I liked the look without them! I kept coming down the stairs and thinking how nice and open the room looked before I remembered why it was like that.
Lol! I can’t imagine a better use for a coffee table and ottoman. :)
Thank you for including the photo. Reading about somebody’s minimalist life and seeing a photo of it are two very different things. This really hits home at how lovely and stress free it can be.
Awesome story Irene! My favorite part is this: “We do not buy souvenirs on vacations, but we preserve the memories by discussing them and saving digital photos on our hard drives and flash drives.”
This is the best way to experience the world, in my opinion. Instead of having trinkets from everywhere we go, isn’t it more awesome to have memories/photographs of the experiences we have instead? Bravo!
I agree with the no trinket/souvenir aproach. Instead I buy replacement clothing/footwear(only if needed) which lasts me a long time. When I wear one pair of shoes I am back in Leicester UK, and a hair towel takes my mind back to sunny Spain with friends. Useful plus happy memory triggers! :-).
What a smart idea for celebrating by putting money towards vacations! Love your home — looks so comforting and inviting, not sparse at all!
How wonderful that your parents support you in your lifestyle choice / values. What a valuable asset that kind of family support can be over the years.
This is a very inspirational post – I will borrow your smart idea of saving money for vacations (and of course not buying those souvenirs)
What a lovely story and I do wish I had your mindset at your age. I’ve only begun to make changes in my 40s. You have a beautiful home!
Envy your living room, so soothing, painting your walls with the several pretty colors works as well as using nic nacs and wall hangings and pillows but in an uncluttered and relaxing way, super!
Seeing your photo is very helpful. I also love your idea of photos and memories rather than souvenirs. Keep it up and thanks for sharing.
Good post. Having parental support must help. Unfortunately, mine are hoarders.
Consider coming to Australia for a vacation one day! :)
We would love to visit Australia one day! :-)
That is a beautiful color scheme in your living room! I love that you share dinner out with your family rather than gifts. I also read “Not Buying It”, and while the author started out with way more stuff than I’ve ever had, I liked reading about what she learned about consumerism in terms of how we are urged to buy and why we buy too much. There is nothing like a period of not buying to bring clarity to our motivations and the manipulations of commerce, as it is clear you have realized. I’ve never been able to go longer than about 4 months without buying clothes or shoes, something always happens, but I am inspired to try.
Thank you for including a picture! I agree with the other posting that it is nice to actually see a picture of what someone lives like including a description of how they are living :)
Love your living room. Similar to ours except we keep folding chairs for when our family comes over.
Isn’t this how we wish our children to grow up and become?! A lovely story from a thoughtful couple. I agree that having a photo or two really helps to envision the story, even if it does not define who the people are :)
Does anyone know what happened to Elaine St. James? Her few books were so popular and meaningful to many but I have not seen any more recent information about her or how she lives in the 20 years since they came out… she would surely make an excellent TED speaker, for example.
Yes, I have wondered what she is doing now. I only discovered her books recently and I love them, especially the one about simplifying Christmas; which is not my favourite season! I found that I had either copied lots of her ideas without realising it, or have been able to implement her ideas since reading her books.
Thank you, Mel. I would also love to know what Elaine St. James has been up to. She would make an amazing TED speaker!
I think your room looks perfect:)
Thank you all for your encouraging comments! Reading them has brightened my day. I feel fortunate to be part of this supportive community! :-)
Great tips! And glad to see that furrmily members are part of your simpler-but-meaningful lifestyle. I want to simplify my life, but could not possibly give up the ” interesting complications” my kitties bring! Perhaps they can make do with fewer toys, though . . . .
I like the simple but meaningful. For Mother’s Day, I got some bath gel and a book I wanted but would never have bought for myself. A cousin, a lifelong hoarder, was found dead in his stash. Of course, he’d been dead for a while. Hoarding is frightening to me. On TV, they showed a woman with 60 bottles of shampoo. I go through maybe 1 or 2 bottles in a year. If I had 60 bottles of shampoo, I’d take it to a battered women’ shelter or a food pantry.
I only get magazines from the library or craft magazines at a thrift shop. I got rid of a big stack of craft magazines and bought 2 more. I love articles on up cycling used things to make new things. I saw an article on cutting up empty plastic bottles, heating up the pieces and making beads and flowers out of them. When I’ve used all my beads and buttons, I’ll never need to buy more. I usually get misprinted tickets and maps to use in my collages, which are mounted on cereal box cardboard.
I fill a bag every week with donations and usually 2 bags each week of recycling. I have some items I want to sell so I am making a pile of those, too. Today, my friends and I were discussing credit cards and how you pay them off completely at the end of each month. We were shocked to think there are people who carry a balance on their credit cards. With the interest on savings accounts so low, how can anyone afford to charge anything and carry a balance?