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.
This week, Mads from Denmark shares with us his commitment to minimalism. He tells us how he and his family (including two small children) continually strive to live with less.
Mads writes:
I’m Mads from Denmark. I have been a minimalist for several years.
Must confess that I can’t remember how it all started. But as soon as I got started on minimalism I didn’t look back. Over the years I have consistently cut down on the number of things I have, although I’m still far from having only 100 things (it’s a difficult goal to reach when you have a family that includes two small children).
Because I need very little, I don’t need to make as much money as most people do. I can therefore get by with relatively few hours of consulting work, so I have time to focus on the things that matter: My family, my interests and my project Cykelvalg (a Danish bicycle comparison site).
Introducing minimalism in our family wasn’t difficult at all. Our children are small and my wife totally agreed with it from the beginning (but I can imagine how difficult it would be to introduce minimalism if your partner doesn’t agree with it).
But that doesn’t mean we don’t have conflicts about what we should keep and what we should get rid of. My wife loves to make food so she has a lot of kitchen stuff and our two small children are good at bringing home lots of small things. Me, I have a problem getting rid of papers and books (even though I borrow almost everything I read at the library instead of buying the books).
More than 3 years ago I wrote a blog post (in Danish) about how Project 333 inspired me to get rid of most of my clothes. And today, 3 years later, I’m happy to report I still have as little clothes as when I wrote the blog post.
We are not only minimalists at home. When we travel with our 2 children, we can be away for weeks with only one shared suitcase. And when I go to Barcelona next month, I’m quite sure I will have the smallest suitcase in the group (so small that I need to carry my computer keyboard outside the suitcase).
The only problem with minimalism is that a lot of people don’t get it. But luckily we don’t really care what other people think. :)
And no matter what, we are so happy that we have discovered minimalism and we are definitely not going back to the “normal” consumer lifestyle.
{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.}
I love small suitcases when travelling! :) Sometimes I think the whole point of minimalist lifestyle is just to be ready to travel extremely light at any second :D By decluttering your life and home you learn how to do that very easily. I have had some surprised looks from people, too, but it is true, I don’t need people to get it. It makes such sense to me, it makes my life so pleasant and simple, it’s a brilliant lifestyle and everything about it is so right, so why need anyone’s appreciation? :) Plus I have never seen anyone not getting it in a judgy way. Everyone is like:”whoa, I could never travel with such a tiny bag!”, or “I wish my home was this cozy”. And it feels good.
Mads, I am always particularly amazed at people who can travel so lightly…four of you and just one suitcase!
I have a friend who travels all over the world with just a backpack. When an occasion calls for a piece of clothing she doesn’t have, she goes to a local thrift, buys something cheap and then re-donates it when she’s done with it.
All the best to you and your family as you continue your journey.
Mads, nice work on the clothing! I’ve found that I don’t miss any of the clothes I’ve given away and am glad that someone else now has the opportunity to use them. Traveling with as little as possible is such an awesome freedom as well! Great to hear your story, keep it up!
I like to hear from people all over the world on this blog. Even though I know only 1 other person who considers herself a minimalist here. It looks different to different people and as long as we’re all about consuming less, that’s okay.
Nice to see another Dane, and one highlighted as a Real Life Minimalist :)
“Because I need very little, I don’t need to make as much money as most people do.” I LOVE this. So simple and so powerful.
Good for you on getting down to the basics of clothes. For me, it helps to be able to work part time and consult to keep a simple wardrobe.
I am traveling solo to Australia for a few weeks, and I plan to only bring a backpack. Just a regular school sized backpack at that. I’m looking forward to three weeks of the most minimalist I can get!
Hi Green Girl Success. I’m not sure where you are but just wanted to say when you pack for Oz, don’t underestimate winter.
Depending where you are going you will need a coat. It is not always sun and bikini weather. I know of many a tourist who has been caught. I hope you have a wonderful time, it is a very special place.
Such an inspiring read!
I am a minimalist but I carry a huge bag with me where I go. I highly appreciate people like you who can travel light. Great post!
I can’t imagine travelling for a couple of weeks and only having one change of clothing and one pair of shoes (otherwise, how can you get clothing, shoes and toiletries for four people in one small suitcase). I don’t need something different every day, but changing from shorts or bathing suite at the beach, slacks for shopping/sightseeing and a nice dress for dinner out would probably require three different types of shoes as well. I’m leaving soon for a week and have one suitcase for clothes/PJs/bathing suite/shoes/toiletries and another for sheets/towels/iron/books/dvds/toilet paper/paper towels/kleenex (we are required to supply our own). That’s two suitcases on wheels plus I need to bring my 12-inch fan (the place isn’t air conditioned) and my pillow. Luckily my friend and I are driving and not flying!
There is one problem with clothes: one cathegory (I mean a 7-days set of casual or business outfits) is not enough. It is not nice to work in the office and in the garden using the same clothes (or go the theater or to the church etc.). Even if you work in the garden or go the opera once a month, you need some additional set of clothes, am I right? Travel with one bag: yes, if you intend to relax all the time or work all the time – you need to take only one cathegory with you. Another point are the seasons: sometimes I read about “a minimum amount of things you need in your wardrobe”. One should add “in Winter” and “in Summer” at the end… 3 pairs of trousers/shirts (per week/month) in Summer are different than 3 pairs of trousers in Winter. Shoes are the best example of the problems I describe…
To be clear: I am a minimalist too. However, I found that one cathegory (“casual/sport” for instance) is not enough, yet still the most universal…
P.S. This is exactly what Janette wrote earlier – I missed it, sorry!
I used to go from Chicago to Los Angeles for a week to 10 days every January or February. I always wore a long-sleeved sweatshirt over a shirt and took an extra heavy zip up sweatshirt with a hood, gloves, a hat and scarf with me to wear when I got back to O’Hare. I didn’t need my winter coat in LA but at night, the heavy sweatshirt was fine for a jacket. It would be 80 in LA and 20 in Chicago and I still took just 1 small suitcase.
I’ve been visiting a dear relative and trying to remove the clothes that don’t fit from her closet. I pretty well finished that and then will work on the dresser and a bunch of plastic storage containers she’s filled up. I think she keeps buying new things without getting rid of what doesn’t fit. I like the sorting involved.
I have gotten rid of piles of stuff. I have more to go. There are several sets of dishes my husband wants me to keep because they were his mother’s. One set is promised to my son. 2 small sets we use, but by far the biggest set just takes up room in my cabinets and I don’t even remember my mother in law using it.