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, Morten from Denmark tells us how downsizing has helped him and his wife find more time and freedom to pursue their passions.
Morten writes:
My name is Morten Storgaard, and with my wife I have been downsizing since 2011. We had a printing company with a handful of employees, and times got tough during the crisis, so I guess we needed simplicity, and started downsizing.
I have really enjoyed the process, and last year I chose to try the so-called “100 thing challenge”. So I only had 100 belongings for 12 months. That was a stretch, but I am really glad I did so, because it challenged me to get rid of even more stuff, and in the process I realized, what I really appreciate and what I don’t need.
Today we are out of the company, and I work as a consultant instead. We don’t need a high income, so I work only 15-20 hours per week, which gives me time to play music (my passion), and work on my two websites www.GoDownsize.com and www.MurphyBedHQ.com, where I try to inspire people to downsize and find smart interior solutions for small spaces, and find a life with more time and freedom on their hands.
I have found that the tough part about downsizing and living with less stuff is not to actually live with less stuff. The hard part for me was to let go of my things in the first place. I think most people only use a small percentage of what they own, and they wouldn’t miss much of it, if they were able to let go of it. This is my story anyway.
During a longer trip to Africa we talked about how easy it was to live without all our things back home. We spent one month in Kenya and Nigeria, and we only bought our carry-ons. Since that experience we always travel light, and we have gotten rid of our big suitcases, as carry-ons are more than enough. It also means that we get quicker in and out of airports, and that’s great, when you are exhausted after a long flight.
I live with my wife in Aarhus, Denmark, and for the last two years now, we have rented out two rooms in our apartment. So we now live in the two living rooms, which is fine, because we installed a Murphy bed in one of the rooms. So whenever we want to sleep, we just pull down the bed from the wall, and voila – We have a bedroom.
We enjoy having a tenant. She has become a very good friend, and it’s also great to have someone to look after the place, whenever we go traveling. The extra income from renting out those two rooms we spend on traveling.
So we have been able to travel a lot more the last two years, and soon we are leaving for Thailand. We are so excited about this, and we look forward to experience Asia!
{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’m sure it is easier to downsize when you are as clear as this about why you are doing it. Well done and happy travelling!
A 15-20 hour workweek? What a dream! Good for you, Morten!
“I have found that the tough part about downsizing and living with less stuff is not to actually live with less stuff. The hard part for me was to let go of my things in the first place.”
Wow this really resonated with me. I have some things that I have not been able to let go, and yet I know if they were not there I could live without them fine. It’s the letting go that is hard.
Thank you! Sounds like you have a great work-life balance going.
We just came back from our Mediterranean cruise. Barcelona is a beautiful city and of course Italy is gorgeous, but we had been there before. I took a carry-on bag and my husband one size larger because he had a CPAP machine to bring. Business casual is acceptable everywhere. Again we saw people traveling with 2 huge suitcases each, lots of fancy clothes, and shopping like mad. I am going to the east coast this afternoon for a week’s visit. If you hang your shirts inside out when you have worn them once they will air out overnight and you can wear them again. I think 100 0/0 cotton and cotton blends travel best.
Great tips! Thanks!
Great tip. Thanks!
I totally agree, Morten – it really is a case of out of sight, out of mind, isn’t it? Most people wouldn’t miss half their belongings if they just weren’t there. I took photos of all the things I got rid of, but I only remember having owned them when I look at the photos… ;-) Kudos for doing the 100 thing challenge, I hope to reach that level of minimalism one day. (PS: Aarhus is lovely!)
Yes, the toughest part is letting go. You inspired me to make a list of things I own but am not using. It’s actually not that long, just 23 items, but there are some grouped items, such as: ten pretty tablecloths, a file drawer of piano music, a bag of nice hair clips, a bookcase full of books for my business I used years ago that I think I might need someday, etc. I’ve been decluttering for 3 1/2 years and have gotten rid of a lot (1500 books), but I know this next leap will be the hardest. Thank you for your inspiration, and thanks to Francine too!!!
I also got a lot of insight from traveling internationally with only a carry on. If you have the space, you will fill it up! Now I only buy souvenirs that I will use regularly and enjoy when I see them. Many times I buy nothing.
The comments about the difficulty letting stuff go really resonated with me. I grew up with that depression era thinking of “might need it someday”, “it still have a lot of use/value”, etc. I am not bursting at the seams in my house but it just bugs me now to have stuff I am not using regularly. When I remodeled my kitchen, I got rid of so much stuff both in and out of the kitchen to make room. And outside of one or two books I wondered if I had, I have not missed a single item! You would think that would be a good lesson for me. Guess I still have some learning to do.
I like the idea of the Murphy bed; it reminds me of the use case of Japanese-style futon beds that are put away during the day to free up space. I currently rent a house with several friends, and my room is very small. I downsized to a large extent when I moved almost two years ago, but it is still a challenge to fit everything into this space. With my small corner desk, bookshelf, dresser, and TV with stand there is barely room to fit a standard full-size bed frame into the room. Until recently I had just been using a bed roll and blankets on the floor that I would put away during the day. I can’t recall the exact measurements right now (I was only concerned with wall spacing at the time), but I only have about 100 square feet of space, excluding a small closet. My current space is actually smaller than my room was growing up, and I keep almost everything I have in it except for cooking utensils and tools/other “garage” items.
Recently I bought a full-size Strata “wall-hugger” futon bed, and it is absolutely fantastic to solve the problem of limited space. I got the “loveseat” style, which is only as wide as a full-size mattress (traditional futons are as wide as the length of a full-size mattress, at or over 80 inches). A regular futon would have fit, but I would have had to step/crawl over it to get into my room because it would stick too far out next to my door and would almost touch my other furniture.
This style is set up as a loveseat + ottoman (the loveseat mattress is square, and the ottoman mattress adds the length to make a full-size bed). The ottoman frame can fold and slide under the loveseat frame, and the ottoman mattress can lay against the wall or slide behind the futon if you give it enough space. With this setup I have almost the same space as I would without the futon (I had to pile my bedding somewhere), and the added benefit of comfy seating for 2-3 for some private TV-watching/reading time. I also add value to the fact that I can always delegate the futon to full-time sofa duty if/when I move in with someone and use a dedicated bed and bedroom.
I find downsizing/minimizing to be an exhilarating experience. When I found my layout would work I had all my furniture moved and futon ordered within two days. Part of this reorganization involved more purging of unnecessary items. I’m nowhere near as minimalist as many here, but living in barely over 100 square feet is a good step in the right direction if I do say so myself.
Thank you for sharing your story! Having more time and less stuff is definitely a great trade-off.
Wow, this sounds like the dream life. I would love rent out the spare bedroom in our house and spend the money on travelling, but my husband likes his space too much. Or should I say, he likes his house too much – he’s not as keen on the minimalism side of things as I am! I think it makes a huge difference when you have a partner who is fully on board.
Meryl, you are SO right!! The difference when both parts of a couple are on board is huge! My hubby…. many good qualities, but in no way is he embracing minimalism at this time. Sigh….
Thank you all so much for your sweet comments – means a lot :) And thank you so much letting me share my story :)
When we travel, we usually just bring back small maps, ticket stubs,etc. This last trip, I won a T shirt and my husband bought 2 more. They didn’t take up much room. I followed Miss M’s tip about not taking things that would be provided.
A woman was explaining to her daughter that fashion isn’t comfortable. This woman was wearing the very high heels I thought you didn’t have to wear any more. If no one bought those things, they wouldn’t sell them.
Every time I read a few of your older postings, I find more to get rid of. There are a lot of things we have that we seldom use. When I declutter, I think to myself I am moving soon, what can go. Then I get rid of more things.
I have a big bag for Goodwill ready to go. And another big bag of plastic recycling to take out. I am waiting for the next big rummage sale here in town to buy anything. My friend has a huge bin of silk flowers someone gave her and I told her they were great for leis, card making, and other Mothers’ Day projects. We just have to pull the wire and plastic off. She is thinking of using some of the leaves for an Easter project.
I am giving a class on making jewelry out of scrap paper, fabric, buttons, string and other found objects. I have some felt scraps and buttons and paper to bring. I have given away a lot of craft items I no longer use. I buy nothing new but food, medicine and hygiene items.