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My Minimalist Story, Part 5: Starting Over

Don’t get me wrong, apartment hunting in a foreign country was an exciting experience—in fact, it’s something we’d always fantasized about on our travels. Unfortunately, however, it marked the end of our blissfully minimalist, hotel life.

It had been my long-time dream to live in hotels, with nothing more than a single suitcase; and I was fortunate enough to realize it, for six weeks, while we moved from the US to the UK (see My Minimalist Story, Part 3: My Life in a Duffel Bag).

For minimalists with deep pockets, it’s a great way to live. But for those of us with more limited budgets, it can’t go on forever.… {Read more}

My Minimalist Story, Part 4: Our Dirty Secret

From the time we decided to move overseas, my husband and I fantasized about owning nothing more than we could carry with us. We were determined to get rid of all of our possessions, and pare down our lives to a single suitcase each.

We almost achieved our goal. But in our final week of purging, we were weakened by the uncertainty of our plans. My husband had a job offer in the UK, but it was contingent upon us receiving our visas—which, given strict new immigration laws, was not guaranteed. (We did finally receive them, two weeks after moving out of our house.)

Furthermore, we had no idea how long we’d stay.… {Read more}

My Minimalist Story, Part 3: My Life in a Duffel Bag

For six weeks this summer, I lived my minimalist dream—residing in hotels, with all my possessions in a single duffel bag.

My husband and I purged almost all of our stuff, and sold our house at the end of July (see My Minimalist Story, Part 2: The Great Unraveling). However, we still had to wait several weeks for our visas to be processed before we could move to the UK. In the meantime, we “lived” in a series of hotels, as we wrapped up our old life and prepared for the new.

We each had pared down our things into one (large) duffel bag.… {Read more}

My Minimalist Story, Part 2: The Great Unraveling

Most of us spend our lives in a constant state of accumulation.

It all starts when we leave our parents’ homes, and start acquiring the “stuff” to lead independent lives. What begins with a couple of plates, milk crates, and linens in college evolves into furniture, cookware, tableware, and decorative items when we get our first apartments. From then on, it’s a continual process of adding and upgrading as our abodes grow larger, and our lives more complex.

What’s more, we’re cheered on along the way. Our acquisitions are encouraged by advertisers, and celebrated by family and friends. We’re given housewarming parties and shower gifts, and congratulated when we purchase a new TV or living room set.… {Read more}

My Minimalist Story, Part 1: A Clean Slate

I think every minimalist fantasizes about starting over with a clean slate—it seems a heck of a lot easier than the slow (and sometimes painful) process of decluttering the stuff you’ve accumulated over a lifetime. I for one had been decluttering for years, and still seemed nowhere near my goal of living with just the essentials.

But short of a fire, natural disaster, or other tragedy (which nobody wants to experience), there are few circumstances that would suddenly separate you from the bulk of your possessions.

Recently, I received my unique (and possibly once-in-a-lifetime) opportunity for a clean slate: an overseas move.… {Read more}

The Top Ten Benefits of Being a Minimalist

A lot of people think being a minimalist is akin to being a monk—living a sort of ascetic lifestyle in which you deprive yourself of “wordly” things simply for the sake of it.

Others regard minimalists with polite curiosity (why ever would you WANT to have an empty house?), or write us off as a bit quirky (since when is it quirky to count how many socks you have? ;-) ).

What gets lost in most considerations of minimalism is the true joy that can be found in the lifestyle. I think that’s the number one reason most of us adopt it: to make ourselves happy.… {Read more}

Minimalist Travel: What’s in My Suitcase

In response to my Traveling Light post last week, I received several requests that I list the contents of my carry-on. I’m happy to oblige, as I think we’d all be happier travelers with much less stuff. :-)

Furthermore, my minimalist packing system is no secret—in fact, there’s a certain security official at London Heathrow who could have written this post for me, given the 20 minutes he spent unpacking and inspecting the entire contents while I was trying to make a connecting flight to Venice. (Note: if you don’t want to treat airport security, and dozens of strangers, to an intimate look inside your perfectly packed bag, don’t bring a spork on an international flight.)

The list below covers what I pack for a trip of about 10-14 days (the typical length of my overseas travel).… {Read more}

The Minimalist Wardrobe: Choose a Base Color

Once upon a time, the clothes in my closet ran the gamut of colors—I had warm hues, cool hues, neutrals, pastels, jewel tones, etc. What’s more, I had a variety of accessories to “match” this rainbow of apparel.

No more. In my quest for a minimalist closet, I found the secret to a well-edited wardrobe: choosing a base color.

Ideally, your base color should be a neutral like black, brown, navy, or khaki. I chose black—mainly because it’s flattering on me, travels well, and hides stains (if I splash something on myself at lunch, I can still make it through the day without looking a mess!).… {Read more}

The Minimalist Mailbox

The key to being a minimalist is controlling the stuff that flows into your life. In most cases, this power lies in your hands: you can refrain from shopping, refuse freebies, and ask friends and family to stop giving you gifts.

You can, in effect, shut the door on stuff.

The problem: in that door lies a mail slot. And through that slot will pour all kinds of useless, unwanted, and uninvited clutter, almost every single day.

Short of boarding it up, here’s what you can do to limit the postal deluge:

1. Put a freeze on your credit report, or sign up with optoutprescreen.com.… {Read more}

Traveling Light

Sometime in my twenties I was bitten by the travel bug—I’m not sure exactly when or where it happened, but I realized that being in airports, train stations, hotels, and unfamiliar cities made me extraordinarily happy.

Interestingly, this passion developed during what I’d call an “accumulation phase” in my life. After graduating from college, my now-husband and I went through the typical process of “setting up house.” In fact, decorating our apartment became a creative outlet for us. Since we had little money, we scoured antique shops and flea markets for hidden treasures—and hauled a good deal of “junque” back to our abode.… {Read more}