Category Archives: minimalism

Minimalism: older and wiser

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Most blogs about minimalism are written by younger people. Some quite young in their 20’s. I kinda chuckle at their take on being minimalists for a year or so. Plus, there’s only so many years they’ve got under their belt. That is NOT a criticism. I applaud their courage and journey.

Still, having been on this journey for over 7 years and probably longer at different times in my life, with experience and age does come wisdom. In our twenties, we were total minimalists simply because we had no money to be otherwise. Poverty or lack of money makes minimalism seem petty as it’s really not a choice as such. Yet, we built our little wood couch, used orange crates as bookcases, gleamed free stuff from the dump when we could. We were hippies and loved our simple life. Yet, we were also broke.

Back in the 1970’s, after college, we couldn’t find any decent jobs, so we started our own business, Shiatsu massage and, spiritual counseling( I had just finished my graduate work).  We later opened a bookstore and that was great too but made no money and we eventually closed it.

Most of that now,  I see as part of our life journey but none the less the quips of the popular psychology of ‘follow your dream, follow your heart’ didn’t ever bring us fame or fortune, or a job, but years of struggling. We were minimalists out of necessity.

 

So many years later, after raising 2 children, and being in a different phase of our lives, minimalism comes full circle intentionally.  We had a good number of years accumulating stuff too.

People getting older need to simplify their lives. They need to have less clutter and crap around them in order to be more present in their older years. Plus who wants to burden their children with stuff.  Plus, it makes keeping up with housework and chores easier and more efficient.

We’ve decluttered many times and I’m sure there will be more to come. Moving toward being in ones mid to late 60’s is quite the experience.

With all things, there are many seasons to one’s life.  Living minimally now is so important. We don’t need a lot of extras, just enough.  I think just enough is perfect.9aff9c2e96b462ea1d37c12c64c687dc

 

Simple Sunday

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The week ahead looks nice. We are in for some rain tonight and tomorrow.

I skipped the gym today and went to Home Depot with B so we could get a bathroom fan and a few other things.  I want to have him put up another safety bar in the bathroom as well. Mostly because our tub is a clawfoot and sits high. Either we need to change that out as we get older or do some other things( like the bar) to help with stability.

Yesterday was one of the nicest days we’ve had. I fired up the BBq and made chicken and BBQ tempeh. I made a macaroni salad to go with it. We even ate outside, the first this year!!

This week we’re going to go to Ikea too and check out ideas for redoing the counter and sink area of the kitchen.  There’s not much we can do to change the layout because of where doors are and such.  I’m interested in a farmhouse sink and would like quartz countertops. All our appliances are new so that part is done.

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As you can see it’s really just one wall of counter with the sink in the middle. The stove is to the left of the second photo.

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Ikea is great to get ideas from. I’d like to replace the kitchen window to as it is starting to get a few cloudy spots. The cabinets I’d like to replace with something more modern. We can’t really have them as open shelves as we wouldn’t have any place to keep spices and teas and things I just don’t want visible.

We redid the whole kitchen after we moved in. It was gutted and we took up like 20 layers of linoleum. It was brutal work.  So the kitchen is 23 years old. Except we just bought the appliances in the last 2 years.

Other than that, it should be a nice week for some fun things to do.

 

Simple Sunday​

Posted in cooking, decluttering, Flylady, minimalism, Uncategorized by

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It is a lovely day. Sunny and pleasant. Not really warm but that’s okay.

This morning I made almond butter in my new Cuisinart. The first batch didn’t work too well as the almonds were stale, I think. I picked up another pound and then toasted them first then put them in the food processor. Viola!!! almond butter.  It does take a while to get to the final stage but I will do it again because it’s nice to just make a mall amount. We never get thru a whole jar so that’s kinda neat.

Then I made polenta. Some for dinner I’ll grill and then some for later in the week. I have brown rice cooking with some added wild rice.  Then I think I’ll just grill some tofu on the side.

I went to the gym and did an okay workout. I’m not feeling too inspired but I imagine it will pass.

This week is the Kitchen zone in Flylady so I’ll do that tomorrow morning.  Some stuff I already did ( wiped all the stainless steel appliances) but I’ll probably have to do it again.

Next week we’re heading to New Brighton State beach to camp. The weather looks ok. there is supposed to be some showers Sunday but the rest of the week looks nice.  Our favorite bakery ‘Gayles’ is there so that’s a win-win. Plus I’m looking forward to Lodge cooking again.

We are already into April and this year I’ve had almost nothing to drop off at Goodwill. I guess my balance with minimalism is darn good at this point. I just bought a new gooseneck electric teapot and the old one will go to Goodwill but really there’s not much left to declutter.  Perhaps down the road with different needs or criteria, it will change.

Things do change and each season in life brings new things.

 

 

Simple Sunday

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Thanks everyone for the feedback. It looks like it’s going along well. I’ve wanted to buy the domain for a while and before it was under christina1952(of course my birth year) but then the tech help checked and said Tahoegirl was available so, I jumped on it.

In April I will have had my blog for 6 years.  It has been lots on my journey with Myeloma and its struggles. Relapse, Remission, Relapse….. drugs…. and about ordinary life.  I do believe that it’s in the most ordinary and simple things that we find the most meaning in our lives.  But it wasn’t till I put minimalism and simplicity together that the bigger picture of an intentional life emerged.

One thing that drew me to Quakerism at 17 was their purposeful queries focusing on simplicity and living intentionally.  I moved on from Quakerism to Buddhism also focusing on simplicity, zen things, and mindfulness. There clearly is a theme too what I’ve sought to be and do in my life. Even educating my children in Waldorf education and being involved in Waldorf things was a focus on nature and rhythms and an uncomplicated life.

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Today is a gym day and then I need to go to Target for cat food and bleach and other misc.

The sun is finally out although it’s still quite cold. The weather is supposed to turn to snow and rain again on Wednesday.

Dinner is an Ina Garten recipe : chicken parmesan,  and then I’ll do a tofu parmesan and a simple green salad with a lemon vinegarette.

 

why​ minimalize

Posted in decluttering, minimalism, Uncategorized, White space by

We all have different thresholds of clutter and for things that are around us. When I look around my small house, I can see where a die-hard minimalist may say, ‘Gee, you have a lot of Easton Press books, or that I still have my Fiesta Ware.’ Even though I have gotten rid of probably 75 % of what we did have ( grand piano and 2 couches and a futon) plus more, there is still a comfortable amount of stuff that I like.

I love my Needles and Pine Tepco dishes that are in the Heywood Wakefield. Even though I use White dishes daily, I do use the Tepco and I use the Fiesta Ware. But I have them where I can appreciate them visually and they fit on the shelves they are on.

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That’s a big minimalist thing and I do use that concept of how much ‘real estate’ or space do I have for those items. If they were boxed away, I would get rid of them. But they are out on my shelves and fit the space. If you need to start your minimalist journey, I’d recommend the container concept. There’s only so much room on a shelf or in a drawer for items. So that is your parameter. You can only put what fits and that doesn’t mean cramming things in sideways.

So why bother decluttering and minimizing your stuff. From my own personal experience, my house stays cleaner as there is less stuff to dust and overall less stuff to deal. My stress levels are quite low( mostly) when things are tidy and uncluttered. I read a great article on some blog about when we’re stressed we want to declutter and I can say that is what I did.  I found the more I released the less stressed I was. My home felt better to be in. As an introvert, I spend a lot of my time home especially since I no longer work at the library. So

  • cleaner house
  • less stuff to deal with
  • lower stress levels
  • more time for other things like reading, cooking, walking etc

 

There’s less noise in my head when I have more white space around me both literally and figuratively. I think there’s even more, I can declutter down the road but for now, it is a nice balance.

 

 

Sunday doings

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It was very cold last night and there was a hard frost. We don’t really have anything planted so that’s good but some herbs did get frosted.

It looks like the whole week ahead is cold and rainy with lots of snow in the Sierras. Well, we do need it.

Today is a gym day and then just puttering around. I’ve read a couple of good books in the last week and I just got a couple of more ebooks to check out.

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I got these cute hyacinth bulbs at Trader Joes. I love the little glass vases they came in and I can use again.

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Here are a few of my plant friends in the corner. This is where I sit and drink my coffee before I head out to walk. This is to the right of our front door.

Over at the blog ‘Reading my tea leaves’( just about my favorite blog), Erin wrote a really good blog on working with the space you have. She lives in a tiny apartment in NYC and was discussing what you can do or can’t do since it’s a rental. I chimed in that that’s true even when you own. I live in a tiny house( the county lists our house at 679 sq feet) but since we have closed in 2 porches and built a sunroom it is more like 900 sq feet.  I actually have never measured. Maybe I’ll do that. We’re in Northern California and have lived in this house with my husband and 2 children for 22 1/2 years now. My son was 1 when we moved into this house.  Structurally, we’ve never had money to build or do any major renovation. We’ve just done what we could.

The more minimalist we’ve become the bigger our gets simply by removing things that just didn’t fit. ( At one time we had 2 couches and a futon and a piano in our front room along with a large oak table.)  I think we were kinda nuts.  So, I really liked her take on making the best with what you’ve got and making each space special.

Minimalism, Creating routines

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Thoreau says it all in this quote, I think.

We need to think about what we buy, what we consume and what we do with it all after we no longer need it. Plus, how many hours did you work to get that new whatever. It’s certainly food for thought.

But today in my minimalism series, I want to address routines. So you’ve decluttered, purged, donated, thrown away, and organized whats left. Now comes keeping it going by creating routines. Daily, weekly, monthly.

When I started my minimalism journey it was Flylady that helped me get going. I was starting a new chemotherapy after remission of 4 years. The chemo was fairly easy to tolerate 21 days on 7 days off. But the steroids were tough, so I found FlyLady and started implementing the 15-minute rule and followed her weekly zones.

There are 5 zones and every 5 weeks you go thru your whole house. Since decluttering and purging, tidying and housework are a breeze. My biggest zone, and by that I mean the most time consuming, is the kitchen.  I can do all the other rooms in about 10 minutes.  I also do the weekly home blessing which includes washing mirrors and dusting.

She also has an evening and morning routine.  I do the morning one based on what I need. For instance, I do 1X of laundry a day, I swish and swipe the bathroom in the morning, I make sure the counters are clean and the sink as well. Of course, I make the bed daily. I think the evening one would be especially important if you have kids going to school and need to plan lunches etc.

I think it’s important to create your own routine based on what your life looks like. If I had young children, I’m sure it would be different, working professionals will look different too. Start with the basics

  • make your bed
  • tidy the living room or any room that needs picking up
  • 1X laundry a day, done from start to finish
  • clean sink
  • wipe bathroom down
  • empty dishwasher
  • plan dinner

I plan dinner with a weekly rotation but I plan specifically in the morning what I ‘m doing for dinner.

Keep at it. It took a while to get my routine down and it will you too.  Do the most important things first and then schedule 15 minutes for the rest and see how much you can accomplish in 15 minutes.

There are tons of Pinterest ideas for routines to check as well.

 

 

 

Minimalism, now to organize!

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9aff9c2e96b462ea1d37c12c64c687dcSo, you’ve decluttered, purged, and got rid of the stuff(at least for this round,)and things look pretty good.

Now comes some organizing. Let the fun begin.

In my pantry, which is a stainless steel restaurant shelving, I use Ikea jars.

Plus 1/2 gallon Ball jars.

I like them equally but the IKEA jars are almost 1/2 the price. When I’m in Ikea, I always try and pick up a few. So into these jars, I put my organic long grain white rice, organic short grain brown rice, pasta, polenta, WW flour, and organic white flour.  Also, my black beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans and green lentils.

The glass jars make the pantry look more attractive. Especially since my shelves are open.

In my bathroom, I use Target’s white baskets and keep q-tips and extra stuff in.

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You can be very creative in creating organized belongings. I use vintage suitcases to store my kid’s Waldorf wood toys that I just haven’t gotten rid of yet. I did donate the Waldorf dolls as they were made of cotton and wool and would eventually degrade.

I also have 2 under bed bins to hold my vintage tablecloths and a few odds and ends. Our bedframe(homemade) is wood and low to the floor so using the area underneath it is wise and useful.

After the purge, organize in a neat and clean way.  Your home will be easier to keep tidy and to clean.

 

Minimalism, create white space

Posted in decluttering, minimalism, simplicity, Uncategorized, White space by

9a1fb140b9232e6ec8deba592897d9cb.jpgAhhh, to have the things out of the house. It’s very freeing and leaves open lots of possibilities.

It’s best to follow, though, the one in one out rule once you’ve done a good purge. So, if you buy a new T-shirt and the old one goes out. Same with everything, although, one caveat might be if you are buying something you need and don’t have one like it to discard. In that event, just find another item not related to donate.  Of course, I don’t follow this to the letter at all. For Christmas, we all received(from Santa) 2 Easton Press books. Since I’ve decluttered almost all my other books, I didn’t feel the need to reduce the books.  They are beautiful classics that are leather bound and gold gilded. I bought a lot on eBay before Christmas for an amazing price of 80.00 for 7 books.  Very sweet deal.

Creating white space is leaving some spaces unfilled. Perhaps a shelf only with a few items. I try and keep one open shelf or at least 1/2 of a shelf open. It’s much easier on the eyes not for it to be packed.img_0363

Also, creating white space allows you to open up to new possibilities and ideas. Rearrange your furniture or think of a creative solution to small space living(or medium, or large) but something new.   The possibilities are endless really when we have decluttered down to the essential, purged all the unnecessary things that we hold on to, white space let’s us be creative.

Plus, it’s really fun!!

Try to empty a shelf, a cabinet shelf, or a drawer.  Let it be a  space for light to come in.

 

 

Minimalism, get rid of the STUFF!!!

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I love this quote. It’s so true!!

Just yesterday we dropped a load at Goodwill Express and then the pet donation thrift store and pet bookstore. They had been in the back of my VW for at least a month. I had hemmed and hawed at dropping off my practically new Dansko shoes( I paid $110 for), and an old family book that was printed in 1850.  I had only worn the shoes 3-4 times and just didn’t fit my feet right. The book was an old book of quotations. Like I’m going to read that. So, I let them go for someone else to enjoy.

But, to backtrack here for a moment.

There are many ways to begin the minimalism journey, but number one is decluttering stuff.  There are so many approaches to this. KonMari, minimalist game, FlyLady,  Peter Walsh, and probably lots more. I actually have used all the popular ones at different times. It helps to keep getting fresh perspectives and to keep digging thru levels of stuff.

Generally, it’s a good idea to start decluttering with the easy stuff. Clothes are pretty unemotional, books are also fairly easy to discard, maybe moving on to kitchen stuff and pieces of furniture that don’t serve you anymore. Throw away broken stuff and stuff that can’t be repaired.

With each load you take to the thrift store or the dump, you will feel lighter. It is an amazing process.

You must though, do it. You have to put it in your car and take it. Best right away!!

When I was getting rid of lots and lots of stuff including many of my vintage collections, I happened to have a co-worker who loved that stuff and actually had a fairly big house so it fit in. She received an old 1900’s trunk, vintage fans, dishes, etc. It made me so happy to pass them on to someone who would enjoy them.  If you can do that, it’s great. If not, just remember once it’s out of your space, take it to the appropriate drop-off.

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This too is so true. So many of the things I let go, truly did matter to me before. And then somehow, they just didn’t and I needed the space more. The emptiness and openness was and is so healing.

So,  DECLUTTER in whatever way suits you. It may be 15 minutes a day. It may be on weekends. Just do it.

Then GET RID OF IT!

Creating a more minimalist environment will help you have more time to do things you enjoy because with less stuff there is less maintenance and upkeep.