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, Victoria tells us about the wonderful freedom that minimalist living affords her. To read more of her thoughts, please visit her blog at Ozarks Crescent Mural.
Victoria writes:
Victoria
I am a minimalist by nature. I’ve always liked things to be very simple and easy. I noticed this early on when I first moved into my own place. I didn’t like a lot of things and no way was there any excess or clutter. Things were very minimal and I liked that. I certainly didn’t grow up in a house like this though. My mother and her sister have rooms that are just storage only. I couldn’t live this way. I’m more like my father who had very few things.
If something is not in active use, then I take it to a place that gives everything away for free. I figure if I’m giving something away for free then it should in turn be given away for free.
I have moved a lot by having set the goal in my 20s of seeing all of the lower 48 states (accomplished many years ago), and you learn the lesson early on that taking everything from place to place is expensive. Not only that but it becomes tiresome, exhausting, a hassle and you lose respect for what you have because it’s caused so much grief in getting it around. It’s easy to pick up gently-used things in your new town for not much money, a lot less money than you would’ve spent on moving what you had. Plus, it’s fun to get different things.
Now that I work at home, I have the freedom to take it on the road. There’s nothing better than not being tied to an office. This winter I will be staying at a resort in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas from November through February. It will be just me, my dog and a suitcase. Can’t get much lighter in life than that!
Victoria – Ozarks Crescent Mural
{If you’d like to read more about minimalist living, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed, or signing up to receive new articles by email.}
I have to admit this Victoria is quite a person :) She’s one of those people where you can go from one link to the next. Thanks for introducing me to her. I’ve discovered a few websites I’m liking – I’d never heard of Hub Pages or Cloud Crowd or ..
I’m glad my cheap property and work at home links have been useful. Good to know. Thank you for your sweet comment. I believe there’s always a way to live inexpensively, but nicely, which I think minimalism is all about. And the ability to live and work anywhere should be accessible to anyone.
Thanks for sharing, Victoria!
My pleasure, Gil. Do you have a Real Life Minimalist story here?
It would be lighter without the dog!
My dog is my soul. I couldn’t live without her. She is a Saint Bernard, so I may be lighter without her, but I would lonelier than I would ever choose to be. :)
Very cool that you’ve seen all of the lower 48. I’d like to do that myself someday. Did you take one major road trip, or see them all slowly? It’s great not to be tied down by things.
More on the slow level, but not super slow, nor one major road trip. I chose a place and moved there. I’d get a place to live and a job and stay awhile. I’d see the states on the way there and all the states nearby while there too. Things are nice, but places are more fun.
Wow, that sounds really nice to stay in the Ozarks over winter. I would love to work from home, and have the freedom to do my job from anywhere!
The Ozarks are amazing. I recommend them to anyone. The water is the cleanest most purest water I’ve ever been in.
The innkeeper gave me an unbeatable rate. The key is to check with many different inns. You’d be shocked how rock bottom they’ll go for extended stays in their slow months.
I have a Work at Home Site Directory. It’s just a list of places that offer work from home. Simple and very minimalist in its design: http://sites.google.com/site/workathomesitedirectory/
I envy the fact that you were a minimalist right from the start. So much easier than trying to get there from a houseful of stuff. Good for you!!!
I do feel fortunate in that way. Although, I thought there was something wrong with me, which I think a lot of minimalists go through.
Great story and nice to “see” you. : )
Thanks! Be sure to share your story too. I love reading them.
I love this:
“. . .I figure if I’m giving something away for free then it should in turn be given away for free. . .”
Well done, Victoria.
:-)
Jean
Yeah, Jean, honestly it really bugged me that most places accept free donations, yet turn right around and sell them. I just don’t want to be part of that cycle.
I think it is wonderful that you have been able to travel so extensively and yes you are correct that it certainly would not be very easy dragging all your ‘stuff’ along with you. Kudos to you for all that you have accomplished so far. Thanks for sharing your story with us!
Thank you. I do feel accomplished in a weird sort of way, certainly not in the typical ways! The “not dragging my stuff around part” was indeed a learning process.
How wonderful and delightful! I especially liked how Victoria said, “I figure if I’m giving something away for free then it should in turn be given away for free.”
Sometimes, the best things in life don’t cost a single penny. Doesn’t have to be tangible items either. FREE also applies to our most precious ‘possessions’ of relationships, honest and real authenticity, meaningful work, creativity, beauty in nature, and simply put, life. :)
Yes, charging money to someone for an item that is intended to be free is irksome for me. There are places everywhere that give donated items away for free. You just have to seek them out.
And after reconnecting with someone who is the nearest and dearest person to me in the universe after several years apart, I really like your last comment about the beautiful free things in life.
She sounds like a really cool, grounded person! Thanks, MissMin, for providing a platform for us to learn about others’ paths.
Wow! Thank you. What a nice thing to say. I appreciate it.
And thank you, miss minimalist, for sharing my story. I love your blog!
Most places that sell donated items use the collect funds to give away food or cooked meals and have much lower (or no charge) prices for those with lower income. They are nonprofit organizations.
I’ve been reading your older posts and more on minimalism in general. I want to be able to clear out more furniture and more cupboards. I’m glad there are so many of us. I didn’t know minsumering was so popular.
I continue to clear out possessions. I gave away another stack of books yesterday. I take my plastic bags to be recycled. I have a set of cups and saucers I am giving as a fund raiser to a local group. There are still more things to pass on. I haven’t bought anything in quite a while but there are many things I don’t need or use here.
Since I have an empty dresser and an empty closet now that my son moved out, I thought I would store my mother’s summer clothes over the winter. Of course, she won’t part with them even though they don’t fit since she gained weight. She is still hoarding papers, books, etc. at the nursing home. When the staff cleans her room, she accuses them of stealing her newspapers and old magazines.
My 90 year old mother was in the hospital for 2 weeks. I used the opportunity to get rid of her used tea bags, empty sugar packets, broken pens, etc. She came back to the nursing home and never noticed. She had zip-loc bags full of stale cookies, too. This is why I’ve never hoarded and always thrown out or recycled excess. I have 3 big bags for Goodwill this week,too.