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Celebrate Your Minimalist Lifestyle – Thanksgiving and Buy Nothing Day

I’d just like to wish all my American readers a very Happy Thanksgiving. I’ve always loved this holiday, because it encourages us to focus on, and be grateful for, what we have. And when we stop to think about it, most of us truly have enough.

Furthermore, it makes us stop and realize that material goods are not the source of happiness—far from it, in fact. Friends, family, love, and good health—these are the things that make our lives truly rich. We really don’t need much beyond that.

When my friends and I were in our early twenties, before we had families of our own, we all used to meet up on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.… {Read more}

What’s in a Minimalist Kitchen?

When we sold our house and purged almost everything we had (see My Minimalist Story, Part 1: A Clean Slate), we discovered that the majority of our “stuff” came out of the kitchen. We had never realized just how many plates, pots, pans, glasses, utensils, and other cooking implements we had accumulated over the years.

After ridding ourselves of all the excess, we thoroughly enjoyed having an ultra-minimalist “kitchen” during our six weeks of transition from the US to the UK: nothing more than our sporks, titanium cups, and a tea kettle (and the occasional hotel microwave). Of course, we relied heavily upon restaurants and prepared foods from grocery stores—not exactly a long-term solution.… {Read more}

Minimalist Furniture: The Bare Essentials

We’ve been in our flat for over two months now, and I think it’s about as “furnished” as it’s going to get. Therefore, I thought I’d devote this post to recapping what we found to be the bare essentials, furniture-wise.

We ended up with a grand total of four pieces, as follows:

1. Mattress on the floor. We haven’t found any reason to invest in a bed frame, and actually quite enjoy sleeping on the ground. Our bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling window lends itself nicely to low (or non-existent) furnishing. Furthermore, our building has radiant ceiling heat, so our floor is warmed by the flat below.… {Read more}

Minimalist Living: Questioning the Couch

Have you ever been in a house without a couch?

I don’t think I have. I’ve thought about my friends’ houses, my relatives’ houses, and my neighbors’ houses. I’ve thought about all the places in which I’ve lived, from childhood until now. I’ve thought about the homes I’ve seen on TV, in movies, and in magazines.

From modest studios to million-dollar McMansions, from inner cities to suburbs to out-in-the-sticks, you’d be hard-pressed to find a living room without a couch.

In considering the subject, I realized that our sofa has always been the key piece of our décor. When we looked for houses or apartments, we’d wonder how the layout would accommodate it.… {Read more}

Minimalist Living: Life Without a TV

For years, my husband and I talked about giving up our TV. We hadn’t had cable in a decade, hardly watched anything other than the news, and didn’t like the way it was the focal point of our living room.

But for some reason we could never take the crucial step of getting rid of the darn thing. Worse yet: when a lightning storm conveniently destroyed it for us, what did we do? We went out and bought another one. {sigh}

Our recent overseas move, however, provided us with another chance to be TV-free. And this time, I’m happy to report, we took it.… {Read more}

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}