a Better Way to Spend Money

Minimalists don’t spend money.

Everyone knows they don’t. Or at least they think they do. And while that might be true for a very small percentage of minimalists, its certainly not true for me, and its not true for the vast majority. What is different is HOW minimalists spend.

Business likes to sell us the story that whatever bullshit product they’ve come up with will change your life, hand you whatever it is they think you want on a silver platter. Its a pretty safe assumption that any time there’s something like “real customer, not actor portrayal” or a dude in a labcoat extolling the product’s virtues, they’re pulling wool over our eyes. I’m not arguing that none of that stuff is useful, just that it won’t improve things because its special in any way. You don’t even need a study to tell you this. Just think back over the past few years and honestly look at whether anything you’ve bought outside of necessities has actually been worth it and not just ended up in storage or a landfill, forgotten and collecting dust.

It might seem weird here, but I rather like Epicurus’s suggestion of the four part cure (tetrapharmakos). I won’t go into details, though I highly recommend doing a search for “Epicurus on Happiness” on YouTube. In essence most of us think of Epicureanism as almost the exact opposite of what it is. Instead of indulging in all the things all the time, Epicurus focused on learning to get by on the basics: simple food and water, friends, simple clothes, and a roof over one’s head. Learn to be content with these and happiness is assured. Alain De Botton’s book “Consolations of Philosophy” has a great chapter on Epicureanism with a great explanation of the Tetrapharmakos. In short, Epicurus, as far as we can tell, would be just as disqusted with Futurama’s Hedonism bot as most of us likely are.

Why bring this up? Ever since reading about the Tetrapharmakos a week or so ago, I’ve been putting it to the test, and finding that its pretty darn effective and cuts costs quite a bit. Am I making corporations happy? Probably not. However it would do us all good to remember that we got along for the majority of human history without partaking in shopping as a major past-time and find happiness, and we could certainly do so again.

Call to Action:
If you feel so inclined, take on the Tetrapharmakos for a week. Think of it as an experiment. Cut out the extraneous stuff, focus on enjoying and being grateful for the basics and see what happens. Either way, no pressure to keep it up any longer. Feel free to head down to comments to share any thoughts, experiences, etc, whether or not you give this a shot.

Deowning to Live a Better Life

While I’ve suggested before that there might be an “end point” that minimalism is working toward, thats different for each one of us, I’m not really sure thats the case anymore. There’s something about the constant whittling, questioning, self-honesty of constantly getting rid of unnecessary items thats invigorating. Its a sort of spiritual “sharpening the saw” to borrow a phrase from Franklin Covey.

I use two donation boxes, one in my closet and the other next to my bookshelf. When I’m done with a book and I’m pretty sure I won’t be going back to it or its been sitting on the shelf “too long” (usually a couple weeks) it gets dropped in the box, and when I’ve got a stack of five to ten in there they get taken off to circulate around a couple of the local used shops and whatever isn’t sold gets donated. The exception to this is a handful of books I have I KNOW I can’t get from the library and would be a pain to replace, not just because they’d be expensive, but because they’re covered in highlighting and notes that would be essentially impossible to recreate. As Josh Millburn of the Minimalists likes to say, the value is the information, not the books. If a book is sitting on my shelf untouched it’s probably better off at a used store where someone else has a chance to pick it up and get value from it.

Clothes that haven’t been worn in a long time, or in some cases that I just get sick of end up in the donation box in my closet to be carted off and sold/donated once I have somewhere between a half dozen and a dozen pieces collected. I subscribe loosely to Courtney Carver’s project 333. I say loosely because I’m pretty comfortable in all seasons with 33 articles of clothing for all year since I live in the NorthWest where its basically cold and rainy all the time, and so long as I have a couple pairs of shorts and decent sandals for the times its summery out, I’m good to go.

The sale/donation bit is important. Yes, I could probably sell whatever isn’t bought locally on ebay or Amazon, but I’m more interested in getting rid of stuff than making money. Its also a denial of the Sunk Cost fallacy to emphasize trying to get some bit of my lost investment back rather than simply getting it out of my place. After all, its not exerting any less psychological strain on me if I’m stressing about getting rid of it than if I’m stressing about having it.

More and more, my library has gone digital, and physical books have come from the library. A big exception being books I know I’m going to annotate heavily and want to go back to. This does a couple things: Saves money (since Kindle books are USUALLY cheaper (I found a $30 ebook recently. Granted it was half the price of the print edition, but still…), and to paraphrase a half remembered quote from Leo Babauta “I’ve got access to a lot more books if I treat my local library as my bookshelf.”

As for clothes, its important to remember two things: Clothes are meant to keep you warm and socially appropriate. If someone is judging you because you aren’t wearing a different outfit every day of the month, you’re hanging out with the wrong people. After all, when was the last time someone commented on you wearing the same thing (not literally) a couple days a week?

When it gets right down to it, the less we have, the more we might just be. Less to clean up or around, and the higher percentage of possesions we actually use and benefit from on a regular basis.

change one thing

Often there is one habit that, when recognised, and addressed, will act as a kind of tipping point. Its often so obvious we don’t even notice it. Often for those of us in our twenties and thirties, this relates in some way to technology.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no luddite. Tech is a powerful tool, but, as the Minimalists like to say, you can use a chainsaw as a tool or a weapon, a positive, creative object, or a destructive one. Modern tech can be used to learn valuable skills like meditation, & foreign languages, organize your life with calendar and to-do apps, read all the books with apps like Kindle or Nook. Technology can also be an incredible time waster, getting us lost in youtube, two dots, twitter, facebook. The trick is to focus more on the former, less on the latter, and enforce limits on yourself, so it doesn’t take over your life.

Cheat Codes for Life

After reading the posts from Oliver Emberton in last week’s Friday Faves, I started thinking about how the idea might be taken further. What if there were cheat codes in real life like there are in video games? A cheat code is something that unlocks a feature that wasn’t intended to released, or exploits some aspect of  a game’s programming, so there wouldn’t be a direct equivalency, but there are things we can do that have a similar effect. Below I’ve listed a couple minimalism flavored cheat codes for our real lives. I’ve included possible effects with each. Feel free to  wander on down to the comments and suggest more:

333: Limit your entire wardrobe to 33 items for three months. While I’ve not done this officially, I have been drastically reducing the number of clothes in my closet, and I find its rather enjoyaable. You end up wearing the clothes you like most more often, and I have yet to experience someone asking why I wear the same clothes all the time.

Result: More confidence, less stress, more time

100 Thing Challenge: What would you take if your house was on fire? If you had to move house in the family car, what would you take? Try making a list of 100 items (or 15o, or 50, or 43, the limit is kind of arbitrary) and whittle everything down to just whats on that list. We have a tendency to collect stuff, but we forget that stuff isn’t what makes us happy. Limiting stuff can help us remember what is.

Result: Less stress, more clarity, less stuff, more time

Priorities: What is most important to you really? Make a list of the 3-5 most important, and work toward focusing on those things.

Result: Less stress, more clarity, more time

Friday Faves: First World Problems to Bodhisattvas

{Every week, I publish a series of inspiring links. Enjoy!}

Have kids and clutter? Want to get rid of it (the clutter, not the kids) and live a minimalist lifestyle? Then you should check out Joshua Becker’s new book, Clutterfree with Kids.

10 Productivity Tips From a Blue-Collar Genius

You Should be Amazed

First World Problems

the Way of the Bodhisatthva: Living in the World

Friday Faves: Tiny Houses to Productivity

{Every week, I publish a series of inspiring links. Enjoy!}

Dee Williams, one of the major players in the tiny house movement is putting out a memoir! Want! If you love tiny houses too, you can preorder here.

Life After the Crash

Eyes up, Heart Open

16 Tips for a Paperless Life

the Secret Weapon

Zen to Done (Older post, but found recently and definitely applicable)

Routines II: my Evening Routine

This is part two of a series about creating morning and evening routines. For part one go here. Part three is coming next week.

A morning routine has been part of my day since I got out of college, but I still ended up crashing in the evenings. For the past week or two, I’ve been working on making a habit of a simple evening routine: Clean kitchen, watch an episode of TV, write out a short to-do list and set out my clothes for the next day, get ready for bed, and read for a while before going to sleep. This gives me a chance to wind down from the day thats just ended, reflect, and get ready for the next.

An evening routine is less involved than a morning one, focused on preparing for tomorrow and winding down after today. By cleaning the kitchen, I’m ensuring I wake up to a clean(er) house, which means less stress in the morning. The to-do list (which is three to five Most Important Tasks) means I have a solid sense of what I want to get done the next day, although its not all inclusive. Putting clothes out the night before isn’t necessary, but streamlines the morning routine. The only thing I’d add to the mix is journaling, which I’ve done sporadically before and always enjoyed, and a short yoga routine.

The process for creating an evening routine isn’t much different from the morning one, except instead of getting activities in that you enjoy, the focus is on reflection, winding down, and preparation. Preparation includes cleaning the house (not top to bottom, focus more on things like doing dishes, cleaning up obvious messes, etc), writing out a to-do list (three to five MITs), and setting out the next day’s clothes. Reflection is the one thing missing from my routine at the moment, but can can include journaling, mentally going back through the day, or any activity that allows you to reflect on the day thats just ended and anything going on in your head. Winding down might be yoga, or reading, or taking the time to enjoy a cup of decaf tea, or  any other activities you find relaxing. Give yourself time between what you’ve been doing during the day and sleep, so that your brain and body can slow down and relax.

Sound like a good idea? Have you tried to start an evening routine before and struggled? Has a morning routine given you problems? Leave a comment down in the comments, or tweet me @rfrankmartin.

Have questions for me? Morning/evening routine related or not, tweet me or head over to the ask page on my tumblog. You might just see the answer posted there, or used as fodder for a future post on the tumblog or here.

Routines I: my Morning Routine

This is part one of a series about creating morning and evening routines. For part two go here. Part three and a conclusion are forthcoming.

My living arrangements have changed a bit since graduating college. I moved into my own place for about a year before moving back in with my parents for various reasons. My routine, however, has stayed basically the same since moving into my apartment a couple weeks after graudation.

Most days I wake up between five and six in the morning. Since going off sugar, I tend to wake up in this window without needing an alarm, regardless of what time I went to bed the night before. After hitting the bathroom and sitting for a couple minutes of meditation I head upstairs to get coffee started, turn the lights on in the living room and open my laptop to write morning pages and a post for my tumblr, before reading for a while. Once my parents have gotten up, my mom and I get a snack and head out for a three to five mile walk, before returning to shower and get the day started.

As you can see, at one and the same time, there’s a lot I’m doing, and not much. This is a routine that allows me the opportunity to do many of the things I enjoy (writing, reading, meditation, walking, spending time with family) before the day gets going and distraction sets in (notice “checking email” is conspicuously absent). At this point, just about the only thing I’d add is a short yoga session, and maybe switching coffee for tea, both of which I plan to do this year.

If you like the idea of a morning routine, give it a try for a while. Before anything else, take some time to sit down and think about what you enjoy doing. Reading, exercise, meditation, journaling, and enjoying a nice mug of coffee or tea, are all good (though I prefer to journal in the evening) but there are plenty of options. Include not just things you already do, but things you enjoy doing but have trouble finding the time for. Once thats done, write another list based on that one, this time of the three to five activities from the first list that you enjoy the most, once again, regardless of whether you do them now or not. Actually, give particular attention to what you enjoy doing now but don’t have time for. Keep the list to three to five activities, that way there’s no feeling of needing to rush.

When you start doing your routine, be sure to give yourself time in the morning by getting up earlier than normal (unless you’re already an early riser). To do this, focus on going to bed earlier, and slowly moving your wake-up time earlier. This won’t be easy, but remember, you’re creating a routine so you can have more time for things you enjoy. Look for follow up posts next week about evening routines.

Sound like a good idea? Have you tried to start a morning routine before and struggled? Leave a comment, or tweet me @Simple_Yogi,

Have questions for me? Morning/evening routine related or not, tweet me or head over to the ask page on my tumblog. You might just see the answer posted there, or used as fodder for a future post on the tumblog or here.

a Minimalist’s Library

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, one of the many reasons I ended up embracing minimalism was dragging a huge collection of books I wasn’t reading across campus in college every time I moved to a new dorm. Amusingly enough, books are one of the last things I’ve ended up minimising. Then again, what do you expect of an admitted bibliophile? Apparently I’m not the only one, books are a pretty common thing to get tripped up on. They’re sacred after all, aren’t they? I certainly used to think so. My grandma was a librarian and she’s probably spinning in her grave, but lately I’m finding its not that hard to cull, and I’ve actually been reading more since letting my library be a bit more fluid. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always have a small collection of dead tree books, but I don’t need to keep ALL THE BOOKS anymore. If you’d like to join me, here’s how I’ve been looking at things:

Active Weeding: As I’m reading a book, I’m usually thinking about what I’m going to do with it, and I only have three options: keep, sell, and give away. These days, if I keep something, I try to be realistic as to whether I’m actually going to reread the book. I can tell you right now there are a number of books on my shelf at the moment, that I might have kept a couple years ago, but will likely be going to my favorite used store when I’m done with them. Most of what I sell goes to that used store, and goes into a trade tab that I use to buy books from them. Give away is pretty self-explanatory. If I can think of anyone that would get value from the book, and I know I’m not going to want to read it again, I give it to the person.

Used: These days I limit myself to buying used, whether from my local shop, or off Amazon. There are a couple exceptions, the main one being the fact that every once in a while I’ll run into something thats not available used, but thats more the exception than the rule. This is both a great way to keep the cost of my favorite hobby down, and stumble onto new stuff I never knew existed

Kindle: Honestly, I didn’t want anything to do with ebooks for the longest time. I got one of the very first ebook readers, and sure it was fun to play with, but it was an utter pain to get new material for. A while back I put the Kindle app on my phone, mostly to get books by the Minimalists and my cousin Derek, but the more I used it, the more I liked it. I recently picked up a Kindle Paperwhite, which I’ve absolutely fallen in love with. This has the advantage of letting me carry multiple books around without the weight, and ebooks are near dirt cheap these days (most being $5-$10 with some outliers less than $5, and a couple around $15)

the Library: Speaking of keeping costs down, there is always the good old library. You’d be surprised what you can borrow these days as long as you’re in a city with a decent library system. My library card has become a permanent fixture of my wallet, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Have you ever considered ditching your library? What sort of system do you use to decide what stays and goes? Head on down to the comments and let us know.

Cooking for Dummies

In college, what little cooking I did involved the microwave. Living solo for a year had me living off prepared food. The only thing keeping me from growing a gut were three mile walks every day and yoga. A combination of laziness and intimidation at the seeming complexity of the endeavor kept me out of the kitchen for longer than it should have, much the same way stress, overwork, and seeming complexity or difficulty keep way too many people from cooking these days.

We’re not dummies, but we’re trying to pound square pegs into round holes: Healthy eating just requires two minor tweaks to behavior and attitude:

1) Cook ahead: There’s no reason to cook multiple times every day thanks to refrigeration, as long as you’re willing to take the time to cook big batches of relatively simple dishes over the weekend. That way, all you really need to do is grab a container out of the refrigerator, spoon out however much you want and heat it up. Just as easy as microwave dinners with a little planning ahead, and no strange chemicals that require a biochemistry degree to decipher. I’ve included the recipe for my favorite breakfast at the end of the article.

2) Change Your attitude about food: For most of us in the west, food is about pleasure. We like to say its fuel, but with the amount we eat, especially the amount of blatantly unhealthy food we eat, we’re lying. Its not completely our fault, but we do have the power to change it. There’s nothing wrong with going out to eat once in a while. I love going out with friends and family every once in a while, but eating a relatively simple diet actually makes this more enjoyable, not less. There’s nothing wrong with herbs, spices, etc. Eating simply doesn’t preclude eating tasty food. Actually, I recommend it, just so long as that tastiness doesn’t come from things that will clog your arteries and kill you slowly. As long as you have a well rounded diet, and keep certain things off your plate, you’re good to go. (for the purposes of full disclosure, I don’t adhere to this quite %100. I live at home at the moment, and cook for myself twice a day, but eat dinner with my parents most of the time.)

These two simple things have done more to made cooking less intimidating, and more enjoyable than any research I did on the internet trying to find simple recipes. (incidentally, Leo has a couple great simple vegan recipes over here).

 

 

Golden Oatmeal:

 

 

– 6 cups water

– 2 cups Steel Cut Oats

-Cinnamon

-Brown Sugar

-Golden raisins

 

 

1) Bring six cups of water to a boil.

2) Dump the oats in and stir, making sure to get all the way down to the bottom of the pot. Keep stirring until grains start floating to the top and it thickens up a bit.

3) Set a timer for ten minutes, put the lid on, and leave it.

4) After ten minutes, dump in a healthy amount of cinnamon, brown sugar and golden raisins. Stir, set the timer for five minutes, and put the lid back on.

5) Take a taste. If the oatmeal is crunchy, cook for another five minutes or so.

6) Transfer oatmeal into a Pyrex or Tupperware container (preferably not plastic) and put in the refrigerator.

7) In the morning pull the container out, plop a hunk in a bowl and pour your favorite milk substitute over it. Cover the bowl and microwave for a minute. Sprinkle some brown sugar on it then use a fork or spoon to break it up a bit, and put it back in for another thirty seconds.

8) Enjoy