becoming minimalist has been named one of the

“TOP 15 SIMPLICITY/MINIMALIST BLOGGERS TO WATCH IN 2010.”

thanks you, simplified

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• top 1,000,000

i’m not sure how i missed belts the first time we minimalized our closet, but this past week when i switched out my warm weather clothing for cold weather, i noticed that they had never been minimalized.  i even had belts that i used to wear in high school still hanging in my closet.

i minimalized 10 belts to be donated to goodwill.  i left 4 in my closet (brown, white, and 2 black).

i spent some time this holiday season cleaning out my closet… again.  it’s good timing as my birthday and christmas both fall in december and i tend to receive several articles of clothing.

last spring, i borrowed an idea from oprah.com that included hanging my clothes with the hangers in reverse direction.  as i wore a piece of clothing, it was returned to the closet with the hanger facing the correct direction.  at the end of the season, i would take easy notice of the clothes i did not wear all season and promptly discard. 

the experiment was beneficial in two ways:

1. at the end of season, i quickly noticed the 7 shirts that were just taking up space in my closet.  morning after morning, i chose not to put them on and chose a previously worn shirt instead.  those 7 shirts have been removed from my closet and placed in the nearest “goodwill donations” box.
2. during the season, the hanger experiment worked to keep my wardrobe fresh as i wore a few shirts that had been otherwise neglected.  the backwards hangers did not catch my attention most mornings as i naturally went to the section of clothes that are routinely worn (it was far less distracting than i imagined).  however, a few times i purposely took special notice of the backwards hangers and chose a shirt to wear that i wouldn’t normally have worn.

all in all, i was very pleased with the experiment.  i have switched out my closet for winter clothes (good thing since we got 31 inches of snow over the weekend) and have begun the experiment anew.  this time with my winter wardrobe.

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• your spring/summer wardrobe experiment
• operation: armoire removal complete

last january, we got rid of extended cable.  it was the cable company’s idea.  although we considered changing our service every time they raised our prices, when they went over the $60/month threshhold, we finally pulled the plug.  to be completely upfront, we tried satellite services but could not get a signal in our wooded neighborhood.  so we downgraded to the basic cable (13 channels).

because that was 8 months ago, we have had sufficient opportunity to evaluate our decision:

• less channels
• more boardgames
• more family walks (we enjoy the 1.1 mile loop through our neighborhood)
• more playing sports rather than watching them
• more time at the dinner table
• more reading
• more sex
• more money in the savings account
• more time with friends
• more interest in real peoples’ lives (instead of interest in the real housewives of atlanta)
• more watching tv together (less options means that my wife and i tend to watch more of the same shows)
• more time at the gym
• more time on-line (that’s the compensation)
• more appreciation for both political parties (less o’reilly, hannity, olbermann, and stewart)
• less touch with youth culture (i work in a job that requires me to stay current with youth culture… this is the biggest drawback)

let’s be clear.  we have not eliminated television completely from our lives.  my children (7 and 3) still watch at least one hour per day (30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes after school).  i still watch sports when i can.  my wife still enjoys her drama in primetime.  but our television watching has been drastically reduced.

we are pleased with our decision.

i realize this is probably not for everyone… after all, our kids are young.  and i suppose some people are disciplined enough to just turn off the television.  but overall, i’d recommend the experiment to anyone.

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it feels good to return a favor.

when we were a young family just starting out (in our early 20s), we received some wonderful gifts from good friends to help furnish our home: an entire bedroom set, some kitchen appliances, entertainment unit, among others.  when our first child was born seven years ago, we were again blessed with countless gifts to help us get started.  i am thankful for those who were generous enough to share their good fortune with us.  and yesterday, i returned the favor.

or maybe i should say, i passed the favor on… not to the families who got us started, but to a young family expecting their first child.  i delievered our crib and changing table to their apartment yesterday and joyfully set it up in their nursery.  they were grateful…  just as grateful as i was when someone helped my family get started.

maybe you can pass on a favor too.  what do you have in your home that can be passed on to someone just starting out?  is there a young family in your life that would appreciate your help today?  a young family at your work, in your neighborhood, or in your church?  one of the unintended consequences of becoming minimalist is the less i care about physical possessions, the more i am freed to help others.

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• minimalizing and serving others
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i hate admitting weakness.  i avoid mentioning it at all costs.  but today, i will break from tradition.

i have used e-mail at work consistently for ten years.  and i have “purged” my email inbox only twice in my life.  the first time was when i switched companies 4 years ago.  at that time, i had little use for my old emails.  i saved them all to a cd and never looked back… never opening them again… any of them… i started my new job on my new computer with no email messages.

4 years later (today), i turned on my computer to 1,204 email messages in my inbox – no folders, no systems to retrieve data, just 1,200+ messages.  luckily, “purge inbox” had been entered on my to-do list almost 10 months ago and this morning i had set aside time to do it.

first, i poured myself a cup of coffee.  second, i closed my door.  third, i researched recommended folder structures for email by searching on-line and calling friends.  fourth, i got to work going through each message individually and filing them into a folder or deleting them.  fifth, 3+ hours later, i emerged from my office with every message in its proper home in its new folder.  inbox messages: zero.

i incorporated two valuable pieces of advice that i collected during my research.  1) if you can retrieve the information elsewhere, don’t keep the email.  this works for me.  i am not in a job where large amounts of needed data are stored in emails.  most of my necessary data can be found in files and folders on my hard drive.  and 2) keep your email filing system similar to your document system.  in other words, my document folders are sorted by category and event, not people names.  therefore, it made little sense for me to establish an e-mail folder structure based on people.  it serves me better by using events.

i am not surprised that my uncluttered inbox breathes into me such fresh air now when i check e-mails.  just like an uncluttered desk, an uncluttered desktop (or outlook) is so freeing and energizing.

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i would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my old armoire.  for ten years it stood next to our bedroom dresser and housed my pants, shorts, sweaters, and gym clothing.  but because of the extra space that has been created in my closet due to the reduction of our wardrobe over the past year, yesterday i was able to relocate all of my belongings to other places:

• the pants, shorts, sweaters, and gym clothing fit nicely in my closet and dresser drawer. 
• one box full of pants and sweaters has been packed for goodwill.
• my “yardwork” clothing has been moved to the laundry room (near the back door).

the armoire has been removed from our bedroom and has freed up roughly 15 square feet of floor space.  i found a special joy in removing this armoire because it symbolizes how far we have come over the past year. 

one year ago, this armoire, our dresser, and closet was stuffed full of clothing (and rarely worn clothing at that).  the task of removing a large piece of storage furniture seemed impossible – there was just no open space to put the clothes that were in it.  but over the past year, because we have minimalized our closets and purchased less clothing, room has been created.  relocating the clothes in the armoire was not a difficult task. 

and removing the old clunky furniture from our bedroom was a joyful task!  the minimalism process continues…

i wrote earlier about our need to return to some of the rooms that had previously been checked off our list as minimalized.  despite our efforts to maintain minimalization, old habits can be tough to break.  and so this morning, i found myself in the very master bathroom that once served as our first accomplishment.  today, it became our first re-accomplishment.

the task was definitely lighter than one year ago and we were practiced up going into it this time around.  we stuck to the same game plan that we have used numerous times over the past year:  pull out every item, sort it into three categories (remove, relocate, or return), and return organized. 

within one hour, the task was complete:  the garbage bag was full, the cabinets were well-sorted, and getting ready in the morning has again become a simpler task.

it has been awhile since we made a clean-sweep of entire room as opposed to routine maintenance.  it feels good.  i’m rememebring again the joy that came with becomining minimalist.

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• accomplishment – minimalist kitchen
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over the past 11 months, we have minimalized most of our house.  here is a list of our accomplishments:

• 2 vehicles
• living room
• bathrooms
• work office
• home office
• kids’ rooms
• junk drawers
• master bedroom
• toy room
• basement/storage room
• kitchen

after 11 months and too little maintenance, here is a list of rooms that need to be reminimalized:

• master bathroom cabinets
• work office
• home office
• kids’ rooms
• junk drawer
• master bedroom
• toy room

somehow, i’ve got to get excited about round 2… and about finding a better maintenance system.  any ideas?  it is a bit frustrating, but noone ever said living minimalist was going to be easy.

apparently during my absence, becoming minimalist celebrated its 25,000th and 30,000th hit.  never one to miss a celebration, i felt inclined to mention that accomplishment.

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