c. s. lewis, the chronicles of narnia author, once wrote, “our desires are not too strong, but too weak. we are half-hearted creatures, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. we are far too easily pleased.”

we live lives that are too easily pleased. too often, we rely on possessions and money to satisfy our heart’s desires. advertisers have made a living out of convincing us that the secret to a fulfilled life is the possession of more stuff.

but while we are settling for the pleasure of material possessions, is it possible that we are missing out on something better? is it possible that we are missing things that would bring even more satisfaction and more pleasure to our lives? are our lives destined for something greater than material acquisitions? are we settling for something less than the very best?

since becoming minimalist and shifting my life’s focus away from possessions, i have begun to notice how much of my life was wasted chasing “stuff.” if i wasn’t working to earn the money to buy more things, i was researching my next purchase, reading advertisements, shopping at the store, or managing the possessions already in my home. i now consider all of it time wasted that i can never get back.

don’t settle for less than the best for the only life you get to live. consider these five steps to live a life that strives for the very best:

meditate more often – too many people haphazardly live their life. they become so involved in the day-to-day meanderings of life that they are no longer able to visualize anything different. but wise people withdraw from the mundane patterns of life to meditate. in this solitude, the propaganda of madison avenue can be better recognized, the values of our lives can be better assessed, and the course of our lives can be newly charted. withdraw. often.

love relationships. few things bring greater joy to the heart than honest, loving relationships with others. live a transparent life – there is just no sense wasting your time on this earth pretending to be something you are not. as the depth and width of your relationships grow, you will surely find that living life inside the four walls of your home managing all your stuff wasn’t really all that satisfying. at least, not compared to true relationships with others.

live a humble life. humble people realize that they don’t have all the answers. therefore, they ask questions. and when we ask questions, we find answers. notice the people around you and ask questions. do you have a co-worker or neighbor who always seems to be joyful, full of life? have they found something you may have missed? suppress your pride long enough to ask the simple question, “how come you are so satisfied with life?” you just may hear something you’ve missed all along

learn to appreciate the invisible. albert einstein said, “not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” there are invisible things in this universe that will bring far greater joy and satisfaction to our lives than the trinkets on sale at your local department store. hope, peace, love… learn to appreciate the value of those things more and your trinkets less.

don’t be afraid to flip life upside-down. some of the most fulfilling moments in my life have been times when life has been flipped upside-down. rather than always rushing to get on top, to acquire more, or to impress others, take time to help someone else get on top. give time and energy to meet the needs of another person (rather than expecting everyone to meet yours). when we intentionally turn the tables and serve another human being, we begin to get a bigger picture of what our life could actually become and accomplish. and we start to see that it can be greater than simply acquiring and managing a storehouse of shiny things.

today, i wish you the very best.

People who choose minimalism as a lifestyle may face any number of doubters – these may be friends, colleagues, or parents. But what do you do when the biggest doubter of all is usually your biggest supporter? When the person you have chosen to live life with the closest, doesn’t see the benefits to your decision? When the person you love the most doesn’t support the new you? And the fact that you live together only complicates the issue… you share one space and so does your stuff.

When my wife and i decided to become minimalist, we agreed together to pursue this new lifestyle. But, we’ve still had plenty of disagreements along the way about how much stuff to unload, how much stuff to keep, and how our purchasing habits would change. Our two most common areas of disagreement seem to revolve around clothing and childrens’ toys. Because we are not always on the same page, we have learned to compromise together.

But what should be done when your partner is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum – you are pursuing minimalism but your partner is a self-described hoarder or packrat. What steps can help these two lifestyles coexist?

1. Refuse to let stuff separate you. I have heard from a number of people who have taken steps to minimalize their life, but in the process they have become so frustrated with their partner that they have allowed strife and resentment to set in. Refuse to let that happen. Remember, you chose minimalism for a reason – most likely, you chose minimalism because you were frustrated with material things cluttering your life and preventing you from truly living it. You decided that you valued other things more than your possessions… like relationships with the people you love. If that is the case, it would be foolish to allow things (even if they are your partner’s) to again come between you and your most treasured relationship. Your loved ones are just too important. Realize that you can’t change someone else. Instead, rest patiently being assured that 50% minimalism is better than 0%.

2. Begin by purging your personal items. Resist the temptation to remove your partner’s belongings without permission. Start with your own stuff and minimalize as much as you can without treading on shared territory. You may be surprised how much clutter you can remove from your home just by removing your own things.

3. Let your example speak for itself. Certainly, explain to your partner why you have chosen a minimalist lifestyle. But as much as you desire to debate and verbally convince your partner to choose it too, your actions will always speak louder than your words. Allow the benefits of your clutter-free life to do their own convincing. A clean, clutter-free side of your closet will always be far more convincing than a thorough explanation of the 80/20 principle. And a refreshingly stress-free desktop or nightstand will begin to look very attractive to your partner the first time they misplace something important.

4. Find common ground. Likely, there are some commonly used areas in your home that you can both agree need some uncluttering. Whether it be a junk drawer, a linen closet, the kitchen cabinets, or the garage, even the worst of hoarders can typically come to the rational conclusion that something can be better organized (no matter how small the area). Ask your partner about specific areas in your home that you would like to declutter. You just may be surprised how verbally supportive they can be when you get specific about what you would like to accomplish.

5. Be patient. Remember that one of the markings of love is patience.

6. If the refusal to minimalize their possessions is systemic of deeper issues, tread wisely. It is very possible that there may be some deep heart wounds that are causing your partner to be a hoarder. Your partner may be insecure and find their security in the things that they own. Your partner may have such a strong desire to impress others that they depend on their belongings for their purpose. Or their hoarding may be a symptom of OCD or another medical disorder. In any case, the correct step is to tread lightly and find your partner the support and help that they need.

one step to not allowing junk mail to clutter your home is to throw it in the recycle bin immediately after you bring it through your door. however, the better solution is to not receive it at all.

removing your name from mailing lists is not as time-consuming as you might think. and it shouldn’t cost you a penny. you can reduce your junk mail 75-85% by following these three easy steps:

1. register your name with the direct marketing association’s mail preference service and be added to their “do not mail” database.
2. opt-out of pre-approved credit card, mortgage, and insurance offers by using the online form at optoutprescreen.com.
3. for individual catalogs that you receive, call the company and ask them to remove you from their mailing list.

these changes may take up to 90 days to begin working, but you will certainly notice the difference when they do!

the preceding is an excerpt from simplify: 7 guiding principles to help anyone declutter their home and life.

what other steps would you recommend to minimalize junk mail?

there are countless articles written on the steps to a minimalist lifestyle.  this is where we started: a guide to creating a minimalist home.

today, as a supplement, we offer 8 “outside of the box” simplicity living tips that you haven’t read anywhere else:

• buy things for their usefulness rather than their status. stop trying to impress others with your stuff and start trying to impress them with your life.
• reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.  refuse to be a slave to anything: coffee, cigarettes, soda, television, chocolate, alcohol…
• develop a habit of giving things away.  most of us could get rid of half of our possessions without any serious sacrifice.
• refuse to be propagandized by modern gadgetry.  technology doesn’t always make your life simpler. as a matter of fact, most of the time it just makes your life more cluttered.
• learn to enjoy things without owning them.  ownership is nothing, access is everything.
• develop a deeper appreciation for nature.
• reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.  bananas, coffee, etc.
• never underestimate the freedom of plain, honest speech.  a lack of simplicity in one area, such as speech, can undermine simplicity in every area.

social networking sites continue to explode in popularity.  according to nielsen:

• in december ’09 alone, over 300 million people logged onto facebook.  
• on average, people spent 5.5 hours on facebook during december 2009 (a 201% increase from december 2008).
• over 300,000 businesses are now on facebook promoting their goods/services.

depending on your line of work, facebook may be unavoidable.  but even if it is unavoidable, there’s good news: it doesn’t have to run your life.  i have compiled a list of helpful hints to keep facebook from ruining your life.

how to minimize your time on facebook:

• choose your friends wisely.  if you really want to limit your time on facebook, just limit the number of friends that you accept.  remember, the less friends you accept, the less number of possible interactions that arise. convince yourself that you do not need to accept every friend request that shows up on your page.  just because you went to the same high school with somebody doesn’t mean you need to become their “online friend” today.  besides, apparently, the human mind can only handle 150 friends anyway.
• skip the applications/games.  if you are on  facebook to connect with friends, then get on facebook to connect with friends.  you don’t need to spend your time joining the mafia, building a farm, or finding out which disney princess you are.  however, if you would like facebook to be your online gaming platform… that is certainly up to you.
• remove all e-mail notifications. by turning off all notifications to your e-mail or mobile device, you remove facebook’s opportunity to interrupt your daily life at any moment.  you also remove the urge to respond to every notification as it appears.  to change these options, go to account settings and choose the “notifications” tab, there click “off” on all the e-mail notifications you don’t really need.
• hide unnecessary notifications from your newsfeed.  if you’re not interested in someone’s or an application’s updates specifically, you can hide them from your newsfeed permanently.  just hover over the update’s upper right corner and when you see the button “hide” appear, click to choose “hide this person’s updates” or “hide (whatever app) updates”.  i use this on every application that appears in my newsfeed, on people who update way-too-often, and on people who constantly post negative status reports (i don’t need them bringing me down with them.)
• don’t facebook chat.  among the most inefficient methods of communication in our world today stand internet chatting, texting, and morse code.  and you don’t even have to initiate a facebook chat to get stuck in the middle of one… should a friend notice you are online.  to go offline even when using facebook, click “chat,” “options,” and “go offline.” 
• sync your social networking sites.  if you are also a user of youtube, flickr, twitter, or etc., there are many applications/software that will sync them for you so that you do not need to upload/update things twice. 
• only log-in once/day.  certainly, this works only as well as your personal discipline allows.  if once/day is still chewing up too much of your life, choose any frequency you desire.
• get drastic and limit your minutes.  if personal discipline isn’t working for you, there are websites that will limit your time for you: minutesplease.com, for example.
• honorable mention: choose your photos wisely, choose your fan pages wisely, and become a friend of the “ignore” button.

these tips can be used for any user of facebook whether you are on for personal or commercial reasons.

oh, and don’t forget to become a fan of becoming minimalist on facebook.

in 1906, vilfredo pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that 20% of the people own 80% of the wealth.  since then, this equation (principle) has been applied broadly and is now considered a valuable tool to help manage effectively: for example, it is said that 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your workforce. and while 80% is not the exact percentage in all areas of life, the general principle typically holds true (the 80/20 principle: the secret to success by achieving more with less).

thinking about this principle, i began to wonder where it could be applied to my belongings.  i started a quick list of areas in my life where the principle (generally) hold true.

• clothing
• shoes
• music
• television channels
• children’s toys
• kitchen utensils/appliances
• resource books
• computer programs
• toiletries
• video games
• tools
• cleaning supplies
• chairs
• magazines/newspapers

understanding this principle can help me manage/minimalize more effectively.  

1. the items in the 20% category should be more easily accessible to me.
2. the items in the 80% category should be stored out of sight and out of the way or eliminated completely.
3. the items in the 80% percentile that are used 0% of the time should definitely be eliminated immediately.

it was a helpful exercise to walk around my house and identify categories where this principle applies.  it was also encouraging… i don’t think i found anything that was 80/20, most of it was closer to 60/40 (i wouldn’t have been able to say that 18 months ago).

what else could you/i add to the list where this principle holds true?

my wife loves watching american idol from beginning to end.  i just like the opening rounds.

at the beginning of each season, the judges travel from city to city handing out golden tickets to hollywood to an unspecified number of contestants.  the opening rounds are funny: really awful singers make us laugh.  the opening rounds are surprising: people you would never expect to be great singers knock your socks off.  the opening rounds are inspiring: people overcoming great odds to earn a shot at greatness.  and the opening rounds are a fascinating study into human nature because inevitably, there will be a number of 20-year old contestants who proudly believe they know more than the judges. 

their story is the same each time: 

1. a young, good-looking contestant will arrive with a large number of friends and typically a doting set of parents. 
2. he/she will march in front of the judges and declare that they are the next american idol.  they are confident of this fact because they have been told countless times by “everyone they meet” that they are a great singer.
3. they will sing for the judges.  the judges will not be impressed and will inform (some tactfully, some bluntly) the contestant that he/she does not have the talent necessary to make it as a singer.
4. the prideful contestant who would rather live in denial rather than face the truth will tell the judges that they are wrong…  that he/she knows better than the judges and “will show them someday.”  the contestant will leave the room enraged (often times with tears in their eyes).

there is a common theme in business literature these days that states one key to success is to focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.  the basic idea states, “we all have strengths.  we all have weaknesses.  we do ourselves a disservice when we focus too much energy on fixing our weaknesses rather than developing our strengths.  highly successful people improve their strengths and delegate their weaknesses.”

this principle, properly applied, leads to less clutter and less distraction in our lives.

the fascinating study into human nature that american idol provides us is this: “many people focus so much energy on what they want to be, they miss out completely on who they really are.”  these contestants on american idol have been given a rare gift: experts have spoken truth into their lives about their weaknesses.  and they would be wise to heed their advice and begin investing their time and energy into their strengths.

we all have strengths.  we all have weaknesses.  sometimes the first step in eliminating distractions from our lives is in realizing what we’re not.

from the very beginning, we have been journaling about our journey to become minimalist.  and the process has been incredibly helpful.  specifically, here is how journaling has helped us minimalize:

• journaling serves as a permament record.  success can be quickly forgotten.   it can become too easy to look around our home on messy days and feel like we have not accomplished anything despite all the effort and energy that we have put in.  during those times, it is helpful to look back and be reminded of our past successes.  the photos are even more helpful than the written word… i wish i had more.
• journaling requires us to think through the why’s and the how’s.  when you sit down behind a blank computer screen and begin to write out what you accomplished that day, you are forced to think through your process at a deeper level.  the writing process causes you to answer the questions of “why did i get rid of that?” “why did i keep it in the first place?” and “what thought process did i employ?”  the answers to those questions are not just hepful as you move forward (to repeat successes and avoid mistakes), they can be therapeutic as well.
• journaling shows how we solved problems in the past.  and those solutions are valuable in the present and the future.
• journaling inspires us.  the very thought of a blank screen awaiting me in the evening has, at times, forced me to accomplish something.  sometimes, just anything – no matter how small.  just so that i would have something to record that evening.
• journaling reminds me to think beyond the obvious.  always looking for “material to journal” has caused me to see the value of simplicity and minimalism in areas that i would not normally have seen it.  whether it be an article in the paper, an advertisement on television, or a conversation with a friend, the value of simplicity is all around us… and the more i look for it, the more i notice it.
• journaling has helped our story to inspire others.  i suppose that’s what happens when you make your journal public.

in case you needed another reason to stop using your credit card,

latest bank fee is for paying off credit card on time every month

new credit card fees mentioned in the article:

• annual fees for customers who have never carried a balance or paid a late fee (bank of america)
• annual fees to cardholders who don’t put a minimum amount of their card each year (citigroup)
• inactivity fees for not using your credit card during a specific period of time

my dream has come true.  my wife’s nightmare a reality.

my Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor was delivered today.  our local power company offered a $65 rebate this past month and i jumped at the opportunity.

for those of you unaware of the benefits of this brilliant money-saving device, allow me to list a few:

• it will gauge the exact cost of the electricity you are consuming at any given time.
• it will estimate your monthly electrical bill based on your per/day usage.
• it will measure each of your appliances so that you know how much it costs to turn them on.   
• it will alert you if you have gone over your “first-tier” kwh pricing.
• it will help you reduce your energy consumption, which is good for everyone.
• it will remind you to shut off lights/televisions by its very presence.

as i mentioned, we received ours today.  within 25 minutes, it was completely installed and working properly.  i took the evening to experiment with many of our electrical devices to determine their actual cost/hour.  here are some of the results:

• hallway lights     (03  cents/hour)
• outdoor lights     (01  cent/hour)
• 27″ tube television     (02  cents/hour)
• 32″ lcd television     (04  cents/hour)
• desktop computer     (03 cents/hour)
• oven     (42  cents/hour)
• microwave     (15  cents/hour)
• washing machine     (25 cents/hour)
• clothes dryer     (71 cents/hour)

i highly recommend this product to minimalize your monthly electrical bills.  even without changing your lifestyle drastically, the actual utility cost/hr of your home devices is enough for you to make simple, money-saving changes.

like i mentioned, i was able to purchase ours for $35… which is a much better deal than $109.  although even at $109, it will eventually pay for itself.

the only drawback is that your wife may not enjoy you running around the house turning on/off every electronic device… especially if she’s trying to watch it at the time.

related posts:

• benefits of minimalism #1 – simple dollars and sense
• control your spending
• who’s helping me not waste money