A Few Thoughts (and actions) About Minimalism & Simplicity...

[bumplett]

Maybe it's because it's summer - and it's hot - and I love to blame everything on the heat .... :sunny:

Or maybe it's because it's a slower pace now that school's out, and I'm still out of work, and we're just in no hurry to get any where -

but I've been doing a LOT of reading about simplicity and minimalistic living lately - and it's very eye opening when you realize how much STUFF we have that is totally unneccessary -

I'm not much of a pack rat by nature - once I read a book, I pass it along - no attachments. I don't have a closet full of clothes or shoes, that's just not my thing -

but it's the build up of other 'things' that we may not even realize -

I opened my eyes and discovered that I have music cds taking up space/covered in dust - that I haven' listened to in .... oh... years??

WHY? - so I made a goal to copy every cd or individual song that I wanted off that cd onto my computer - and from there, if I want to send it to my phone, I can - but I don't NEED the actual cds for anything....

the cds will go (with the wooden case that holds them) to the local library.

so far, I'm at a count of 58 and still going.

I am allowing hubby & I to each keep one of those visor cd holders in our cars - so whatever cds we keep have to fit - but no cases. I think each holder can fit 5? maybe 7?

The only exception: hubby can keep one cd case & all because it's autographed & it's important to him -

not me. I'm over it all.

I can't breathe with all this crap. It's mostly everyone elses crap - but I have a TERRIBLE habit of making a pile o' junko on my night stand. HOW does that happen??

so the music is my first step towards true minimalism. it feels right. it feels good.

My second step today was the deactivation of my facebook acct.

The day that it became acceptable for my friends to let me know that someone was in the hospital through a social networking site was the day that I've had enough.

CALL ME! don't just assume that I have my face stuck in FB everyday - or that I automatically get updates on my phone - really???

so that's it. I'm deleted. Feels REALLY good.

I was sure to send a text to a few of my closest friends to let them know that I deleted my acct, not them as friends - people get SOOOO weird about that type of thing.

so - that's it in a nut shell - I'm just feeling really good about the changes - I just thought I'd share, but I generally suck at keeping up with any siggy lines or challenges - because for me, that's just something else to keep up with. aka: chore.

I'm with you guys on so many challenges - in actions, in spirit - I just can't keep up with posting about it.

yet another reason I would suck as a blogger.

but that's OK. I don't need to be good at everything - only at being me.

Thanks for letting me ramble

[mauimagic]

KWYM about the CDs and keeping track of challenges. I'm also having fun decluttering and getting rid of stuff!!

[Homekeepn]

I know what you mean. Too much stuff is suffocating. I like to decorate for each season, and I have the totes to prove it. Lately though I just want to pare down and be more simple with a lot of things. We are gearing up for a yard sale to raise some cash. I think a lot of unwanted and unNEEDed things will be up for sale.

About deleting FB, I don't blame you. I have never been on FB and I do not plan to start. All of it seems to cause drama or be too much of a hassle. My real friends know who they are and I don't need to post a play by play of my day or read anyone else's.

[Kitten20]

ITA with you about FB. I'm still on there (I lurk, rarely post), but people are way too attached. In fact, MySpace or FB are how I learned about 2 major deaths in my fam (my younger brother and my stepdad, within 3 years of each other). It was awful!

As far as stuff goes... I'm a minimalist by nature. I hate having stuff cluttering up my living space.

WTG on taking some big steps!

[nuisance26]

~Everyone's ideas about simplifying are different. Different methods and actions affect different people in profound ways.
I would love to join you in deleting my FB account but it's the only way my siblings and I will keep in touch with each other. I keep it simple by only having my DH, my mother and my siblings and their spouses as my friends. It's less stress for me to have it than to hear about something months later because I didn't have a FB account to view pictures or see their news.
I have absolutely no idea how anyone enjoys hearing constant updates from 300+ "friends". I know you can hide updates from people. But if you can do that to them, how many people are doing that to you? Is anything you post being read by anyone? Sometimes you can't tell unless you say "Did you see my FB post about...?" to the person to the next time you see them in person. And then their eyes glaze over and they say no and you have to tell them in person anyway. It's awkward.
About the cd's. I don't think it's legal to have digital copies of media when you no longer have the actual media. It's a murky issue since you can buy digital music files. But every copyright law I read says you give up your rights to use the media when you give up your original copy. Other wise, what's to stop people from buying cd's, copying them to their hard drive and reselling them, thus getting down the cost of 10-12 songs to $.10-.20 a piece instead of $1 and up? Here's an interesting discussion on it: Can I legally copy my music then sell the originals? - Straight Dope Message Board
If you haven't listened to them in years anyway why would you even want to bother?~

[OOwl]

Thank you for posting your efforts to be more minimalist. I'm working on that myself. It's just very time consuming. One thing about copying your songs to your computer: be sure and back them up to something. As we all know, hard-drives fail with disturbing regularity. I work in an IT department and it's just really heartbreaking when people lose all their personal files off their computer (pictures of their kids, music, saved letters, etc). It's alarming how many people do not back those up.

On Facebook, I've never had an account and never intend to. I've taken a lot of teasing over that, and I miss out on a lot of information shared between my friends and family that way. However, I am just resentful of the TIME it takes to maintain all those digital relationships. (My own daughter ALWAYS has her attention on her smart phone, updating her FB or reading about her "friends'" lives.) It's taken some time, but I have everyone trained that if they want me to see or hear something, then they will be seeing, emailing, or calling me personally about it.

[pollypurebred39]

I am working on in this household myself. It certainly is a battle with 3 guys who love their stuff. All of it just makes my head hurt, I find it hard to think. If I could get away with it I'd opt for a very spa like serene environment. I tried it in our bedroom but my DH kept filling up the space. *sigh*

In the last 4 years I've pared down the people in my life too, sometimes it's kind of lonely, but mostly I'm glad to be free of all the trauma they induce it my life.

[thefrug]

FYI...your FB account never deletes. You go to the site and log back in and all the stuff is still there.

[Debbie-cat]

Good for you in becoming less cluttered. It is difficult to start but once you do it snowballs. The western world puts way to much emphasis on material possessions.

[acidcookie]

Facebook aside (it is literally not feasible to quit in my field of work/my network/my colleagues, etc., and I don't feel it as a burden), I could not agree more. I have no emotional attachment to things, to the point that others give me grief about it. No, I don't care about hanging on to X just because it reminds me of X. I'm a purger by nature; once I no longer need it, someone else can have it. For memories, I take lots of photos, stored digitally of course There is a limit of course, a point at which you need enough for creature comfort, like the pillows & blanket on the couch, a few things on the walls to make it feel like a nice place to spend time. I got rid of the last of my CDs in 2003 or so, and I've never owned DVDs. I have books only if they are referred to regularly, or some that were gifts and were autographed. Hubby is more attached to items and has plenty of stuff buried away, but he managed to let go of a LOT when we moved down south and to an apartment with half the space of our previous townhouse, so yay him!

[Telephus44]

We're kind of doing a mini purge now in our "office." DH started working from home in May, and this room has a lot of old furniture in it, including a full bedroom set. We've made plans to give away or donate all of the furniture, so it's kind of mind boggling going through all the "stuff" that accumulated in drawers and on bookshelves.

[mauimagic]

My poor DH - while He does have some treasures of his own, I'm the collector in our family - working on remedying it each day.

[craftypam]

bumplett;
I would LOVE to be more like you; but for me it is difficult. I need to get rid of things, but I'm so overwhelmed. My life would be so much less stressful.
As for facebook; I NEVER wanted to go on it, but they were putting alot of pics of my grandkids soooooooooooo I went on to see their new pics. Everybody is asking me to "friend" them and I have only let my 3 sons on and 1 of their wives. I just don't want to get into the drama.
Thanks for this post as I need reminding everyday about getting to it. LOL

PS I'm not really computer literate enough, but if you put all of your music on your computer and it crashes, won't you lose all of your music? I have a laptop that went down and I'm not sure I'm going to get my pictures back.

[acidcookie]

PS I'm not really computer literate enough, but if you put all of your music on your computer and it crashes, won't you lose all of your music? I have a laptop that went down and I'm not sure I'm going to get my pictures back.

Depends what you mean by "crash." There are many ways your computer can become non-functional, but the files are still on the hard drive and can be retrieved. If your hard drive dies and you can no longer access the files, then yes, they may be lost forever, which is why everyone should back up their computer regularly. I just use Windows included back-up utility to automatically back up all my files to a second hard drive every week.

[alotofgooddeals]

I too would love to simplify...i feel like i am suffocating also....to much junk that we never ever use and so true why do i keep it..I am starting to realize the reason i keep it is because in reality i am to lazy to deal with it...and I hope by reading this post over and over that it will give me the energy that i need to do this...