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Minimalism + Simplicity

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Thinking about this makes me realize that even just imagining clutter gives me anxiety. Maybe that's a psychological response to what I grew up in. I am remembering my parents' house and it feels like someone is standing on my chest.
 
Diprosalic said:
next time i move i'm going to live jobs style, atleast for a month or two. just to see what sort of things i really need.

ucHCx.jpg
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Yeah that million dollar apartment screams simplicity. :jnc
 
TomServo said:
I've found that people with a lot of stuff are often time filling a void in life experiences.

My brother-in-law makes an absolute killing (high six figures), but he has no interests outside of his job. He buys tons of stuff that he never uses; a pool table I've seen him use once in five years, a five-figure home theater with shelves full of BDs and PS3 games still in the shrink-wrap, a new Camaro SS that he sold back to the dealer after putting 500 miles on it in a year's time. He and my sister rarely travel if it's not for some sales conference.

I sat next to a middle manager from Microsoft on the plane yesterday. Mid to late 40's. She was talking about all of the things she's doing at work, and that she's started to make her "list" for what she wants to do in retirement. I wondered why I didn't have a "list" at 33. Then I realized I'm living my list... surfing in hurricanes, scuba diving, skydiving, running marathons, riding motorcycles, building a race car, living in Africa, visiting Europe, getting married, getting divorced, falling in love again, etc.

Sometimes I think I'm not living up to my potential because I'm just an engineer and should be something more by now, but more often than not when I meet people who are "ahead" of me their lives are very empty.
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Just wanted to say this was a fantastic post.
 
i'd only live like this if i was too poor to buy stuff. i'm too lazy to commit to a "lifestyle" like this. i can't always bring myself to throw out stuff, clear out what I don't need, and keep everything completely organized. that shit takes time that I rather spend doing something else. i'll just buy stuff I like, and once and a while do spring cleaning. obviously, i won't go to the other extreme: you know, living beyond my means, going into debt, hoarding, buying completely unnecessary shit, living only to buy trendy shit, or letting my purchases "define my identity," etc. etc. that said, i won't deprive myself of something i like simply because i don't need it. the minimalism i subscribe to is: give the minimum possible thought to your belongings. don't spend any time debating whether you *really* need something. just allocate some a fixed part of your budget to stuff you'll buy on a whim or for no reason, so it won't get out of control. if you focus so much on living simply and minimally, that task in itself consumes a lot of your life, which is kind of ironic isn't it?
 
We try to practice minimalism here. We have very little in the way of trinkets, no collection of unnecessary clothing and shoes, jewelry or other valuables. No big ticket items that we don't truly get full use out of.

I think minimalism isn't necessarily about itemizing the things you have at the moment though and more about a frame of mind.

If you own a house, with bedrooms and a kitchen, there's a lot of practical things you're probably going to have. Basic furnishings, linens, cookware, serving ware. Washing machine, dryer. Maybe a lawn mower. Gardening tools. A television. What have you.

But you can have all that while practicing context appropriate minimalism. You don't need furniture that's ornate or expensive for the sake of it. You don't need a shed full of extra tools you'll never use. Don't need a kitchen full of useless gadgets and ornaments. In fact, I kind of have a principle I go by: outfit and buy from a professional, commercial perspective. Business kitchens and garages and such don't waste space or funds on unnecessary junk and trivialities. The equipment and furnishings they use tend to be built simple, heavy, and to last. No waste. Nothing fancy, just solid and effective. Treat your home like a commercial studio and you might find a surprising amount of waste is suddenly cut out.

And funny enough, I have personally found living that way can make the personal touches stand out more rather than less. A sleek, ascetic living area is set off much more by one oddball stuffed animal thrown in the corner than by a room full of ornate junk.

Goya said:
i'd only live like this if i was too poor to buy stuff. i'm too lazy to commit to a "lifestyle" like this. i can't always bring myself to throw out stuff, clear out what I don't need, and keep everything completely organized. that shit takes time that I rather spend doing something else. i'll just buy stuff I like, and once and a while do spring cleaning. obviously, i won't go to the other extreme: you know, living beyond my means, going into debt, hoarding, buying completely unnecessary shit, living only to buy trendy shit, or letting my purchases "define my identity," etc. etc. that said, i won't deprive myself of something i like simply because i don't need it. the minimalism i subscribe to is: give the minimum possible thought to your belongings. don't spend any time debating whether you *really* need something. just allocate some a fixed part of your budget to stuff you'll buy on a whim or for no reason, so it won't get out of control. if you focus so much on living simply and minimally, that task in itself consumes a lot of your life, which is kind of ironic isn't it?
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In a way, it kinda sounds like you are thinking of "minimalism" as a kind of trendy lifestyle or hip fad, one that requires work and bother to keep up appearances about. There's some truth to that, as a lot of people jump on any bandwagon and turn it into a marketable trend with a 'scene'.

The reality I think, is that the real thing is nothing like that. It's just discipline and mindfulness, which do not waste more time when practiced; they free up time. People merely become distracted and easily frustrated with life, so develop the attitude of "I don't want to think about it". Which is when they unconsciously start wasting energy, time, and yes, money, on things that were never necessary in the first place.

I live only with what I really need and only the luxury items I know I'll really get a lot of value out of, and in the end I have plenty of time and peace of mind.
 
I don't have a list, either.

I like minimalist design but I also like to live comfortably.

I have things that I consider to be necessities (a bed, a couple of chairs, some tools, cookware and utensils, a refrigerator), things I consider to be important luxuries (a desk and desktop computer, chest of drawers, sofa, TV, microwave, laptop, camera+lenses) and then things I consider to be silly luxuries (two arcade cabinets, a second laptop, 360/PS3, about 50 games, a turntable, books and magazines).

I'd like to be able to shed both luxury layers without much hassle but in reality I think only the 'silly' layer would be easy to do.
 
John Rabbit said:
this is the worst kind of "minimalism". soulless. vacuous. empty. what's minimal or intelligent about building a giant room only to keep it virtually empty?
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For me, the appeal is "timelessness." I hate houses that show their age. Like the plague of shoddy ranch houses that swept through America a few decades ago. Just blegh.

I'm not a fan of the sterileness though. My dream house would be pretty colorful. Just cause you're going minimal doesn't mean you have to be stingy with colors.

All that said, I LOVE this shot:

YtgnR.jpg


Just looks so warm and cozy, perfect place to curl up on a snow day. <3

BigNastyCurve said:
This thermostat is being delivered to my house tomorrow. Does that count?

Next-generation-Nest_2.jpg
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Logo and leaf are unnecessary. Not minimalist enough. #yolo
 
I'm glad you listed your tech specs in the OP.

Anyway, my personal philosophy is to live within your means, identify things you don't really need, but don't hold out on yourself just to satisfy a philosophy. You only live once, so you might as well enjoy it.

Sometimes I think about buying a huge house (3000-4000+ sqft), but then I stop and think about how I don't actually need that space for anything. It'll just be sitting there going to waste while costing me extra money. That's just wasteful.

However, if you wanted to buy a sports car and can afford it, then what the hell. Have a little fun.
 
Kaijima said:
In a way, it kinda sounds like you are thinking of "minimalism" as a kind of trendy lifestyle or hip fad, one that requires work and bother to keep up appearances about. There's some truth to that, as a lot of people jump on any bandwagon and turn it into a marketable trend with a 'scene'.

The reality I think, is that the real thing is nothing like that. It's just discipline and mindfulness, which do not waste more time when practiced; they free up time. People merely become distracted and easily frustrated with life, so develop the attitude of "I don't want to think about it". Which is when they unconsciously start wasting energy, time, and yes, money, on things that were never necessary in the first place.

I live only with what I really need and only the luxury items I know I'll really get a lot of value out of, and in the end I have plenty of time and peace of mind.
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but if you aren't disciplined and mindful already, you have to become disciplined and mindful, which takes up energy if not time. it's an investment, and i can't imagine the benefit outweighing the cost, for me at least (other people may have different psychological profiles...). like your example of buying "from a commercial perspective" -- i'd have to actually learn how people in a professional kitchen manage their resources efficiently, instead of just thinking like i do now "it'd be cool to have a pasta maker" and just go out and buy it or "those pressure cooker things look useful" and buy it if i find one on sale and it fits in my budget. also, when i'm out shopping for stuff i like, i actually enjoy myself. it's fun. it's not a waste of time because i a) enjoy shopping for it and b) i enjoy owning it. but of course i could have lived without it. once something i own stops paying rent, i.e. i become indifferent as to whether i own it or not, i stop thinking about it. it re-enters my working memory only when i decide as I occasionally do to clean up and take stock, in which case i'll throw it away, sell it, or store it where it won't bother anyone.
 
Kaijima said:
And funny enough, I have personally found living that way can make the personal touches stand out more rather than less. A sleek, ascetic living area is set off much more by one oddball stuffed animal thrown in the corner than by a room full of ornate junk.
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Exactly. My desk at work is completely bare except for my PC and mouse, and an Android figure. All my other co-workers have drinks, papers, dusty gadgets, etc., strewn about. The Android figure on my desk thus stands out much more than if my desk were like the others.

I think that's the way I'm going to go. Completely bare, except for one single noticeable personal item.
 
Andrex said:
Exactly. My desk at work is completely bare except for my PC and mouse, and an Android figure. All my other co-workers have drinks, papers, dusty gadgets, etc., strewn about. The Android figure on my desk thus stands out much more than if my desk were like the others.

I think that's the way I'm going to go. Completely bare, except for one single noticeable personal item.
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Where are your pens?
 
I have been thinking a lot about this recently. Even though I have an amazing flat, I could see myself being happy in a simple small room, as long as I could take the following items with me

- Flat panel
- Genelec speakers
- iPad
- Laptop
- high speed wifi

and if I could afford one luxury item, a gaming PC.

It's incredible how the digitalisation of everything is really making physical possessions irrelevant. Books, pictures, games, music, films, TV, magazines, everything is available online now.
 
Devil Theory said:
My belief is that the only thing you can't have too many of are books.

Everything else can be disposed.
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Books are the biggest, heaviest form of clutter imaginable. I started on my path of minimalism because of books. Moving my older sister several times with her modest collection was enough to dissuade me from ever building up a physical library ever again.

Thank goodness for ebooks. All the content, none of the jank.
 
Devil Theory said:
My belief is that the only thing you can't have too many of are books.

Everything else can be disposed.
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I used to be a book purist. Then I got a kindle. And traveled with a kindle.

Fuck books. Technological progress is awesome. The less physical mass I need to own in order to live and fulfill myself, the better.
 
I've been a huge minimalist shedding shit left and right recently as well. I could literally move anywhere by putting all my possessions in my small car at any point in time.

Only thing I might want to have for the future is a smartphone soon. Even planning on getting rid of my computer shortly.
 
What about culture?

The idea of even moving to the 'burbs without ready access to museums, art galleries, music, people and life feels me with dread. If I were to move to the middle of nowhere, as in the picture example, I'd probably just shoot myself in the head...I actually assumed that was what the gun was for.
 
travisbickle said:
What about culture?

The idea of even moving to the 'burbs without ready access to museums, art galleries, music, people and life feels me with dread. If I were to move to the middle of nowhere, as in the picture example, I'd probably just shoot myself in the head...I actually assumed that was what the gun was for.
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umm misinterpretations I guess

I actually live in Brooklyn NY and am a stones throw or a 20 minute train ride into manhattan and all the other boroughs
fuck the burbs dude...

been to a bunch of chill as fuck GAF NYC meetups too.

and most of the time I'm out and about anyway and only go on GAF/internet during down time on my phone.
 
I've been trying to do this in terms of getting rid of stuff I don't use as well as more of a mental thing in clearing my mind, both kind of play off of each other. When you start to get rid of physical distractions you can really focus on what you really enjoy in life. Meditation helps with this too.

Although I dislike how some people view it as a "competition" and try to have only as little amount of items as they can. I think its different for everyone in terms of how much is too much and vice versa. It's also nice to be unattached to physical items & focused more on yourself as a person

some minimalist blogs yall might like, mainly houses/architecture
http://blog.leibal.com/
http://minimalisms.tumblr.com/
http://zenhabits.net/
 
Over past few months I've taken a minimalist approach to composing and creating/producing music. I had way too many plugins and instruments that were just getting in the way of my creativity. I sold all my stuff and I now I just have a few instruments and plugins and it makes it so much easier to concentrate on what's really important, which is creating music.
 
HappyBivouac said:
I used to be a book purist. Then I got a kindle. And traveled with a kindle.

Fuck books. Technological progress is awesome. The less physical mass I need to own in order to live and fulfill myself, the better.
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I feel the opposite; digital media to me is too risky to put long-term effort into with reliability. It should be the opposite; physical books deteriorate. However, I get nervous about being someplace or in some sort of lifestyle/reality where digital luxuries are not available; leaving me with nothing to hold onto.

I do have a Kindle, and use it, however if for nothing else other than a bed in my room, I would like to be able to physically open pages and read literature without the fear of losing it all due to lack of electricity or access.

I think "minimalism" can have an alternative meaning other than to the lack of things one may own or count; such as simply not being meaninglessly attached to (multiple) objects that add nothing of value to ones particular existence or way of life -- keeping some things around with a defined purpose is different, especially if it betters you or your living experience in some way.

As do physical books in my case.
 
cacophony said:
I've been trying to do this in terms of getting rid of stuff I don't use as well as more of a mental thing in clearing my mind, both kind of play off of each other. When you start to get rid of physical distractions you can really focus on what you really enjoy in life. Meditation helps with this too.

Although I dislike how some people view it as a "competition" and try to have only as little amount of items as they can. I think its different for everyone in terms of how much is too much and vice versa. It's also nice to be unattached to physical items & focused more on yourself as a person

some minimalist blogs yall might like, mainly houses/architecture
http://blog.leibal.com/
http://minimalisms.tumblr.com/
http://zenhabits.net/
Click to expand...

Awesome Tumblr link. :)
 
I NEED SCISSORS said:
Minimalist designs like the one above always seem so cold to me. It feels like living as a robot.
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Sometimes, yes, you can easily take it too far. However, I'm sitting here right now thinking about my stuff and I realize that I have a DVD/BR rack here with about 100 movies on it. I haven't watched any of them in YEARS. I watch everything on Netflix/Hulu/Justin.tv/the internet now. I could sell them all and never ever miss them. It's not robotic, it's pragmatic.
 
I'm starting to view local data/media storage as a form of clutter too. Time to just trust the cloud...
 
The simple, minimalist life is definitely for me. A lot of things people tend to keep, while they have value, would be better as charity gifts. I also like being really clean so keeping things simple helps out a lot. I guess it could look to clean, but we live in the future so whatever.
 
Andrex said:
I'm starting to view local data/media storage as a form of clutter too. Time to just trust the cloud...
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while I'm not there quite yet

all of my main devices have there image backups stored on cloud servers such as Google Drive with another copy in my Local Storage external HDD
 
I've realized recently why I prefer maximalist architecture to minimalist architecture, or at least why I really dislike most minimalist architecture: because extremely minimalist designs show signs of weathering and aging much much faster than more complex designs, which can absorb flaws into their design visually.

EDIT: Only partially on topic, I know
 
Damn, I really respect those of you that can do this. I just love stuff way too fucking much. I'm OCD with idealistic tendencies, and that leads to me placing irrational sentimental value on every goddam item I own in one way or another.

I have so much shit I never use, but it might be kinda neat to reminisce on in twenty-eight years so I don't get rid of it
 
The Technomancer said:
I've realized recently why I prefer maximalist architecture to minimalist architecture, or at least why I really dislike most minimalist architecture: because extremely minimalist designs show signs of weathering and aging much much faster than more complex designs, which can absorb flaws into their design visually.

EDIT: Only partially on topic, I know
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Interesting, never really thought about it that way. Could you post examples of "maximalist" architecture?
 
Love the idea. It's difficult to get rid of all my past media, though. I've gotten rid of a ton of stuff recently, though. The modern PC and phone make this so easy.

Hate those modern minimalist apartments though. I want dark colors and lots of wood. Furniture that is cheaper, looks great, and can get dinged up definitely appeals to me.
 
My family has been pushing me to move out west for more job opportunities and the first thing to enter my mind was "what about my stuff?". How important are the things I own to me?

Well, my stuff consists of a large screen tv, 5.1 surround, gaming console/games, a gaming pc a smartphone and sports equipment. And you know what? They are all very important to me. I spent a fortune on my subwoofer and that alone would be my biggest hurdle if I were to move but I am not ready to give that up.
 
everyone just wants to be this guy:

maxell.jpg


i keep seeing people post visions of minimalism that don't necessarily parallel the actual sense of living minimal. are you just trying not to own things? is that the minimal part?
 
I'd clear out my CD collection but I'd miss the linear notes, artwork ect.

I don't have too much clutter otherwise though. I get rid of stuff I don't need fairly quickly for dat money.
 
I've never been a "stuff" person so I naturally don't have much to begin with.

The only things that I have that I don't "need" for work or basic living that I would rather not part with is a small videogame collection.
 
John Rabbit said:
everyone just wants to be this guy:

http://www.totalmedia.com/images/maxell.jpg[IMG]

i keep seeing people post visions of minimalism that don't necessarily parallel the actual sense of living minimal. are you just trying not to own [I]things[/I]? is that the minimal part?[/QUOTE]

As I put in another post recently a lot of people seem to mistake having things like Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, and Steam accounts with thousands of movies/games/shows available to them anywhere to be minimalist because they're not physical items and they all fit in a small laptop.

Digital clutter is still clutter, it's just easier to hide from your friends.
Click to expand...
 
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