Minimalism

[LiE]

So I've been watching quite a lot of Matt D'Avella videos on YouTube and he talks quite a bit about minimalism. Over the years I have found myself being quite minimalist in my life but still strive to be better. Do we have any OcUK members who this resonates with?

Have a watch of this video.

*note there are a few swear words*

A few things I currently do:

- I'm always reducing the things I own.
- I'm quick to throw things out (recycle + charity).
- I prefer a clean and clutter free living space (see my desk below for example)
- I'm constantly looking to make things more efficient and work better for me to give me back more time.
- I am reassessing what makes me happy and what I want out of life and removing things that don't support this.

My desk:

I'm considering going for a more minimalist wardrobe too ala Matt D'Avella:

 

[LiE]

I really enjoy Matt D'Avella's videos and use some of the minimalist practices but its nearly impossible to live clutter free with two young kids in the house haha.

Yes having a 3 year old it's a constant battle with keeping things orderly.

 

[LiE]

PS: Where did you get that desk from?

Ikea Bekant.

I'm in the process of redoing my office as I've switched to a standing desk. Working from home 18 out of 20 working days means I can hopefully start to undo the damage from sitting.

 

[LiE]

Wish I had the discipline to get my office looking anywhere close to this. Maybe it needs to be my goal for the New Year.

My office is my head space, a messy and cluttered space would negatively impact my mood. The rest of my home is a constant battle to keep it presentable, time is quite limited and I have a 3 year old. My wife does what she can but again time is limited. I think one of the benefits of having a simple, clutter free living space is the amount of things you potentially have to tidy away.

 

[LiE]

What speakers are those.

Kanto YU2 with S2 stands.

https://kantoaudio.com/product/yu2/

This interests me greatly, alas my kids have other ideas.

I totally know what you mean, this is why I have my man cave/office to keep me sane.

 

[LiE]

I can't do minimalist. I like to make stuff and fix stuff, which means lots of different materials and lots of tools everywhere!

Minimalism isn't about getting rid of things for the sake of having less stuff. It's about removing things from your life that bring no joy/purpose/satisfaction. If you enjoy fixing things then that's totally fine. You can still apply minimalism to other areas of your life and home.

It's not... One of my sisters in law does this. She, her wet blanket husband and her two kids like in this house, that looks like she went into Ikea, swept a hand across the set-piece display for a room, and just said "That. Give me that. Put that whole thing in my house, exactly like that".

But somehow she actually maintains it like that. Very spartan, very minimalist, very spotless-showroom, very very freaky. Even the magazines in the wireframe magazine rack are ramrod-straight... and are the same ones that she put in there when she first furnished the place in 2007.
This is Keeping Up With The Joneses to the absolute extreme. She is weird and freaky as ****... and not a very happy person!!

That sounds like a neat freak and far away from minimalism. She is getting no joy from this Ikea catalogue house, then she should look to make a change so that it's no longer a burden.

There's a saying that I try to remind myself of often to keep me sane - "Perfect is the enemy of good". Often I would become unhappy because something isn't perfect, even if it's 90% good enough.

Having a play room is a very good way to keep the child paraphernalia to one area of the house. Unfortunately I don't have space for a play room.

 

[LiE]

Thread has inspired me to clean out and throw away junk sat in my bedroom cupboards that have accumulated over the years.

Good to hear

 

[LiE]

I like the idea of this but not so sure in practice. Currently I live in a house that has a living room with two giant bookcases filled with books and a porch full of DVDs and CDs accumulated over the years. These days I have books music and film covered digitally but I really don't feel I could bring myself to part with the physical media I have collected and spent large amounts of money on over the years. That said I would feel better with the extra space and I couldn't tell you the last time I actually watched a DVD or took a book out of the shelves. How did people square that circle? Did you all just write off the money spent acquiring things?

You could have a car boot and sell most of it.

 

[LiE]

I cleared out the wardrobe a few weeks ago of things I don't wear, leaving me with not much. I then went and bought 5 x t-shirts in the same colour as my day to day wear. I have a couple nicer pieces to wear still and a few work shirts. I guess the benefit of working from home is not having to have a wardrobe full of work clothes. I also bought 4 x the same gym t-shirts.

 

[LiE]

Recently decluttered my phone home screen to reduce the number of distractions. Just the essentials on the home screen now, everything else is on another screen in a folder. Adding friction is a good idea to help cut down on wasted time in unnecessary apps.

 

[LiE]

Good idea.

How are you using social media differently now, if at all?

I only have Instagram (private not a public account) that I keep my friends and family on. I’ve decided to limit myself to checking it twice a day. Moving it to it’s own homepage in a folder and disabling notifications means it’s out of sight.

 

[LiE]

I couldn't live like that, looks like a hospital to me

My local hospital certainly doesn't have RGB and LED strips

Here is how my desk is currently:

Believe it or not, I bought a sample paint to try on the walls.. it's grey

 

[LiE]

I would like to have less junk, we just seem to accumulate things, I am all for a massive clear out but wife would be "no! cant throw out that old bowl nobody likes thats been stuck in the cupboard 20 years, my mum bought me that!"

 

[LiE]

Your laptop has a clitoris! What make is it? I can never find laptops with one these days. Is it really old or are there still ones being made with them?

Lenovo Thinkpad 13. It’s pretty recent, it has USB C.