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Lately
So, I moved last Friday, and I just got internet today.
This past week has been my last full week at my job, I got a full-time long-term temp position that pays about 30% more (!) and after two weeks of training will be from home (!). The training starts next week.
All of this happened very quickly, and I’m still in a whirlwind. I didn’t finish all my March wrap up and April planning posts yet.
I think my family has hoarding tendencies, actually I think an extended family member or two are legitimate hoarders, I have shopaholic and hoarding tendencies, which I’m working on. I thought I was working on it better, but I think I counted oh, around 8 car/truck/suv loads of stuff plus I still have a couch coming from my brother.
Today I joined in a yard sale. I made some money, but I also took enough stuff to Goodwill to fill about 2 of their bins plus there is stuff I decided I’d keep and stuff I’d like to sell on Facebook marketplace. And of course the best way is what I’m going to try to do here on out: avoid spending money on too much stuff and avoid accepting gifts and given away items, that saves more money and waste anyway. Stuff, stuff, stuff.
And I still think I kept too much. Anyway, I’ve got some more things like trash bins and an iron and such to buy and then I think I might institute a more strict one in, one out rule and maybe some requirements of using yarn and craft items and skincare up before I move out of this place.
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Information Minimalism
This is tied to digital minimalism, information excess flows into digital excess.
Too much info, period, plus saving things for reading later. I need to realize that like Sherlock, I can’t store everything. I also don’t need to access everything. And re-accessing, maintaining, and organizing are not a great use of my time. I spend more time doing that than creating. Actually my creating is taking a deep dive anyway.-
To many emails, daily. I think I’ve managed to cut my emails down considerably. And have a better archiving process in place. I’m trying to unsubscribe from marketing emails once I’ve received the discount. I also have a habit of emailing myself something I want to read later, This is often useful, but again, so much information from so many sources, I can’t be interested and keep track of it all, and I often leave items in inbox as a reminder so I don’t forget rather than acting on things immediately, so I still end up with a lot by the weekend, but a much smaller load that before I did a big unsub effort. Still could use work.
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Blogs. I miss having more high quality blogs, I have many favorites, but I wish there were more. I think I need to unfollow some that I don’t really read much and then continually reevaluate. And then there are my drafts, which I’m working on now. I think I had 80 something at the beginning of this year, and I had 40 something this week which I’m working on.
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Youtube. I really had to pare down people I follow on youtube, I was wasting sooo much time. I put many on an overflow list in Pinterest so I don’t forget them. I still feel like I watch too many.
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Instagram. I like Instagram, but I still waste to much time on it. I delete it off my phone for weekdays although I still get on it on my computer sometimes, need to work on that. I also need to unfollow lots more people, esp. the impersonal big accounts.
- Facebook. I got back on FB after I think like 5 years. I wanted access to marketplace. I did however, immediately unfollow a lot of people who post a lot. I think I also need to delete from phone.
- Pinterest. I do find Pinterest useful as a visual search engine, but I don’t think I need to curate more pins, but rather look at those I have. I also find it useful to use Pinterest boards as planning boards and vision boards. Again, balance.
- Bookmarks. I have many bookmark folders, some I do refer back to and others I could use more, but I think I need to delete some, brb. Oh, and again the “oh, I’ll read this later.” Yeah, either set aside a time, read it now, or delete.
- Word. I have tons of scribbles in Word that I’d like to develop into blog posts or move to Evernote.
- Evernote. I’ve managed to minimize and empty all my sticky notes. I’m trying to really only use Evernote. To keep all my thoughts and potential blog posts, etc. in Evernote. I then need to make the time from scribbling them to publishing in blog post shorter.
- Other apps. I like the deleting until needed concept. I think I need to do this more strictly.
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Minimalism Aesthetic
I can appreciate some aspects of the minimalism trend such a less stuff and higher quality. None of this is of course new, but sometimes it takes outside help to motivate. One aspect of the trend I dislike, and its NOT an essential aspect, but one of taste. I don’t like minimalism in decorating; modern, white, austere, neutral, cold. I need interest, softness, color, elegance, warmth.
I like houses like shown on this blog. We have friends with an artsy house aesthetic also. I like this, but when I think of maintaining it! Its not my style, and I would need fewer knick-knacks, but its far more my style than the minimalist look. I’m a crafter too, that is part of why I’m not a minimalist overall.
Similarly, I’m not a minimalist in style; I understand the need for fewer clothes, and I can do that. But I am not interested in the limited colors of a capsule wardrobe. I would rather have fewer outfits with more colors.
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Minimalism with the Internet and Technology and Links
One of my goals for this year is to simplify, and one of the areas that I want to simplify is my usage of the Internet and Technology.
I’d like to cut down on my Internet time and to use the time that I’m on more productively. I want to go back to having only a few Internet/tech days a week; I also ought to limit the time on those days also. Here is a list of items to help with electronic streamlining.
In order to help improve my Internet time I want to focus my time and streamline my usage. I’ve started an Internet list in my bullet journal of all the things I want to do with my Internet time (I’ve tried this before; I need to use the list) because I frequently get on and forget all the things that I wanted to research or do.
Another thing that I’ve done for a while is write up a ton of posts and scheduled them. I don’t weary myself of blogging this way and can accumulate content and ideas during the scheduled period.
I cannot justify any typical purely Social Media sites; I just don’t have an interest or need. Here is an article suggesting we quit Social Media. But I do need to be more efficient with the sites I do use and enjoy; my three big Internet places are Gmail, Pinterest, and Blogger.
Here are some ways to help clean up your online presence. I’ve signed up for FAAAAAR to many business and blog subscriptions.
With Pinterest and bookmarks, I need to make sure that I don’t overwhelm myself, that I can easily find and use saved ideas, that I will use them, and that I delete what I know longer need (for bookmarks at least, maybe some Pins although it is easier to simply Pin better).
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Minimalism, Hoarding, and Excess
I’m not naturally a minimalist but the concept of controlling excess is not novel although minimalism has made it trendy. The concept was partially practiced in our family. My mom tried to keep our toys in control, we weren’t given allowances, we usually only shopped for clothes seasonally on an as needed basis. I had clothes as a 20 year old that my parents bought me as a young teenager. But we also were sentimental and as homeschoolers, we had a lot of books even though we used the library regularly.
As as teenager and young adult, I had a problem keeping my room clean; to the point my mom would occasionally point out that it was a fire hazard. I would systematically reorganize and rearrange my room, but it was physically and emotionally exhausting, and I hardly got rid of anything and kept buying more, and so of course I could not keep it neat. Over the last year or so, every time I’ve reorganized this I’ve gotten rid of stuff. I also not been able to buy as much.
Minimalism and hoarding are parts of an continuum (I’m a little obsessed with continuums, especially since people construct false dichotomies with issues that are actually on continuums). Hoarding is at one extreme and asceticism at the other. I dislike extremes in grey areas (its a GREY area for crying out loud). Find what works for you and cut everything else out. I have a lot of things I want to minimize both physical and electronic.
I want to track my spending this year like I read about here although I’m not going to institute any ban. My major areas of stuff are arts and crafts, clothing, books, “for the future” and decor, and beauty. I need to constantly monitor everything because although I’ve cut down considerably, I need to always comb through to make certain everything is still relevant to my wants and needs, to ensure I’m using up perishables and art and craft supplies or throwing away broken or worn items, and to make sure I’m not rebuilding my hoard.
