A MINIMALIST'S DIARY #2

After my first steps in the “decluttering world”, it all went well and was a very fast process! 

Well! Not really… Maybe in an ideal world where you are not bounded by your belonging… Maybe…

But in the world I was living at this time, I was relying on everything I owned or will own, making it one of my main purpose of happiness: Buying things make you happy, buying more things even more and so on… Thinking of what you could buy by having that much money would be the next goal to achieve.     

You see, when you stayed in a flat during one year you accumulate a lot. I mean look around to the “useful” stuff you bought so far this year, we are end of January already and I guess, being honest, you could count at least ten things you bought or received as a present! 

I’m not saying that is bad but while decluttering my place it helped me realized how often I was buying things which I wasn't using at all or maybe no more than one or two times.

That was a long process at start, I had to choose what to keep, what to throw away, what to give, what to sell. Looking around at first, I saw nothing I wanted to let go.

I already cleaned these shelves so why not having a look inside the closets.

That was time to open my wardrobe. I knew deep inside me that in there a lot of clothes were waiting to know there faith.  

First the really really old and loose t-shirts, socks, shirts, underwears, pants went there way to the trash. I wondered “Why the hell I'm keeping it? No one would want to wear it, including me!”

In case! In case of what? I’ll never know! There is always an ideal and magic place in our mind where it could be use… I was a keeper… an “in case” keeper dude. 

 Most of the things you keep-let’s be honest again-whatever good reasons you have to, you’ll never use it.

Ask you the question “Will I really really really use it one day?”

You know the answer: “Never, Never, Never…. will use it…” or a “Well...humm… maybe...” 

If the answer is not a prompt “YES” in the first two minutes, well you know that you won’t (use it anymore)! 

That would probably be a second ground rule that I apply to me quite often : “Do I really need to keep this object? If yes, when will I use it again? Tomorrow? Next month? Next year?”

If it's not tomorrow or this week, then I know what I have to do: get rid of it by giving it, selling it or throwing it. 

it’s really easy now to deal with it: I’m not having any closet to fill anymore and only my 38L backpack as container for my belonging. Even with one bag and living in a very small room, I ask myself quite often :

“Am I using it often enough to keep it?”

Being a minimalist doesn’t mean that you stop owning things or you are not buying things anymore. You simply buy less things and are really aware of what you buy. Not all your objects have to be useful, but you know that you’ll use them often and you’ll be happy to own it. 

If I decide to buy or change one of my belonging (cloth, device, etc...), I’m not going to the store straight away and will never buy the first time I see it. First, I ask myself: Do I really need it? Will I use it that often? How will I store it in my bag, do I have to let go another of my belonging to own a new one.  

These are simple questions to ask yourself and that saved a lot of time and sometimes money. 

We often buy things on the go, thinking we need it straight away. When, maybe, if given a second thought we would have never buy this thing.

Have you ever experienced buying an amazing cloth or a device you absolutely needed and when back home this feeling disappeared quite quickly? The cloth you planned to wear everyday and was looking amazing in the shop, doesn't seem as Amazing now. The small useful and cheap device is not really useful after all… and so on… These are most of the things which are filling our closets and gathering the dust on our shelves.

I did it and many times. I never really payed attention to it. I was buying what I wanted to. After all that's why we are working for? Isn't it!?

When I buy something now, I’m going for a better quality of the product to make sure it will last longer. 

I recently changed my socks, they were getting old. Since I became a Minimalist, I’m owning four pairs of socks. I took my time to find a good brand which I felt could be a good match.  Here in Japan they have these amazing fingers socks which I totally felt in love with. They are so comfy! I found some which I love to wear, they are not cheap, it’s about 15euros each. 

Owning less mean that I love all the objects I’m owning.

Yes, you might think:  these are only socks, come on! And that’s the all point! I love all the objects I'm owning now because I'm not owning thousands and I choosed them carefully.

If you are not loving what you own, why owning it?

After doing piles of “What I’ll want to keep” – the biggest and tallest one of course – “What I’ll keep maybe” and “What I will give”, I realized that it will take several try to end up with an honest amount of clothes to keep. 

I put the ‘What I’ll give’ in a bag and went outside. Luckily in London, there is a lot of way of donating. The first and easy one, are the big Clothes Donation Boxes up the street!  

This mix feeling when the giant black box was swallowing my belonging was quite strange: some uncertainess and happiness. 

We are so connected and bounded to our belonging that even the smallest we have to let go it’s difficult. 

Having access to these donation boxes changed everything for me. I realized that it wasn’t that difficult after all and that even if it was only some small clothing, there were a chance that it helped someone. After that the black donation box and I became good friends, I payed her a visit every day.  

More I was giving, selling or throwing away, easier it became.

We are Habit’s animals after all.  

The next Sunday I found a small backpack in my closet.  Of course, I had forgot about it, like most of the objects hidden in our closets. I could say now “THE BACKPACK”. I bought it while living in New-Zealand, small, 38L with an opening on the top, very convenient. I didn’t know by this time that it will become my life container, my portable house. I’m still using it today and is getting lighter and lighter.  At start, I wanted to buy a way bigger one to go on the trip, but why not give a try to this one, just for fun. Let’s see how much I can put in it! And that wasn't much! Haha!

Of course the bag was full very quickly, that was a dumb idea. Impossible to live with this few! How could I? I putted it back where it belong and forgot it. I’ll have to buy a new one later, anyway. 

Decluttering my apartment became a fun activity. There were always stuff to give, to sell or to throw away.

Day after day my belonging was disappearing and that was weird, I mean really weird:

Instead of feeling empty with all these objects going away I was feeling quite happy indeed.

That was like I had a clearer way of thinking. Less to worry about. Here the things, there is quite a fair amount of belonging that are hidden in our closet, on our shelves, in our cupboards, crying silently waiting for us to pay attention to. They are part of our daily lives without even being noticed by us. They are here because we were happy to buy them, we kept them in ‘case’, they look good on the shelves.

But honestly how many objects are we using daily? 

You can try it if you want: Take a box, put few things -you are not using daily- in it. Close the box, wait… keep on living… 

You’ll probably be surprised that none of these objects were missing to your daily life and that you cannot remember all the objects that are in the box after less than two weeks…

If that so, well maybe you don’t need these objects after all, maybe you can give it, sell it or throw it?   

I sold my computer, my beautiful collection of collectables – yeah, I know – my blender and other kitchen devices and gave to a charity mostly all of my furnitures including my bed, my dear and loved tatami, futon bed! Yes! That was one of the most difficult to say goodbye to.!

The last night before leaving, sitting there, looking around at the emptyness! Nothing was there anymore. Nothing, except the little bag -that I finally convinced myself to use- and me.

I realized that nothing was missing.

I had now everything I needed.

I had let go…

A MINIMALIST'S DIARY #1

It's been almost 3 years that I started a new life and I thought it would be great to catch-up!

.

Even today I can remember how a scary jump it was.

Becoming a “minimalist” in a month, getting rid of most of my possessions : books, clothes, furnitures, ect…

Ending up with only a 38 liters backpack wasn't the most easiest thing to do but if I had to do it again I will enjoy it even more.

One of the best decision I took in my life : Becoming a minimalist by reducing drastically my possessions.

Is it easy to be a minimalist: not alway but after years I can relate that I enjoyed more being the minimalist version of me now that the one I used to be.

That started a long time ago, or maybe yesterday. One thing I’m sure now is that I am a minimalist.

I mean what is a minimalist, really? These days browsing the internet you could find the best way to fold your underwears or how to pack your suitcase for your next holidays and boom you’re tagged as a minimalist.

Well maybe it’s that or maybe there is more, I don’t know, I guess anyone find is own way to be one if he wants to. By this time I didn't really know what it meant to be one.

I found myself entering in the so called “Minimalist world” by leaving my flat, selling, giving and throwing away maybe 95 percent of my belongings.

When I say simple, well not as simple. I’m still wondering today why I choosed to change my way of living in such a short time.

I was renting a flat in London, paying my bills, working, spending a fair monthly money buying stuff that would probably end up on a cupboard or in my closet ready to gather the dust for the next decade.

These books I will certainly read, this coat which look amazing on me that I wore one time, these very nice pair of snickers which I putted on only occasionally, the all set of glasses, plates an so on to invite friend at home – Dude in London you invite friends at the Pub- That’s it! – and well few regularly pints of beers but that legit, isn’t it!

You probably think that I’m talking about the money I spent every months filling my need of buying to exist, to be a better me? Well you are right that was all about buying to exist, books to look smarter, clothes to looks more awesome and so on …

But you know what that wasn’t really about? Money.

That was about happiness.

Was I happy at this time buying thing? Well, I certainly was sometime. I can remember coming home with a new book or news clothes the happiness I felt, was it really happiness? I don’t know! But it disappeared as fast as it came.

Most of the time after 10-15 minutes that will end up by an : “Awesome, I will read it later, I will wear it later”.

Most of the time “Later” became “Never”.

I was happy with that way of living and not one time I questioned myself about it.

I mean why should I ?

One year later, I took a big decision: to go on a trip to Japan for three months.

Again why? I had and have even no idea now. As I did a lot of time before I followed an instinct or maybe I was bored and wanted a change. Either way I did it!

Three months on a trip sounded awesome and yet impossible to most peoples, including me.

I mean three months really? Without any income to pay your rent, your bills and so on?

Well that exactly the questions I asked myself. How will I do that?

The answer was quite simple : not having any flat and any bills to pay sounded more efficient to me and you know what? It really was!

I can tick that as a first rule that I’m following now since I went on this trip and became a minimalist. The rule would be,  I guess : Never rent a flat and go on a travel at the same time where you will stay at a hotel or such. That’s sound silly I know, but that’s a really good way not spending money on things you’re not using at this time.

When you think about it, renting a flat is all about to find a place to keep the stuff you own or you are planning to buy.

I hear you and I agree : what's about the feeling to come back to a place you like, you decorated, you like to relax in. That was something I enjoyed, that's true but being nomad is also an experience I'm enjoying daily, of course you cannot live as you were before! You need to adjust yourself, change your habits regularly! So far I love it!

When I decided to go on this trip my one year lease was ending, so naturally I thought not to renew it and use the money I would have put in my rent to travel. I let you do the math!

Ok but what will I do with my furnitures, all my precious Items, possessions. My 85 T-Shirts collections that I was never wearing. By the way yes to be honest I was probably wearing 5 of them regularly but I had no problem to buy some more every month. You know the feeling!

Where will I put all my stuff! Rent a storage container in town and put everything I owns in there so I could dispose of it when I come back?

Yes that crossed my mind, I looked on the internet until I realize that not renting a flat anymore was one good thing but renting a storage box was an other one! I thought yes well, I should be able to get rid of the things I don’t need anymore to reduce the size I will rent.

And that how it started… Decluttering…

Let start with these shelves I told myself, throwing away magazines you keep because you’ll read it later, the extra tupperware in the kitchen or the old books you already red, sound easy… but well even that wasn’t as easy!

At first you never want to get rid of the stuff you own, because you know! You bought it, you own it, it is yours!  Here come in your mind the value of the object you own in a way, you told yourself “I’m not gonna throw this, I could have a great use of it later!” Year sure thing… Been there sitting in your living room for more than a year but yes you’ll use it…one day…

I can easily remember the stress it has been to start to separate the things I wanted to throw away from the one I wanted to keep…

But eventually I did it. First I put everything I thought I could let go in a box and I’ll deal with it later while packing. Doing that, I found some stuff which obviously I didn’t want to wear or use anymore and thrown it away.

Later that day when I looked at the empty and clean shelves, I had this weird feeling. A feeling of satisfaction, maybe…

These empty shelves were telling me that I was going on a three months trip around Japan and won't come back in this flat.

And that was it.

Yes shelves talk sometime. These one smiled at me gently:

“Hey this is starting now, you’re going on a new adventure!”

When I looked at the boxes I filled with the “supposed object to let go” I knew that yes I have to let them go.

Yes …That’s how it started.

A friendly empty cupboard which made me feel happy!

Stay tuned for the next Episode of

‘A MINIMALIST'S DIARY#2’

More cupboards to talk to, more decluttering, tears and cry!

The perfect packed suitcase...

There is no perfect packed suitcase or backpack, small or big!

That's only you who decided how much weight you will carry during your travel and how big it should be! We all have different needs.

Three months ago, when I took my first airplane with my 38L / 12kg backpack to Japan, I saw some people with 2, 3 even 4 big suitcases waiting in line to check-in their luggages.

Ok that seem a bit exagerate! You are certainly thinking : this is not me he's talking about, I only have one suitcase...

I could remember me weeks ago struggling to choose what to bring to travel. That was hard! When you're packing you need to bring everything in your suitcase! You know, just in case ...

That's stressful, indeed, when you should enjoy the preparation of you holidays, instead you are stress about what you will forget! That was always like that for me!

But even if you forget something most of the time you'll be able to buy it in a supermarket or a convenient store or a gas station like in Iceland! You might end up just to make it without what you forget and what you thought was so important to bring with you! :) Who knows? 

Watching the queue of people with their suitcases, I thought! Oh god maybe I forgot something... I took my bag as carry-on and boarded the plane.

did I forgot something ?

Yes! I forgot to give or throw away a lot of stuff which was in my bag, but at this time, that was the perfect packed bag for me! Everything I needed was in !

How effective that was at the airport not to have to check-in and check out a suitcase or even a backpack! 

You can check-in yourself and avoid the queue to check-in your luggage.

You are buying time to yourself and a peaceful mind!

How many times I had to wait for my luggages after a flight and found it a bit damaged. While waiting, I always had a thought about how maybe it was lost or delay until I could see it! Now everything is fitting in my carry-on and that's really really a big step for me!

I'm travelling with a light backpack and mind.

Few weeks ago I was talking to a friend who was travelling to Japan for two weeks with his girlfriend. They wanted to make the best of their trip and planned to change locations every two days to see a lot of Japan! Each of them had 1 big suitcase plus you know, the little bag to hike or put whatever you need when sightseeing. After two weeks of walking, taking train, check-in/check-out hotel, my friend told me he was exhausted!

Why I asked? The suitcases he told me :

Never again!!!

I don't know, I could be wrong but my guess is that they probably used 50% or less that what they had in their suitcases. 

After more than 3 months of travel, moving every day or evey two days to a new location in Japan, I can say that I didn't use half of what was in my bag! Not kidding! I actually looking forward to minimalize, optimize my bag and made it a 7kg! Hopefully! 

Of course, computer, camera, go pro are a big part of the weight in the 12kg! I had a look yesterday and thought that for a long travel like that I didn't use the computer a lot, only to transfer my photos/videos to a hard drive, next step will be to store everything online!

That's at least a 3kg weight gain. I'm doing everything on my phone! Editing photos or videos and even writing this article now while I'm in the plane back to Kansai/Kyoto from Ishigaki/Okinawa.

The new technology are a big part in minizing your belonging, now everything is so small and portable, at the end one device is enough to do everything, watch movies, read books, listen to some music, take some nice photos and videos.

There is no rules every one is different! I can't remembered how many time I struggled with my big suitcases at airport or in a train before! That was a real pain!

It's so enjoyable to walk around and even not feeling the bag on my back now! That really made my trip way more easier and challenging at the same time! Yes that was a challenge at start to have not much choice in the T-shirt I will wear every morning! I only got 3 black T-shirt and 2 with some graphics on it! 

When you got less you think : efficiency!

For example I had to bought a new T-shirt, one was really too old! I bought a nice and warm one! Was it expensive: yes! Way more expensive that the one I throw away! But I guess the price of four good quality T-shirt will never compet with the 60 midlle quality fun T-shirt I had!

Same goes for all the clothes I'm wearing now, I'm actually about to renew some of my underwear in Kyoto, I really like MUJI shop, very affordable, simple and good quality!

Also, one think I'm missing is my essential oil vaporizer. Muji is doing a travel version which is very small and can be charge by usb! Been a while I saw it and thought that maybe I'll buy it!

Being minimalist to me doesn't mean : stop buying!

It's more about not buying everything like I used to.

Before I was buying stuff for many reasons : that was compulsive buying, I was always feeling the need to buy things, maybe in a way that was to feel a gap. Clothes, books, camera, electronic devices... Decluttering helped me to understand who I was! Precisely who I wasn't! I wasn't these objects! I could be myself without them.

Now I want to buy things if I really need it or if I really want it! I'm asking myself this question "why do you want to buy it?" I saw this Items several time the last months and I'm still asking myself, I think that would be cool to have one as part of my meditation, relaxing accessories. Of course, if I buy it, I'll need to get rid of one item, to make sure everything is fitting in my bag.

In a way by reducing my space, I'm reducing my numbers of items and my general consumption. 

In my backpack I tried to put clothes for two seasons : summer and winter. That means that you need versatile clothing. I bought a nice combo T-shirt/underwear which are made for this purpose. More expensive yes, but again : one underwear and one T-shirt. Quality over quantity! 

I got a windcoat and a separate hoodie, which I can combine depending on the weather! I got it from years and really like-it! It's usually fold over the back of my bagpack wich leave more space for others belongings. 

Before I went on travel a friend of mine gave me a nice tips to organize my bag : why not using some freezing bags with zipper to store T-Shirt, swimsuit, underwear, etc ... And that was brilliant! 

Doing that it litteraly take me 5-6 minutes to pack  my bag! Not kidding!

At the end of this trip, I realized that my travel bag became my life bag and that was all I needed !

After all these time with my small backpack which contains almost everything I own now. (Still have to declutter few very old boxes at my parents place), I got this strange feeling of freedom! I said strange because as far as I remember I always had something to worry about and most of it was related, connected to possession and belonging.

Yes I could go everywhere after all without being bound by a flat, a rent, furnitures, taxes, belonging and so on... 

How I started my minimalist journey...

It's been almost 6 months now, that I started my minimalist journey.

This morning I woke up in a guest house on Ishigaki Island -Okinawa- where I choosed to stay for a while to end my trip by meditating, reading, resting, relaxing. This is almost the end of my trip in Japan, time goes fast when you travel.

I woke up and asked myself why and how did I started this minimalist Journey?

I couldn't really remember. That was quite blurry, indeed. This is funny because it's something I experienced the last 6 months and especially the last 4 months travelling around Japan with my small backpack and so far I missed none of my past belonging. I actually really enjoy travelling around with such a small backpack. It's synonym to "nothing to worry about"! 

Finally I could remember that it started when I was getting ready for my trip. I surfed the web randomly about travelling light, about how to pack an effective suitcase when I found a very small articles about minimalism, explaining that some peoples were living with way less belonging than me. I thought ha yes that's funny. I was intrigued but forgot really quickly about it! 

I found other articles about peoples travelling with a small bag, that was more what I was looking for. How to be effective to pack my suitcase. And they were all saying something like oh 10kg it's too heavy, I'll reduced it to 7kg for the next trip! Oh yeah really!!! Yeah right!!! When I saw the size and the weight they were using, I thought, well let's try the in between! I'll definitely won't be able to survive with so little! Not for me!

Then the time came to start to pack, packed my things. I was leaving my flat to be able to afford the 3 months break, no rent, no bills! Thinking about where I could stock all my belongings as I wasn't moving in a new flat : rent some storage space, ask friends and family if they got space? But here the thing, I already did that.

For those who don't know me it's been 7 years now that I left France to work oversea and to move every year or two in differents locations.

Initially I was supposed to go to work in London for 2 months and put all my belongings, furnitures, everything I had in a attic and left to Uk with a big suitcases and a backpack- yes you heard well - for two months. Guess what??Everthing is still in the same Attic since 7 years and Im planning to get rid of everything as soon as I'm going back to France. That's a good exemple how I had accumulate thing I don't need over the year... Yes but if??? If I come back? If I need it? If... 7 years... That's a good proof that I dont need anymore all these items. No?

After reading this article on minimalism I didn't think about that much. But in a way that was a starting point. A clic.

I really enjoyed to go in a Hampstead cafe which is also a library - yes I used to live in a fancy area - I went there every weekend to enjoy a cafe and I have to admit to talk to the waitress who I found attractive, to browse some books.

Everytime I went there, I bought a book! Tea history, travel books, polaroid books, photography books. One day that was a book speaking about cleaning written by a monk, yes cleaning. Why not I thought if it can help me a bit to tidy my flat. It's a small book it won't take that long to read, funny reading. And yes it wasn't that long, but, after reading this book I started to do 10 minutes of cleaning everyday. I don't have to mention I think, that I'm a single male, so let's say cleaning wasn't my first priority! My flat wasnt dirty or a big mess but you know...

Everyday, before going to work, before my shower and my meditation, I started to clean and tidy a tiny part of my flat, a shelf, a cupboard and it gave me happyness. I could feel it really and I didn't know why. In this process I started to throw away some Items I didn't want anymore. That was hard and I started slowly to put some unused items in a box to throw it away. 

That's how it start really! Day after day, I felt happy. Cleaner and more tidy was my flat and happyier I was. I know that sound a bit weird, but decluttering my things was as well synonym for me going on travel soon I guess that's why. 

Anyway, one weekend I had a look to my wardrobe and thought well, that might be a good time to start my travel bag. Maybe I could give it a try with a small bag I thought! 

First find a bag. I went to have a look in some outdoors stores and tried some beautiful 40L, that seem a decent ones to start, more I was looking and more I was thinking : well, I also got a 38L which I like!  It might do the trick just to try! 

Back home I pull out all my close from my wardrobe and start to put on the side what I really needed for my travel, started to pack everything in my 38L! That was quick and I was to able to put in my bag maybe 10% of what I was planning to. Haha!!! Let's start again! After more than an hour I finally succeeded to close the bag by reducing drastically my belonging! The vital, thst was just to try, just to test what I'll be able to pack in this one. The minimum! At this time I wasn't really convince that I could do it with only theses belonging. I put the backpack on the side in a closet for a while. 

And it hit me! Looking at the pile of closes on my bed!

Why not get rid of of what I'm not wearing before putting everything back in my wardrobe because really! I love most of them but... I'm not wearing it!

Let's be honest! We all have some clothes we love but we are not wearing! 

After locating some clothes and shoes charity box not far from my place, it took me a week to slowly put everything in some bags and give it away. I did maybe three bigs bags from the thing I wanted to give to the things I'd liked to keep. I ended up to give everything to charity using the donations boxes.

That was really a big move for me. All the clothes I had now were on me and in my small backpack! And that wasn't much! 

After that, I realized that I could give or sell more, my furnitures, my books, my collectibles... That was as well a slow and hard process, luckily in London you are never too far from a charity shop.

But wait... I missed something, something who happen to me all along this decluttering, giving or selling away my things... Eventually days after days my flat started to empty, and I had this weird feeling, happyness? Something close to freedom? I don't know, I felt more and more in peace maybe, yes maybe something like that. I started to realize that in a way looking at all this space around me, this emptyness, I could see more clearly what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be.

 And it happen... Every day I was selling or giving away one of my belonging. I ended up with two suitcases and one small box which I asked a friend to keep until my return. That was at this time how far I could go. 

After this trip I don't know what's in the suitcases and the box. I could say, my polaroid, few tea bowls and few books, my tent, a pant .... That's mean to me that everything else I couldn't remembered will need to go when I'll pass by London to my next destination.

During this trip I realized that minimalist is only a word and it's not only reducing your belonging. It's way more than that.

Reducing my belonging was a starting point which lead me somewhere I would have never expect 6 months ago...

 And that's how I started my minimalist journey...