Embrace
Simplicity - Throw out Anything you don't Need!
William Morris once famously
said: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe
to be beautiful.” In other words, most of us hoard too many dust-ridden items
for no good reason. I have been researching Tiny Houses and, to live in one of
those, you can only keep the basics.
Michael
Guerra's Compact Living: How to Design Small Interior Space,
explains the importance of reducing consumption and personal clutter while
designing ingenious space saving solutions for small spaces. This is a powerful
guide to anyone wishing to live with less debt and more freedom.
Graham
Hill, founder of TreeHugger.com, has recently set up LifeEdited, making the idea of simple,
responsible living accessible to a much wider reach.
Hill
explains: “Since 1950, the average American consumes six times more energy and
carries 24 times more personal debt. He uses three times more living space, but
still doesn’t have enough room to store his stuff, a fact made clear by a $22B
personal storage industry. Despite this excess (or perhaps because of it), we
find ourselves no happier than we were 60 years ago. Most of us realize it’s about
relationships and experiences – not possessions – that make us happy. Why don’t
we design our homes, products and lifestyles accordingly?”
More storage is not the solution
o
Sell, donate or throw
away at least one item a day.
o
Think before you buy
(do I really need this?)
o
Make a list of everything
you nearly bought over the period of a month and work out how much you save.
o
If you have several
cars in your household, consider getting rid of one or more and replace with a
bicycle... it's healthy and cheap to run.
o
Get rid of your TV...
if you still want to watch certain programs, use your computer. It will allow
you to be more selective of the information you consume. I don’t have a TV and I
don’t miss it either. Try it – you’ll like it!
o
Try apartment
living... if your neighbours turn on their heating, you may not need to use
yours at all as you benefit from being insulated by others.
o
Digitize your life a
little. Scan all of your old pictures sitting in boxes and opt out of paper
bank statements, these will open up the storage space for the things you
actually need.
o
Eliminate debt. Most
people work to pay off the money they never had, for things they don’t really
need. Downsize, sell what you don’t need and experience some extra piece of
mind.
o
Be conscious of your
health. Eat local, fresh food. By supporting your community, you cut your
dependence on supermarkets and the weight of carbon intensive food products.
o
Express gratitude
everyday. When living simply, you have an opportunity to value the things that
really matter in your life. Allow yourself the luxury of a notepad and write
down everything that you are grateful for.
o
Most paperwork people
file away in box files never gets looked at again. So do yourself a favor and
shred paperwork straight away. If it’s important scan it first. And then shred
it.
o
Get rid of picture
albums. Scan the photos and ditch the pics.
o
Get rid of pinboards.
Most of the things are forgotten on them anyway.
o
You can dispose of
your landline telecom connection and phone. Try VOIP – a proper Internet phone.
You might even consider replacing
even that with a simple redirect to your
smartphone.
o
A lot of kitchen
stuff could also go. Like your large multi-functional kitchen mixer that
could do all sorts of tasks short of launching a satellite. It probably seemed
a good idea at the time you bought it, something to spend money on. But in practice it is a useless
overkill piece of kit which is hardly ever used other than to make the
occasional milkshake or pancake.
o
I actually have
clocks in every room and I’m not ready to give them up. I don’t want to have to
go to my smart phone to check the time (I rarely wear any of my 20 watches!) Still,
your smartphone would do.
Also, stop buying gifts that will end up in somebody’s clutter. Most people give presents at Christmas, for example, because they feel like it is expected.
Also, stop buying gifts that will end up in somebody’s clutter. Most people give presents at Christmas, for example, because they feel like it is expected.
The
principle behind tiny homes is fascinating. Learning to get by with less stuff but with a higher quality of life is
important.
The
internet is full of terrific examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3SwqNzsNwg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0p47D-XIzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0p47D-XIzs
Check
out this video,too:
No comments:
Post a Comment