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  1. #1
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    Question Questions for Anyone...

    Have you always been interested/inclined towards minimalism, frugality, less is more, DIY, or ? If you changed directions, what prompted that change?

    Me? I've always been interested in saving $ and non-canning food storage. But the rest of it came about because of having too much stuff and realizing it was in the way of accomplishing what I wanted to do, job layoffs/income shortages, and ecology.

  2. #2
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Yes.I always like the idea of minimal objects because I like freedom of movement (the idea if not the actuality!) and not owning a lot.

    But I’ve been in this house for more than 30 years and stuff accumulates when you’re not planning to move. I try to keep my mental attachment to most of the objects surrounding me to a minimum.

    I’m actually more attached to a house and grounds than I am to the junk inside the house and on the grounds.

  3. #3
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    I've been interested in the principle of Less Is More for a LONGGG time. Have I practiced it? Certainly not as much as I would like to. But it helped that we downsized to 1/3 of our prior living space. It got me down from a "D" in Less-Is-More living to maybe a C+

    One of the few books the made the cut during The Purge of 2019 is a book with the actual title Less Is More. It's an anthology of quotes edited by Goldian Vandenbroeck. I bought a used copy and I read it for inspiration all the time.

    There is a quote about beauty or art being about subtraction, or something like that. I can't find the exact quote, but that appeals to me.

    Here is a similar quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

    Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

    BTW, I looked up the book Less Is More on Amazon to see if it's still in print , and it is-- https://www.amazon.com/Less-More-Ant.../dp/089281554X

    But the interesting thing is, the subtitle on the cover of my old book (c 1976) is "The Art of Voluntary Poverty" and the subtitle on the 1996 version is "An Anthology of Ancient & Modern Voices Raised in Praise of Simplicity." I guess "simplicity" sells more books than "poverty." Another interesting thing I noticed is that the original publisher was Inner Traditions based in Vermont. Yet another good thing to come out of Vermont.

    On another note: Chelsea Green Publishing Company is having their annual summer sale, and you can get a lot of books for 90% off! Others are 75% off, 50% off and 25% off. Chelsea Green is my favorite publishing house, so check it out: www.chelseagreen.com
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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    Catherine, I love Chelsea Green. Got the 4 books I ordered this week. Hadn't thought to do a heads up about the sale...

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    I may have been early on without realizing it, but "frugality" was my initial introduction via The Tightwad Gazette books (still own The Complete Tightwad Gazette!). It, and other similar books, made a huge impact on being able to stay home with the kids. Things were REALLY tight back then, but we did it! The frugality led me to simplicity which has steered me to minimalism... or actually it is a combination of all three at this point. I'm definitely not where I want to be at this point in time, but I am happy with the journey and where it has led me/is leading me.
    To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
    Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
    In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown

  6. #6
    Yppej
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    No. I have fluctuated but the older I get the more I care because I want to retire someday.

  7. #7
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    I've always been interested in "simpler" -- modern structures and furniture without all the decoration, just letting good honest materials stand out; the kind of simple presentation that Apple products used to make and fine Japanese cuisine still does; the purity of a jazz quartet or string quartet to that of an entire orchestra or big band. I've even tended to minimalism in life because I think non-minimalism requires a lot of energy -- dusting all those collectibles, rummaging through kitchen cabinets for the one trick pony appliance I'm looking for, looking at big piles of paper on a desk; dealing with one bank rather than three or more.

    All that turned into simple living when I burned out of my Corporate America job and had to find some other way to live life. So far it's worked pretty well.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
    "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to live without." Thoreau in Walden
    Commentary: http://richardgalbraith.yolasite.com...-david-thoreau

    “Too many people spend money they don’t have to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like” Will Rogers

    I've never bought anything I "didn't want" just because I thought it would impress either people I don't like or people I do like. But from time to time I have bought things that I mainly wanted because they would announce my self image to anyone who saw me and would reaffirm my self image each time I used or wore them. I don't do that anymore.

    While I was growing up my family didn't have much money, but we always had enough and I probably could have had almost anything I really really wanted. Fortunately I didn't want a whole lot and I recognized which "wants" were within reason and which were unrealistic because of money or other reasons. In my early twenties with low expenses and an adult income, I sort of went wild because I had so much extra money. But as young as 17 I was a fan of My Side of the Mountain and Thoreau's Walden, and I very much wanted to live that kind of life.

    It took me about a decade of wavering back and forth between "If I want it, I'll buy it" and the more simple uncluttered version of me that I really wanted to be. And to some extent I'm still waging that battle occasionally. But every year I get closer to my goal of truly having everything I want and only wanting things and experiences that genuinely make my life better.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
    modern structures and furniture without all the decoration, just letting good honest materials stand out
    Mid-century modern and Danish modern? https://www.google.com/search?q=dani...w=1247&bih=645 Or something more rustic?

  10. #10
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    Have you always been interested/inclined towards minimalism, frugality, less is more, DIY, or ? If you changed directions, what prompted that change?

    Me? I've always been interested in saving $ and non-canning food storage. But the rest of it came about because of having too much stuff and realizing it was in the way of accomplishing what I wanted to do, job layoffs/income shortages, and ecology.
    maybe, sort of, I think some degree of fluctuation is healthy? I was raised to be weary of debt (this is more of a minus, good opportunities exist for those willing to take on debt, definitely missed some). I cared very little about furnishing my first apartment (but a great deal about being independent and so having my first apartment). I can be near indifferent to my surroundings. And I was raised by horders, so it's a constant battle, not even because I compulsively shop, I really don't, but just paper alone can get crazy. I care very little about impressing anyone with stuff unless in an interview or something (then I will be impeccably dressed in a pantsuit ).

    I've always been environmentalist and it's a strong thing guiding my action (at which point someone is like: "but you have a car", bah I have to live in society too... I can't make up for all it's problems including the lack of even remotely passable public transit ). But I was never going to be a stay at home parent, even if I had done the parenting thing. I was raised as a (second wave) feminist not to be a housewife, so I was clearly going to work and take some pride in my ability to work and earn money.

    As for economic insecurity? LOL, scratch a Gen Xer, never mind a millenial and for many it's there. Laid off 2.5 years into my first job in a recession. It's always there, it can become paralyzing if one focuses on it, if one thinks of the coworker one knows that had to drive for Uber for awhile etc., one learns not to focus on the precarity of it all, but one does not tie all their savings up in retirement accounts either, one first has to survive until then.
    Trees don't grow on money

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