Tuesday, November 13, 2012

It's the little things

Living with less isn't about how many things you own or how big or small your home is. Living with less is about being more mindful of what truly matters. It is about enjoying the little things, so that when you look back on your life, you
... Read more »

Monday, October 22, 2012

Minimalist halloween costume?

It's that time of year again: Halloween, the time when pumpkin carving and costume parties happen all around town.

For me, buying a costume is usually synonymous with wasted space in my closet right after the party. Last year I tried to make a costume with clothes I already had in my closet and ended up with
... Read more »

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Downsizing

I think one of the most drastic ways to get rid of extra junk is to downsize the place where you put it. When I first moved to Belgium, the apartment was rather small compared to my US house, and there were NO CLOSETS! That meant that I had to figure out how to fit everything I owned into this apartment, and of course I wanted it to be clean and not full of junk all the time.

That is how I started to
... Read more »

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Minimalist Fashion?

I think the first thing people tend to tackle as minimalists is probably their wardrobe. (In my case, we are talking about a huge wardrobe filled to the brim!) I guess it's kind of easy to get a feeling of accomplishment after sorting your clothes, and at the same time it's a relief not to have to schlep around so much stuff. Unlike other items in the house, I think that clothes are
... Read more »

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Simplify your kitchen with Tenugui!

A while ago, I posted about how you can declutter your bag wardrobe with Furoshiki. Well, in the same vein, you can declutter your kitchen cloths and such with Tenugui.
... Read more »

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Milestones 2

Just a few days ago, I wrote a post about a number of milestones in my life, as this blog got 500 page views.

Today, I just got to a new one: this blog passed the 1000 page view mark. This is very nice because I used to hate blogging, thinking I had nothing interesting to say, but since I have kept at it since August, I have had the opportunity to see the blog grow.
... Read more »

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Minimalist grooming part 2

The other day I posted about minimalist grooming. Well, I am reporting that I just cut my hair and my husband's tonight, and it was fun, an interesting activity to kill boredom, and FREE! (Well, free once you own a pair of scissors and/or clippers!)
It's always a good idea when trying to declutter your life, to also declutter your schedule. If you learn to be independent and do a lot of things yourself, you don't have to worry about making an appointment at the salon for instance, and taking time off or making it during lunch.
... Read more »

Thursday, September 13, 2012

minimalist fun

The other day I posted about simple pleasures. Today I would like to share with you a very simple pleasure that will most likely cheer you up if you're sad, or just make you smile.

This is something that I am sure most of you are familiar with, but every so often it is nice to be reminded of such great things. It is called "checking out pics of cute baby animals online!!!" Oh, and trust me, if you do get through this page without squealing, you have a problem!

Enjoy!


Monday, September 10, 2012

Only you can make you happy

As I was reading an article about location on Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus's blog I stumbled across a very interesting sentence: Only you can make you happy.
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milestones

I am happy to report that today, I passed the 500 page-view mark! I am so happy! It means that my blog is finally taking off and I can (maybe) make a difference and inspire people to lean more towards minimalism.
... Read more »

Saturday, September 8, 2012

minimalist outing: going purse-free

I was reading a blog post about this girl that goes purse-free, but I am still not sure it is doable for us girls, especially with pocket-less skirts and dresses. Yet, I am interested in going bag-free for a while because at the end of the day I get really tired carrying a purse: after a few hours it just feels really heavy.
... Read more »

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

simple pleasures













Nothing feels greater than enjoying simple pleasures!
Today, at 10:30pm, with my husband we
... Read more »

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Be content with what you have

One thing that my mom repeated to me quite often when my little unsatisfied self was growing up is: "you need to learn to appreciate what you have".
Many years on, I think she was right: no matter how hard you try, how many dresses you buy, you are always you, there is no running away from yourself. So instead of
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minimalist student lifestyle

As I was revisiting this blog, I reminisced how nice it was as a student to sit and daydream about the future. I was thinking about how I would have a great job and would go on a lot of adventures with my then wonderful boyfriend (he is now my husband!!)

And then...life happened. I became an adult, grew out of dreaming because
... Read more »

How much clutter is too much clutter?

When sizing down, people only think of one thing: getting rid of things! The less things, the better: we have too much clutter, and we need to size down, sell, donate, or throw out stuff, and finally -phew!- take a break because we've earned it!

But in all this frenzy of simplifying and downsizing to a
... Read more »

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Decluttering: baby steps

Today I started feeling stressed out because I knew I had so much to sort through in order to declutter the house. I said, when I started this blog that I wanted to give minimalism a try and I am pretty serious about it, even though I still have a lot of sentimental items. I was at a loss where to start, because although I have a lot of clutter or unnecessary items here, I am sure it's not as much as the average American home. Or is it...?

Anyway, I decided to sort through my underwear drawer first, because I had a lot of old socks, and torn pantyhose that I kept, thinking "I can wear that with boots, nobody will see the pilling on the side of this pantyhose" and so on. But every time I opened the drawer, it was hell getting everything back down to close it again.

I ended up throwing away
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Decluttering: a few tips

Here are some links that I think are really inspiring. When trying to declutter a room or a home, it can become overwhelming very quickly. So I suggest that you read those links and start decluttering a little bit at a time. That's what I do too!!

The unclutterer

Zen Habits

I find that the hardest part when parting with belongings is
... Read more »

Saturday, September 1, 2012

minimalism: spontaneity is the new black

Most people get caught up in weekly chores. Let's face it, we've all spent countless hours on Saturday afternoons shopping for food, clothes, you name it.
Although shopping for clothes is nice when there are people around, I find it terribly tiring to wait in line for over a half hour to try on that skirt that I don't even know if it'll fit. So if I want to shop for something special, I try to go off-peak.
... Read more »

minimalist grooming

One day I was walking in a DC mall with a friend when a girl stopped me to ask me how long it took me to style my hair in the morning. That was the first step towards selling me hair styling products or equipment, I forget which. I told her point blank: "I don't style my hair in the morning, too much of a hassle, I just can't be bothered, I just brush it and leave". She stared at me in disbelief: "I'm sorry, what???"
To which I replied:
... Read more »

Simplify your life: handkerchiefs

Have you noticed how these days, people are reverting back to habits from another time? A lot of people will go buy food in bulk, make their own clothes, and so on, in an attempt either to simplify their lives or to pay less for the same items.

One of the things that our parents and grandparents used to have, that I think is genius, is handkerchiefs. I know some of you might think
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Declutter your disposable items

One thing that we have been doing since moving to Belgium with my husband is decluttering disposable items. Except for toilet paper, we don't own any disposable cleaning supplies in the house anymore. Actually I lied, we have one old half empty roll of paper towels that made it here with the move, but it has been tucked away in some cupboard for so long that I had forgotten all about it until I cleaned out the kitchen the other day.

Instead of paper towels, we use
... Read more »

The lazy minimalist

Last time I told you guys how the lazy factor helped a lot with cutting back, and not wasting money on disposable items.
Well, today, I would like to share with you yet another lazy idea to not waste money or time on something that, let's face it, we all use at some point or another: batteries.

When I was a student, I needed to record some of the lectures I went to (don't we all?), and decided to buy a really nice usb-enabled sound recorder. It was great because
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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Minimalism and the lazy factor

I must have mentioned in previous posts that for some things I am very lazy. It's usually a bad thing to be lazy, but if you want to have a minimalist lifestyle, I think it can actually be a good thing. I usually tend to find a lazy reason not to purchase more stuff (bah, I'll go tomorrow...) and it's been helpful in some ways.

For instance, one thing that I do often is refuse plastic bags when I am offered some at the store, because I usually
... Read more »

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Decluttering your bag wardrobe with furoshiki

Today, I would like to talk about a nice way to declutter your bag wardrobe. Of course, this might not be for everybody or every type of climate, but there is a very simple, multi-purpose item that you might want to carry with you everywhere for
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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Declutter your life with this simple tip!

Very often we have a lot to do and not much time or willpower to do it. Personally, I hate cleaning and the most cleaning I am willing to do is the dishes. But of course, I can't let dust accumulate or the shower get moldy. This is why I try not to have to
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My minimalist kitchen

The other day I felt really stressed out/restless, so I decided to do something that would give me a sense of accomplishment. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but after reading so much on minimalism, I wanted to do something to make my living space better. Since I wasn't ready to let go of my own personal belongings just yet, I decided that a good place to start was the kitchen, because it has a lot of replaceable items, so throwing away old stuff was going to free up space without making me upset. Although cleaning the kitchen in and of itself wasn't going to bring me happiness, it was one step closer to simplifying my life and decluttering my house.

First things first, before I could clean and organize everything, I had to
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Monday, August 27, 2012

Minimalism, empty space and space filling

When I first moved into my new home in CT in October 2010, I was struck by two very opposite feelings... On the one hand, I loved the empty space, and wanted to keep it that way, but on the other hand, I was thinking that I needed to buy things (like kitchen appliances, etc) to fill the house.

In any case I think that the problem is the promise that... Read more »

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Minimalism is cultural

Today I would like to talk about how minimalism is, in my opinion, cultural.

I think a lot of people who turn to minimalism in the US and elsewhere probably grew up in households where clutter was ever-present (myself included). I remember dreaming of owning a picture-perfect, magazine-like empty loft with nothing but a computer on the coffee table. That way I could always get up and go without thinking about hauling my whole life worth of belongings.

That being said, ... Read more »

Thursday, August 16, 2012

About minimalism

Have you ever wondered how it would feel to own nothing and be free to roam the world and discover new countries, new cultures, new customs? If you owned nothing, you could go wherever you want without having to worry about packing and you would be free... free as a bird...

If that is what minimalism represents for most people,... Read more »