Minimalist Experiment

Unfucking my habitat and learning to live with less...one step at a time. Australia | 27 | Female

[projectunfuck]

It's a vicious cycle: anxiety or depression can lead to a cluttery home and a cluttery home can lead to depression and more anxiety, and we tend to do less about the house, which makes it even worse yet. Clutter...

[livingcalmly]

Digital Declutter checklist

Letter size - Download here!

A checklist to help you declutter and organize!

[projectunfuck]

[sadsocietypress]

(likes & reblogs are very welcome woop)

[bob-belcher]

[deadbird-deactivated-deactivate]

Talk about a satisfying before-and-after…

[philosophybits]

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (via philosophybits)

[unfuckyourhabitat]

Weekly challenge:

This week, commit to doing any task that takes less than two minutes as soon as you notice it needs to be done.

Rather than putting off changing the empty paper towel roll, or wiping down a spill, or putting dirty laundry in the hamper, or putting the dishes in the drainer away, do it right then so it doesn’t add to your to-do list later (and possibly not get done at all). I’m not talking about the big jobs here, just the little stuff that you notice and would otherwise be inclined to file away until later. A lot of these mini-tasks will take far less time than you think!

[unfuckyourhabitat]

Laundry challenge

How’s your laundry situation today? Is the floordrobe, bedrobe, or chairdrobe taking over? Is a clean load of laundry languishing in the dryer? Today’s goal is to get as much of your laundry–clean or dirty–dealt with and back where it belongs. Extra bonus points if you have to haul yourself and your clothes to the laundromat! Check in here with your progress or before and after pictures. 

[unfuckyourhabitat]

Challenge

When this post crosses your dash, stop scrolling, get up, and spend five minutes cleaning up your immediate area. If that seems like too much, put five items that aren’t where they belong away.

As soon as you’re done, get right back to losing large chunks of time scrolling down your dash.

[unfuckyourhabitat]

Weekly challenge

This week, challenge yourself to the following (pick one, or try for all four if you’re feeling ambitious):

-Put away clean laundry within one hour after it’s done being washed and dried.

-Aim for “sink zero.” Nothing sits in your (gloriously empty) sink; either wash or load into the dishwasher (if applicable) immediately.

-Put clean dishes away as soon as they’re dry.

-Anything new that comes into your home gets put away immediately, without being set down somewhere “just for a minute.”

[unfuckyourhabitat]

How’s everyone doing with this so far?

[projectunfuck]

Creating exactly the home you imagine is a big project. Yet you may find your greatest challenge comes before you can even start. How do you make space for beauty and pretty things? Here’s your beginner’s guide to decluttering.

[unfuckyourhabitat]

It’s OK if it’s not easy for you

So generally, I’m a good internet citizen, and as a rule, I don’t read the comments. On anything. Ever. With some of the publicity that the UfYH book has been getting lately, though, I’ll admit to briefly losing reason from time to time and reading some comments. And there’s one kind of comment I keep coming across that makes me want to scream:

“This is so stupid. I mean, it’s so easy. Just clean up your house. No need for lists or tricks. Just clean it.”

“Can’t this whole article be shortened up to: don’t be a slob?”

“Ugh, how hard is it these days that we need all these ways of telling people how to clean?“

And I always refrain from responding, because I haven’t completely taken leave of my senses, but here’s what I always want to say:

“If you think it’s easy, then this isn’t for you.” That’s it. If you think it’s easy, or stupid, or unnecessary, UfYH wasn’t meant for you. If you think articles and books about cleaning are pointless, well, I’m not sure why you read them except to be a jerk about it in comments. It’s meant for everyone else. For people who don’t know how to clean. Or who don’t know where to start. For people who can’t do it the way they were taught because that takes energy or mobility that they don’t have. For people who are overwhelmed. Or ashamed. It’s OK to be any or all of those things, no matter what sanctimonious strangers on the internet say. If you’re any of those things and you’re here, you’re using the resources you can find to try to make things better for yourself. Isn’t that the point of the internet (well, that and cute animal gifs)?

Screw those jerks who think that because it’s easy for them, that it’s easy for everybody. It’s not. Don’t let them fool you into thinking you’re somehow lesser in any way because you don’t innately know or instinctively do this stuff. There are way more of us than there are of them; we just usually keep quiet about it for any number of reasons (shame, fear, judgment, frustration…). They can go feel smug about their clean houses or whatever somewhere else. Now, go clean, be awesome, and don’t read the comments.

[projectunfuck]

Minimalism Can Be Colorful One of the biggest misconceptions about minimalism is that it has to be dull. Monochrome houses, interiors and wardrobes are the images that come to mind.

[maggietakesontrash-deactivated2]

Minimalism, Zero Waste, and privilege

I’m watching “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things”, and there’s something kind of turning over in my mind that I’ve thought about before but not too much in depth, until now.

The people in this documentary are saying things that have incredible merit, no doubt. Minimalism and living with less is a valiant, important, and worthwhile thing to pursue. And I think that if you have the resources and the capability to do so, then you absolutely should. It’s better for your psyche, better for the environment, go crazy, down size your life.

But.

Man, are the people in this documentary WHITE. Some of them have no doubt struggled with things that I feel close to home. But others’ transitioning into a minimalist life style, by quitting their job, and buying a tiny house, and living on a farm, or having a 420sqft apartment, especially designed for your want to have optimal usage of your space, but not a lot of it? That’s not realistic. These are things that are reserved for a select few of individuals. Going zero waste isn’t easy and the start up is expensive. And if you have children, are working a very demanding or extremely unfulfilling job, it’s going to be difficult to find the time to start. Donating or trashing all of your belongings and living with less is a great idea. But it’s not as easy like so many people talk about it being, for people living lower income America. These things are miles away from top priorities from anyone that is trying to put food in the table.

We need to acknowledge this.

If you look around on the internet, there are very few people with an abundance of responsibilities going zero waste, and there are even less people of color doing it. I LOVE the planet and I want to do anything I can to lessen my environmental impact. But as a collective, we need to see and understand why saying things like “it saves you money in the long run!” Is something people with privilege say. People who live these lives are not bad people, and I see, every day, how hard zero waste transitioning people are working to better themselves and the world around them. I believe in this, but we need to start acknowledging that this is a difficult thing to do.

[fitnesswithhonor]

[projectunfuck]

The 30 Day Minimalism Challenge https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/the-30-day-minimalism-challenge/