21st Century Misfit

I’ve been a fan of simplicity for a while, but I’ve never been able to get it working quite the way I wanted.  Turns out my sights were on the future, possibly on the unattainable, rather than on the here and now.  Aside from refocusing my personal goals, a la 101 Goals in 1001 Days, I’ve also been working on simplifying my life, primarily by eliminating clutter.

30 Days to a Simpler Life by Evatt and Cox is a great start to give you ideas.  I took some of the recommendations and implemented them forcefully.  For example, I eliminated about half the clothes from my closet and gave them to Goodwill and family members.  I’ve been getting rid of techie stuff and books which I’d had for years - I realized those specific projects just aren’t gonna happen.

Life Zero (which is also a great podcast available on iTunes) offers similar suggestions, and I used these to temper suggestions from the book.  For instance, I had not worn any of the clothes I discarded for over six months.  The Life Zero rules were recently revised, and I think they are now more general and in line with a larger population (and my intended use of them anyway).

The cool thing is that focusing goals and getting rid of material distractions is liberating.  I’ve felt less burdened and more able to concentrate on the things that I have determined are important.

(Update: Merlin Mann over at 43folders recommends It’s All Too Much for more tips on minimizing your stuff.  Time has a recent article on hardcore minimalists.  Finally, FreeCycle is a great way to give stuff to folks in your area.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 20:29 and is filed under Philosophy, Self Sufficiency. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.