Minimalism: Do you know anyone living a truly minimalistic lifestyle?

CindyLouWho

CindyLouWho

Senior Member
Location
USA
A Minimalistic lifystyle seems very appealing to me, living with and buying things you may need versus want. I like nice things, but essential things, not frivilous buying just to buy.

Shopping has always been a chore to me, whether it is for food, clothing, furniture, etc, so I'm sure that contributes to the appeal. I've thought of what it would be like to sell my house and buy a tiny house in the countryside near a brook or stream. I'd rather spend more time outside than inside, I don't require alot of material things or space to live; not to mention the money you could save to travel or do other things with......freedom!

It's a fun idea to ponder and to read about.

So how about you, sound appealing?
 

There 3 or so alleged reality shows of people that have become
hermits, living in the forest. However, most of them have cabins.
One has to wonder who is filming these reclusive folk?
Money is involved-yes?
There is one that is real: "Life Below Zero: Port Protection
Appox twenty families living off the land, fishing, hunting, trapping. There merely people that do not find it possible
to live in the hub-bub of cities.
There neither reclusive nor hermits, just people that have had enough of our modern society.

There are reculsive folk living in the Arkansas Ozarks, the mountains of the Carolinas...You do not have to go to Alaska,
Montana or Idaho to reject our purposeless lifestyle.
 
Yes! i'd love to live that way! I have so much crap I'd like to get rid of! I'd like to have a few special things and no more, but I have things belonging to my , late husband and my parents, and you find there are certain things you need to live. But I think my things have babies! They multiply! And i keep creating things, and THEY mutiply! I give up!
 

Were too old, too 'stove up' and Rx dependent to run off and live off what we can shoot, trap or grow. That does not mean the urge has disappeared.
Living in the rural is as close as we can get-now that too is
becoming difficult.
 
RGP
Yea, what do we label reclusive folks in the city?
You don't have to live in the forest to be a minimalist.
As Op states, we cannot stay out of stores.

Minimalist is also poets that are very sparse in the number of
words they use.
Darn interesting when you think about it.

Is a miser a minimalist, is a crazed person a minimalist,
is one rejected by the greater society forced to become minimalist?

I obviously have little or no idea what a minimalist is:
I know what it is in the dictionary, but that does not fit my
definition.
I think it is a state of mind than anything else.
 
It sounds very appealing to me and I can think of many things I could do without and many more I've gotten use to and would miss. I couldn't survive without my ac and I'm sure that would be a no no.
Keeping in touch by way of my computer.
The reality is I do what I can by cooking meals from scratch,growing my garden and not buying frivolous things. Fix what is broken and not buy new unless beyond repair.
I still want my French press for my morning coffee and my self cleaning oven. I guess I'd make a pretty bad minimalist.
 
2 years ago, I got one of those unfinished cabins and finished it in hopes my mother would live in it. Alas, it wasn't to be as she is now in a semi-assisted living quarters.
I had no other need for it, so I sold it, and there might have been a small tear in my eye when it left. :( I do think it came out quite nicely if I do say so. I suppose it could be considered minimalist.

IMG_0286.JPGcabin plan.jpgIMG_0276.JPGIMG_0279.JPGIMG_0277.JPG
 
Ha, reminds me of model homes where they stuck in midget
furniture to make the house appear larger.

I don't know how people resist bring up junk and cluttering their homes.
 
I was for years.

I lived in a small (600 ft²) home for over 30 years. My ex and I split up less than 3 months after buying it, and I was making $5/hour...the very definition of house poor. But I hated apartment life, so dealt with it.

The worse thing to happen to me was when I dug out of that financial pit years later (yeh, years later) and started to buy "stuff." It used to be so much simpler...
 
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I would change the term "minimalist" to "basic". There are some basic needs that have to be met. Of course, there are degrees of what is considered "basic". And I disagree basic or minimalist is not merely a label, but a way of life. I don't know what you would call the opposite, but accumulating stuff takes time and energy, but doing without stuff also takes time and energy. Minimalism isn't passive.
 
Minimalism has nothing to do with survivalism or being a hermit. It means living with only the things you NEED and little else. Needs include food, clothing, and shelter. It's just simplifying your life. Your 'fluff-stuff' owns you, and it empties your wallet, forces you to maintain it, and makes you worry over it to make sure it is all safe and well-insured. For example: Do you really need a mansion to survive when four walls or less and a roof will suffice? Minimalism means that you have all you require to be secure.
 
No, I don't know of anyone who I would consider to be a "minimalist". However, I do know a few who over the years have systematically decluttered their lives of many things in order to free up money (and time) to pursue other activities. At this stage in my life I rather not have the responsibilities that come with having to care for what I believe to be unnecessary "stuff" and am subscribing now to the less can be more theory.
 
RadishRose said:
You don't have to live off grid or in the woods to be "minimalist".

Minimum "stuff" you don't use, clear surfaces, organization are key.

No such things as "keepsakes"- what, for the sake of "keeping"; hidden in boxes in backs of closets, unused, unseen? Why?

Your memories live in your mind, not in your stuff.
Click to expand...
I agree with your interpretation. I would like to add that as we age and our mental faculties potentially decline, some "keepsakes" are memory aids - like photos, diaries, old correspondence, greeting cards, and marked-up calendars. They can really help. (I worked in nursing homes and these were very valuable things, especially in the early stages of alzheimer's disease.) As I age, I now 'review' these items and am comforted to know that they are available if I need to recall some important detail that has been lost from my memory.
 

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