The other day I found myself thinking about my journey in minimalism and simplicity. Like most people I often focus way too much on what I have left to do, and not too much on what I have already accomplished. With that in mind I thought it might be fun to look back on some of the changes I have made over the years.
Category Archives: Simplicity
Review: You Need A Budget (YNAB)
You need a budget. Come on now, of course you do. We all do! If you are a long-time reader you will remember that I once wrote a blog post called On Money where I shared with you how I used to do my budgeting. Well, that post is no longer around. This new system is much better and I don’t want you to follow my old advice.
Enter: You Need A Budget.
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I decluttered my apartment like Marie Kondo
You must have heard of Marie Kondo by now. The Japanese organizing consultant and author wrote a book called “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”, and one by one my fellow minimalists/decluttering enthusiasts have devoured it and sung its praises. Me, I was a KonMari skeptic. I had already read a few books on the subject (my favorite being “The Joy of Less” by Francine Jay), so what new could Marie Kondo’s book possibly bring to the table?
What I learned during my 10 month shopping fast
The beginning
It has been nearly a year since I decided to start my 10 month shopping fast. It was September 2014 and I was psyched, I wanted to give myself a challenge, and I felt very motivated indeed. I had previously done shorter fasts with varying degrees of success, but this time I wanted to do it properly. My three main reasons for starting a fast were:
- I couldn’t physically fit more clothes into my closet.
- I wanted to save money.
- I felt slightly out of control.
The 1 year shopping fast
Yup, I’m jumping on the bandwagon: I will start a 1 year shopping fast as soon as I get back from my summer holiday. Actually – if I am being completely honest it might be only 10 months, or 11, but it will still be a good stretch of time and in any case 1 year sounds much more impressive than 10 or 11 months. In the past I have scoffed at people doing this, claiming it to be too extreme and a complete overkill, but over the past few months I have come to the conclusion that I think it would do me good. Why?