Sunset over Nygård, Bergen
Personal, Simplicity

A minimalist (sort of) move

Buying our first apartment was both super exciting and kind of exhausting. I naively thought the open houses and the bidding and the actual buying, which all took place in August, would be the most work. Boy was I wrong. All in all I didn’t consider the process of our minimalist move to be truly over until the beginning of December when the lease of our old place was finally over, even though we were completely moved in by the middle of October. I’m sure there are many of you out there who can relate, both to the workload and my naivety.

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Small poodle sleeping on a gray couch in a tidy living room
Reader Favorites, Simplicity

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?

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Graffiti of two cavewomen with spears hunting a clothes rack
Simplicity

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.

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