Morning Walk

Practise makes... sushi!

So! I´ve decided that I´m gonna learn how to make sushi (and not just something that resembles sushi, but kick-ass delicious sushi)

Because i´ts my favorite food it would dig deep holes in my pocket´s if I could eat is as often as I´d like... And making it myself will spare the environment from many take-away boxes.

Here´s my first try (using cucumber, avocado and tofu). The rice got way to sweet and would probably make a real sushi master cry... but wow did I feel proud with myself! Baby steps my friends, baby steps...

Defining minimalism

What is minimalism..?

To me, a minimalist lifestyle means freedom from burdens like clutter, negative relationships and media overload. It´s to choose what´s important in life and focus on that, like picking the most delicious truffles on the all you can eat dessert buffet and leave the rest (well kind of) 

As a budding minimalist I´m getting much more selective with what blogs and news sites I choose to follow and I rarely buy anything mindlessly. And yes... I´m starting to choose raw chocolate bars over those high-fructose corn syrup frankencandies (new word, write it up!) that gives me bellyache.

When it comes to relationships I´ve hade to take some tough decisions and end some friendships that was no longer supportive or positive. I cherish the good memories that was made and bow to the fact that everything is everchanging, and that sometimes people grow apart. All that energy spent on feeling frustrated over dysfuntional relations can instead be spent on making new beautiful friendships! Clearing space to make room for new energies to flow.
 
And the food? To me it makes all sense in the world that a minimalistic lifestyle is a vegan lifestyle. I´m against hurting someone else for the sake of my own cosumption, and hey, when I freed myself from animal products my health skyrocked, my skin got clearer, and my energy increased! Those benefits I would never want to be without. 

This cherry tree didn´t go shopping for it´s beauty

I don´t believe in magic numbers. In my opinion it doesn´t matter if we´ve got 30 things or 300 things, as long as all the things we decide to keep serve a purpose. Our belongings should benefit us in some way and not weigh us down. It´s all about keeping things we use and love, no more than necessary, and most important of all - not to buy more than we need (and to shop organic when possible).

All in all, I don´t want to be owned by my junk or spend my time cleaning and organizing it.

Minimalism means saving time.

Minimalism means long walks, new experiences, liberty from trends, hours playing chess with your loved one, learning how to make sushi, sketching a whole evening or perhaps a spontaneus trip.

Minimalism is a empty canvas that can be painted with what really matters.     

We reached our goal!

Update: The flea market was a success!

I am so happy. We raised money well beyond our goal, and all of the children at the orphanage will now get an health insurance. I´m sure we will do this soon again!

Well I have to say that it´s insane to see how much things we accumulate. Things that we neither like or need, and I can tell you, the flea market was flooding with stuff that still had the price tag on. But... In this case it all lead to something great, and it was fun to see how someone´s clutter could become someone else´s treasure.

If I bought something for myself..? Yes I found two things that I´d been planning to buy for some time: a big mason jar and a carpet to replace the torn one in the hallway. But I´m working the principle "one in - one out" so I will throw out the old carpet and give away some other jars that I´ve never had any good use for.

All in all... a great day!

Japanese micro houses

I love small houses. In fact, I can´t imagine choosing a big house over a small one.

Small is cozy, easy to heat and easy to get an overview of (no need to wonder what hides in the darkness on a empty top floor...) 

And even though the house I live in right now, at 40m2, is considered to be tiny, I wouldn´t mind moving to something even smaller as long as I could have a garden or live close to a veggiepatch (top priority!). 

So, as a fan of tiny living I got excited when I found this video about japanese micro houses. They are so cute, and the best part is that they have included a little patch for plants too! So you can have both the house, the plants, and live in the city. Sweet. I can easily see myself dwell in such a house one day (though... I would slab some paint on the walls first!)

One layer at a time

Tomorrow I will volunteer at a flea market. We will work to raise money for a orphanage in Ghana and this my friends is an excellent opportunity for me to go through my little house (again) to find things to donate.

I give away things to thrift shops regularly, but funny enough, a few weeks later I always seem to find more stuff that I don´t want/need! (Is there a secret gnome sneaking in junk in my home, or is it really me that brings home all of this clutter?)

I´m not a fan of shopping but things tend to collect with one little gift here, one little thrift store find there... but mainly I think I more and more realize just how little I acctually need to feel content.

There are so many things that I´ve decided to keep in an earlier fase of decluttering that now shows to be unecessary... and easy to get rid of.

Yes decluttering can be a process... like peeling an onion, one layer at a time.

  

Another box on it´s way to the flea market!

On being rich

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

                                                           /Henry David Thoreau

Going mnml

As an aspiring minimalist I find it inspiring to read about other minimalists.

Yesterday I found a great post on Minimalist Packrat with links to 50 minimalist blogs. Wow what an amazing bunch of people!

Check it out here and get inspired!