Repair and Care

The minimalist battle cry seems to be "When in doubt throw it out."  I agree with that statement for most things, but exceptions are bound to happen.  A recent example (as I happily discovered) is shoe repair.  You may have no idea that the bits of leather and rubber you have on your feet can be restitched or glued.  I didn't know until I found myself in the need.  I own a pair of expensive name brand shoes, they were prescribed to me by my doctor for feet problems, and they broke Saturday.  I was devastated.  I have only had them for a two years.  I expected them to last forever based on price and craftsmanship.  I knew if I could not fix them I'd have to throw them out and start again and I did not want to do that.  My husband informed me that their good quality meant I could have them repaired for a fraction of the cost of a new pair!  What luck!  I rushed them to the local shoe repair shop.  It turned out the little man behind the counter did not have all the materials he needed so I am currently on a hunt for the matching buttons.    Five dollar buttons and an hour or two of labor are far more agreeable than two hundred for a new pair of the same shoes.

Loss does not follow the rules of minimalism

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patries71/

In the words of Nick Hornby (voiced by the glamorous Catherine Zeta-Jones) I'm in the middle of a "what does it all mean thing."  Perhaps it's the weather (cold and raining) or perhaps its the afterglow of Thanksgiving wearing off.  I think it is probably related to the death of one of our students.  She died of brain trauma, but the trauma was caused by open heart surgery to fix her split aorta.  This stopped me and caused me to spent quite a bit of time thinking.

A child dying stops pretty much anyone in their tracks.  She was eleven maybe twelve.  She was active and feisty.  But above all she was too young.  Then I started thinking about her family.  They had planned on her always being around.  Now those plans, and dreams and things will have to be reevaluated.

I worry about the hurt I'll leave behind when I go.  I am trying very hard to shed extras and leave behind only a few fine things.  I don't want my loved ones mired down in my belongings, but I wouldn't mind if they got mired down in good memories.  Our stuff can take a lifetime to accumulate.  I am hoping it will not take a life time to declutter as well.

Items to keep and Items to go

We have all been caught by a shiny new gadget or sleek new product that promises to fix our lives.  I am an Ikea sucker.  I am not claiming that as entirely a bad thing.  Ikea makes affordable products in attractive styles and easily assembled models.  I will never trade my Ikea bed for box spring and mattress again.  I know this will rile up the minimal means having next to nothing crowd.  I have nothing against those who can weed out all distractions in their lives down to the bare floors.  It has taken a long journey for me to admit I am too much of a princess to do that.

Likewise we have all looked at an item cluttering up our closet and said "why is this still here?  I hate this thing!"  For me I recently opened up the large container of winter gear and removed all but one winter hat.  I only have one head, right?  I can't possibly where more than one hat.  I realized as I dug through the box that most of them were gifts or matched coats/sweaters/outfits long gone.  I have a wonderful hat coming from my very good friend GR and I must make room in my wardrobe for it.  It deserves a spot because it has been lovingly hand made.  While it was not an earth moving event I'm taking baby steps in the right direction.

What items have you carried with you that need to go?  What is an item that will have to be pried from your lifeless hands?  Feel free to share.

Ambition made bite-sized

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29036272@N07/

So as you may know my ultimate goal is to rid my home of everything that is not needed.  This is a HUGE task.  And so with no surprise I failed at my first attempt.  A quick revision of the current goal helped.  I am now sending to goodwill things that are not WANTED.  That simple distinction made the impossible possible.  Anything I can't imaging every wanting again is gone or in a pile which is soon to be going to charity.  If you are in the area look at Freecycle for the large items we are moving out :)

Apologies

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bly_wirawan/

I would like to apologies to those of you who were kind enough to read my  blog.  I fell off the world and left this unfinished.  I'm sorry.  I'm back to give it another go.

My first fore into minimalism was not what one could call a rousing success.  However with a new strategy and smaller goals I am beginning my journey once again.

Auto Nation

http://carpictures.cc/cars/photo/car_model/22813/DKW_Junior

Minimalists across the web seem to have a love hate relationship with cars.  While many can say without irony that a sports car is a thing of beauty (all be it wasteful and dirty), yet they insist that no one in the world needs a car.  I think that must be true of large cities that have been well designed and in which transportation has been planned for, but the American car culture is not so easily beaten.  For one thing the entire road system of America was designed for family cars.  In order to keep body and soul together during the Great Depression, the government hired men to pave over nearly everything that would hold still.  Hyperbole aside, this reshaped the face of America and enabled ordinary people to move from coast to coast in their own car.  America is nothing if not fanatical about freedom and this freed the people to move about the country on their own time and in their own style.  With that background in mind it is easy to see how a town or city could design out their boundaries with auto travel in mind.  I for example drive 11 miles (one way) to work each day because that is where I could find a job.  We bought our home in an area where I felt safe raising our children and where we could afford.  The planning out of residential areas was not considerate of foot traffic or bicycling.  The town is (very) slowly changing as more people become conscious of their impact on the world.  A bike lane was put in on the roads down town, which is helpful except for the semi trucks with which one has to share the road.  Small scooters and other forms of transportation have increased in popularity as well.  I have considered seriously trading my car for a scooter, the only downside however, is that when the weather is poor (ie December-March) I would have to take a ride with my husband.  This isn't so bad except he works different hours and in a different direction than I do; making getting either of us to work on time difficult.  I would like a Leaf or Volt or other fancy car once the problem of "refueling" on the go has been solved.  This current limbo in which we find ourselves is exciting and frustrating, but I believe the light at the end of the tunnel is nearing and on the other side is a new smaller, faster, sleeker generation of alternative cars.

Help

I'm being eaten by my final exam....send help!


More interesting minimalist info to follow next week.