Hot Mess Minimalist

I have been wanting to address something that #theminimalists have not talked about much.  Perhaps because it can feel like a criticism.  I have been wondering how to address minimalism and wealth for a while now and then I saw this on Facebook (I have pasted the critique underneath the link, but also wanted to keep the reader informed of the source. http://burrgeoisie.tumblr.com/post/160652021519/ignescent-lokahjarta-herlobster-gowns lower-income people tend to be “hoarders” and richer people are able to do more “minimalist” living spaces. if u don’t have much, you will hold onto any little thing that comes across your way. you got a new tv, but you still keep the old tv because you know things can break. you keep extra boxes of macaroni and cheese lying around because there will be a week when you don’t have money for groceries. you hold onto your stacks of books and clothes for dear life. those are your assets. physical evidence of where your money’s gone. it’s hard to ...

This week driving to my child's school I passed by one of my favorite properties and was heartbroken.  A massive sign was out front, where months ago there had been no driveway, just open land.  It was advertising the homes that were going to be put in starting at the 300s.  I felt heartbroken. I have loved and admired this space ever since I saw it.  It is one of my favorite areas in Charlotte (though it is technically outside of it) driving by.  And now, it is going to be another development.  No more hill, no more grassy plain, no more cute red farmhouse at the top, and likely no tree next to it either.   I know it is impractical because I never would have had enough to buy a property like this and get it to be a farm.  Heck.  It never even had a for sale sign out front, so who knows how that even works.  But I still dreamt about being able to put a farm up there or a cohousing space.  It just stinks. Also this week I ...

We moved into our home in 2010.  There are a few things that are not ideal.  We want more space to garden, and our home has trees on it's little lot.  We are DIY people and there is no garage or mud room... Which was not a problem until we had kids and now the extra bedrooms function as bedrooms not project spaces.  Our family also lives out of town so it would be lovely to have a space where they could stay when visiting (currently we have one, but when the kids need their own space it gets to be a bedroom again).  And we really want a big central kitchen, ours is an ok size and slightly isolated. We have been looking on and off at houses, mostly the last three years, when I found a cash only house which was 12 acres with a pond.  My parents would love a project house (a farm would be ideal) and we would have paid our mortgage to them.  Any way that fell through, and I look every so often now. I found one this weekend.  I drove by, and cam...

I started with a new podcast today.  Loaded stitcher onto my first smart phone that I got a few months ago with Ting (alternative phone service if you are curious I can send you a link). I am also unpacking from a camping trip that got cut off because our tent is around 15 years old and was touching the rainfly so it leaked.  So my house is a mess, which I am in the middle of fixing.  It gives me an idea for a future post, about being honest regarding how messy my home is on a daily basis, and how bad it gets when things are going on. Also it gives me some ideas about how privilege effects the ability to discard just in case items.  Like our tent. Also since listening to The Minimalists podcast again, I really think that they would find a lot of value in a non-violent communications class.  I find myself listening to some of their replies and feel concerned that the caller might not feel heard.  There is a lot of information coming across, I wonder if...

I just listened to  +The Minimalists  055 Critics.  I was not expecting to find it relevant to me, as though sometimes I would like to create, I do not define myself as a creator (perhaps I have not yet found the bravery and boldness to do so.)  I thought their approach was a good one, and found myself empathising with Fields Millburn and his responses to critics.  Once they got to the quote from Theodore Roosevelt though I made the connection to my own life. It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause...

Ok, part of what makes me a hot mess is my resume. I did the regular work study stuff and joined the army reserves doing logistics and graduated from college.  Since then I have kinda wandered.  I never really used my major other than teaching abroad.  I taught and worked in a vet clinic in the states. Then we moved and I had kids.  So, I don't know what to do now.  I keep reading books.  Trying to figure out what I might be good at.  Find out what my priorities are and the best way to accomplish them.  I feel like I was supposed to discover this in college, but I walked in thinking I knew what I wanted to do, so never wandered around much. I just got a job at a tea shop that I love, and yesterday I found myself writing in a notebook what I want to do and the possible paths I can see to accomplish it because I am wandering.  Then I started thinking about minimalism... I think I may need a few more days to process and consider where that...

So I am re-starting a new iteration of this blog.  I have gone from Lifelong Procrastinator (which I still am), to Skinny Couch Potato (which applies some of the time and occasionally most of the time), and now Hot Mess Minimalist. I have been curious about minimalism, and have never been much of a collector for most of my life, but only in the last few years, and even more in the last couple months I been reading and learning about the philosophies of minimalism.  I stared with a couple shows on the radio, eventually  borrowed the Marie Kondo book, and recently have started with The Minimalists, which has lead to lots of other resources. Today my husband sent me a link to one of Jenny Mustard's videos.  I watched it, a 30 day or 4 week plan to become a minimalist.  She talked a bit about aesthetics.  How she is attracted to spaces that are clean and white and bright.  If what you like is spaces filled with color and fluffy pillows you should do th...