My Life in Bins
I saw my friend Jodi yesterday (she’s my hair colorist at Dekko and totally awesome by the way) and I was telling her that I had had taken yet another step in my quest in the elimination of all material items. During my last move, I went from 3 bins to 2.5 bins – a hearty reduction of 17% of all my worldly possessions.
I’m actually quite proud of myself with this new asceticism and am continuing to eye items that are superfluous. As we were chatting, Jodi reminded me of my 25 item experiment before I went on the big trip.
25 or Bust
I had actually totally forgotten about that little experiment, where I reduced everything I owned to 25 items of clothing for my final 6 weeks in the country. But now, I remember that it was kind of pretty hard and I just wound up wearing a lot of black, which got a little boring.
I wrote about the experiment in the post: French Twist on Living Mini. I then challenged y’all to join me in a follow-up post called: Chew on This – Your Clothes Challenge. All I have to say is some of my friends scored big-time fashion coups during that 2-week divestment period.
Bin-able / Bin-ified / Bin-a-licious / Bin-i-ful
So with my recent reduction, it just so happens that I’m nearing the 25-item mark again. In fact, I might actually be surpassing myself here:
Shoes – only 11 pairs (not counting slippers and flip flops). I have 2 pairs of hiking boots that are giving me angst, because I certainly don’t need two. So I deciding between the larger pair – ankle high, good for snow, etc., and my low Merrills, which are not only hiking shoes but double of sneakers on the road. Very tough call here. Also the fact that I no longer buy leather means if I ever need to replace one of them, finding vegan hiking shoes is going to be tough. A true dilemma.
Coats – 3 + Wrap – -Doing well here. Saved my mom’s long black trench, a dressier, lightweight long coat obtained in Buenos Aires, and a ski jacket in hot pink. The wrap is a beautiful alpaca two-side wrap I spent a fortune on in Ecuador and still love. Totally happy with my decisions here.
Jewelry – I’ve actually sold a lot of the pieces I inherited (not my style anyway) and am now down to two small plastic containers. I continue to whittle my collection down, especially since I have my favorite pieces that I wear again and again. While the jewelry I still have is not taking up a whole lot of space, that’s not really the point. The crux is that I can further reduce by ¼ and store something else in the bottom layer of those handy containers.
Trinkets – I possess very few trinkets – a few silver bowls engraved with my family’s initials, a couple of pillow shams from Cambodia, a handful of Indonesian batik swatches for table tops, a handful of pictures in frames. The most unwieldy item by far is my father’s Samoa chieftain set – which included a very large, very heavy wooden bowl, thatched fly swatter and feather boa-type thing. Purely sentimental and not ready to part with ‘em yet.
Household Items – While I added a much needed knife set (Thanks for the b-day present Mom!), the recently re-gifted veg cookbook and blender are on the proverbial chopping block. A recently re-acquired quilt though I kind of like having. A friend gave it to me in college and it was hand-made by her grandmother.
Miscellaneous – Always room for improvement.
- Clothes – On a mission here. I have too many t-shirts, too many scarves, and too many purses. Big-time give-away bonanza on the horizon. Anyone interested – call me and I’ll bring by a load of goodies for you to sift through.
- Music – iPod and portable speaker that fits into the palm of my hand. Perfect!
- Bookshelf – Kindle, my book marked with reading passages, notebook for writing – no mas! Doing good here.
Life Beyond the Bin
A major splurge was a recent Craig’s List acquisition of some keyboards. I was inspired by my new friend the composer Chris Hedge and HAD TO HAVE an instrument and the ability to make music in my life. Check out Chris’ work here. My favorite piece is the India Suite.
So I purchased it within 24 hours of my visit to his seaside studio. Not practical, but I don’t care. I think the extra load will be worth its weight in creative inspiration.
What do you think? Have I gone too far this time? Not far enough? Am I well past the point of no return? What are the items that you couldn’t possibility do without?
Tags: downsizing, LivingMini, minimalism
This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2014 and is filed under Mini Makeover.
