2015

I know it's already the end of January, but I felt like doing some final thoughts about past year.

In 2015:

• lost a close family member.
• studied, learned and took classes in how to communicate, how to approach people with my emotions and thoughts, and how to help people understand me more. It's a real science and not so easy. Why don't they teach it at school?
• visited a friend in mental hospital and opened up about sharing my own story.
• learned programming. I started in February, now I'm able to write 1000+ lines of code in Java and Python. 
• found out I have allergies, pursued going to the doctor until got a diagnose. after that I pursued cleaning my home until symptoms got better. my life is so much better now
• studied entrepreneurship. I do have one idea that could work, but I'm still hesitant to start a company. but now I know how to do it.
• went to  a town in my home country where I've never been before and fell in love with it. one day I want to rent a house there and to do handicraft and painting and reading books there ...for at least a month:)
• went kayaking for the first time.
• went to Thailand, where I'd never been before. it was a great trip, perfect vacation and mind opener about buddhism. it's the first religion I feel emotional and mental closeness with.  I have true respect for buddhist teachings.
• started taking dance classes semi-regularly again (once or so a week). dancing makes me a better person, honestly.
• discovered minimalism for myself. or rather discovered, that the way of life I enjoy has a name and I'm not the only weird one out there.
• started meditating semi-regularly. It helped me with sleep issues, helped me deal with death in my family and the anxiety it brought. I wouldn't be sane if I hadn't picked it up.
• got a job offer and rejected it. but still, the knowledge that I'm actually good enough to get a decent job is good. now I'm just going to learn more and more and get even better.

How much do you spend on clothes?

I just added up numbers from 2015. Since I keep track on all our spendings I can accurately say how much goes on any aspect of our life.

Last year I spent 275 euros on clothing.  Yes, per year.
I did't buy any outerwear -boots or coats. So in case I need to do this this year, this number will be bigger. I try to budget my indoor and non-winter outdoor clothings and buy expensive only when I need a good pair of winter boots, a winter coat etc.  Winter around here is harsh - last week we had -30C (-22F) :) Also all bags are meant to last.

Most of the money was spent on replacing items, but I also needed to buy a dress to go to my friends wedding and some hot weather essentials for Thailand trip.
For no good reason I got myself a cashmere sweater, and it has been proving itself as a lovely luxurious essential ..and another pair of yoga pants..
I got one new bag - backpack for my laptop. But I didn't include this in the count because I got it as a birthday present.
I often try to buy second hand, but if I don't find what I need from there, I'll get it as new. If possible locally made or somehow ethical. But around here it's quite often not possible.

photo from Unsplash

I noticed that investing in good amount of thin hangers saves money from buying clothes. If every item is on it's own hanger and there's enough space, I can find pieces I like from my own wardrobe instead of feeling the need to get new. 
Using the same hanger for multiple items of clothing and overcrowding the closet space make me feel I need more clothing. So the less clothing I have in my closet, the more I find something to wear from there.

Another important thing I noticed is the evil of credit card. Having a credit card means mindless online shopping for me (like those yoga pants I mentioned). I do appreciate online sopping, since going to the stores is not my favourite activity. But I could use some less shopping, IRL and online.
So I plan not to have a credit card in 2016. Since my partner has one, I can use his card when I really need it, but having my own seems to direct me to the wrong path.

Do you have a budget for buying clothes? How much should a person spend on clothing?

Happy 2016 and new year's resolutions

Happy new year!

I'm sorry this blog has been deserted for so many months, but my life has been more busy than I would have liked. So I  chose to take time off from blogging. Spending my spare moments with family and friends seemed more purposeful than spending it behind screen.


What have I been up to?
I took an entrepreneurship course. It was a full-time course that lasted for 2.5 months.
At the same time I studied full time computer science.
I spent 2.5 weeks in Thailand.
I had all my health examinations re-taken. It took additional 2 weeks from my life, since I'm not supposed to take medicine while examinations and I'm not able to function at all while not on medication.
I spent Christmas with my family, cooking, talking and taking long walks.

Now I'm only studying for my exams, so I feel like I have all the time and energy in the world.

I took 2 resolutions for this year.
1. be a better person. This is a hard one, since it's so general, but it's also so important. I want to be a better partner for my Love, be a better friend, better daughter and sister. I try to stick more to my principles and to be more ethical.

2. spend less. Since I don't have a job and I wan't to finish my studies before finding a job, I feel extremely guilty when ever I spend money. I'm going to be more frugal so I wouldn't be burden to my family (and manage my guilt).

Of course I would like to meditate more, take photography more serious, spend more time on Coursera, read more, and so on.. but I do understand that the truly important thing is to be good to my loved ones.

One photo I took while in Thailand. Statues of Buddha in a hilltop temple.

I would be honoured if You would share your personal resolutions

What I got rid of in august

What I got rid of:

cosmetics:
cover stick ( my skin has been good lately, and probably it's aged)
green mascara (why did I even have that?)
body glitter (I used to dance and preform a lot, but I gave up preforming years ago)
'stardust' eyeshadow  (same here)

Big bag of clothing. I took a few hours and 'shopped' my wardrobe. Everything I wouldn't buy again left the house. I didn't bother counting.

Lots of jewelry.
6-10 pairs of earrings, 3-4 necklaces, 2-5 rings, 5-7 bracelets.
I didn't really count, just took everything that I felt no longer served me.
I didn't even know I still had so much jewelry :)

A board game I really didn't like.

An extra blanket.  We used to have 2 extra blankets, now we have one. Since we're living in cold climate, an extra blanket is a must on extra chilly nights. But I tried to remember when was the last time we used 2 extra blankets at once... I couldn't remember.

2 old smartphone covers that I thought I might want to use again.. But they've been idle for almost a year.

A car full of old school notebooks from my childhood home. I threw away everything except Greek and French. I sometimes like to remind myself of the languages I've learned.

Kitchen
A capsule coffee machine. I got it for Christmas from my in-laws and I used it rarely. And the last time I used it it broke and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Actually I'm happy about it. Now I have more space on my kitchen counter.
Kitchen utensils holder. I used to have 2. Now I have 1.

A coffee mug. This is not related to the coffee machine, the mug was old and broken.

Food
A big bag of stevia leaves. They cause me headaches and because of that I don't use them.

Books
Magazine subscription.
A few books.

Digital
Half or my Bloglovin and Youtube subscriptions
These were the definitely the hardest this month

The only things I threw away was one pair of shorts(they were really old), underwear, notes and old makeup. Everything else was donated, paper was recycled.
I've gone through my wardrobe for quite a few times by now. And the funny thing is - each next cut is easier than previous one.

What I got in August:
Box for keys. We have many bundles of keys and until now they were all over surfaces, now they're in a box on the wall.

What I replaced
Backpack. I needed a new one to replace my old schoolbag type of bag. The old one had little support and didn't fit my laptop too well, but since I carry my laptop around daily it was really uncomfortable. So I got a backpack designed for laptops. I kept the old bag for now until I figure out if I know someone who could use it or what to do with it.

Hiking/walking shoes. Old ones had big holes both in front and back and started causing me blisters. They were at least 4 years old and used almost daily, so no wonder.

Long skirt. I damaged seriously my previous skirt when travelling in Tunisia. But since I travel and go to different cultures I feel like I truly need to have a skirt that would respect any culture's need about how covered a woman should be.

Sandals. Since I threw out my sandals last month I didn't have sandals at all. Since It's usually not so hot I can always wear closed shoes, but after I month I still decided I would prefer to have sandals in summer. So I ordered a pair online.

It was a lot of replacing this month. I guess it's because the fall is coming and I wanted to enter the new season without any worries about my gear

I failed meditation challenge

Most of the people now days seem to be doing all those xx-day challenges. It can be about learning something or exercise or anything. But it seems like everyone is doing them.

And I also noticed many people struggle with those.
I must be one of them since I just realized I haven't meditated in a week.. and I'm supposed to be doing 30-day meditation challenge.

I usually try to start less things and finish all of them instead of having thousand things going on at the same time, so I'm kind of disappointed in my self. I was really hoping that this summer I'll gain a healthy habit of regular meditation.
This challenge wasn't even hard for me. It didn't take much time, I really enjoyed it. But I was busy and forgot and...

This was the second challenge in my life (this sounds differently from what I planned :) and I'm glad to admit that the first one was 30-day minimalism challenge. And that one I've done twice. It is just really relaxing and fun for me. Sometimes I swap some of the daily tasks, for example when it's clear it's not possible to not go to food store on no shopping day.

I do understand that the point of challenge is to be challenging. It wouldn't be called challenge if everyone completed it.
But at the same time.. it's just a game we like to play with ourselves.
So what, if some people start new 30-day challenge every week and abandons old ones?

Now I need to go and meditate for a bit :)

Minimizing side effects: unexpected ways how minimizing has helped me

I start with mentioning that I  use minimalist ideas and simplifying as tools to create better life for me, not as a purpose. But on the way I've found out a few unexpected things that have improved that I'd never thought about.

I can breathe.
I'm allergic to dust and mold (and probably to many other things). Both of them are common in indoor air. But I accidentally discovered during my minimizing that having less stuff means having less both of them and it also makes cleaning way easier. Air in my home is cleaner, surfaces are easier to keep clean and I can breathe so much better now and my allergy is so much better. I would have started minimizing years ago if I'd known that.

I have more to wear.
Sounds contradictory, I know. Now that I own less items of clothing I actually feel like I have more to wear because everything I have is organized and visible in my closet I can get some I ideas as soon as I open the closet without searching through it.
Also, everything I have fits me, I like the items and most of the items are easily matched with each other. So I can pick anything and be happy with the choice, really.
And finally, having less means that I know what I have in the closet. I don't need to start re-discovering my own closet every now and then to find items I've forgotten.

First time in my life I might actually look elegant/stylish/have a personal style
..continuing with clothing.
I've never cared about fashion or style. I do like to look nice I guess, but I've always worn items of clothes that I own and like at the moment. It means that if I open my closet, the mood is right, and the item is there - then I'll wear it.
Yellow socks, dotted skirt and and a Garfield t-shirt - no problem.
Now that I try to have less clothes, I try to make sure that all items I have actually go together.
 So it might be that the clothes I have now actually make people think that I might have some style or sense of style :)

I have less guilt.
I'm the kind of person who always feels guilty. If I do the thing that I should, I feel guilty that I didn't to the thing that I wanted. If I please one person I feel guilty that I'm not pleasing another person at the same time. If I'm visiting my family I feel guilty that I'm not working at the same time. If I'm working I feel guilty that I'm not doing something social.
But now I feel guilty less. Not that I don't feel it at all anymore, just less. I hope the amount of time spent guilty will lessen more :)
Simplifying means a lot of thinking why I'm doing something instead of something else and if the thing really needs to be done. And thinking more about the reasons and root causes helps to clear my mind about the things world, people and myself expects from me and the reasons why I should or should not do it.

I've become more creative
I've always been rather creative. At least I like to think that. I used to draw and paint and write stories and poems and I take photos. But the more time passes the less I tend to do it.
During the last year, I've gotten more back to it.  I even started blogging (again) as you can see :)
Maybe it's the period in my life I'm going through, who knows. But there's a correlation and I'm happy about it.

I sleep better.
You know the feeling how your brain rushes around as soon as you plan to fall asleep. You just can't get to sleep because brain is having fun (or breakdown ?).
I used to stay awake for hours at night, trying mental tricks to slow my brain. But now I'm able to fall asleep much more quick.
The journey has made me much more calmer, both day and night. I have less clutter around in my home and apparently less clutter in my head also.

What I've gotten rid of in july

Since, I've been going through my things for more than a year now, it's not that easy anymore to find things to reduce.

Luckily I discovered, that I hadn't gone through my bookshelf before. Not once! So I corrected that mistake and chose a bag full of books to donate. Most of them were books I'd bought while travelling. You know the feeling when you're stuck in an airport and you finish your book and there's still 4 hours to go.. ?  Most of the books I had never read after getting home.
Going through my books was really easy, since it was the first time.


Secondly,  I looked at my collection of scarves critically. I wear scarf most of the days. In winter I even wear 2 at once sometimes. So I need a few scarves, to be able to clean them and still have something to wear. But still, I was easily able to find 3 scarves to donate.

Thirdly, I bagged most of magazines I found from home ( I have to say most, since I left my Love his 3 Playboys since he was a single man and for myself 3 magazines I brought when I lived in South America:).  I'll take them to paper recycling when I'll go around there.

Fourth, I threw away some underwear that didn't have the look or fit anymore. You know.

Fifthly, I threw away an old shopping bag that had so many holes that I didn't find any point in mending it again.

Sixth, I chose two handbags to donate. One was a retro one I really like, but I've never used it. Maybe someone else will use it. Second was something my mom gave me but I never liked and I finally gathered my courage to donate it.

Seventh,  a broken planter. I must admit I broke it myself, because I had to re-pant a tomato plant and I couldn't get it out of the old planter.

Last, a pair of sandals. They were so worn they would have probably broken the next time I'd word them.

So even I've been minimizing for a while I actually got more that 2 bags of stuff to donate (and some to throw). I could have found more books to donate, but I'll go through them again. The journey is my destination :)

about the 'intake'.
from not absolutely living necessities (food&medication&toothpaste&fuel) I bought concert tickets. But they don't really count since a concert is an experience not a thing. Also, I go to concerts really rarely so it's a big experience for me :)
Then I bought a fertilizer for my garden. I don't think it counts also, because even though I can live without it, my garden can't.
A glue to fix my shoes. I could choose between getting new shoes or getting glue. With the second choice my shoes will probably last at least until the end of summer.
The only  unnecessary & thing  thing was a face serum. I'we always wanted to try one and I'm happy I did. I even might buy a new serum after I finish this one.


I find it more easy to track the thing that I get rid of and the things that I get. Until this balance stays negative, I'm going in the right direction.

My journey towards simple living and minimalism and 7 things that helped me

I've always found joy in organizing, reducing costs and effort and recycling. But it took me more that 20 years and many struggles to find, that it is actually a thing, and that it might have bigger purpose that just being organized. I've always been rather frugal and minimal, prioritizing emotion and experience over material stuff and money and enjoying living in small spaces, travelling lite and so on. But you know, a girl needs to have a few dresses, and then some more. And if you see a good book, you'll buy it in hope you'll read it some day and when there's a sale you buy one pare extra of anything so you'll eventually end up with more stuff than you expected.

Over a year now I've been purposefully trying to revert into more simple and minimal living. It hasn't been crazy get-rid-of-as-much-as-you-can journey, but a rather slow process. I don't think I even plan to end up with only x items of clothing or completely clutter free living room. It's about the meaning of minimizing and the journey towards it.

 For me it's extra hard to get rid of stuff since I come from a post-soviet country and a rather poor family where nothing was thrown away. We always kept things because we had payed for it (and when you're poor it's a big motivator). Also, I've been  in the same size since I was 15 and I've never had any personal style or care for fashion. So theoretically I'm still able to wear anything I've owned since a long time ago. How can you get rid of anything you can still use? This is why transition into getting rid of things in addition to buying less and reusing old was hard for me.

Also, minimalism has a mental aspect of clearing our daily life as well. Doing only the meaningful activities, giving ourselves only to meaningful people and not over-planning, over-organizing, over-thinking over-exercising or anything over-. And I guess that is even harder part than letting go of physical clutter and stuff.

By now I have around half as many clothes than a year ago (and I didn't have many before, it could all fit into a closet), less shoes, less furniture, less books, less social media accounts, less obligations. Less anything really. And damn, I feel good :)
I must mention I have around the same amount of kitchen supplies, since I didn't have many to begin with.

I don't have any plan to next do this or that. But  regularly try to find items to donate and aspects to minimize. This week I went through my supply of scarves (I had many, I still have many) and I chose around one third of them to donate. As well I took a look at my bookshelf and again picked out books I'm sure I won't read. I still have too many scarves (and maybe books as well), but this is my style to do things gradually.
I always have a bag in my closet where I put things to donate and I try to get it full regularly. I don't live to minimalize and simplify endlessly. I live to live, to enjoy my surroundings and existence. And simplifying and minimizing serve these purposes for me at the moment.

A few things helped me easing my way into transition to minimalist mindset. Some of these might seem unusual for many.

1. Having more money
It's often thought that minimalism is frugalism and essentially to have more money thus more to poor people. I find it wrong. Being poor means owning less usually just because you're not able to get goods. But the items you have, you keep. Growing up, moving out and having my own money taught me that nothing happens if I get rid of something I'll need in 2 years. I am able to get a new item if it's really necessary. And most of the times I won't need it ever. Time changes and who knows what we need in the future.
So even when minimalist mindset can help you save money, it's hard to transition into that mindset if you don't already have enough to get by.

2. Charity
I rarely sell the things I get rid of. There are some things that are practically worthless by the time I'm letting them go, so I try to recycle them. Everything else I donate to charity. Feeling that having less items of my own helps someone else gives me motivation. I do need to put more effort into getting rid of things because it's longer way to charity centers than to the trashcan, but still, it feels way better this way :)

3. Understanding your limits and being realistic
Even the most productive, rich and energetic people have some limitations. Most of us have a few more than some limitations. Like the size of our home limits the furniture we can have and length or the vacation limits how many clothes you should bring.  But continuing from there: the length of your workday and the need of sleep limits the other activities you can do in a day and your body size limits the size of the clothes to buy. There's no point to plan or buy stuff for the the reason that you might be able to do this if you skip sleep or if you lose x-amount of weight and are invited to a wedding or an asteroid hits the Earth. Buy the tings that you're 100% sure actually are going to use. Plan activities that you're sure you're going to do and are needed to be done. And nothing bad happens if you have unplanned free time for an hour.
You need to understand that living is always a trade-off. This is how nature is made. Doing/having one thing means you won't be doing/having something else. Accept the trade-off and don't try to fight the nature.
 For me the turning point was having a chronic health condition that limited my energy. So I started leaving out energy demanding things and replacing them with energy giving things. I started removing items from home because I never used them since I didn't have energy.

So All these thing you have that are holding you back like little time or energy or small home are actually your advantage. Understanding what you can't do or have gives you a starting point towards the things you can have and do. Having pre-existing limits makes your life already so much easier.

4. Trying out minimal life for short periods or only in some aspects of life
Trying out something before deciding if it's good for you is a popular method and why not try it with simple and minimal living as well. You can try it when you take smaller bag than usual while travelling. Or when you visit your summer house where there's only a bookshelf and nature and nothing else to do. And on both occasions you should find that nothing bad happens when you don't always have a plan or a different outfit or  many different choices of entertainment. Try out what happens when you only plan as many chores that you are sure you'll get done.
Implement the aspect you enjoy to your life and find new aspects to try.

5. Visual beauty
Having less things around is beautiful. It means less clutter, less things to keep in order and the items you have can have more effect. But for this one needs to understand that some of the things need to find a new owner.
Getting my home more pretty step-by-step is really inspiring to me.

6. Understanding that you don't need to do this
Having pressure to finish something by deadline might be good at work to get things done but we shouldn't function only by pressure. Do things only when you need that they give something back to you.  Find the small things that give to you. The things you or anyone around you don't feel purposeful are irrelevant.
I feel that giving some of my clothes to charity gives me happiness and that having less clutter in my bedroom improves my living environment. I don't think that having less photos in my home would serve me, so I'm not going to reduce the number of photos.

7. Having purpose
If you feel pure joy of your life, you don't need to change anything. But if you have a purpose, like have more time and energy and happiness, handle better your everyday things, you need to take steps towards it.
I've found that having more energy comes from doing only the most purposeful and meaningful things. That feeling of being in control comes from not trying to control absolutely everything.
Gets kind of philosophical, I know :)


So that was the story behind my journey towards minimal living. I'm not there yet, and probably I'll never be. But already the journey itself has given me so much energy, happiness and I beleive also health that I'll be always grateful.




By the way. I'm using my own photos or photos from Unsplash ( amazing site I already mentioned earlier) most of the time. This time becoming minimalist helped me as well.