Living Lean and Green

Of All The Most Important Things in Life, The Most Important Is Commitment To Others

2011-11-21T15:00:00.001-06:00

Ask ten people what they consider to be the most important thing in life, and you may well generate ten different concepts of essentials. However, explore those ten answers in more depth, revise the scenario to include the possibility of being isolated from human contact, and the critical concern that those respondents will come up with is that a specific person would be the most essential element to be included in that existence.

Human beings are, like many beasts of the wild, wired to need social contact. For some, that contact may be minimal, but all of us need interaction. Does that mean that we view others as vital, or are we so completely narcissistic that we view fellow man as nothing more than a need to make our life complete?

Regardless of why we need people with whom to interact, the stimulation that man provides for man completes a significant component of how we view ourselves. As far back as 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow postulated that the need for belonging, love, friendship and human interaction neared the base of his hierarchy of needs, just above the need for safety.

The male of the species has been bound, it seems, to man’s best friend – the dog. While our connection to this four-legged friend undoubtedly offers something psychologically satisfying to humans, it lacks the completeness of human to human involvement. The connection fulfills, on the surface, the need to have someone, or something else, understand us.

Gang membership, and, in turn, gang initiation, draws on the desire to belong, and to be involved in something that sees us, individually, as something special. While, superficially, gang members appear to lose that individuality, they do view themselves, in fact, as disparate and unique from the rest of the world, or the rest of the neighbourhood.

There may be precious little difference between the desire to be a gang member and the desire to belong to an elite club, or a segment of society that has riches to flaunt. Both say to the initiate, pledge or member, “You are part of something special and unique, and therefore, you, too, are unique.”

The idea of looking to be a part of something that someone else cannot be a part of is coloured with liberal dollops of narcissistic personality. Yet, is it wrong? And how is it different, for example, from seeking to find that special aspect or part of our lives that fulfills us?

I have chosen a minimalistic way of life. Does eschewing material acquisition make be the antithesis of narcissistic? Hardly. I choose this lifestyle specifically because I feel that I want to focus, not on frills, but on fewer, but more significant benefits and luxuries in my life. To simply forfeit things for the sake of forfeit gains neither the minimalist or society at large anything. It is akin to being a lowly carrion-eater, and choosing to ignore the carrion that it finds, in case someone else might come upon it and want it.

When I began my journey toward voluntary simplicity, and opted to focus on fewer, but more significant things in my life, I had not contemplated the philosophical dilemma of choosing specifically what the most important thing in my life would be. I had a concept of things and experiences that would be more significant to me than others, but had not established an absolute priority. That changed, dramatically, this week.

On Tuesday, my wife awoke, drenched in sweat, breathing shallowly, experiencing numbness on her right side, and thoroughly nauseated. Within seconds, I had her in the car, heading toward the hospital. Driving as quickly as I could from our isolated home toward the local hospital, I called 911, and was escorted through the protocols as I rushed to intercept the dispatched ambulance. When I determined that I could make it closer to the hospital, rather than park on the highway and await the emergency vehicle, I became quite belligerent with the dispatcher who wanted me to be in an identifiable location for the EMS drivers. My anger increased as the seconds passed, and my wife’s symptoms worsened.

Ultimately, the ambulance arrived, my wife was rushed to another hospital thirty miles distant (where better diagnostics could be conducted), and her impending critical incident was averted. I am very pleased to say that, while she was close to a severe crisis, she has recovered fully, thanks to the speedy response of the EMS team and the skills and dedication of the hospital staff.

However, what I learned was that all of the important things that I had casually itemized in recent years truly were minimal in relation to the one important thing in my life: the valued relationship and love affair that I have with Janice. I learned many valuable lessons, but the most vital lesson learned is that the most important thing in everyone’s life should not be a thing at all, but a feeling: the feeling that you have for someone important in your life. For many of us, that someone may not even be human, but a pet or animal pal. The most important “non-thing,” even for us minimalists, should be a feeling that has its basis in narcissism, but ultimately ends in completely submerging our own wants and desires in favour of the needs of another. Call it love, or call it selflessness. Call it what you want. The most important thing in life is to place all things behind the commitment to another living being.

Free Renewable Energy Not Always So Free

2011-11-19T20:40:00.001-06:00

Being eco-friendly may be admirable, but it comes with a price, and it is not always as crystal-clear as one believes.

We rely heavily on non-grid energy, including wind and solar power. However, renewal energy sources such as ours require energy storage, and, specifically, battery storage. While there are advanced battery technologies on the market (e.g. batteries for hybrid vehicles), as well as large wet-cell storage batteries (such as those in forklifts and indoor industrial cleaning equipment), the most prevalent, and therefore, the lowest-priced units are conventional deep-cycle marine 12-volt batteries. These typically cost from $80 to $200, with only modest storage and cranking amperage.

The primary advantage of marine batteries over vehicle batteries is their capacity to be discharged to low levels and recharged often. However, “often” is subjective, with most of the commercially available units being rated for a few hundred charging cycles, at most. These batteries also do not like to be frozen, but really detest excessive heat.

In order to supply minimal energy, such as the energy to light two compact fluorescent bulbs four hours each day and a small bar refrigerator (drawing 90 watts, with a surge of 800 watts), you will consume 2,280 (2.3 kw) watts each day. Now consider that a small solar panel produces 13-18 watts (some of the single panel retail units produce 30w) under optimal conditions. In northern latitudes, hours of summer daylight average 15 hours, but typically generate only about 60% of that in sunlight sufficient to “max out” the solar panel. With three panels, you will produce 405 watts – less than 20% of what you need. A small wind turbine may produce 40% of what you need, if you live in an environment where the wind is very frequent, and of sufficient strength to power the turbine. Typically, the marine batteries attached to your collectors are rated for 800-1000 CCA. Obviously, unless you expand your generation and/or storage network, you will need to use a charging system on the batteries.

Because each of the batteries is being discharged the equivalent of 100%every eight hours, you will require a battery array of at least three batteries, just to produce your daily minimum energy requirement. Ultimately, most of us will require electricity for television or sound equipment, charging cell phones and laptops, power for small fans, and so on. With minimal energy, though, your three-battery array will be fully discharged and recharged 100 times from June to September. That is the normal lifespan of the battery!

This year, we experienced near-record heat and sunlight throughout our summer. While that is great for our solar panels, heat is more damaging to the batteries than cold, and reduces their ability to be recharged (and hold a charge) significantly.

We used an eight-battery package. However, almost weekly, we needed to refill the cells, as the electrolytic acid evaporated. The sunlight did its damage, too, destroying one battery. Of the eight, only one battery now holds a significant charge, even though I de-sulphated the batteries regularly. Five of the batteries were three years old or less, with the other three being four years old. Seven batteries will need to be replaced.

At a cost of $90 per battery, our outlay will be $630, plus taxes. We used nearly $100 of generator fuel to supplement our renewable energy supply. In four months, our lighting costs will be $700-800, factoring in the wear and tear on equipment.

Now, we have batteries that need to be recycled and spent fuel that polluted the air. If we had relied on our hydro-electric grid for energy, at a cost of $0.08 per kwh, we would have spent less than $130! Did we really do the environment and our pocketbook a favour?

Frugal Use of Water Can Reduce The Drain On Our Environment

2011-08-16T17:47:00.000-05:00

As water becomes the future gold, creative ways in which to conserve and utilize water effectively need to be employed. While, In Canada, there is an abundant supply of fresh water, that resource is not limitless, and our neighbours to the south will soon be in need of that liquid commodity. As climate change impacts the world, we already are seeing periods of flood followed by periods of severe drought, like that witnessed across central North America in the summer of 2011.
The responsibility for conservation and efficient use of water is more than the responsibility of government and big business: it is the duty of each of us, as consumers.
While my wife and I have adopted a minimalist strategy toward the use of the earth’s resources, we, too, are not excused from using this precious water frugally. We have, however, minimized our consumption to less than 150-225 litres of water per week (7,800 litres per year). That’s almost 2,000 cubic feet of water, or 1,000 cubic feet per person. Compared to the North American average of over 5 times that amount per individual (not including industry), we should be proud of our ecological stewardship. However, we found that, while we have had difficulty in using less, we have been able to recycle and reuse more. In the summer, our grey water, from our shower, kitchen sink and bathroom sink is routed into a 230-litre holding tank, and then used, each week, to water our gardens. In the early spring and late fall, we use some of that water in a sprayer system to “flush” our toilet, using less than two cups per flush.
A channel dug around the perimeter of our yurt redirects rainfall into a small dugout pond, where it, too, can be used for the gardens.
With water consumption for our vegetable cooking, we, again, have discovered ways to minimize, by using minimal water for boiling potatoes, then using that water to steam or cook our vegetables. That enriched water, in turn, is used to make soups and stews, and excess potato water is used to make bread. For the few times that we boil eggs, the water is mixed with other water (sometimes rainwater), for washing dishes.
One of the concerns that people have expressed is that we may be transferring bacteria and water-borne disease by reusing some of our water in dish cleaning, and, again, on the gardens. However, the eggs are hard shelled, and harbour no bacteria that is resistant to the dish soap. On the other hand, because our grey water sits in the holding tank for up to seven days, there is a risk of bacteria build-up. Consequently, we make sure that we water our plants only at the base or roots, so that there is a minimal risk of contamination.
Other factors also come into play. The odour from stale water is not pleasant, but, within an hour after watering any residual odour has dissipated. If you add glycol (RV antifreeze) to the tanks in the winter, this water should not be used on the plants, as glycol is extremely hazardous to human health. On the other hand, if you have used less than 5% antifreeze per tank, that liquid can safely be applied to the roots of larger trees.
One final tip: when installing our grey water holding tank, we constructed it so that the tank was below the level of the shower and sink drains, but above grade, so that we could siphon, easily, the water from the tank, relying on the benefit of gravity to move the water.
Perhaps, in the near future, we will be able to purify the water, recycle it for human use (washing, etc.) and then apply it to the garden. That will cut our consumption in half. However, using only the minimal amount required does offer a measure of environmental responsibility that should make any of us employing these measures confident that we are doing our part to protect the environment.

Minimal Living Provides Opportunity To Spread Wealth

2011-06-28T11:06:00.000-05:00

If minimalism or voluntary simplicity is about living with less, then the obvious corollary to the concept of minimal living is that such a frugal lifestyle will open up a surfeit of resources for other uses. I have discussed in many of my other articles that my minimalistic focus is toward enjoying the newly filtered aspects of life more thoroughly by de-cluttering my environment.
However, I have no desire to relinquish the pleasure that I gain from productive work. Thus, while I free up time to enjoy more targeted pleasures by eliminating redundancies and excesses, I also free up money.
Therein is one of the real bonuses of simple living: the ability to use surplus income for purposes that I find worthy; namely, a variety of charitable causes.
For instance, I have revived a cooperative housing project initiative that will enable those people who may not be able, otherwise, to afford home ownership, to engage in a strategy to purchase their individual homes through a group buying initiative. With my surplus free time and, fortunately, surplus income due to my frugal living approach, I am able to give back in areas of my own choosing.
Perhaps many aspiring minimalists are undertaking this new lifestyle because of budget constraints, or environmental concerns, or simply because of social conscience. Regardless, the new freedom that one discovers as priorities are rearranged to suit the minimalistic approach allow for more freedom to be charitable. It is often an unexpected frill that flowers from one’s new lifestyle.
Psychologists almost universally agree that a great contributor to unhealthy stress is the lack of choice. By freeing resources, by being less reliant on material success or need, a person is afforded a greater freedom to choose what is important individually. It is true, however, that when a person chooses to “ cut to the bone” on luxuries, and cuts the reserves that provide a “soft cushion” in times of financial hardship, a degree of stress results. The stress of facing a short-term bout of belt tightening on a frugal budget is far from the stress, though, than the stress of financial crisis when one is burdened with enormous monthly expenses. By trimming overhead, you open the door for more choices.
It is ironic that the greatest contributors to charities, per dollar earned, and the greatest number of volunteer hours committed are given by those people who live in more modest communities, states or provinces, and that those most likely to give in a crisis are those that have experienced a crisis of their own.
By entering the world of modest living through voluntary simplicity, a person almost automatically is drawn toward charity, volunteerism and community service, and, in turn, reaps the enormous benefit of reaching out to others.
As you contemplate your foray into minimal living, you may want to set out a template, or set of objectives, and include in that template the anticipated or sought-after benefits (as well as drawbacks). Work into your new budget an allowance for both time and money given to those in need, and establish that allowance as a priority. Simply by laying out, concretely and publicly, your intention to use your newly discovered freedom to benefit others, you will discover that your focus on what is significant in life alters dramatically. Again, it is an established psychological principle that, when a person publicly commits, even in a modest way, to a position or goal, he more adamantly defends and works toward that position in the future. Think, for example, of Weight Watchers or AAA meetings, where a public statement of commitment is used to drive dedication to an objective.
Consider that, as you gain freedom from stress and financial or material dependence for yourself, you also are opening the door for a more altruistic you. Go minimal, but give it your maximum effort!

Living With Less Does Not Always Mean Doing It Yourself

2011-06-16T17:42:00.001-05:00

One of the problems inherent in “going minimal” is the tendency to radicalize. That is, some of us assume that minimalism requires that we not only do without every luxury and most essentials, but that we involve others at a minimal level in every purchase. We often suppose that doing with less means doing it yourself.
Need an oil change? It must be a minimalistic approach to do it yourself. Want a special meal, such as a lasagne? One has to obtain the ingredients and make it oneself. Of course, a true minimalist must do her own vehicle repairs, make his own clothes, grow every food item and complete every repair or household renovation alone.
These are just a few of the myths of minimal living.
Let us take a quick look, for example, at that lasagne dinner. Typically, a 2-pound store-bought, ready-made lasagne will cost you $5.99 to $9.99. Your total cost, including cooking in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes, will be $6.11 to $10.11, or $3.05 to $5.06 per pound. However, calculate the individual costs of buying the ingredients. Cheese, lean ground beef, spinach, spices and noodles will end up costing you at least $6.80 per pound if you buy the size required to make a 2-pound lasagne. Cooking will take two hours, for an additional cost of $0.22, while cleanup of the baking pan and utensils will add another $0.30-.40 to the total. This doesn’t factor in the cost of the pan & utensils, or place a value on the two hours that it may take to make the meal. Total savings, per pound, of buying the ready-made meal will be up to $4.37! Hardly worth the effort, is it, unless you prefer the quality and uniqueness of a homemade meal?
How about that oil change? With a litre of oil costing, on average, $4.19 and a filter $6-12, a four-litre oil change will cost $23.76, versus the $29.95 for a shop to do it. Yet, you don’t have to worry about the cleanup and environmental impact, or the cost of oil drain pans, jack stands, etc. It’s almost a fair trade to farm out the task.
Don’t even consider doing your own repairs on a new car. Just the OBII-compliant computer tester will set you back $100 or more, and you haven’t begun to figure out how to do the repairs, with the few outdated tools that you own. Each new car demands its own specialty tools to conduct repairs. However, buying the new car is more environmentally friendly, and generally more cost-efficient than maintaining the old one.
A true minimalist may want to mend his own clothes, make his own curtains, upholster his own furniture. Aside from the grotesquely ugly results that are likely, this option, too, is impractical, even for a minimalist. However, if you find someone who is handy with a sewing machine or needle and thread, and you have the cash, consider providing the material, while your partner provides the handiwork and skill necessary to make clothes, drapes or couch covers.
Similarly, home renovation skills are seldom within the reach of the typical homeowner. You may be great at rough carpentry, but lousy at finishing work. You may know the basics of plumbing, and fail miserably at electrical repair. Here is where a collage of colleagues, with compatible and exchangeable skills provides a real advantage. You may undertake the framing (or supervision) of a garage for a neighbour, while another provides skills at concrete work and a third can wire the building. When you need your recreation room renovated, those same people can pool their skills to assist you, and so on.
Have a large back yard? Grow your vegetables, and a few for your neighbours, in exchange for a few trinkets that you require from them.
The last three examples are perfect illustrations of the benefit of bartering for the frugal individual, or those who favour the minimal living approach. Bartering, or swapping services and goods not only lessens demand for duplicate items or redundant services, but reduces the cost to each individual in the barter group. Barter groups may be loosely arranged, or established as a cooperative, with specific assigned values for work and goods that are exchanged, with a “banking” option that allows a member to provide his goods into the pool, and obtain the benefit that he wants or needs at a later time.
Minimalism is not about doing it yourself. It is about seeking the path that is least intrusive, with the greatest benefit, to obtain those needed items, while recognizing that “need” and “want” are not synonymous, and that using less is a pathway to getting more out of your life, each day.

Minimalist Dining Options

2011-05-13T20:02:00.000-05:00

One of the expenses most often associated with lavish living is that of dining out at an upscale restaurant. Yet, even minimalists must eat! Those frugal living advocates who view minimalism as an exercise in self-denial suggest that dining out at any – not just upscale – restaurants is in conflict with minimalistic principles. Minimal living, though, is not centred around self-denial. It is rooted in responsible choices that focus upon reduction in excess and frivolous activities or expenses.
Minimalists take heart! Dining out is not only acceptable, but a good strategy, with a variety of options.
One of my favourite “minimal” choices is to dine with groups of friends. This allows for great social interaction, while involving only the cost of the meal, rather than the cost of several gatherings plus other recreational costs often incurred with social gatherings. Many restaurants offer discounts for groups, allowing for a reduction in meal costs. By calling ahead for a reservation, you may be able to negotiate a per-diner reduction of 10% or more.
Community suppers (such as church fundraisers, fall suppers, etc.) offer both the opportunity to support a local charity or cause and enjoy a meal at a fraction of the cost of a restaurant meal.
Coupons commonly are issued by restaurants in the slow winter season, to stimulate patrons to loosen their wallets during low-sales periods. This is an excellent time for a true and dedicated minimalist to dine out, combining strategic savings with socialization. Many of these offerings are breakfast programs. By beginning your shopping or work day with a substantially discounted meal, you are using your time more efficiently. This is another cornerstone of intelligent minimalism.
My wife and I have a penchant for visiting Subway, but neither of us are inclined to consume a full 12-inch sub. Yet, when Subway offers excellent pricing on these subs, we will purchase a 12-incher, eat half, and save half for the next day. This has saved us preparation time, the cost of operating our cooking equipment and loads of cash, while providing us with a nutritious meal.
With eight children and a horde of grandchildren, nieces and nephews, our birthday costs could be astronomical. An effective cost reduction strategy has been to volunteer to prepare special meals for each of the children, in their home. We provide the food and the labour, enjoy an evening with the family and cut the cost of gifts. The children get to savour their favourite childhood foods and put their feet up while we cook.
Similarly, when we host and visit with friends in their homes, we exchange special dishes that each of us enjoy. This provides dietary variety for each of our friends, and cuts costs of partying. It is always cheaper to cook for many than for few!
Dining out is not an act of lavish excess. It can be and should be an act of frugal, minimal living, consistent with the dominant principle of minimalism: getting the most out of life for the least!

The Minimalist Diet - Maximum Benefit From Minimal Ingredients

2011-04-05T19:30:00.001-05:00

The majority of those who embrace the minimalist concept of living focus on their material assets, and relegate other aspects of their lives to secondary and tertiary status in the adopted lifestyle. Others focus on the frugality of one’s lifestyle, adorning economical living with minimal living. Some, again, opt to equate minimalism and environmentalism, with only modest justification.
Minimalism is a composite lifestyle, adopting numerous attributes from other approaches to interacting with one’s world, living life on a budget, and yet incorporating a love of luxury with a desire for simplicity. This is the way of fine art: remove the clutter around a feature piece, in order to focus more fully on the pleasure that that specific item exudes.
We, as minimalists, choose to de-clutter our surroundings and our mind, in order to appreciate the simplicity of living without that bric-a-brac. It is a relatively easy process. However, while we feed our soul, we ignore physical nourishment as it is impacted by our minimal lifestyle.
One of the tenets of simple living relative to simple eating is to focus, as in fine art, on one or two feature items.
For example, my wife and I love spicy, ethnic foods. Our favourites include Asian foods, from Indian to Chinese. However, on occasion, we crave a simple, more bland palate, such as simple fish and rice or chicken and noodles or potatoes. Since we also concern ourselves with healthy foods, we work with those key items (salmon & sea fish, green vegetables, fresh fruits, and an abundance of healthy nuts and grains). Simple recipes often require raw, fresh items.
Most people react predictably. Yuckk! Nuts & berries. Raw vegetables. Bland starches. That attitude is misplaced and misdirected. Working with the simplest of ingredients, a marvellous colour of flavour can be created.
We take our minimal approach further, by harvesting wild herbs and culinary plants from the wild, throughout the year. This cuts costs, while improving the diversity of diet.
But even with a minimum of spices and base ingredients, a host of meals can be prepared from very simple food options.
Let us look at a simple five pound ham, bone in. We trim out the bone, remove much of the fat, and set this aside, to be used last. On Day 1, we slice a thick ham steak, poached in water with tomato, oregano, mustard, ginger and garlic. It is our meal’s centrepiece. On Day 2, we slice a smaller slice, dice it, mix it with curry paste and ginger, toss in chopped peppers and onions and sautee it. On Day 3, we take another slice, dice it and mix it with onion, pepper, lots of garlic, and chopped potato and yam. Cooked in olive oil. On Day 4, the second-to last slice is cut thinly, wrapped around goldenrod leaves and sliced apple and peaches, then baked. Day 5, we use the remnants and leftovers to make a stew, adding the odds and ends left over from the earlier meals. Five meals cost us less than $12.
Of course, five consecutive days of the same meat, albeit with radically different tastes and textures, can become overwhelming. To alleviate the potential taste doldrums, we will do the same with a few pounds of fish, or chicken, achieving a wide array of taste experiences, while using a minimum amount of ingredients. In this manner, we are able to take advantage of seasonal sales on meat, as well as seasonal availability of wild herbs and domestic garden produce.
Simple living does not require relinquishing variety. In fact, living simply can afford us the opportunity to explore unique ways to get the most mileage out of every item, every day, while wringing the last drop of living out of each moment. Can we do anything less?

A Mininimalist's Vacation

2011-03-30T11:22:00.002-05:00

Vacations are an area of concern for those who practice a minimal lifestyle. Minimalism implies that one does without; therefore, vacations, being a “luxury” should be eschewed. That is a convoluted approach and a misperception of the minimalist’s way of living. Living simply is, in essence, living in such a manner that the individual, less obtrusive items and actions become more central to the lifestyle. Simple living requires that one looks at life as an ongoing series of snapshots and vignettes, instead of as a continual accumulation and hoarding of material goods. That means that living in a simple, uncluttered manner enables the advocate of that style of life to savor impressions, feelings, memories and interactions, in the place of things. In turn, that makes vacations and leisure time significantly more critical than for those who are on the acquisition train.
There are numerous options for the individual looking for a great vacation at minimal cost and minimized impact or consumption.
The first, and that requiring the least energy, is to rent travelogue DVDs. Most libraries also offer these videos through their lending programs, ,making the enjoyment of the videos truly cost effective. The internet offers exceptional avenues by which you can explore the world, at no cost. By combining Internet surfing for exotic and unique adventures and locales with outreach efforts, you will be able to connect with people from around the world, who can share your experiences.
There are many intriguing opportunities that tie in with Internet connections. The Woofer program matches people who are willing to Work on organic farms with those agricultural undertakings. In exchange for your free labour, the farmer provides you with room and board, as well as a peek into that way of living. This adventure opens another door for the true environmentalist and minimalist, by creating a source for fresh-from-the-farm organic produce.
Another travel opportunity for minimalism advocates is the “couch surfing” program. By linking with people around the world who are willing to provide one or two nights of free accommodation and meals, you are able to travel on a budget. In exchange, you, too, agree to provide a couch on which another such traveler can sleep for a couple of nights. Many people in this program have met others from remote corners of the earth, and learned a little more about how people live in other regions.
Volunteer vacationing is a third option for the minimalist on holidays. There are a variety of projects requiring volunteers, from Habitat projects around North America, to relief work in Haiti, to longer-term trips to underdeveloped countries, where one can work while holidaying.
A fourth minimal vacation concept is the “buddy program,” where people in a given area, community or city plan, months in advance, a travel holiday together. This allows each participant to become familiar and comfortable with their travel partner. Shared RVs, vans and cabins or resort accommodations, as well as jointly prepared meals and discounts available for groups make such a vacation more affordable than if travelling alone.
Piggybacking vacation trips onto conferences scheduled in distant cities offers a cost-effective way to plan a holiday. Bartering a timeshare in exchange for something of value that you have makes an easy way to maximize use of resources at minimum cost.
Vacations are about memories and experiences. By exploring ways to holiday inexpensively and efficiently, you can turn an indulgence into a true minimalist concept.

Vacation Timeshares from the Minimalist’s Perspective

2011-03-11T13:06:00.002-06:00

At first blush, it would seem that the purchase of a timeshare is an example of self-indulgence and not one of minimalism. Indeed, it may well be self-indulgent, but that does not preclude the purchase from being frugal and an example of living life minimally.
Minimalism focuses upon eliminating the excesses in life in order to more thoroughly savour the richness of that life. Consider how an art gallery displays its valuable works of art. Rather than crowd items together like a garage sale table, each piece is featured individually, with an abundance of white space between the displays. The gallery does not hide the pieces, or conceal them in clutter. Minimalism, too, seeks to get rid of the material and emotional clutter, and enable us to focus on the valuable parts of our life.
For some of us, that valuable part may be our vacation time.
But is a timeshare an example of frivolous spending? In some cases, again, yes. But, with recent improvements to the time share industry, a wealth of economical (is that an oxymoron) vacations are available to enjoy.
We have purchased a couple of time shares, yet live, in every other aspect, minimally. We view our timeshare purchase as an act of frugal living, as well.
For under $8,000, we are able to gain access to several thousand resorts and hotels, worldwide. For under $200 per year, we can stay for a week or more at high-quality locations. This is less than we would pay for an apartment in our home city, or a motel in any en route town. So, purely on the benefit-per-dollar basis, we are acting in an economically responsible manner.
Similarly, our resorts all include full kitchen facilities, so I am able to cook in the suites, prepare healthy meals, and forego the cost of expensive restaurant fare. This, too, is budgeting responsibly.
It is easy to be narcissistic in regard to purchasing time shares, however. We know people who have invested many tens of thousands of dollars on expensive resorts, and fail to use the benefits frugally.
On the other hand, we regularly use last call vacations, which afford us even better savings. Our extra vacations and off-season travel plans mean further benefit for the cost. But this requires careful strategizing in order to yield the maximum benefits.
In years when we do not use our actual timeshare weeks, we are not required to pay the maintenance fees (which we carefully calculated into the ongoing costs of our time share purchase). Although it is emotionally tough to give up that “free” week, we recognize that it is only free if we do not pay the annual fee associated with it.
It is vital, though, in deciding on a time share purchase, that you shop around, and not be caught up in the “this time only” sales hype. Look to less popular resorts that are highly rated. They often have lower buy-in costs. Look to low maintenance fees. For example, Las Vegas resorts generally are cheaper to maintain than Florida ones. Look for others’ reviews, too, to see if you are missing a key bit of information.
Regardless, though, it is easy to disregard time shares as a viable minimalist’s vacation option. While time shares do not form the bulk of our vacation experience, they are significant, and economical. Avoid the dieter’s dilemma: it’s not what you eat, but how much. In the case of a minimalistic approach to time shares, it’s not how much you own, but how you digest it.

Books Versus E-Books

2011-02-25T11:09:00.000-06:00

A dieter’s greatest scourge is temptation. That luscious chocolate-encrusted strawberry croons our names until we respond. That succulent dessert begs to be devoured.
A minimalist diet, unfortunately, has the same nemesis. Temptation draws us whenever we deprive ourselves of those things that we have elevated to the status of delightful. Minimalism, though, holds that “doing without” is the epitome of success.
Since I chose the minimal lifestyle, the temptation imp has stood in my way frequently, and I have been compelled to choose what really is significant in my daily life. Reading is one of those essentials.
Yet, I am “old school;” some say, a dinosaur. I love the feel, the heft, the connection to printed and bound reading materials. Part of the joy of reading a good book is to collapse into a comfortable chair, or sprawl on a lush lawn with an engrossing book in my hands. It is a route to losing the reality of the world around me.
I have found that reading an article on my laptop lacks the tactile pleasure of savouring a pocket novel or hard cover classic. The LCD screen seems to flicker, or the sunlight makes reading impossible, or the computer must be plugged in after an hour or so. There are myriad excuses as to why e-books are inferior to bound copies of the same plots and documents. Yet, by the end of 2010, over 10% of all books sold were in electronic, or digital form. The world is embracing the new technology, while I cling to old ways.
Cognitively, I see e-books as an expression of minimalism. No wasted paper, no bulk or heft to them. A hundred thousand books takes up no more space than a hundred on my shelf. The physical impact of a wall of leather bound books smacks of achievement and intellectual superiority. The display of the newest best seller, in hard cover, says “I have the money to pay the price of this collection of pulp,” while the discreet nature of an e-book offers none of the status or prestige of a bound copy.
The guilt of indecision, and the social pressure of always conforming to the world’s perception of what constitutes a minimalist drives my choice as to whether I should purchase an e-book or a printed one. The very decision to buy either is at the heart of the minimalist dilemma.
Yet, minimalism is about prioritizing. In the end, I choose to buy bound readers when I want the joy of relaxing and reading. I do not want to be tied to a darkened room, or carry my laptop (or Kindle, if I owned one) with me, in case the mood to read attacks me. I choose to read digital media when I want to conduct research, read a technical paper, or am investigating a more formal document or topic.
Minimalism requires choosing and prioritizing, but it also requires getting every last drop of living out of life, at the least cost to the world around us. I will relinquish my deeply-rooted preference for the tactile experience of reading, only when that experience already is soured by routine and mechanical written materials that offer none of the release of fiction or exploration of the unknown. After all, my minimalist diet allows for the occasional indulgences!

Minimalism Defined By Degree of Dependence on Assets

2011-02-14T12:58:00.002-06:00

Minimalists place almost exclusive emphasis on getting rid of “stuff,” as if that is the panacea. Get rid of clutter, get rid of duplicate materials, get rid of ostentatious, overindulgent purchases, and so on.
While reducing dependence on assets is laudable, affluence is not the enemy, or is de-cluttering the solution to simplifying one’s life. By exerting oneself to part with items that have a link to your emotional or pedantic life, you are likely to experience a feeling of deprivation. It is one of the reasons why many advocates of minimalism recommend decreasing assets bit at a time, rather than immediately and thoroughly.
Why are we choosing to reduce our belongings? In many cases, it is due to the realization that we are wrapped up in a tornado of acquisition, seeking continually to own the best of everything.
Again, many minimalists suggest that the goal of minimalism is to reduce excess, so that we can focus on the remaining, valued items in our arsenal. What we are doing, then, is redirecting our efforts away from a blanket embracing of goods toward a bond with only a few, but a much stronger bond. In other words, we will be as reliant on assets as always, but we will cling to fewer of them!
For this reason, I urge that anyone who is considering a conversion to the minimalist lifestyle reflect very carefully on their reasons for doing so.
Is it because of the clutter? Then just reorganize! Is it because of the cost? Consider how to make your dollar work better for you. Is it because of the glamour of saying that you are unique? Consider how many “minimalists” live in the poor areas of your city, not by choice but by necessity.
Minimalism, as one blogger writes, has become the fad of white people. But few take the time to consider the impacts and consequences on oneself and those around us. Most importantly, we rush into minimalism like a crash dieter, and just as quickly fall of the regimen wagon.
Over twenty years ago -- ten years before I embraced minimalism -- I learned, firsthand, the impact of stuff on our lives. At the time, I had just entered into a business partnership that led into a huge growth of our operation. We went from annual revenues, between the two of us, of $125,000 per year to annual revenues of $1.8 million, in the space of a few months. We had hit the big time!
One of the “urgent” purchases I needed was a new car, given that I would be on the road for at least 80,000 kilometres each year.
I fell in love with a Plymouth Laser – hardly an expensive car, but what I really, truly wanted. My partner purchased a Mercedes – just what he wanted. However, I did not purchase the Laser. I imagined myself driving it, polishing it, speeding along Alberta highways in it. It had sex appeal! So I bought a Plymouth Colt 200 – a subcompact. I liked the Colt.
The reasons were simple. Because I loved the Laser, I would spend hours each week, cleaning, polishing, maintaining and driving it. Because I liked the Colt, I would keep it clean and in running condition. The Laser got 25 miles to the gallon, the Colt 42. The Laser cost $23,000, the Colt $12,000. I could repair the Colt myself. I could not repair the Laser. But the Laser came ever so close to winning the purchase lottery!
That one decision revealed to me that it is not the amount or the cost of the stuff we own, but the significance that we place upon things that controls us.
The big screen television may be more important than our daughter’s braces!
Not long ago, I walked through a coastal village in Mexico that had been devastated by a hurricane three years earlier. In beaten to the ground, I found a shell of a former home, now covered with six separate utility tarps, blowing freely. Two of the people who lived there were returning with 5-gallon jugs of water. The place was absolutely destroyed. Yet, in front of the home (where clearly, kids still lived), among the disarray of junk and broken lumber and two derelict cars were two –not one – satellite dishes!
The importance of that connection to television was so important that all other creature comforts paled.
There certainly was no doubt that this family lived minimally. But is it a choice that any of us would make?
If you are considering adopting a minimal lifestyle, I ask that you do one thing, above all. Sit down and evaluate, not the quantity of things you own, but the quality and tenacity of your attachment to items. Consider, thoroughly, what those items mean to you. If you do not, you’ll be like the impulsive parachutist who decided to jump, and then thought of putting on his parachute!

Converting to Minimalism? Know Before You Go!

2011-02-11T12:56:00.000-06:00

The Minimalist's Diet

2011-02-03T12:35:00.000-06:00

Minimalism has elements in common with dieting, such as the giving up of something that may seem important to you, in order to gain something else. However, it is radically different from dieting, in that, if properly structured, it is something that you do not consider to be a loss or forfeiture in the long term. It is harder to return to materialism than it is to remain in minimalist mode, unlike dieting which requires constant vigilance to “keep the weight off.”
It is also substantially different from dieting, in that it can be done in degrees. Try dieting by first reducing calorie intake by 1,000 calories per day, when you are overeating by 2,000 calories per day. The weight will still pile on. “Going minimal” allows you to reduce some of your excess, and still be on track to becoming more economical. This advantage gives you the psychological impetus to continue on your path to reduction, while eating 1,000 excess calories each day still is the wrong direction towards weight loss!
Because of the flexibility in approach to the new program, it is easier for a new convert to “test the waters,” and, at the same time, indoctrinate family, friends and associates into your new view of the world.
Unless the decision is made through necessity, it is unwise to become totally minimalist. For most of us, intrinsic feelings of value and self-significance often are measured by the degree of comfort that we have acquired. To deny ourselves of every physical pleasure creates an emotional void. At its worst, it can be unhealthy. For example, to deny oneself the enjoyment of a comfortable bed means that we also deny ourselves the value of a good night’s sleep. To insist on eating only the minimum of quality food, or to substitute nutritious food for poor quality food will impact severely on our health. We should not aspire to be material anorexics.
On the other hand, overindulgence brings equally undesirable results. An excess of food leads to unhealthy bodies, while an excess of material goods leads to a narcissistic view of life and our role in it.
Whether you opt for either an extreme approach, or a more reasonable, middle-of-the-road tact, it is the rejection of acquisition and consumption of goods that is at the heart of minimalism. Minimalism should never be used as the rationale or excuse for becoming slothful, and aiming low in the input that you provide to the world around you. I know of several people who have chosen to work minimally, and contribute to the world around them in the least possible way, and use their “goal” of being less focused on materialism as an excuse for their indolence.
Minimalism should focus on using your gifts and abilities for the greatest benefit, while seeking ways to be less of a draw on the resources around us. Even that definition, though, fails to recognize that, as you do so, you will gain immensely from the enjoyment of the moment, with a reduced dependence on material goods to generate that enjoyment.
Planning for the conversion to minimalism will be of benefit if you look not only at what you want to eliminate from your life, but what you want to gain. What are your goals and objectives? Do you plan on using the “free money” to retire on a tropical island? Do you want to devote more effort to community service? Is it your plan to spend your free money and time on inventing the next greatest invention? Is minimalism a route to something else, such as saving for that ultimate purchase of a yacht in order to sail around the world? Are you hoping to be able to secrete a nest-egg to leave for your children and grandchildren when you die? Having a focus, as to what you want to do or acquire, as well as what you want to give up provides a more solid base on which to build your efforts at changing your way of living.
Few people diet with the sole purpose of losing weight. They lose weight to feel more energetic, or to improve their health, or to become more attractive. They have a focus, a goal. Similarly, approach minimalism with the same focus, and your journey will become that much easier.

Would You Like Apple Sauce or Pork N Beans?

2010-10-29T11:36:00.000-05:00

Minimalism is not about doing without. It is not about continual sacrifice. It is about doing more (or, at minimum, the same amount) with less. That may sound a little like one of the three Rs of environmentalism – Reduce. But minimalism is about making choices that make sense, not necessarily making choices to leave less of a footprint. The end result may be the same, but the motivations may differ.
Let us consider the choice of apple sauce or pork and beans. In the grocery store, a can (14 oz or 400 ml) of beans may cost you ninety cents or so, but no more than $1.20. A jar of apple sauce, on the other hand, may cost upwards of $3.00 for 900 ml (32 oz). Yet, both are relatively inexpensive. Both can be grown and produced by you.
If both can be produced by you, then, should not a true minimalist make his/her own beans or apple sauce? Not necessarily.
This fall, we made our own apple sauce, from a basket of tart apples picked from our own tree. To make six quarts took us four hours. That’s hardly a productive use of our time, since we were working for less than $5 per hour! Yet, our only inputs (the tree was in the yard before we were) were a little cinnamon, the jars (which we already had) and the heat to do the canning. We canned on a cool day, so the heat generated would have been generated anyway, to heat our home. That meant our only true cost was less than fifteen cents worth of cinnamon.
On the other hand, we also grew a variety of beans. Those beans could have been made into canned beans with pork. Instead, we chose to pickle them and freeze some. Less energy input was required on the hot summer days when they were ripe for the picking. Our net cost to pickle and freeze? About six cents per pound. To can them into brown beans with pork would have required sugar, cooking heat, spices, and tomato or molasses. And the time to prepare them for canning would have exceeded four hours for twenty pounds. At a retail price of $1.00 per pound, we would have saved $20 over store-bought beans, minus the input costs of forty cents per pound, and worked for $3.00 per hour. That is considerably less than what we earned on the apple sauce.
There are three additional major differences, though. The homemade apple sauce is pure, with no artificial preservatives added, and no sugars. And we used recycled jars, rather than aluminum cans. For the beans, we had an easier option: freezing. For virtually no cost, and little labour, we preserved the same quantity of beans as we would have canned in the pork ‘n beans scenario.
Sometimes, it is an act of minimalism to buy, rather than produce an item yourself. But where your inputs will exceed what is consumed by commercial production, where quality of doing it yourself far outweighs commercial product quality, or where commercial products generates excess waste, “doing it yourself” is the minimalist’s best option.
Minimalism, it seems then, is not as simple as “doing with less” or “doing it yourself.” It is also about “doing it smart.”

One Knife: A Minimalist’s Take on Extreme Consumerism

2010-09-11T12:26:00.001-05:00

From 2002 to 2004, I owned one knife – no more than that.
This one knife was a fish filleting knife. It saw duty as a paring knife, as a fish skinning knife, as a wire stripper, as a butter knife, as a dinner knife, and even as a poor flat screwdriver blade.
I had not intended, in 2002, to be a minimalist. I had no concept of what being a minimalist entailed. I simply had no need of any other knife.
When I remarried in 2005, I inherited more than 60 knives. There were dinner knives, steak knives, bread knives, electric knives, meat carving knives, paring knives, pocket knives, multi-tool knives, cheese knives, cleaving knives, and other knives whose purpose I could not guess. Of course, there were also duplicates of those knives.
The knives, to me, represented the difference between consumerism and minimalism. Each type of knife simplified a given chore, or made use of a knife a little easier for that specific task. But each knife also required specific care: cleaning, sharpening, storing and handling varied for each knife. While each chore was made easier with the correct knife, keeping track of that knife became more complex than caring for one knife.
A multitude of knives meant, too, that many people could do many tasks concurrently with each other (not that it happened frequently). But an assortment of people handling a range of knives complicates the task of tracking & caring for the items.
With my one knife, I never felt the need for more. But now that I possess dozens, I see better quality, more attractive, more durable knives that I want. Ornate handles, eversharp blades, and superior, indestructible quality make each new offering a “must-have” product.
There are risks, as well, with owning a plethora of culinary scalpels. Cuts are more frequent, breakage more common, cleanliness more essential. I can no longer just wipe the filleting knife on my trousers. Each knife need be sterilized. Each knife requires storage, and specialized storage, at that.
And I needed to learn etiquette as it pertains to the proper use of knives.
I am baffled at how I was able to survive for three years with only one knife. I marvel at the rugged pioneer independence of those that have fewer knives than I now possess, and wonder how they manage to tolerate such primitive living.
In 2002, I had no need of two knives. Now, I cannot fathom being without at least 60. It is my minimum.

Using alternative fuels

2010-09-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

Having made biodiesel from hemp, flax and canola oils, from rancid & sprouted seeds, from waste vegetable oil and animal fat, I had learned that a high-quality diesel alternative could be fabricated quite easily. Having conducted a research initiative into producing biogas from animal manure, grass clippings & old hay and waste or off-grade oilseed & grains, I had learned that a good propane substitute could be made with a little effort and effective production controls. However, I had not attempted to use various petro-fuels as alternatives to conventional ones.
Recently, I began experimenting with various petroleum products in alternative use scenarios. Diesel, for example, can be used as a substitute for kerosene in kerosene heaters or even kerosene and citronella lamps
While the odour of burning diesel is quite obnoxious, diesel heat in a relatively closed space such as a workshop is less risky than using propane heaters. Propane consumes huge amounts of oxygen, and puts out high levels of carbon monoxide, making its use in closed spaces quite dangerous. Diesel, too, has a relatively high flash point, meaning that it is somewhat safer than kerosene if drops are spilled. On the other hand, diesel produces more impurities, and will clog filters and lines more easily.
Last month, I found an ethanol-burning fireplace that claimed to consume 1/3 litre per hour. Since, in Canada, we cannot buy pure ethanol directly, this great “deal” would be valueless, if not for the fact that methanol can be substituted for ethanol. Indeed, when making biodiesel, you may use either ethanol or methanol in the chemical mix.
Methyl hydrate, by the way, is another name for methanol, and can be found in any paint store. At $3.00 or more per litre, though, the price is not attractive. Another option is to buy methanol in bulk (less than 235 litres, as the Dangerous Goods Act restricts transport and storage of larger quantities. Bulk methanol may be obtained at some race tracks and some larger fuel distributors.
The advantage of methanol is that it is not very hygroscopic. That is, it does not attract moisture to the same degree as ethanol. Besides, who wants to waste good whisky by distilling it down to pure ethanol?
Biogas and methane can be used with relatively little risk to the engine in any diesel engine. However, biogas has high sulphate content, and tends to corrode iron products rapidly.
Even manure is not a pure waste product! Well-dried manure will burn, albeit with an unpleasant odour and lots of deposits excreted. Still, it burns a little like compressed & dried peat, so it offers an emergency option for a wood heater.
A word of caution is needed, though. Use of alternative fuels must be a “stopgap” measure only, and must be done with regard to proper safety precautions.

Gift Giving for Minimalists

2010-04-11T21:56:00.000-05:00

Relationship issues naturally seem to follow a decision to make a major change in one’s life.
When a career change hits, it impacts on more than the person whose work path is redirected. It impacts on a spouse, on family members, and on one’s social life. Similarly, a change of residence means school & friendship reorientation for the children, a probable job change for a spouse, and a shuffling of extended family interactions due to distance. Obviously, a change of religion brings unique relationship realignments.
My decision to live a minimalist lifestyle occurred well before my remarriage. My spouse has done an amazing job of adjusting, accommodating and even aligning her value systems to meet my preferences. As I indicated, though, in one of my earlier blogs, I felt compelled to live as a “closet minimalist,” in order to maintain my image as a successful business consultant. That changed when I retired.
The most difficult relationship adjustment has come, not from those immediate family members such as my own children and my spouse, but from “extended family” and friends. Even my “new” children (a friend calls them “bonus children.” I love that expression!), after a couple of years, learned to accept that my value system was not something they should try to leverage or modify, in the same manner that I respected their way of looking at life. We share ideas, but do not strongarm our ideas on each other.
My new in-laws love to give gifts; for Christmas, at Easter, at every birthday and anniversaries. Regardless of how I protest, they simply laugh it off. Regardless of how I try to encourage them to, at least, spend less (they are in their late 70s), they ignore the requests. So how do I get them to understand that I do not want these excesses, without being exceptionally blunt and perhaps offend them?
Long-time friends of my spouse, and friends of mine who love to socialize with us insist on bringing dinner gifts for every occasion. They remember special occasions, and provide gifts. They look at our dearth of furnishings, and bring knickknacks and superfluous decorations. Yet, they all know my preferences. So, how do I deal with them?
A simple solution: let everyone know you appreciate their thoughts and generosity, and let them know. Each time they bring a gift, who or what charity you have donated their gift to. Let them know how valued those donations are by the recipients. Let them know that, regardless of their attempt to “fatten me up” while I am on my minimalism diet, I will continue to appreciate their generosity, and thank them for their charitable nature by giving gifts that they know I will prudently donate to the appropriate charities.

Eating Wild

2010-03-31T09:53:00.000-05:00

“Eating Wild” is a new blog that introduces readers to the world of wildcrafting. Wildcrafting is the art of “living off the land,” or locating, harvesting and preparing the hundreds of edible flora and fauna available (for free) across North America.
We will show you the range where each item can be found, the best way to locate that item, how to harvest it, its historical uses, the best methods of preparation & storage and the cautions that accompany use of each edible article. Occasionally, we will feature items that are not edible, but quite useful, in other ways, in your home.
This blog is a logical extrapolation of our “Living Lean and Green” blog, and our “Yurt Living” blog. The blog will include links to invaluable information on wildcrafting. The various items featured will be presented, as much as possible, in season. That is, just before the best “harvest date,” we will provide articles relevant to that wildcraft product.
The first blogs will feature the following plants for harvest:
1. Morels. Although we are into the harvest season in some areas already, morels are so popular that we feel we need to act today, instead of waiting until tomorrow.
2. Dandelion greens. These little gems go from delicious when picked early to disgusting if picked late!
3. White willow bark. A great “headache remedy, they are harvested best when the sap is just running
4. Cattail roots. Although harvestable anytime, now that the ice is off the ponds, it is an ideal time to harvest.
5. Alpine strawberry leaves. Great & nutritious tea.
6. Spruce buds. Yech! But a healthy tea awaits.
7. Tansy. A long-standing folk remedy, which can be harvested from August until May.
As you can see from the sample of articles, our approach to wildcrafting is eclectic, with healthy harvests, folk remedies, nutritious drinks, delicious side dishes, and savoury staples. Each week, we will post seven new items (one per day, ideally!). But if you want to know about a specific item, or want us to “jump the queue” by responding to your unique request, we would be more than pleased to do so. Just let us know in the “Comments” section, or email me at bizdynamics1@gmail.com.
www.bizdynamics.ca

Head & Heart Conditioning Preparing yourself mentally & emotionally for minimalism

2010-03-30T18:36:00.000-05:00

The second step in my 15 Steps to Minimal Living is head & heart conditioning.
This step is one of the most difficult to do, one of the easiest to skip. Only if you have successfully completed Step 1 – Identifying & Inventorying can you complete Step 2 appropriately.
Why are you contemplating the minimalist lifestyle? If the reasons are purely monetary – for example, you already are experiencing financial problems – then like a diet forced on you, your efforts at becoming a minimalist will fail. If, however, your reasons for embracing minimalism focus on a desire to get the most out of each moment of life rather than out of each acquisition and possession, you are pointed in the right direction.
Heart & head conditioning requires that you brace yourself for the downside to lean and green living, while being invigorated by what you will gain by “walking gently.” Since lean living means relinquishing many of the excesses that one acquires throughout life, it is important to identify those items as excess, rather than essential.
That is where heart versus head conditioning comes into play.
Are you willing to give up your vehicle entirely? Probably not. In fact, the auto is a virtual necessity for many of us. If you live outside the reaches of public transportation, for example, that car provides you with the link to your job, family & friends, etc. Even though car pooling, buses, etc. offer options, they may not be realistic or appropriate. When I worked as a business consultant, I kept my auto – a 2000 Toyota Echo – to travel to clients’ places of business. Note that the Echo offered the least ostentatious vehicle option. At the same time, it was eco-friendly, great on gas, and provided the ability to transport almost any goods I needed to move.
Deciding to downsize to the Echo, though, was an illustration of heart versus head conflict. Would I have preferred a fancy, upscale vehicle? Probably. However, giving up on greed has its own intrinsic satisfaction.
In deciding on what you are willing to relinquish, examine the emotional attachments and desires that each object represents. Going lean and green should not be a decision to deny yourself of the joys and pleasures of life. Instead, minimal living simply directs you to give up on non-essentials. There are many instances where what may be non-essential for some people has such an emotional attachment that is becomes vital for another.
Last year, we donated our entertainment centre, our love seat, our extra bedroom furniture, exercise equipment, many of our appliances, and my Toyota Echo to others. They were superfluous.
However, we retained our Wii Fit and television, while dropping our cable coverage. Did we retain a luxury in the Wii station? In my opinion, we demonstrated pure minimalism. The exercise equipment duplicated our fitness regimen needs, our kids have all moved away ( so we did not need the extra furniture), and we are using a minimum of electrical equipment (making the appliances unnecessary). The Wii, indeed, represents “lean” for us!
Heart essentials and head essentials each should be evaluated in your plan to go lean and green. The two are not incongruent or incompatible.
www.bizdynamics.ca

Maximum Minimalism

2010-03-19T10:49:00.000-05:00

It is difficult to observe people who live lavishly, with fancy cars, expensive clothes & accessories, luxurious homes and exotic vacations, and then make the decision to live minimally. Yet, it is the very opulence of these excessive lifestyles that should provide you with the impetus to reject those monuments to self-indulgence.
One of the very first steps that I outlined in my 15 Steps to Becoming a Minimalist was the need to identify. That process involves more than the need to identify whether or not you are suited to the minimalist lifestyle. It involves, among other things, identifying what you want out of life, what is important to you, what you will need to give up, what you hope to achieve, what you expect out of this change in direction.
It is commonly assumed that those that seek to acquire things (including money) are seeking to acquire comfort. That may be far-removed from reality. For some, the need to acquire is the need to feel safe from lack or want. For some, it may be that they are looking for social approval and status. For some, it may be that they are uncomfortable with any sort of deprivation. For a few, it may be nothing more than the greed – the need to obtain -- at the expense of others. The reasons are varied and diverse.
Similarly, the reasons for the urge to embrace a minimalist lifestyle are far-ranging.
The most common reason for adopting a minimalist way of life is found in the “fox and the sour grapes” fable. What you cannot reach, the fable implies, you are likely to scorn as something not worth having. Hence, many people (students & youths, for example) reject material possessions, largely because they cannot see the wherewithal to obtain those very examples of “arrival.”
I have met many aspiring “lean & green” disciples who cite the need to be socially responsible as their justification for their new lifestyle. At the same time, a great many seem to want to self-flagellate, punishing themselves for perceived greed. Others subscribe to a political philosophy that requires that they share everything, and aspire for nothing. Still others, in an effort to rationalize indolence, declare that reaching for such mundane goals is beneath them.
Minimalism is nothing of the sort described to this point. It is a choice of living in a specific manner that embraces wealth of a different sort – an opulence that recognizes the value in alternative ways of viewing self-indulgence. As a minimalist of many years, I am convinced that I have far greater wealth from choosing my way of engaging life than I had when I owned a multi-million dollar business, and owned a hoard of physical assets.
I look forward to assisting you in identifying how you, too, can be wealthy by being poor, and how divesting yourself of everything can make you rich. I look forward to helping you living your minimal lifestyle to the maximum!

Why Buying a $32,000 Car is An Act of Minimalism

2010-02-28T18:56:00.000-06:00

A $32,000 toy hardly is anyone’s idea of simple living, or of “doing without.” Yet, my $32,000 car precisely represents how I view minimalism, and how that kind of cost can be justified as being responsible.
My toy is a 2009 Prius – a hybrid vehicle that, in winter, gets 42mpg (Imperial gallons, 51 US gal.), and 60 mpg in the summer. Yes, that is a little way from the 72 mpg rating that it has received, but those tests are made on the flat, at constant temperatures and speeds without the air conditioner on. But this kind of mileage is one of the reasons I bought my responsible toy. Each year, based on the average distances I drive, with a fuel cost of $4.50/gal (Cdn), I will spend $2,700. The next best mileage in a comparable vehicle would cost me $900 more per year. I plan on keeping that car 20 years. I will save $18,000 in fuel alone.
My experience with Toyota vehicles is that they last longer than the Energizer Bunny. My most recent car, a Toyota Echo, is still going (I gave it to my son to replace his Ford F150), and has 496,000 km on the odometer. It has been treated extra roughly, maintained poorly, and used, often, like an offroad vehicle. But, until I gave it to my son, I spent less than $1,900 on repairs and maintenance, including tires and windshield wipers! Estimated cost of maintenance and repair on the average sedan is more than $1,100 per year, so I will save at least $16,000 on repairs.
My Prius is not a small car. We have transported my wife’s parents on long excursions on three occasions. Luggage for four people, plus those passengers still did not fill the car completely. So, I will seldom need to rent a trailer or U-Haul to move items.
The Prius is designed for older people, with its easy-entry doors, high seats, good site lines. We will still be able to drive this car safely when I am almost 80!
The car’s colour is quite neutral. Fewer washings, less worry about fading, easy exterior maintenance all reduce costs.
Toyotas hold their value. If I needed to sell the vehicle, my return would be far better than any domestic car. So, again, its initial cost is not a cost, but an investment.
There are dozens of other reasons why this car is economical, dozens of reasons why it represents green stewardship, dozens of reasons why it is the best car a minimalist could buy. There are very few reasons you could find as to why buying the Prius is an act of excess, or indulgence. But, in spite of all the pros, and very few cons, there is one overriding reason why I bought this car – my wife insisted on it!

Is Minimal Living An Act of Selfishness?

2010-02-27T20:30:00.000-06:00

From George Bush to Barack Obama, from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown, from Jean Chretien to Stephen Harper, every leader has, in one way or another, urged us to spend more to save the economy, to create jobs, to make the nation strong.
Minimalism teaches us that we should do without. Environmentalism guides us into using less of nature’s resources, and to protect non-renewable and renewable resources alike. Survivalism demands that we eschew the excess of society and government, and rely on more primitive lifestyles.
Clearly, the urgings of governments are at odds with the “isms.” If we are to rely on the wisdom of collective society, then, we should heed our government, not our urges and isms.
Let us examine the paradox of using less being selfish. If we stop using energy, then the earth is not being depleted. However, if we stop using energy, then new research into alternatives will not be needed, and jobs will dry up. If we stop using energy, the cost-per-unit to produce for others will increase, and they will suffer, because of our decision.
If we consume less food, we deprive growers, processors and retailers of their livelihood. At the same time, cost=per-unit, again, will increase, placing a burden on those that do purchase.
If we get rid of one of our cars, we’ll save gas, and wear and tear on roads. But, for every 18 cars, one job is created directly, and four others indirectly.
If we opt to downsize our homes, countless tradesmen will suffer, not to mention lawyers, real estate agents, repairmen, etc.
If we choose to do without government programs and assistance, countless politicians will experience a sense of loss and abandonment, while bureaucrats will slowly become extinct!
And think of the loss if we choose to barter, grow our food, help each other instead of relying on social networks, learn to enjoy having less but experiencing more!
I choose, though, to live minimally. Instead of using and abusing, I leave, for others, the responsibility and burden of consuming too much, living too large and asking for too many rights. My right is the right to waive my “entitlement” to waste, and, if I am displaying a selfish attitude by so doing, that, too, is my right. There are too many in need for me to believe that rights are granted to me to take extra food out of the mouths of the poor, clean air out of the lungs of the sick and frail, and the right to share in the world’s resources from those that treat this world with respect.
I, indeed, suffer from one, if not all, of the isms. And I’ll proudly wear my badge of selfishness.

Living green and lean

2010-02-25T11:52:00.001-06:00

Google “minimalistic lifestyle” and every one but one of the first 100 websites focuses on getting rid of stuff you own and discarding ownership. Both concepts are ridiculously simplistic, and, unfortunately, completely unrealistic. It is the realm of starving artists and struggling students.
Perhaps the term “minimalism” leads us into an overly basic view of living minimally. And the term evokes different ideas for different people. Ask an environmentalist, and your response probably will focus on cutting back on non-renewable consumption. Ask a survivalist, and expect to hear how “going minimal” means eschewing government, big business and big-city lifestyles. Ask a young person and money, furniture and belongings will be the focal points. For an entrepreneur, it will mean “trimming the fat” from operations.
This bias of interpretation comes from the subjective perception of “doing without.”
Back in 1984, Canadian Prime Minister John Turner bragged about he had grown up in relative hardship. Apparently, the house staff had been let go due to hard times when he was a child! Not to be outdone, his opponent, future Prime Minister Brian Mulroney bemoaned his own hardships – a corporate lawyer with an affluent background! How many millions of Canadians wished they could have faced the same tough times.
Minimalist lifestyles could more simply be viewed as living “green and lean.” But that catchall phrase misses a basic human characteristic. Appreciation of beauty is innate, and may be one of the reasons we adorn our homes and ourselves. So we need to extend the quotations to include the word “living.” Living is not existing, subsisting, or depriving oneself. So, to be minimalistic, one must appreciate living, and learn to appreciate beauty wherever it exists.
Beauty may come from a newly opened flower, or a panoramic view of the wilderness. It may be found in the innovative scribbling of a graffiti tagger. It may be found in the dyed purple hair of a rebelling teenager, or the concentric, expanding circles from a rock tossed on the water. However, it should not come from a need to accumulate, to own bigger, to climb over others, etc. True beauty, for a minimalist, is found in unique and exciting places, and there is no need to own beauty. Instead, beauty needs to be appreciated, where and when found.
Understanding and framing the concept of minimalism in relation to your own lifestyle and needs is essential to being able to adopt that “living green and lean” philosophy. Once you are able to identify your concept of beauty and comfort, once you prioritize your needs versus your wants, and once you realize that being minimalist is less realistic than going minimalist, you have taken the first step to going lean and green. After all, like life itself, a lifestyle is a journey, evolving, adapting and embracing new ways & days.
I wish you good luck on your journey. Can if offer you anything less?

Building my yurt: a doorway to a new lifestyle.

2010-02-24T21:59:00.001-06:00

Why would anyone give up a comfortable house in the city to live in a yurt in the bush? For me, the decision has more to do with enriching my life than it does with simplifying it. For my wife, it is an adventure.
A yurt is a Mongolian felt and animal hide structured tent, in which they live year-round in the Himalayas. Modern yurts are constructed of lattice, space-age insulation and polycarbonate tarpaulins.
BC Yurts, a Canadian manufacturer of these innovative antique structures, claims that they are liveable – indeed, comfortable – at temperatures below -35C. Their round shape allows winds to flow aerodynamically around them, with little wind resistance and, consequently, reduced wind chilling effect. Their 30degree sloped domes allow snow loads to slide off like an avalanche. Because they are constructed as a single, large room, air flow is free, reducing heating demand. In summer, the dome skylight and screened windows allow such good ventilation that, on the hottest day, these houses are quite comfortable.
But, why move to a yurt? A yurt is more a statement about reducing clutter, waste and excess than it is an actual reduction in lifestyle. A yurt is symbolic of true minimalism. It gives you more, for so much less. At a cost of under $15,000 for a complete 800 square foot unit, it clearly minimizes the impact on the pocketbook, compared to typical 800 square foot homes or condominiums in Manitoba that cost upwards of $125-190,000.
The one-room concept provides a great-room feel, with absolutely no wasted space, uncomfortable corners or hallways. As a result, one room provides the impact of a huge house.
Minimal complexities of design and layout reduce cleaning and maintenance requirements. No hard walls means no painting. Open rooms minimize demand for lighting and heating infrastructure. Minimal infrastructure means minimal maintenance, and more time to enjoy life.
Our yurt will be entirely “off the grid.” Our lavatory is a composting system – completely waterless. Our lighting is provided by a combination of wind and solar, with LED lights, and 90-watt refrigeration. Our cooking equipment will consist of biogas-fuelled ovens and grills, while backup energy is provided courtesy of a biodiesel-fuelled generator. Heating comes from a unique geothermal/biomass heating system. Grey water from the shower and sink will be filtered through an eco-pond, and used to nourish our nearby garden.
All of this may sound a little avant garde, or even idealistic and unrealistic. However, our entire concept has been tested successfully, in various component prototypes. In fact, rather than being a little too idealistic, we believe that our move to reduce our environmental footprint and minimize our economic crater of consumption is a major enrichment of our lives.
We invite you to follow the building of our yurt, and our first year living our new lifestyle. Each week, we will be updating our progress on our new blog, http://movingtoayurt.blogspot.com, or visit our occasional posts on this blog location.

New Image Needed for Minimalism

2010-02-21T20:02:00.001-06:00

Almost without exception, ask someone to describe a minimalist lifestyle, and you will get “Getting rid of everything you own and living without much of anything.”

That’s not minimalism. In polite circles, that’s a Spartan lifestyle. For those of us prone to being too blunt, that’s dumpster thinking. Life in a cardboard box.

Minimalist art certainly is not about eliminating everything. It is about simplifying background noise to allow viewers to focus on the simple, obvious item in front of them. It is about eliminating the unnecessary. Minimalist living should be the same. The public image requires re-branding to drag the lifestyle from obscurity to avante garde.

Today’s environmentalists are on the cusp of minimalism. Their public persona is that of caring for the world around us, of reducing our eco-footprint, of living clean, and independent of the noise of pollution. How is that different from minimalism?

One of the major impediments to large-scale embrace of the minimalist approach is the people with whom the concept is identified: radical artists, reactionaries and starving, idealistic youth. Environmentalists, on the other hand, are perceived as well-educated, somewhat affluent and insightful.

To explain to an acquaintance that you are a minimalist, you invite their view of you as living on the cusp of poverty. In my world, I deal with a variety of bureaucrats, a wealth of money-handlers, and an army of potential entrepreneurs who are looking to score their millions. To explain to them that I live a minimalist life would immediately cause them to revisit their beliefs in my competence as a business developer. I know. I’ve done it, and am not likely to repeat that error!

I have compensated. When I leave work, none of my clients are invited into my personal life. I go home to my barebones home, in my ultra-economical Echo, and change into my $5 tee-shirt and $16 jeans. In the morning, I climb into my suit, pick up my Blackberry and laptop, and rejoin the “normal” world. Am I comfortable with this compromise? Not really. But the public image of minimalism currently does not allow for coming out of the minimalist closet.

While my approach may seem hypocritical, it is essential to survival.

When one adopts a divergent approach to anything, and is called to defend it, a person almost always takes one of three tacts: deny passively, adapt, or defend aggressively. As a solid environmentalist, I support forest conservation. I do not support the approach of radicals who pound spikes into trees to thwart chainsaws. As a solid believer in small business, I do not support the heavy-handed irresponsibility of multinationals. I also do not support those protesters who inflict violence and destruction on innocent businesses at the G-9 conferences. Unfortunately, those extreme approaches are the very visible reactions by people who are challenged to defend their divergent views, and are unwilling to passsively accept any alternative.

Minimalists tend to overreact. (That comment is sure to get a rise out of those readers who choose the more divergent approach to the concept, by divesting themselves of every piece of comfort and every stick of worldly possessions). However, what I mean by the comment is that we tend to want to show our dedication to the philosophy by throwing away everything, and every link to conventional lifestyles.

A more moderate approach is much more successful if change is to be sustained. Obviously, I now have both a barebones wardrobe, and the more worldly one. My two suits and five shirts are more than adequate to “put on the Ritz” when needed. On out-of-town business calls, I rent the occasional mid-level intermediate sedan. I own technology, but I do not subscribe to more than basic cable (news channels are an essential!). I largely “live off the land,” but bring along store-bought (instead of homemade) wines when I socialize. The transitions are easy.

For me, the move to minimalism was more abrupt than for most of you, in many ways made out out of necessity. Maintaining the lifestyle became a choice. But for most, the move to minimalism should be made gradually, partly because of the shock to the system when you first seek out your fine jewellery for that special outing (and it is no longer there) or when the children come crying fore the latest designer clothes because their friends are mocking your kids’ perceived poverty. But gradual moves will enable you to integrate your public persona with your private lifestyle, and allow you to be selective in your new minimalistic approach.

Getting rid of everything may give you a momentary feeling of triumph, but climbing into that cardboard box at night is sure to send a feeling of chill down your spine!

To be sure, minimalism needs a new image, but, to paraphrase the old saying, “image-building begins at home.” Get your own head around what minimalism means to you, before you try to convince the outside world of the rightness of your divergent approaches.
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