The Barter Project

Purging: Bullshit.

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:34:31 -0500

I know the title’s strongly worded, but titling this has been the only thing keeping me from posting the entry, so this is it. While neither witty nor child friendly, it’s fitting.

I don’t usually mention individual movements. However since I started writing, Simplicity and Minimalism have obviously become hot topics, making news in national and international print and web publications. There’s a new blog every day- a post every hour-an eight word zen tweet ever ten minutes offering a list of ways to simplify a certain area of your life, closet, transportation, mailbox, pocket change, whatever. There are terabites of ebooks and career bloggers telling people what to do, using the Tim Ferris bible to offer you a lifetime money back guarantee on their pdf because they know only 3% will ever use it. There’s guest posts, cross blogs, e-workshops-it’s a niche industry…and I call bullshit.

I’m really saddened by the amazing potential this new movement had, but has now lost. We started well enough, getting rid of our things and sharing our experiences. We made international connections and found friends in all corners of the world. But where we should have taken the path less traveled- made our posts about simplifying and/or minimalizing and moved on, used the freedom of less stress to figure out how to truly do amazing, great, cool things and share them with others who were starting to do the same, we’ve started exploiting the trend and become exactly what we’re preaching against: we’re selling a movement, we’re the Coca-Cola of lifestyle design.

I write out of frustration in part. Every day, it seems more people are spending so much time writing about and discussing simplifying and minimalism. This is bound to happen as it gets more popular, but these people are new to the movement; they’re teenagers in a highschool auto class that have opened a muffler shop after doing their first oil change in second period the day before. They’re putting a nice big picture of themselves in the left hand corner of their blog to be relatable, they’re not dating their posts to create timeless content, they’re neatly listing their posts to make things easy to read, and they’re guest posting to up readership. They’re releasing a free 10 page ebook, and following it up with a 90 page ebook for $35 four months later (with an anytime money back guarantee). They’re following a now textbook approach to writing about simplicity, because the passive income of a blog or ebook has become the standard “minimalist” job. Most importantly they’re making simplicity complicated and confusing, spending all of their free time writing about or reading about how to have more free time.

Think about it this way: Do many people go through law school with the main goal of teaching law? Would you willingly sign up for a course that’s being taught by someone who graduated from the same course just days before? I wouldn’t, but that’s what’s happening. Frankly, the whole movement’s starting to sound like a late night infomercial selling the same three things repackaged 35 different ways to make 35 times the profit.

So with that, I want to challenge everyone out there to purge the bullshit. Stop writing about how to follow less people on Twitter, and start writing about how to help people that have never seen a computer, let alone made a Twitter account. Start working with your hands, start using your connections to create a global network of artisans that make everything we need to live a wonderful life without supporting outsourcing and the corporate evils I read about so much. Share new ideas, not things you’ve already read in other places. Simple and minimalist business isn’t making money from work without spending time- it’s spending time doing work without thinking about money, because you love it so much. Through these movements I truly believe this is possible for everyone (including those poor virtual assistants everyone’s hiring to do their work). I’m not saying we don’t need teachers, because there are those who truly write things we should all take to heart. However, in order for this to really work, we need to move past the puppy love and use our new simple lives to create something bigger, something sustainable. These fundamentals have been accepted by hundreds of thousands of people, which is 80% of the battle. We’ve made the blueprints and designed the infrastructure- it’s time to start building.

Moving Slow but Slowly Moving

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:46:51 -0400

The past few months have been super busy. They’ve also been amazing cycling weather, and I’ve been putting in a couple hundred miles a week and neglecting to write. Do I feel bad? Nope. I don’t want anyone reading this when it’s nice, I want you all playing outside.

The Barter Project is currently moving along steadily. I’ve recovered from the financial meltdown a couple months ago, and am going to be looking for an RV shortly! Do I know what it’s going to be once I set out? Nope. However, all I can hope is that it’ll be a journey- something to learn, experience, and grow from-and since that’s already happened in many capacities I’m going to say it’s been a success before it’s even (really) started.

I’ve decided to actually put more on my plate recently in an attempt to let myself naturally move through cycles of purging, aquisition, creation, exploration, etc. I think it’s important to put limits on things in order to progress, but this includes limiting the limitations you set for yourself. You’ll ultimately gain more experience by throwing caution to the wind and going after something than you will carefully manicuring your budget, wardrobe, pantry, and possession list. Short of getting killed, nothing would teach you less than non-action.

One of the things I’ve decided to do was to get a part time job in a store. I’m not giving up on Corter Leather, it’s actually growing wonderfully and becoming a real brand! However, I think it’s easy to get caught up in the I’m-A-Business-Owner-And-I’m-Going-To-Be-Independant-And-Successful-By-Myself-And-Listen-To-Me-Roar! thing to the Nth degree (especially when your hobby is your job and you work 10-12 hour days then work on more projects to calm down before bed). When you come out on the other side you’ve been living vicariously through email, gchat, text messages and phone calls, relying on the daily post office visit for human interaction.

Winter in New England is never the most uplifting time to work in your bedroom alone, so I’m going to get out and trek downtown a couple days a week for the fun of getting out, meeting new people, and stretching my employee muscles. Plus, I think I got me a job working for Levi’s, and we all know how much I love that sort of stuff. What if I really like it, and want to stay another year? Then I’ll buy that boat I’ve always wanted, and dock it year round on the river. It’s cheaper than an apartment, closer to downtown, and I’ll sail on the weekends. Perfect back up plan.

I’ve got 2 barters to post, so expect those soon!

Purging: The Real World

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:42:00 -0400

I don’t know how else to say this, so here it goes… Fuck the “real world”.

Feels great, doesn’t it?

This month I’ve learned one huge, gigantic lesson. I know I say it all the time, but this one’s pretty big, and really important. The lesson I’ve learned is this: there’s a difference between “reality” and “the real world”. The difference is that reality exists- the real world doesn’t.

The thing I hear most when people find out what I do is “I wish I could do that, I’m just not creative. I’ve got to live in the real world.” Up until now, I was usually taken aback by the comment, because it’s a tough statement to respond to. On one hand, I was flattered they think my job is cool, but on the other I was a bit embarrassed they think I do arts and crafts for a living.

I realized there was no real world about two weeks ago. It started 9am on a Wednesday, and I was on the train with my room mate. We were heading into Chinatown to board a bus, which would take us on a day trip to a casino in Connecticut. I felt like a slacker not living in the real world- here I was, in shorts and sandals, going to play blackjack on a work day. It was the earliest I’d been awake in months, and the only important documents I had to carry with me were my iPod and a ticket printout with a free lunch voucher on it. Beyond not wearing a suit like my fellow 20somethings traveling from their apartments into work, I thought about how I don’t even own a suit…when would I need a suit? I work from home, and would get a suit very dirty. Maybe I’ll by a suit if I win big, I thought…then I’ll be living in the real world.

The day passed without a hitch. We didn’t win or loose in any extreme capacity, but I got to play blackjack- a game I love- for a few hours, eat some great pizza, and banter with retired baby boomers all day. The bus smelled a bit like a locker room, and we were the only two english speaking gents aboard, but it was quick and free after our lunch, so what more could we ask for?

We got on the train to go home around 7pm after a short nap on the ride back to the city. I boarded in my shorts and sandals, less my meal voucher but feeling happy and full. As I looked around, I saw the same young professional types that we rode with on the inbound trip earlier, except they looked different- ties were loose around the neck, hair was messy, & socks and sneakers replaced slingback heels. While I had been the one at a casino, they looked like the ones that had been gambling all day, wondering if they were making the right decisions. It was at that moment, as we came above ground and onto the BU campus, that I realized there was no real world. I went home and relaxed by working late into the night on a project I just couldn’t put down, feeling thankful I get to do what I love to do.

Steve Jobs said it best in his now famous Harvard commencement speech. It’s a blunt tactic, but the most powerful motivational tool is remembering every day that you’re going to die soon, because in the face of death all fear, pride, and embarrassment fall by the wayside. There is nothing wrong with working a 9-5 if it makes you happy, but there is also nothing wrong with putting your degree in your back pocket and scooping stables or waiting tables to travel across the country or start something of your own. You’re not accepting mediocrity, you’re choosing to live life with a purpose and follow your heart. Now, when someone says “I’ve got to live in the real world,” my answer is simple…”What real world?”

(Kind of Accidental) Purging: Blogging

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:03:00 -0400

The past couple weeks I’ve been traveling around and haven’t brought my laptop with me. It’s funny, just a year after Twitter and smart phones became the norm, the digital cleanse is all the rage. I wasn’t cleansing (and I think “everything in moderation” needs to be the new trend), my laptop’s just kind of broken. That’s besides the point- it’s summer! Time for cookouts and bike rides and beaches, not writing and checking updates.

Either way, I’ve got a shiny new laptop in the mail and my room mate has graciously let me use her laptop to make a quick post, so here it is. I’ll make sure to type up all of my hand written entries as well, and get them up soon.

Since a lot of my simplifying is to allow myself to travel and take pictures, I figured I’d share a few recent photos from the road. I’ll actually be selling all of my camera equipment instead of keeping the 3 cameras, and I’m opting to buy one small (digital) system to cover me for a while. These are from my beloved 20D that’s treated me well all these years, documenting her last season in my camera bag. I’ll have plenty more pictures, and I’ll post them up as I get them!

Purging: Purging.

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 13:04:00 -0400

After completing my Survivor weeks, I decided I needed a break- a vacation from the project. I needed to stop cleaning, stop worrying about budgets and expenses and income, and relax. I’ve been going at this for a few months now, and I felt it important to take some time to let everything sink in. After all, I don’t want my life to be centered around not owning things and purposely living without (which I think is an easy thing to focus on when initially making life simple).

The first thing I did, or was pushed to do, was take a vacation. My room mate called me from work last Friday and said “Hey, we’re going camping tomorrow on the Cape (Cape Cod).” I initially said yes, thinking she would never get a camping spot for the next day- especially the weekend before the 4th of July. Turns out she was able to, and with some kicking and fussing and her threatening to go with or without me, I went. She also made me promise to “Quit this living-like-a-monk-bullshit, and go out to some good restaurants with me. I want seafood damnit!”

I went from spending money once a week for almost a month to traveling on a debit card. All we had was a $20 camp site, our bikes, and my rough knowledge of the area- we had no plans, no set destinations, hell, we didn’t even bring snacks or flashlights. I honestly resolved to leave the project behind for a weekend and let myself dip into my newfound savings for anything I needed. I was purging purging.

I didn’t think about anything but the moment for the whole weekend. When I got back home, I emptied my pockets and took out my wallet before I showered off the 48-hours-of-beach feeling. I had taken $120 in cash, in an attempt to not use my debit card for the first day, and to my surprise I had $26 upon my return. I had spent an entire weekend on the Cape- including gas, food, and lodging- for under $100.

In retrospect, it all makes perfect sense. The small changes I’ve consciously made have found their way into every nook and cranny of my life. It’s not that I don’t want to do things that cost money- I spent the majority of mine on two amazing dinners that weekend- I just don’t really find the time fillers enticing, and time fillers are the things that cost the most money. Instead of shopping, we went for hour long walks on the beach and played soccer in the sand until our toes hurt. We bought a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and made ourselves lunch both days because we were too busy to stop anywhere for food. We rode our bikes around Race Point instead of paying the $15 parking fee, and we built our tent and stayed up talking instead of sitting in front of a tv at a motel. Granted, we complained for an hour about the heat and wanting a/c, but we got over it and slept wonderfully.

This week, I decided to put my simplification project on hold and realized that it was no longer a project, but the way I now live. In making a conscious effort to step away from it, I learned more than I had in previous weeks of diligent simplicity and purging. If you’re ever feeling stuck, or like you’ve hit a plateau with any sort of initiative you’ve set out on- take a step back. Switch things up, forget it for a while, and hit refresh. The world won’t stop spinning, and you’ll probably realize you’re a lot better off than you thought you were.

Groovy Thursday

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:06:00 -0400

There are a few fabrics that go in and out of style every 10 years. Denim (other than jeans), camo, plaid, and my favorite- tie dye, all come to mind. However, when you wear them with reserved style, they will always be fashionable in a timeless, classic way. Today we spent the day in the back yard, throwing frisbees and laying in hammocks, tie-dying old shirts. Never tie-dye a new shirt- wait until they get a little bit dingy, until bleach just won’t make them shine, and then go to town. Wear one under a chambray or denim shirt with a pair of khaki bottoms and some boat or deck shoes, and you’ll always look good.

Those are some of our shirts above. Don’t be afraid to experiment- old bed sheets and table cloths make great beach blankets, and I’ve got the unexplainable urge to tie-dye white denim. It’s a great way to repurpose and bring new life to useful but possibly worn-looking white things. Remember- you don’t have to make swirls, you can use RIT dye to make things solid colors, too.

Survivor Week Lessons

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:56:13 -0400

I drink a lot of Diet Coke. In the past few years, with all the inconclusive studies and research going around, it seems like people have been divided into two schools of thought on the issue: those that look at you with sorrow- like you just announced you had a month to live- at finding out you drink diet soda…and those who still drink it. There doesn’t seem to be a “pro choice, don’t care if you do but would never do it myself” party, and it always seems like opinions are strong for such a small issue.

When I started simplifying, I had never really heard about this giant minimalist movement that’s been brewing, and is now just barely reaching the surface of mainstream America. I have to admit, it was a bit uncomfortable at first because I was writing to a crowd that knew more about my topic then I did- and people liked what I had to say. I felt like the new kid with the shiny bike; was the bike a quick way to gain attention, or was the kid atop the bike just as cool, and here to stay?

Like Diet Coke, it seems there are two schools of thought on minimalizing and simplifying: some people love and understand it, are fed up with bills and want out from the stress of owning things… and some people don’t get it. They like their possessions, their car, they love all of their toys and electronics, and would have it no other way. I’m not going to tell you that the people who don’t understand it are too jaded and attached to their things, because I don’t believe this. We’re all different, and some people love working on cars and creating model trains just as much as others love traveling with a backpack and owning 27 things. What I’ve learned through this survivor week stuff is just that: there is no correct way to live the perfect life. No matter what you read, no matter how many “13 Ways…” or “8 Tips…” blog entries you consume, you’re never going to figure it out unless you get out there and try it out for yourself. Try it all- buy some stuff, sell some stuff, give yourself time to experience all of these feelings. Just because one person feels best living out of a backpack doesn’t mean you will, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

I started the survivor weeks because I felt bad, felt there was more that I could do to simplify and be more responsible about every aspect of my life. I exited feeling almost the complete opposite. You can’t be dependent on your lack of things to give you happiness or create change. You have to be dependent on yourself, on being able to simplify yourself inside to the point where you can make logical sense of your position and figure out how to fix it (if it needs fixing). If the things are a distraction, then sell them! However, if I had to do it all again, I think I’d switch the purging stages around. Stage 1 would be personal, emotional purging, because things don’t matter enough to make them the first priority.

A Simple New England Dinner

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:35:29 -0400

Growing up in a New England family with true Yankee blood, cooking has never been a very frilly event. In Yankee cooking, the rules are simple and go along with many of the current trends: the ingredients need to be hardy and readily available (locally grown or caught), inexpensive, and the meals need to feed lots of people on very little money. Since most Yankee people worked hard all day, the meals are also easy to make and take minimal work. It started off as a simple food for a simple working people, but since travel is now more popular it’s turned largely into a tourist attraction with lobster bibs, raw bars, and chefs experimenting with non-native fruits and spices. This is all wonderful, but I thought I’d share a meal with you; a native, hardy New England meal.

One of my favorite things to cook is fish because it’s not super expensive, it’s very healthy, and we get it fresh and local. I understand that this is largely not the case across the country, so for this post I picked up some frozen-at-sea halibut that was on sale at a national food chain this week. In reality any white fish will do, but I like to stick to one rule: grill fresh, bake, steam, or fry frozen-at-sea. You can grill frozen if you’d like, but fresh fish deserves the grill each and every time (my opinion, don’t take me too seriously).

This is the menu: Halibut with bread crumbs and lemon, boiled green beens, and red potatoes. Feel free to omit the bread crumbs, and/or use a little butter, salt and pepper instead.

And this is how you prepare it, in 5 simple steps:

First, preheat oven to 350F, get a big pot of water boiling.

Second, wash all ingredients (including the fish, which you should pat dry). Put the potatoes in the water to boil with a couple pinches of sea salt, set the beans aside, and put the fish in an oven-safe pan.

Third, coat the fish with bread crumbs, then a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I like using italian seasoned bread crumbs as you don’t have to do any other seasoning after. You can leave the lemons in the pan to bake as well if you’d like.

Fourth, wait 20 minutes. After the potatoes have been boiling for 20 minutes, set the oven timer for 20 minutes and pop the fish in. Throw the beans in with the potatoes to boil.

Fifth, at the sound of the timer, take everything out/drain the pot, make yourself a plate, and enjoy.

It’s pretty simple. 2 pans, about 10 minutes of work, and you’ve got a meal that can feed tons of people. Don’t worry about boiling things together, the beans and potatoes will get along perfectly fine.
Price List
Fish: $7/lb
Potatoes: $1/lb
Green Beans: $2/lb
Lemons: $.50/ea

That’s about $3.50 per person, and you get a really great and hearty meal. You’ll be able to feed 10 people a seafood meal for around $40!

I’ll be the first to admit that this is a very simple meal, and most of what I eat is like this- that’s how we cook up here. Through this style of cooking (by removing frills), you learn to enjoy the taste of your food, not the taste of the seasonings you put in it (when’s the last time you ate a boiled potato without anything on it?). Why am I writing about this? Because like many of you I read blogs, I look at great recipes and I think wow, I’d like to make that. Up until a couple months ago, I’d just move on and order takeout. I’m urging you to try something like this, or any other simple recipe you find. If anything it’ll be a new experience. Hopefully, it’ll be the start of something better.

A Welcomed Addition: Going Without (for a While)

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:50:59 -0400

When I ran out of bananas a couple days ago, I was met with a decision: do I dip into my untouched emergency fund, or do I wait until Friday and stock up on shopping day? Regardless of the decision at hand, it was 10pm, and no banana selling stores were open anyways. I rummaged through the fridge and found some raisins to throw into my Cheerios. It sounds weird, but try it- the combination is actually really good.

One of the most important things that this Survivor exercise has taught me, however unexpected, is that there are many benefits to removing things from your life for a while. I’m not talking about quitting your favorite things cold turkey, but simply abstaining from them for a week or two.

By going without, you’re not actually going without; you’re removing the most popular solution. This forces creativity, and ultimately creates new experiences. You find new things that are fun and entertaining, and don’t really miss the old.

So as my final Survivor week rolls along, I’m met with a sort of weird feeling: it’s not that hard. Last week I basically lived this final survivor week, with the exception of getting Indian food on Friday. In reality, I’ve not gone without at all. I’ve saved an amazing amount of money by budgeting this way, and I feel much more safe in my ability to keep a responsible savings. Sure, I’ve run out of things I like to eat, and I haven’t been able to go out some nights, but instead I’ve been doing things that make a difference. I’ve been finishing a lot of work, I’ve been creating new work that I’ve had in the back of my mind but never acted on, and I’ve been further cleaning out and selling things I don’t use. It really is like a detox, but after a few days it doesn’t feel as extreme as it sounds; it feels good, and I feel much less stressed.

A couple small updates:

First, you may have noticed the different looks that the blog has been going through. I’ve been trying to find the best way to get comments in the blog while keeping it nice and simple, and have yet to figure it out. Honestly, it’s not a huge deal right now, but I do like hearing from everyone reading, so I’m going to keep looking for solutions. Until then, please feel free to (keep sending) send emails with your thoughts, etc, as I love to read them.

Second, as I’ve mentioned before I make my living as a leathersmith. I’m proud to say that after a year and a half, I’ve released my first collection of accessories! I’ve also made a new website- it’s still at www.CorterLeather.com (Last week was very busy, hence the lack of updates here). My website is also linked at the top of the blog, and please feel free to email me with any barter offers. I talk a lot about being an informed consumer, and just so you can know exactly what you’re looking at and/or purchasing, everything I sell is 100% handmade and sales go towards this project- buying the RV and setting off.

Lastly, I’ve finally got some free time, so as long as I can keep my computer limping along I’ll be updating a couple times this week. Thank you for all the amazing, unexpected and wonderful support!

Re: New Theme

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:18:39 -0400

I’m doing some redesigning of the blog right now, and I really wanted to get the comments section up and running, so please excuse the appearance for a little while. I just grabbed the first theme that guaranteed working with DISQUS comments. Thanks!

Suggestions: Affiliate Marketing

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:13:00 -0400

I’m not going to try to sell you e-books in this post, I promise (though there are a lot of good ones out there). It seems there’s been a lot of buzz lately about affiliate marketing online. The basics around this are that you sell another person’s product, usually a book in pdf form or video series of the SEO, Business, Lifestyle Design, or Finance genre, and get 50% of the sales. It’s pretty simple, and can be very lucrative.

While I was working today, I was thinking about how online affiliate marketing could be used in purchasing actual things. It would sort of be like drop shipping, but for the Etsy-BigCartel-independant-art degree’d-farmer’s market-probably had a deviant art account 8 years ago-loves old cameras 20- and 30-somethings that are starting a whole ton of wonderful small companies and finding success online (that I plan to visit when I leave for the Barter Project).

Here’s the way it works now: if you’re like me, you have a website with your products. You hope to get enough exposure via blogs to get you exposure in magazines. Then buyers might see them, or friends of friends of buyers might see them, and you might be lucky enough to get accounts with retailers either online or in actual retail spaces. You show them a catalogue/price sheet and they pick what they want. They place an order with you, you sell to them at a wholesale price (40-50% retail I think, I don’t sell in stores), ship their goods, and they mark up and sell to customers. Sometimes, you sell to a supplier, who then sells and ships to a retailer, who then sells and ships to the consumer…yea. Your result is a twice, maybe thrice or 4x shipped product (plus the materials being shipped to you, remember…I won’t count those here because it varies so much).

I think this is old fashion, if only for the fact that goods have to be shipped so many times, which means a whole lot of fuel and more cost to the consumer. It’s a big risk for shop owners to buy inventory from new companies, so they’re much more selective over what they buy/sell. It’s also nearly impossible for a retail store (short of a Wal-Mart or a grocery store) to match the daily traffic or customer base of a popular international online store. Thus, this practice severely limits exposure for brands, and shop owners loose selling potential because they can’t afford to stock a super wide selection or rent retail space with that amount of traffic.

We need to simplify and streamline the process, because there are a lot of great artisans making a lot of great, high quality, unique things that most of us have no access to (or have never even heard of). My idea is simple: affiliate marketing. This is mostly for online shops, and as I’ve only been formulating the idea for about 12 hours I’m sure there are tons of bugs and hell, this might even exist. If it doesn’t it should, and I call dibs on giving it a funky catch phrase (or maybe I should take down this post and act on my idea?).

My concept goes like this: a shop owner opens an online store. He finds brands he likes, and signs up to be an affiliate for them. He then gets a PDF with pictures of the items to post on his website, and posts them for sale. Meanwhile, the brand has entered the amount of each product they have into the website that this is all facilitated through, which will not allow any of the affiliates to oversell the product. The brand specifies the price including shipping per item, and the shop owner receives 30-35% of each sale. The shop owner’s only job now is to market his shop. He doesn’t have to keep warehouse space, or even retail space. He doesn’t need to worry about items not selling, and he can have all the sales he wants; the savings will be deducted 75% from his portion and 25% from the brand’s portion. Basically, it costs nothing for him to start his business.

On the brand’s side of things, it would be just as simple. Instead of dealing with selling things on their website for retail, and then wholesaling to retail and online locations and filling huge orders all at once, they would just get an email through the facilitating site with orders that come in, and they’d get their portion of the payment. The items would be shipped once, right to the customer, and the work load would be spread out a bit over the entire retail life of the product.

The big thing here is that this would create a sort of natural selection effect. Online shop owners wouldn’t have to risk buying inventory they can’t sell, or dealing with a ton of companies in person, so they could curate a wider and more unique selection for their shops without worry. Consumers would be much more in charge of an item’s retail success, and a lot of things that may never have seen daylight on retail shelves could become huge successes at the hands of the consumer, not the marketing firm or buyer. It would also allow small start up companies with good ideas to find success quickly, and better solutions to be available to everyone without a 30 minute Google search.

Ultimately I think this could be a simple solution to online retail. It would eliminate risk for buyers and shop owners, save the consumer money and time (and expose them to lots of new and great products and solutions), and would vastly improve a small business owner’s ability to succeed online. What do you think?

Purging: Personal Hygene Products

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:41:29 -0400

One of the first things I did when I started this project was to clean out my medicine cabinet and shower shelf. I noticed that of all the areas I was cleaning, this was the area where I had a lot of overlooked and unused products sitting around collecting dust. This was an important area, because on the road I’m sure I’ll be using showers in campsites, and I’d like to have a simple, small bag to carry what I need. It’s also just another easy way to streamline a daily activity and remove clutter, useless products, and choices, which free up thinking time.

I don’t know how else to put it, so I’ll just tell you what I did: I threw out everything except my razor, floss, toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant. I replaced it all with one product: castile soap. I chose Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, but there are many many kinds out there. I was skeptical at first, so I did some research and found lots of rave reviews. I went out and got a (very very large) bottle from Trader Joes for around $11 I think, and committed to trying it for every use I could imagine.

Dr. Bronner’s is about as close to a perfect simple product as you can get. It’s certified organic and fair trade, multi-use, inexpensive, isn’t tested on animals, and the company itself is very responsible. It’s biodegradable and natural too, so it doesn’t harm the environment at any point in it’s life.

I used it for everything it advertised, including (but not limited to):

Shampoo
Bodywash
Toothpaste
Mouthwash
Laundry
Dish Washing
Pet Baths
Aftershave

The only thing I will not continue to use it for is toothpaste, as my teeth are so sensitive I need prescription toothpaste.

Beyond this product, personal hygiene is one of those areas we don’t think about much, but can really affect our routine. This really is a simple remedy. You don’t have to replace different products when you run out at different times, so you save time. You don’t need room to store these things when they’re not in use, so you eliminate the need for space. Most importantly you don’t need to wake up enough in the morning to differentiate between the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dumped body wash on my head), so you eliminate the risk of starting off the day on the wrong foot, and you eliminate and streamline one of the most important and under thought areas of your life. Basically, you just make your life that much easier, and make more time for doing important things. Oh! It also saves a whole lot of money, because castile soap is usually pretty inexpensive.

I understand that I’m a guy, and I have short hair and all of that, but I think this is a great example of simplifying. I urge you to look in your bathroom, pantry, and linen closet, and figure out what you can get rid of or replace with one or two multi-use products.

Budget Redux Pt.1: Survivor Week Training

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 13:11:37 -0400

I’m down to the last few few things I have to sell (record player, second printer, misc. bike parts, etc) so it’s now time to do some serious Stage 3 Purging. The next 2 or 3 weeks I’ll be working on my budget by doing an exercise called a “survivor week”.

The idea behind this is simple. For 7 days, you spend no money. Mine are going to run Friday night-Friday morning, but I suppose you can run them from whenever you’d like for however long you’d like. You get all of your groceries, run all of your errands, and make sure you have enough supplies to get you through the week…and then you put your wallet away. I’m going to be doing this over the course of a few weeks to cut things out slowly, because it’s not just a fun thing to do- I’ve purged a lot of the things that I own, I want to purge a lot of the expenses I don’t need to have. On the road it’ll be super important that I’m careful with my spending, so I want to get used to it far in advance.

Like a diet, shrinking your budget isn’t something you should just do all at once, because it’s integrated into your lifestyle. Cutting half of your expenses in a day probably won’t work, and you’ll go back to your old spending ways at the end of the week. By making smart decisions and getting used to them over time, you’ll change the way you spend and keep these habits. It’s also not about going without- it’s about finding cost free (or lower cost) alternatives to things like going out to eat with friends, or going to the bar, or driving and paying for gas, that you can then use when the exercise is over. Even if you implement these alternatives 50% of the time, you’ll be saving lots more money that can go into savings.

I’m starting by doing all of my grocery shopping and running all of my errands on Fridays for the week because that’s when the farmer’s market is open. I’ve also dropped off and paid for my film processing, gone to the bike shop and grabbed a new tire, and placed an order for new t-shirts, because it’s time to cycle my old ones out. Because I work for myself, business expenses do not count- I need to ship things every day and buy supplies once a week, and I think it’s fair to separate that from my personal spending. Here are my plans for the next 3 weeks:

Week 1: no take out/restaurants, no shopping at all, $30 entertainment budget, $50 emergency budget

Week 2: Week 1 + no travel expense, $15 entertainment budget, $25 emergency budget

Week 3 (Survivor Week): Week 1 + 2 + $0 entertainment budget, no cable tv or movies on demand, $0 emergency budget

The “emergency budget” is for things like bike parts (if something breaks) and food supplies while I’m getting used to the project. I’m one to run to the store every night before dinner to grab a couple things, so I’m not sure how much of specific things I go through each week as I’m always replenishing.

Like I said, the goal here isn’t to go without. By doing all of my shopping in one 12 hour period, it saves me a ton of time during the week and also gives me the whole week to simply write things down for my next shopping day. It gives me time to look through the sales fliers, assess my pantry, and most importantly it forces me to keep a budget and stick to it. I’ll be updating the blog with my experiences and things I learn, and feel free to do this with me!

A Welcomed Addition: Interactive Blog Stuff!

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:34:00 -0400

The last few days have been a wonderful whirlwind of activity. I never in my wildest dreams expected it, and I’m absolutely amazed at the support that everyone has shown in my project and what I’m writing about. Special thanks goes to Everett Bogue over at Far Beyond The Stars for all of the help and support. Check him out if you haven’t allready!

I’ve done a bit of upgrading to the site to make things more cohesive, interactive, and blog-like.

First, as you may have noticed, there’s now a comment section.I’m having some difficulty making it work! It should be up and running tomorrow. Please be nice, and I’d love to hear what everyone thinks about what I’m doing.

Second, a lot of people wanted an RSS feed, and I had no clue what that was. So I looked into it, realized it was a simple way to follow, and made one. There’s a link at the top, or you can click here to subscribe.

I’m working on a couple other small things, but in the meantime if there’s anything else I should use to make the blog easier and better, feel free to leave a comment in the (new) comments section!

A Welcomed Addition: DIY

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:54:00 -0400

I don’t think anyone should ever limit themselves when it comes to learning new skills. While the same goes for hobbies and interests, I think that learning to do things yourself makes life a whole lot more simple, less stressful, and most importantly (not really) saves you some time and money. That’s why I’ve decided to learn something new this week: how to true my bike wheels (the one thing I don’t know how to do).

Think of skills as investments. Just as you would put money in the bank, putting time into learning how to do something can benefit you ten fold in the future. The key for me is using my Rule of Thirds : it’s good to learn how to do about 2/3 of things by yourself, and it’s probably best to outsource 1/3 of your tasks.

Learning how to do things yourself is a great way to become more independent, and has some added benefits as well:

You cut out the middleman. Lots of people flock to farmer’s markets because the produce is not only fresh, but cheap. It’s cheap because it’s being sold from the farmer to the customer, and one whole profit-making party (the distributor or grocery store) has been left out. Think of the problem as the farmer and the solution as you. If you don’t have to bring in a specialist (or grocery store in this metaphor), you’ll be simplifying the chain of events and saving yourself time and money in the process.

You better understand how the things in your life work. This goes for anything from grinding coffee to installing software. If you do it yourself, and something goes wrong, you’ll have an easier time troubleshooting and fixing the problem fast. You’ll also understand your things better, and that will help you become a more informed consumer because you’ll know what qualities to look for in the things you buy.

You’ll save time. This one’s fairly simple. No appointments, no week long wait where you cant use your thing, etc.

You’ll form a bond with the things you own. I am absolutely fascinated with the relationships we have with our possessions, I love most of my possessions, and I do not think this is materialistic at all. The reason is that at the root of everything, we’re just not very strong breed. We don’t have talons or claws, and we can’t run fast or jump high. As naked, unarmed human beings, we’d be pretty defenseless in the animal world. What we do have is the intelligence to make the tools we need to prosper. I think that there’s a difference between possessions and things- “possessions” serve purposes and help us learn and achieve goals, whereas “things” are superfluous and prevent us from learning and being productive. By learning how to build, make, and fix the things we use every day, we’re able to become one with our tools and understand not only the goal, but the process as well.

You’ll save money. By building, growing, and making the things you need, you’re able to tailor them to your specific needs. You don’t pay extra for things you’ll never use that just happen to be included, and again, you cut out the middleman. Take bicycles for example: having a flat tire changed costs $15 at my local shop, and a tube costs $5. If I buy some tire levers and a wrench and learn how to change flats myself, I’ll save $10 every time I need to get new tires or fix a flat. I’ll also never be stranded on a long ride and call for assistance, because I’ll have those tools (and a small pump) so I can get myself home. Lastly, I’ll be able to fix my friend’s flat tires, and if I only ask for an extra tube in repayment, I’ll never have to pay for a flat tire again.

You’ll be entertained. I love learning how to do things and doing them because honestly, it’s cheap entertainment. While I do love a cold beer, I’m just as happy at home on a Saturday night researching how to bake Naan bread or working on my bike.A lot of my “hobbies” are now things that also benefit my life, like growing vegetables and painting guitars (which I sell sometimes). One DIY project, making myself a wallet, resulted in my job, my business, and the reason I’ll be able to even partake in this project (Corter Leather). That means a lot of the less meaningful stuff, like bars and clubs and bad movies, inherently get filtered out of your life. It’s an easy way to make use of spare time, and results in way more productivity.

Learn how to do things by yourself. I don’t care how little artistic or creative ability you have, or if you’re so uncoordinated you trip up the stairs to your office every day- you can do it. Create simple artwork for your room, knit yourself a sweater, take yourself on a journey without leaving your room on a rainy day by learning a new skill. DIY projects make life interesting, and lead to life long hobbies and habits that make living…well…simply wonderful.

Purging: Ideas

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:06:00 -0400

My computer’s been dead for about a week now, and I’ve continued on my journey to make life simple…and I think this next one might be a Stage 3 purge (see my purging stages here).

This week I purged all of my ideas. This does not mean that I stopped having ideas, because that would be pretty bad. What it means is that I wrote down, to the best of my ability, every idea I’ve ever had and not used.

Sometimes it’s easy to get in a funk where you have so many ideas floating around that you cant grab one and expand on it. I was in one of these funks, and decided to put an end to it. I grabbed a notebook, and started writing all of my ideas down. They ranged from thoughts I had in 4th grade, like a heated driveway (so you don’t have to plow snow) to things I had randomly thought about, like an R2D2 umbrella (the bubble umbrellas that wrap around you, with R2D2 on it). I later found out that these exist, but they were down on paper. I also wrote down how irritating tabbed browsing was, how I didn’t like choices, and how I liked limitations, later expanding on them and posting them here.

This isn’t an exercise so much as it is a habit to get into. At first, you may have to spend an hour a night just flowing ideas onto paper to get yourself up to speed. However by getting everything out of your head and onto paper, or into a Word document, thoughts become real and archived. Later on, you can go back to them, or flip through them, or add to them. Like storing your movies on an external hard drive, you free up space in your head to do other things.

I once read an interview with musician John Mayer where he said something like “Even if your songs are bad or you don’t like them, write them down. You’re not a song writer if you don’t write songs.” I think writing down your thoughts and ideas is very similar. It doesn’t matter what you’re idea is; if you don’t do anything with it, then you might as well stop thinking. This is the first step to doing something with those thoughts, and letting yourself think more freely.

My Rule of Thirds

Mon, 31 May 2010 00:36:34 -0400

In photography, the rule of thirds is a composition technique. You basically draw a tic tac toe board over an image or frame, and the rule states that an interesting composition will have the focus of the the image on one of the lines or at one of the intersections.

My rule of thirds is about not getting in over your head. It’s about knowing where to put your focus, but in a different way. In it’s most simple form, it goes like this:

2/3 of the time, keep 1/3.

Basically what this means is that most of the time, we can give, risk, take, or keep less. For example, when you’re shopping to make a big purchase like a camera, car, or laptop, it’s probably best to only spend 2/3 of your budget. That way you won’t be completely broke after you make your purchase and you’ll have money in savings for unexpected expenses. Another example would be work: if you only give yourself 2/3 of the time your work normally takes, you’ll prioritize and you’ll be less likely to get distracted. Short of time sensitive jobs like waiting for paint to dry, I can promise you’ll still get all of your work done. You’ll reclaim (or keep) 1/3 of your work day to do whatever you want.

On the contrary, there are absolutely times when we need to give, take, keep or risk everything. Take relationships, for example; sometimes you need to jump head first. The problem is that we tend to over think, and the things that seem like we need to invest everything in usually aren’t that important. It may not be a romantic relationship, but a business contact that we need to invest in.

As usual, this can be tweaked to everyone’s specific needs. Some people are into the 80/20 rule, and others may need to start slow and simply go 50/50 to cut down on stress. However you go about it, this concept is something to keep in the back of your mind. It will help prioritize your decisions, reduce your choices, and keep yourself in fighting shape when it comes to living a nice and simple life.

I’ve been going for lots of bike rides along the shore the past few weeks. I figured...

Wed, 26 May 2010 12:24:28 -0400

I’ve been going for lots of bike rides along the shore the past few weeks. I figured I’d post a picture of my bike. She’s dirty, and I need a new saddle, but I love her.

A Welcomed Addition: Limitations

Tue, 25 May 2010 03:20:12 -0400

When I was in art school, I had a professor that would just walk in and say “Take out all of your paints and paint something”. I remember when he did this the first day of class, and thinking Wow, we’re going to be so creative.

I had another professor who was very strict and formal. She taught drawing, and would have a perfectly balanced still life set up for all of us to draw every class. We drew in charcoal or pencil, never using any color. I remember the first day of class, and thinking Ugh, how boring.

I’ve never been so wrong in my life. The painting class turned out to be a huge upset, because ultimately we would all pick a space in the room and paint it, assuming that no one would pick the same spot. However, in the drawing class, we would all try our best to figure out unique ways to express ourselves as individuals in our work, because we knew we would all be drawing the same thing in the same color.

They key to limitations is this: You can’t think outside the box if there is no box. Thinking for thinking’s sake is absolutely wonderful if you’re doing it on purpose, but if you have a problem to solve, you’re just fumbling around and wasting time. The reason the painting class failed to produce creativity was because there was no goal. We had limitless subject matter, color, tools and texture, and all we had to do was get paint from our pallets to the canvas. The drawing class, on the other hand, gave us something to fight against. We were creating with a purpose, and we had problems to solve.

Limitations create results. Limits and boundaries help define problems, and force us to find efficient and creative solutions. I think this is one of, if not the most, important thing I’ve learned over the past couple months. Like everything, this is all new to me and I’m still developing it, but I want to plant the seed. I think that by applying limits and boundaries, life becomes more simple, productive, focused and enjoyable.

Purging: Tabs

Mon, 24 May 2010 02:27:00 -0400

I’ve learned that multitasking isn’t a very good idea. It usually leads to me doing a few things mediocre, rather than getting one thing done perfectly. So this weekend, I decided to purge internet tabs and reduce my multitasking.

If you don’t use tabbed browsing, it’s basically opening multiple windows inside of one window that you can toggle between. Because I’ve been limiting my internet time lately, I tend to log on, and open 4 or 5 tabs with all the websites I want to go to at once. Usually, it’s one for email-tab-online banking-tab-paypal-tab-twitter-tab-blog. I then spend the next 45 minutes clicking between the 4 or 5, trying to get everything done and only half accomplishing a couple things before deciding to come back to it later.

There are two main problems with this that actually affect my work way more than I would have thought. First, by trying to get 5 things done at once, I get confused and overwhelmed because I see all the work i have to do in one picture, and don’t break it down. Second, by mixing the work tasks with the free time tasks, it really feels like I’m always working when online, because a lot of the time I put work things off until late at night, when I shouldn’t be thinking about work at all.

So what I’ve done this week is simple: one window open at a time, and that’s it. Just as it’s great to simplify one step at a time, this forces me reduce my work into separate tasks, and finish one completely before moving on to the next. Seeing a task completed is a motivational tool to move on to the next, and it actually feels like I’m doing less work… but I’m getting more done. It also helps to separate business from pleasure, because now I go online, do my email, and go do work. I read my blogs after dinner, which is much more relaxing because I don’t even think about email or work-it’s free time to read articles.

Now, I understand that tabs are sometimes super useful if you’re not using them to multitask. They’re awesome for when you’re comparing things, or when you’re researching. Go ahead and use them, just use them to complete one task at a time, and you’ll feel a lot less stressed about getting work done online.