Over the festive season I took an extended holiday and as part of that, spent a week in Singapore. It’s been about 10 years since I’ve last visited and of course things have changed significantly in this time.

In honesty though, I didn’t enjoy the trip.

Now I’m going to be careful here, because I don’t particularly want to offend any of the residents, but if you like, the behaviour there made me think about our future. Singapore is a progressive place and maybe it allowed me to see things more clearly.

Future feelings

I can’t say that I was comfortable from the moment I arrived, there was just that feeling of ‘something isn’t quite right’, but it was brought into stark contrast by something our lovely guide said as we were being given a tour around the Singapore Art Museum.

Values and undercurrents

There was a wonderful exhibition based on the 5 stars of the Singapore flag. The stars symbolising Peace, Justice, Equality, Democracy and Progress. The exhibits were just awesome, assuming of course you like modern art as much as I do. Each of the five stars and symbols being given a unique viewpoint by each of the artists and each equally though provoking and original in its’ creation.

So feeling somewhat inspired by this, and during a pause in the tour, I asked our guide, “so do you think these values are conveyed in Singapore society ?”.

“No, she said, our society is far more interested in the 5C’s”

Me looking a little perplexed at this response, she, and her colleague proceeded to explain.

I’m told “there’s an underlying set of values that run through society, especially through the younger generations. They are: Cash, Credit Card, Car, Condo and Country Club”.

To say I was saddened by this news was an understatement, but it was at this point that everything I’d seen ultimately fell into place.

The future of a consuming society.

What sort of values has the world adopted ? What are we becoming as a human race ? Is this the Utopian trap we’re all about to fall into ?

Hiding what’s in front of own eyes.

Are we trying to run away from recent news, and reality, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer and are we trying to escape below ground into concrete shopping malls hidden from the outside world. Have we become so tired of the bad news that we want only fleeting moments of happiness that consumption of the next bit of stuff brings us ? Never surfacing to see the devastation of the planet above ground.

Toward the end of the trip, I was seeing our world as a sci-fi movie. The government of the world feeding the people with only the news they want them to hear. Feeding them with the benefits of consumption and that much needed elixir of the ultimate governing power, Growth. Evidenced again by the news that UK families are taking on yet more debt.

I feel powerless sometimes, made worse by the fact that when I took out my trash last night, in among the rubbish of the streets of Cambodia were two small children, the eldest no more than six, the youngest two or three, he with not a stitch of clothing. No parents to be seen as they ‘played’ in this mess. I was literally brought to tears. My only saving grace is that I cannot save everyone on my own. (Much as I’d like to)

What is the way out ?

Without putting too depressing a point on this, and with 20:20 hindsight. I think we may be too late. Maybe that’s a cop-out though. We, as minimalists, are making a difference, we’re trying as hard as possible to live a sustainable life. Going further than this perhaps, as many of the more prolific minimalists being involved in philanthropic work as well.

Ryan from The minimalists

Joshua Becker from Becoming Minimalist

even me and supporting ISF taking the very children off my street and into education and community support.

This is a long post, and a bit of a rant. Usually when I rant its because I don’t feel as though I’ve done enough. I feel in some way let down by myself. Maybe I need to fight back a little harder, do just a little bit more.

Maybe, just maybe, if we all tried, just a little bit harder, stood up for sustainability rather than consumption, that future I’ve seen might just not happen.

Late last year I created a survey and asked readers about their experiences of minimalism. This series describes the themes in the responses, I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

I asked the question: Are there any fears, however small you may have in adopting Minimalism as a way of life ?

In response you said:

Peer acceptance – these were general responses, such as ‘other people just don’t understand’ and in some cases specific such as a fear of being pointed out as wearing the same clothes repeatedly. There’s something about the need to ‘fit in’ and something about ‘being different’. We strive to be different and we strive to fit in. Society finds this just as difficult as we as individuals do. I’m no different, and I’ve asked myself the same questions. But it’s OK, we can be different, and we can fit in. Its just a matter of explanation and persistence.

There was also the fear that we had thrown away gifts from others, and that by doing this we’d offend them. Gifts could have been of value (at least to the giver) and no one likes to upset their friends. Thankfully this is just a hurdle to get over. Once people understand, or you’ve explained this enough times for them to finally get it, this problem will eventually go away.

Needing something later – there were two themes to this. The first is that there’s the hassle of having to rent, borrow or buy the thing again. ( I find tools fall into this category in particular ) The second is that the thing is question was expensive.

We’ve become less of a borrowing society since I was a child. I was always being sent to go and borrow something from the neighbour when I was a boy.  I see signs however that this once lost behaviour is back. I remember seeing an article where a local library now included ‘stuff’ that could be borrowed, as well as books and music.

Nothing – there were a good number of you who had overcome this issue, or who had found other solutions. I’d love for you to perhaps add your own comments and wisdom for other readers below.

Earlier this year I created a survey and asked readers about their experiences of minimalism. This series describes the themes in the responses, I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

I asked the question: What are the top three things holding you back from being more minimalist right now ?

In response you said:

Nothing – Some of you were lucky enough to be a good way through the minimalist journey and really didn’t have any issues in removing the things you don’t really need from your life.

Your significant other – I mentioned this on my interview with Mark and Laura and a really common theme is that of our partners. My significant other isn’t a minimalist in many ways. So it would seem, are many of the partners of you the readers. They say that “opposites attract” and whilst it may be infuriating that they can never find anything because they have too much stuff. We love them for many other reasons. We can only continue to repeat the benefits of minimalism, in that one day they may actually adopt a little minimalism for themselves.

The task itself – Many mentioned that it wasn’t the loss of the ‘stuff’, but the task of going through it. Facing a huge pile of stuff to sort what was of value, from that which was not. Paperwork was a particularly fearful one. I think that this is worthy of a blog post in itself, so will write about this in the new year.

The financial impact – The reasons varied from the cost of potentially having to buy the item in the future, to the fact that the item was once valuable in the past. ( even though it could be worth next to nothing now ).

The influence of others – From family and friends to TV ads and magazines. There are so many who seem to think they have authority in telling us how we ‘should’ live. It is difficult to escape their influence sometimes, but we are our own masters.

Sentimentality – This is probably one of the most difficult to overcome. Sadly we have somehow learnt to associate our emotional attachment to a ‘thing’ rather than to the experience the thing was involved in. This is particularly hard when we associate things to people we loved who are no longer with us. Easily said, but we need to train our minds that the emotion is connected to the person or the experience and not the trigger (the thing).

There were many others, but less in terms of numbers who found them a barrier to being more minimalist. Many many people said they love physical books, rather than their digital counterparts, and babies and children were another in that they seem to arrive with stuff and it keeps coming as they grow.

The Minimalist Survey Series, part 2.

Earlier this year I created a survey and asked readers about their experiences of minimalism. This series describes the themes in the responses, I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

I asked the question: What has been the best minimalist tip you’ve adopted ?

In response you said:

Technology – Reducing use of technology, mobile phones particularly. I learnt recently that we (in general) look at our phones an average of 150 times per day !!

On-line Time – Spending less time on-line in general. Many talked about the distracting nature of the web and how its difficult to avoid being drawn in to stuff on-line.

Buying – Not buying on impulse, instead waiting for a period before deciding if the purchase is really necessary. Using the one in, one out rule should new purchases have to be made. One respondent described this as “guarding the font door” which conjure’s up a wonderful picture.

Readers liked the idea of choosing quality over quantity. If they felt they needed to make a purchase they wanted something aesthetically pleasing and of higher quality and made to last.

Travel – Travelling with only one bag. Though the theme of reducing the amount of stuff taken when travelling was a more general theme.

Attachment and Sentimentality – Learning to get over the emotional and sentimental attachment to some things. This is always one of the toughest aspects of letting go.

Removing Stuff  – When asking if items should remain, the default is  “bin them” and they have to earn their way to “keep them”.

Comparing to others – one of my personal dislikes is comparing ourselves to others. A few respondents mentioned that they too believed this, but that they really didn’t need the stuff that other people have, just because they have it.

Needs vs Wants – another very popular topic, that keeps coming up. We can be so influenced by marketing that many find it really hard to convince ourselves we don’t actually need things.

Clothing – A popular topic and just about everyone felt need to review the contents of their wardrobe at least annually. Quite a few mentioned the Capsule Wardrobe.

Marie Kondo – came up a number of times. Her line “does it bring joy” being mentioned as one of the key questions for our stuff. I (and other readers) loved reading her book, its full of great advice on decluttering.

As a general tip, Less is More seems to come through as one of the strongest theme covering all of the areas. One respondent said simply “get rid of everything”.

The Minimalist Survey Series, part 1.

Earlier this year I created a survey and asked readers about their experiences of minimalism. This series describes the themes in the responses, I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

I asked the question: What do you feel are the best things about being a minimalist for you ?

In response you said:

Health – less stress, less anxiety, better health and mind. Less stress being the most often mentioned health benefit.

Freedom – this one was consistently the greatest benefit in your responses. Both a sense of mental freedom as well as physical.

Space – clear space, you see less clutter, there’s even more light in the environment you live.

Financial – spending less on stuff gives you an opportunity to save more and spend money on experiences instead of physical items.

Calm – you said that life was calmer and more peaceful.

Environment – an uncluttered environment reduces stress. Not seeing the clutter is a trigger to negative emotions. You said there’s even less housework.

Time – being minimal and having less to maintain, tidy and concern you, gives you more time, or possibly the feeling you have more time.

Relationships – there was a mention of also minimising ‘friends’. I took this to mean the fair-weather friends or those who perhaps weren’t really friends at all.

The important things – another strong theme in your responses. That removing the clutter made room for concentrating on what was really important in life. Relationships, family and friends. Some described this as a new found focus.

In your responses, many of them were emotional descriptions. Perceptions possibly in some cases, but all were positive. A few people even described minimalism as an opportunity to rediscover themselves.

Becoming a minimalist was first featured on the blog, Two Less Things.

The day that many take leave of their senses and consume for consumption’s sake. This year even the police are offering a warning. 

We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like.

 

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We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like.
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This Black Friday I’d like to offer an alternative. Why not bring a little light into the blackness? Why not do something for people who do have a need ?

Why not give money that you do have, however small a sum, to a cause worthy of it? If money is a little tight right now, why not give time ? Time is a finite commodity and usually far more valuable than money.

Give your time or money to those you love, to those you can support, and to those who need some help. They say charity begins at home, but it also extends across the globe.

I’m on holiday in Thailand right now, but every morning at 6am I’m in my running gear and heading toward the pier in practice for the Angkor Wat half marathon. Myself and one of my closest friends are running to support ISF. A charity that takes some of the poorest children in Cambodia off the rubbish tips where they collect plastics and cans, and puts them into an education programme, gives them healthcare and supports their community.

If you’re finding it difficult to choose your own worthy cause, my Just Giving sponsorship page is here.

This is a slight diversion to my normal post. It is however very much linked to minimalism and the effects of mindless consumption in the fashion industry. It’s a story of the true cost of consumption.

I watched the movie The True Cost a few weeks ago and found it so disturbing in terms of the consequences of buying ‘a few cheap clothes’. Made all the more personal by my recent move to Cambodia where some of the garment makers were filmed. I’ve seen with my own eyes, the truckloads of women being ferried back and forth to the factories.

The content of the film takes minimalism one step further I feel. As you know, I’m not against shops, and my own experiment with not buying stuff for a year, left me with a lot of clothes that had simply worn out.

The step the film takes is to look at what we choose when we finally do make a purchase. The big brands are about volume and profit, and despite their own policies on fair trade, and rights and safety for workers, they are essentially ignored as we see in the film.

The commentary talks about “Our economic system is one of consumer capitalism, and that’s why the governments of the world need consumption at very high levels.”

“If we became less materialistic our economy would tank, and they are right at some level because our economy is based on materialism…… the problem is that that comes at a really high price.”

Scary stuff, and the reason many will never become minimalists. But the film leaves us with a closing summary;

“Will we continue to search for happiness in the consumption of things, will we be satisfied with a system that makes us feel rich, while leaving our world so desperately poor. Will we continue to turn a blind eye to those people behind our clothes, or will this be a turning point. A new chapter in our story where we begin to make a real change.”

“As we remember everything we wear was touched by human hands. In the midst of all the challenges facing us today, for all the problems that feel bigger than us, and beyond our control, maybe we could start here. With clothing.”

I’ve embedded the trailer, but would encourage you to take a look at the whole film, its available on-line which means you don’t need to make a physical purchase.

As part of my own journey to digital minimalism, as well as physical minimalism, I spent time trying to come to terms with my e-mail inbox. It wasn’t necessarily a difficult process, more of a concerted effort to find the right process and stick with it. Here’s how digital and e-mail decluttering works for me. Please feel free to add comments at the end.

The short way to an empty e-mail inbox.

Not everyone will like this one, but its quick and effective.

Create a new folder called ‘Old E-Mail’

Select all of the mail in your inbox, move it to the ‘Old E-mail’ folder mentioned above.

Sit back in awe of your empty inbox.

That was easy wasn’t it. OK, OK, so not everyone will go for this way of getting the result. The lesson here, is that you can get results quickly. I have used this method in the past. If you just need to get away from the mass of mail and you are completely overwhelmed its not a bad place to start. You can then go back and pick out individual e-mails as you need them.

The long way to an empty e-mail inbox.

Perhaps a longer term solution, and one I’ve been using for a year or so is the following.

The solution is based on having a number of temporary time based folders, and then a set of project folders. Initially mail is put into the time based folders until actioned. Longer term storage is addressed with the project folders. It is worth noting that I took the initial idea for this from a Gmail based App I once saw. If anyone knows the name of it, I’m happy to reference it. The mailbox declutter below will work on most mail systems.

So lets look at this visually.

Firstly, your inbox remains as-is. As your inbox.

Then create the following folder structure. I used the name ‘experiment’ for the top level folder, but you can call it anything that makes sense to you.

The ‘Later’ folder

This folder stores any mail that you will act on later today. That’s it. It must be empty at the end of the day.

The ‘Tomorrow’ folder

This folder contains any e-mail that you will be acting on tomorrow. I use it for meeting confirmations, addresses and anything that I need to follow up tomorrow. If I haven’t completed anything in the Later folder by the end of the day, I’ll drag it into the Tomorrow folder when I’ll act on it.

The ‘Next Week’ folder

Following on from the structure above, you can guess that this folder contains anything I need to do next week. Anything not completed on a Friday might end up here for example. I don’t check e-mail at the weekend.

The ‘In a Month’ and ‘SomeDay’ folders

It should be easy to spot the reason for these. These mails are mostly reminders. You shouldn’t really have any more than 10 e-mails in these folders.

The process

The overarching principle on all of the folders is that they should be as empty as possible. Folder contents are checked twice each day, once at the beginning, once at the end. The time is up to you, but I only check e-mail twice per day. That way I can get on with the actual doing. Remember, File, Act, Delete. File being putting the mail in its project folder, Act on the mail there and then, or Delete the e-mail. I tend to delete e-mail threads, leaving only the latest part of a conversation, though I should point out that collaboration tools like Slack and Asana are far better for conversations like this.

The ‘For Info’ folder

I try not to keep anything here, but sometimes I keep receipts, just in case something breaks a few weeks after purchase. The odd conversation that I think is resolved, but might come back to live another day. The odd offer I may come back to or someone may need. The contents of this folder are auto-deleted after 3 months.

Project Folders

I’ve not shown these, but my work is generally project based. Anything that’s important is stored in these folders. When the project is complete, I archive these folders to hard drive/cloud storage.

On a typical day

I open my mail in the morning between 6 and 7am. I used to be a 10am man, but with the move to Cambodia I tend to get e-mail out of the way first thing. I check my inbox first. Then I move the few items in the timed folders to where it ought to be, act on it, or delete it. Marketing mails are unsubscribed to there and then. I have less than five subscriptions and I always tick the opt-out of e-mail boxes if I buy anything online. Sadly this doesn’t stop you receiving spam, or companies adding you back into their mailing lists.

This leaves my inbox clear unless there’s something I’m working on. I pick things out of the ‘Later’ folder as I attend to them.

I occasionally delete mail as I see it come in, or if I’m waiting for someone or traveling I may check my inbox again. It’s not that important that I do so.

The majority of my working day is doing just that; working. In the main, I really don’t like distractions, mail notifications are turned off unless I specifically turn them on if I’m waiting for a reply.

It’s also worth noting that I do use Evernote and OmniFocus as my main productivity tools. Evernote Premium has the wonderful e-mail option (that used to be in the free version) where you can e-mail things to your Evernote account. Great for blog ideas, warranty information and resources.

At the end of each working day, I’ll check mail again, and go through the same process as I do in the morning.

That’s it. My minimalist e-mail inbox method.

This sort of entry always generates comments and questions. Please feel free to add your thoughts.

As fellow minimalists from the UK, we talked about a huge range of subjects across the minimalist and lifestyle spectrum.

In the interview we talk about:

• How the blog Two Less Things got its name
• One of the biggest challenges on the minimalist journey
• UK vs US minimalism and how minimalism is spreading
• What I was trying to achieve through the blog
• Some of my challenges in adopting minimalism
• Uber Minimalists vs Tiny Minimalists
• My new book The Minimalist Man
• Other minimalist bloggers and blogging in general

Its a relaxed discussion with Mark and Laura talking about some of their own experiences.

… and if the sound of my voice isn’t of interest to you, take a listen to some of the other interviews. They have an impressive guest list including:

• Johua Becker
• Brian Gardner
• Courtney Carver
• Tammy Strobel

to list just a small number. Take a look for yourself on the Enjoy Life Slowly interview page.

In June of this year, I made a big leap of faith.

Whilst I’m very much the UK Minimalist, terribly English about things, and love some of the very British comforts, I don’t live there any more. I’ve relocated myself to the other side of the world for a while, quite likely a bit longer than that.

Now I’m not about to tell you tales of travel and adventure, of living in various countries or do a ‘Colin Wright’ on you. I’m not about to be voted anywhere. There are far too many more, far more brave than I.

This blog post is about what minimalism enables. What you do with all of that space, time, and possibly money, that adopting a minimalist lifestyle brings ? Imagine if you will, that you’ve achieved that ‘minimalist nirvana’ ( isn’t that such a cool way to describe it ) and you have so many choices you could take.

Then again, maybe you could look at it another way. What do you really need in life ?

I’m here in Asia, Cambodia. Its a strange story, but the bottom line and the subject of some humour and discussion amongst friends, is that “I couldn’t think of a good reason not to come.” Another way of saying, why am I really staying in the UK ? With no house, no car, and pretty much no possessions.  It makes it really easy to just uproot myself and move.

You’re thinking, wow, that’s fine for him. There are a whole list of possible complications for me and I’ll spare the details, like family, children, jobs, finances and so on. Not to mention, well, all that stuff we have, the stuff the children have, that I have. We all have.

Yep, this is where I was. I came up with some really good excuses not to come. Some around stuff, some around emotions and some were based on fear. My own fears. But what happens if you just take a big step back at the situation and say, ‘OK, what’s the worst thing that can happen by doing this ?’.

.. and that, is why I’m here.

I like to talk about the more philosophical aspects of minimalism, the big picture and you’ll excuse my lack of details on occasion. In this case, I had to eat my own words, eat my own dogfood as a the developers say. Bite the bullet, and all those other cliche’d phrases. My life needed to be packed into 23kg, and some hand luggage.

Life in a Suitcase

What does life in a suitcase looks like ? – what are the important things ? I’m a bit of an amateur at this.

These backpackers have a head start on us minimalists.
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I read so many blogs before packing. The best idea I had was to imagine I arrived at the airport to be told “I’m sorry sir you’re at double your allowance”. Its a fascinating idea to then have to look at everything so objectively. What to I really need, what is an essential ?

In hindsight, I should have photographed everything. Sorry there are no pictures here.

The three things

So what were the things that found their way on board ?

– My Nespresso coffee machine. Yes I know, its a luxury and many would call me mad. But the importance of my morning ritual is paramount, its a part of me. There are a vast array coffee shops here I could visit, ( quite a few with dreadful coffee) but they won’t be open at 5 or 6 am. I’m not going to justify myself, its just a part of who I am. I love good coffee. I’m not fidgeting at all as I write this !

– A small speaker. I love my music, again its a part of who I am. I’ve had to leave behind my treasured vinyl collection and my Retro Hi-Fi. So I needed something small, the smaller the better, but I wasn’t willing to compromise too much on the quality. So albeit its not the cheapest of options I’m really impressed with the sound quality of the Bose Soundlink when paired with Spotify. Yes, it probably shouldn’t, but Spotify works here.

– My camera and a couple of lenses. Again this is a part of who I am. Having been a professional photographer for a couple of years, as well as a keen amateur, I love taking photographs. Good job really as I’ve been volunteered on an assignment to take photographs at a football match tomorrow.

To be honest, what these things are is not important. They are probably a bit bizarre and very much individual to me. I’m almost anticipating the Trolls to appear on this post especially.

But as you’ve probably gathered. This post isn’t about things, about selections and priority stuff.

Its about choice.

That’s the thing about minimalism. Get rid of things, physical, digital, mental and it creates space. Creating space gives you room to see. It gives you freedom, so the results of my minimalist survey say, and if you are truly free, you have a world of choice.

So in my usual rambling style, how do I tie this all together ? Whats the message here ?

Life, isn’t about stuff, its about choices.
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I left what little stuff I had left behind. It went on EBay, to the point of having almost nothing to show for my life. ( That’s another blog post in itself )

Seldom do we need what we think we need.
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In honesty, the few things I brought with me, I could do without. Coffee, yeah, I love the good stuff, but its hardly the end of the world is it ?

The things that we hang on to consistently over the years, are part of our character.
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I love music, the 80’s are my favourite. Its a part of me, it why i love vinyl, its why I suddenly turn up the radio, or sing, or more likely say ” they don;t make them like this any more”. Its a part of me, it is me. Its a part of my life’s story.

Sometimes, we just have to take a leap of faith.
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This has nothing to do with minimalism, and everything to do with life. Everything to do with our ‘why’. I would have regretted not doing this for a lifetime. Why not. As Doctor Pepper says, ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’. In my case I get back on a plane and go elsewhere. Guess what, I didn’t need to do that.

Opening Doors

All of this rambling is not really about minimalism. Its about why we choose less. Its about what this enables us to do. It’s about how minimalism opens up so many doors for our lifestyle. Its about the possibility of adventures.

We shouldn’t forget that minimalism is a journey, a means to an end, but its not the ultimate goal.

The real goal is why, and what it enables us to do with our lives.

If you found this post of interest, you may like my book The Minimalist Man, available now on the Amazon Kindle.  (UK, US)