simple living series • there is beauty in simplicity.

Happy Friday, my friends. I hope my American readers had a great Fourth of July, and that everyone else had a simply great past two days. I took the last two days off of blogging and shop work and did a lot of thinking. Well, on Wednesday I did a lot of beer-drinking and pool-partying..but yesterday I did a lot of thinking.

Thoughts on minimalism:
You may know that I talk about minimalism here every now and then, and I post "Let's Get Minimal" features once every few months. One of my biggest and longest-running goals in my adult life has been to live minimally or at least more simply. When I was in college, I used to say that I wanted to be able to fit everything I own into my car (which at the time was a '96 Jetta. RIP, sweet angel.) I am nowhere near that goal right now. Most of my "stuff" is my vintage inventory and shipping supplies, which I don't think should count. That's separate from what I'm talking about; although I don't want to become a vintage hoarder under the guise of "It's work!" and end up drowning in vintage dresses.

What living simply means to me:
I don't think that living simply means throwing away everything, painting walls white, and buying one succulent plant for the one table surface available. I want to own less. I want to think, "Hey, where's that shirt?" and find it instantly. I want to not have to worry that my room is ~so messy~ when I have company over. Finally, I want less to worry about. Having less clothes means doing less GIANT piles of laundry, and getting dressed in the morning will be quicker. Having a minimal and organized system for bills and banking paperwork means I'll never again have to worry if I forgot to pay my student loan. I think all of these things tie into each other. I can't help but think about the now infamous article, The ‘Busy’ Trap by Tim Kreider, and how (aside from yesterday) I haven't really stopped lately. I'm always going on about making to-do lists and blogging when I should be finishing dinner with my family. Weekend trips with Frank usually have to include some kind of thrifting stop as well as an outfit shoot. I think that if I live more simply, I will have more time to relax and actually enjoy my time here on this planet. Seems like common sense, no?

My plan:
So, here's my plan. Starting next week, I will be blogging daily about my quest for a minimalist life. I will also continue to post (almost) daily outfit shots, DIYs, music monday, Etsy favorites and shop previews/updates, etc. I have plans to start cutting down my wardrobe (and everything else), too. All vintage will go to the Etsy shop and non-vintage will be listed in "the tonic closet" over on Goodsie. I hope my current readers will find this new venture interesting and inspiring. Feel free to leave some feedback in the comments. Wish me luck! :)

Image above from the darling Bubby and Bean on Etsy.

Comments

  1. I'm in it with you. We should chat soon. I need your hilarity in my life.

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  2. Honestly, I haven't bought new "stock" for my etsy shop in so long--since january to be exact--and I can't tell you how good it feels. I was having a lackluster relationship with my shop, not really getting what I wanted out of it. Instead of putting myself deeper into piles of vintage, I stepped back and asked myself if this was really what I wanted. I have almost all of my inventory on consignment at a local shop now and it's so nice to have it out of my house. The best part is that someone else is doing all that work...not me...which allows me more time to spend doing things I love! I hope this works for you!!

    --julie

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