There’s a reason why Minimalist: Sort of is such a good fit as a title for this blog.
I really enjoy being a minimalist (the way I define it) and I strive to be more of a minimalist (the way others might define it). However, there are certain things in life that bring me great joy that simply cannot be done without some gear.
Mmm, gear.
Backpacks, surfboards, snowboards, bikes.
So. Many. Bikes.
These are activities that I enjoy doing alone, with friends, and with my family. In fact, I think they are activities that are important to do with my family, especially the kids. My wife can pass on being out in the cold all day for some reason. Weird.
These things get us outside and into nature no matter the season. They teach responsibility and awareness while developing strength and endurance, and maybe a little resilience from that scraped knee.
I like to think that a love of the outdoors is worth investing in. But that means there’s a 4x multiplier on everything! Helmets, mittens, skis, bikes. Did I mention the bikes?
Sometimes you get the feeling by reading minimalist blogs and watching minimalist documentaries that the only hobbies you can have are reading books (from the library of course, which I’m a huge fan of), and walking.
I like getting outside, and not just for a walk.
Can a minimalist have hobbies?
If I had to describe myself in the most succinct terms it would be, ‘I’m a surfer.’ I love surfing, being in the ocean, and coordinating family travel around surf vacations. Ideally this can actually be pretty simple from a gear standpoint.
All you really need is a bathing suit and a surfboard.
Wait, the water isn’t that warm? Maybe a wetsuit. And booties. Gloves? How about a rashguard for when it’s too sunny and a leash for when your board tries to b-line it for the shore without you.
Guess I’m going to need a good bag for all that stuff.
And some of you may be saying, ‘Don’t you live in Colorado?’ Yes, I do. It was simpler when I lived in a warm climate a block from the beach. Now I try to take a couple of surf trips a year and honestly, there’s just no way I’m getting rid of my surfboards.
To me, the surfboards are a constant reminder of the actual goal – get rid of everything else.
So in the meantime, I snowboard a lot more. Talk about gear intensive! Winter sports are the worst (or best depending on how you look at it).
Enough ski gear for the wife and kids. Can’t exactly go out in a pair of trunks for this one!
And the hiking. And climbing. And biking.
Do I ‘need’ the road bike and mountain bike? Need is a strong word. But I enjoy riding both.
And that amazing e-cargo bike to take the kids to school? I say it’s worth it to spend one minute less in the car. We’re fortunate to live in a place where riding to school along a river is possible, and who knows what little seeds are being planted in my kids minds along the way.
How about some music?
Sure is nice to strum the guitar at home after a long day outside. Electric or acoustic? Both for now. Need the electric for rocking out with the band.
Music is an important part of life and education. The effects of playing musical instruments on the developing brain has been well documented. It’s super fun at any age and we don’t watch much TV. So the piano and violin for the girls, some drums laying around.
Get rid of the music bin? I don’t think so.
And then the tools.
What about working on the house?
I fix things around the house and build furniture for fun. How does this fit in a minimalist lifestyle? I’m not really sure, but this is where the ‘sort of’ comes in.
If there has been one area of the garage that has blown up as I went from apartment dweller and tenant to homeowner, it’s the toolbox. Actually tool wall.
As you transition from ‘call the guy’ to ‘I guess I’m the guy’, trips to Home Depot become scarily frequent.
When we first became homeowners I was in a panic about the projects, but things have settled into a more manageable flow after a couple of years.
Additionally, there are some projects that you actually want to do.
After living in a 400 sqft studio in NYC for a decade, making some noise in the garage is awesome and you also realize there is just a certain satisfaction from a home filled with DIY projects. Even if they wobble just a little.
As I sit on my couch right now, my drink is resting on the walnut slab coffee table I made, the record player is sitting on shelves I made, and there’s a little stool my daughter uses when she helps in the kitchen that was a fun project.
Most of the art in the room was made by us too.
I love that our home is filled with personal items that we are making instead of buying, but making these things required tools, paint, space.
Now, I know some minimalists would argue that this could all have been done in a shared makerspace, and they are probably right. But the thousands of other times that you just needed a drill, saw, sander to get a job done quickly is unfathomable.
It’s a lot of stuff, but there is room to scale it down. Now that we’ve been here a while I’ve seen where I went too far. Perhaps I bought a tool just for one job and haven’t used it since. Time to put that baby on Craigslist!
I’ve found that tools and snowboards move pretty quickly around here.
Are we still even talking about minimalism?
Ok, so at this point you may be wondering if we’re still talking about minimalism or if I’m just rambling on about what I like to do in my free time. I’m actually wondering that myself!
However, I feel that people’s first reaction when you say you are, or are striving to be, a minimalist, or even just more minimalist, is that real life is totally in the way – especially when you’re talking about owning a home, having a family, and maybe having some hobbies.
Part of this journey towards minimalism is just figuring out where you are, so this is where I am.
I feel that becoming more minimalist takes three steps no matter where we are in life.
1. Wanting to be more minimalist
First step towards minimalism is wanting to minimize, and sharing this desire with your family. It’s a bit opposite from Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is not talking about Fight Club.
Somewhere along the way, a desire to simplify, be more mindful of consumption, surround yourself with things that bring you joy, and probably save money in the process crept into your brain.
Now what?
2. Decluttering
Decluttering is probably the first thing you’ll do after the desire to minimize has taken over.
I say ‘taken over’ because, if you’re like me, once I started thinking about it I couldn’t stop.
Everything in my house was subject to evaluation. Why do I have this? Do we need that? Do we really need three of these!!!
This is also the dangerous stage where you can start to really piss people off in your house. So remember, don’t be judgemental of the others in your house. Start with yourself. Lead by example.
Chances are, there’s plenty of room for improvement. And, as I like to say, tidying up the house is temporary, minimizing yourself is forever.
3. Conscious Consumption
After the decluttering (at least the first time, because it is really on-going) comes the need and desire to stem the tide of new things coming into your newly-minimalist space and life.
Those Amazon prime boxes still showing up a few times a week? Still impulse buying from your instagram feed?
Changing these habits of consumption is the future of your minimalist lifestyle. There are many habits that need to be broken and a new mindset towards consumption will need to be made.
Think before you buy.
How this is playing out
So how do these three steps fit in specifically with the ‘Minimalist with Hobbies’ lifestyle?
I’m early in the game, but I’ve noticed it playing out in a few different ways.
Decluttering the easy stuff
For me, decluttering the closet is the easy part. Now that I work from home and live in a casual environment, I just don’t need that much stuff in the clothes department.
Now, I’m not talking about the gear related clothing, I’ll get to that in a minute, but just the regular day-to-day, get the kids to school clothing. I love getting this portion of the closet down to the basics that I really love.
Favorite jeans, favorite t-shirts, favorite flannel. These are the things that get me through probably 90% of my days.
I did go Marie Kondo in this department though by making sure that I was looking at everything when I decluttered the first time. No jackets in the hallway closet or boots hiding in corner somewhere.
Everything in the closet. Then simplify.
Decluttering the gear
Decluttering the gear can be difficult because it’s a bit more situational. I’m not using it all the time, but there’s still a couple of wetsuits and my really cold weather gear. In that moment you have to have it to play the game, but 99% of the time it’s just hanging out.
However I noticed a few places where I was totally ready to let go since the aforementioned ‘take over’ of my mental state.
The first was duplicate gear where I had since acquired new stuff, but maybe had held onto that old ‘favorite jacket’ or that old board I took to Chile in ‘98.
This stuff clearly failed the ‘used in the last year’ test. It actually failed the used in the last five years test!
Time to go old jackets and boards. The funny thing is that some of this stuff I was able to monetize. I turned a bag of old snowboards into $300 and created some nice empty space in the rafters of my garage. Not bad.
Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve found that tools move quickly on Craigslist.
I realized that I bought tools that I should have borrowed for one specific job. If they aren’t more universal or meet a job for a current passion, I try to get rid of it.
Just thinning the tool box a bit can really help a lot.
Remember, hobbies and passion projects evolve over time. If you’ve moved on to something else, chances are there are a couple of really specific tools that can move on as well.
Consumption
You don’t have to look too far to realize that this is a societal problem at this point.
Being really conscious about bringing on new hobbies is a struggle for me. It’s one thing to take up jogging, it’s another to take up splitboarding. But splitboards are awesome and open up doors to truly unique adventures and experiences in nature.
Not only is there investment in actual money, but also the time and space (physical and mental) that a new hobby requires can really be immense. However, gear like this also tends to last for a long time and still have value when you’re ready to move on.
When I moved to Colorado I was just overwhelmed by all of the possible activities to get involved with, but I realized that it’s just not realistic to pursue them all.
That being said, I do believe that part of the joy of living in a place like this (and of being alive for that matter) is getting out in the elements, even when they are nasty. To do that I need certain tools of the trade and I’m willing to make space in my closet for that.
So is this a minimalist lifestyle? I don’t know.
What I do know is that without the mindset of simplifying and being super conscious of what you bring in, things get really out of hand fast.