The culprit: 26 essential ways to achieve minimalist freedom (not a shocker, since “minimalist” and lifestyle design circles are frequently made of fail when it comes to this)
The quotes:
1. Walk everywhere. One of the most basic things our species can do is walk, but so few of us actually do it. Walking is one of the simpler joys in life, and is completely free. If you’re used to driving 15 blocks to the store, try walking 15 blocks to the store. You’ll burn calories and feel more centered when you return home. For more: The Simple Joy of Walking.
2. Bike everywhere. Biking is one of the best ways to get around quickly under your own power. You’ll lose weight and start to cultivate a sexy body. I realize this is easier in some cities than others. You can get an inexpensive bike in most cities for less than $150 that works amazingly. Wear a helmet. For more: How to Rent a Bike in Any City for Free.
This assumes that every reader of the article can walk or bike. What about cane or wheelchair users, or people for whom walking/biking is extremely painful/tiring? Or people who want to conserve energy? Or people with temperature sensitivities? (Bonus points for acting like “less than $150” is a minimal investment.)
3. Prepare your own food from fresh ingredients. Making your own meals is another one of the habits you can pick up that will change your life. When you buy prepared and processed foods you are filling up your body with preservatives and high-fructose corn syrup. When you make your own food from fresh ingredients, you’re eating what our bodies have been eating for thousands of years — good food that’s made out of real food. For more on preparing minimalist food, I highly recommend Stonesoup: Minimalist Home Cooking.
Assumes that everyone has the time and energy to prepare food from scratch. Families where both parents work 40-60 hour weeks (or single parent families with similar working hours) very well might not have the time or energy and disabled individuals don’t always have the energy to prepare food.
5. Buy digital. There are two reasons to buy digital goods over physical ones. 1) They aren’t created out of natural resources. 2) They support the artists more because the cost isn’t being eaten up in the production process. This isn’t to say you should go on a digital spending spree, just that if you have a choice between buying a physical CD and a digital CD you might as well choose the MP3s — you’re just going to MP3 it anyway.
Assumes that everyone has the money to have the applicable devices to consume digital media. (Yeah, MP3 players are pretty cheap now, but not that cheap, and eBook readers are still in the realm of “maybe if I get everyone I know to go in on one Christmas present” territory for a lot of people.)
9. Go paperless. With technology as advanced as it is now, there’s no reason why you can’t go paperless. I recently stopped using paper completely, which I hope to write an entire article about. Scan all of your important documents into Evernote (which is completely searchable and accessible anywhere.) and keep a separate backup on an external hard drive — then shred them. Opt for paperless statements from your bank and credit companies. Instead of using notebooks to write in, use your computer. I do most of my preliminary writing on my iPhone, which saves directly to Evernote. From there I can do an edit and publish from my computer.
Assumes ownership of computer, internet, scanner, and iPhone.
10. Work from home. Commuting takes time and resources. Ask your boss (if you still have one.) if you can work from home or from a coffee shop one day out of the week. Chances are your productivity will improve once you’re out of the office. You’ll also save the planet because you won’t be commuting. Consider encouraging your office to move to a ROWE (results only world environment) in order to separate results from time in order to increase company profits and save everyone time.
Suffice to say, this isn’t really an applicable suggestion for people working in low to medium pay jobs (retail, food, other service industries, call centers, etc.).
16. Practice saying no. No is one of the most powerful words a minimalist can use. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in projects that we aren’t 100% passionate about. This leads to doing a bad job at a lot of things, instead of focusing our attention on the important. Saying no is hard, but it’s incredibly necessary in the modern age to keep from being overwhelmed. For more: How to Say No Gracefully.
Assumes the reader has the privilege of saying no and not suffering consequences for it. (Hint: people perceive “no” very differently coming from a man than they do a woman, or a white person than they do a person of color.)
23. Shop at the farmers market. Eating local food is one of the best ways to promote health in your own body as well as save the planet. Walk to your farmer’s market and buy food that’s grown locally. Locally grown food is more expensive, but it’s also a lot more nutritious because it hasn’t been frozen and shipped halfway across the country or the planet. For more: The True Food Diet.
Assumes reader has access to and the money to buy from a farmer’s market.
26. Get on a plane and go somewhere. Ultimately, the best way to become minimalist is to just drop it all and get out of town. End your lease, put all of your stuff on the side of the road, jump in a plane and get out of town. When you leave the comforts of home, you will start to learn amazing things about yourself and begin to have new experiences that you never thought were possible while you were sitting on the couch.
Assumes reader can afford a plane ticket.
My problems with the minimalist “movement” in general (aside from philosophical differences):
-number one, it seems like a lot of the ideas are pretty blatantly appropriated without acknowledging their original source (at least, in any more than an “ooh, exotic people do this!” way)
-number two, the vast majority of things I read seem to be coming pretty blatantly from a middle class background. if someone has managed to scrabble up from being desperately poor, they are probably going to take pride in the nice things they own. which, I mean, I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing, but either way, telling them to sell everything they own will probably dredge up some annoyed feelings. personally, when I read things like that and then the person saying “oh! how delightful, after selling all of my things I felt so free!”, it kind of pisses me off. because when I’ve sold off large chunks of my belongings in the past, it didn’t make me feel free, it was a last-ditch effort to make rent or bill money and came with appropriate feelings of anxiety and upset.
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Time for another exciting round of Spot the Privilege!
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