In communities dedicated to everyday carry items like wallets, knives, and electronics you’ll frequently see community favorites that kind of act as the standard.
That and memes like the photo I linked made me think about a community of pseudo minimalist people who focus on living with portability or functionality in mind. Things like sleeping in a sleeping bag on a cot, relying on a docked laptop for gaming, or only using a single bowl for a majority of your meals.
It’s a bit of a long shot and odd question but I’d be interested to see what they’re passionate about.
Before people make Reddit style quips I’m not talking about not being well off or homeless. I’m also not really talking about people who have to move for work like truck drivers or people who stay in hotels. More like easily being able to move
I was going to post a Reddit style quip of bachelor stereotypes. I furnished my apartment like this when I was freshly graduated and again when I moved cities. But the difference there is it’s not really intentional, but other priorities. When you’re just starting out, where do you spend your money and time, and what do you care about?
I got a bed when the carpeted floor was uncomfortable. I got a second bowl when I was annoyed having to wash the first one so frequently. Hell, I didn’t graduate from a duffle to a suitcase until my gf at the time made me. It’s not about being minimalist but not having the need or the money
Did they run out of money?
How awful. That cable management makes my eyes hurt.
Cable management is for work. In my happy place, I just let my cables run wild.
Cable management inside my PC case vs cable management behind my desk. The former is close to immaculate, the latter is no fucks given.
I took the time to dress the back of my desk, and all cables are routed appropriately, but there are SO many of them it still looks like spaghetti.
So talking about portability, I had a job in another city, I would do some of it from home like CAD work and then drive into town a few days a week to run machine tools etc. I had a system of bags I lived out of. My backpack which contained my laptop and my portable “office,” my tool bag in which I have a wide variety of capability, and a duffel bag with clothing, toiletries and such to keep a man running for 3 days. I could carry all three at once with a free hand and I can be ready for a 4 day, 3 night away mission in minutes.
my tool bag in which I have a wide variety of capability
Somehow that sounds a bit threatening, like Liam Neeson in that one oft-memed scene.
Side-zip duffel bags are awesome. I had to live across town for a couple days, and 90% of my clothes fit in two largeish bags.
You can probably crosspost on [email protected]. It’s pretty quiet, but you might get additional answers
Have you looked into vanlife groups? It’s not the same exactly, but most of the items they use should translate pretty well to nomadicish apartment life
Second this. Vanlife stuff is focused on size, mass, durability, efficiency, replaceability, repairability, modularity, price. There is nothing better than vanlife videos for learning how to live minimally within an apartment.
Some additional tips,
- folding furniture.
- Human baseline happiness returns to set points. Remove something non-essential and you may be sad at first, but will eventually stop caring.
- No couch or TV: if it cant fit on/in my car or is fragile, I’m not buying it.
- if you don’t mind appearing “poor”, you may realize that the products that best fit all the above criteria are just basic things from walmart, target, etc. Those folding plastic tables and metal bed frames, plastic tubs and drawers, actually solve their problems 90% as well as traditional products at 10% the price, while being readily available everywhere. You don’t worry about damaging them either.
- take or leave advice. Maybe you want a nice desk. I have a nice office chair. It will be hard to move, but it’s worth it. The point is you can be minimal in unimportant areas.
Prius Dwellers are probably the most hardcore at that
I had an ex boyfriend who lived for about a year in a geo metro with his boyfriend and two dogs. They didn’t sleep in it, though
I’m portable because I like the idea of being able to move without it being a big project. I think most people are utilitarian in that they buy things that address a specific problem they have, though maybe people who like minimalist ideas would have a different threshhold for what constitutes a ‘problem’ and favour products that address multiple problems in the simplest way.
When I moved I did sleep in a sleeping bag for a bit, but practically it’s much easier to wash a duvet cover than a sleeping bag. Same goes for hammock vs. bed. My bowl situation started at 1, but I ended up washing this one bowl all the time and it felt wasteful and effortful. I still do eat breakfast out of the pot, but I would argue it’s the best solution and others should copy me :) I’ll happily sit in one chair for a couple years before deciding a second chair or a couch is a requirement.
I think over a long period of time I’ll still be minimal, but have more specific things. It is genuinely more pleasant to eat salad from a salad size bowl/plate, pasta from a pasta bowl, soup or cereal from a cereal bowl, a latte from a latte mug, etc. Minimalism to me will always be about min/maxing items to squeeze the most joy out of life because I need that lift. Being spartan is hard living.
Id probably slide the TV stand closer to that outlet. You can at least attempt to hide wires.
At the least, the chair should be properly squared with the TV.
Agree. All these wires make the room look rather messy.
That’s pretty close to what most people would call Van Life. There are massive communities around that.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but plenty of folks - blue collar workers, technicians, engineers - have away jobs where they work in different places for weeks or months at a time, and there are landlords who specialize in providing this clientele with bare-bones furnished apartments. I’ve been there, too - in fact, one year during the pandemic, I had spent just a bit more than half of my time working and living in a place away from home.
Thanks but that’s still kind of on the fringe of what I’m looking for. I feel like that’s more about working within the confines of the van rather than living effectively.
Someone trying that might be stuck using a hotplate but they could still have a decent sized mattress and gaming setup for example if that makes sense. It seems more like living densely
You’ll want to maybe start looking into some Asian cultures. There is a lot of minimalism there, like this guy. He is able to pack and move to a new home in 13min and moves every year. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XBQBKseozuY
There are also some people who try their best to make it look like there is nothing in their apartment, but it’s really a full on transformer
https://youtu.be/v1MVqwvOqvY?si=Q4FTQPlFwSaeQton
https://youtu.be/daL7TkzyW7k?si=6lmHuvXCQ3y-XC-6
https://youtube.com/shorts/p1z7AAMxR9g?si=BUEDiIJztlnfDRve
There is also a youtube channel called Never Too Small https://youtube.com/@nevertoosmall?si=T1bOX4Sc6FQuqZvg
This is actually inspiring. Not sure most poeple could afford installations like in the second video though. And the guy in the first video did have a point; it would be hard to share this lifestyle with someone else, or even just to invite friends at home up to a certain point.
FYI all of your links are the same video!
Mr. Sibu is so cool! It’s a very different way of living than any I’ve seen before. I don’t think it’s as doable in the suburbs of the U.S. as it is in a proper city.
Does make me think just how much junk I have cluttering the place up. Hmm.
I don’t think it’s as doable in the suburbs of the U.S. as it is in a proper city.
I’ve read a few times that suburbs are horribly wasteful and inefficient to live, work, commute, or support for infrastructure. I’m not saying we should get rid of the suburbs so everyone can live sensibly, but I will tell you to get rid of the suburbs to save the planet (and live sensibly) :-D
30-floor mixed-use towers clustered around the subway entrance, with parks around that, and agri/nature space around that. No bungalow burbs.
Damn phone! Thank you for letting me know. I’ve updated my post.
And yes, it would be much harder outside of cities.
The issue is, that you can’t easily reach the fridge so you can’t get a new can of beer without getting up
There was (is?) a subreddit called /r/onebag that might be like this. It was sort of minimalism taken to the extreme of condensing your possessions to a single bag. Definitely some overlap with the digital nomad community too
I have two kids and a clutter bug wife in an apartment with me. I wish I could keep me living room this clear and simple
That carpet has too many… uh, “colors.”
I have a bunch of bookshelves, and all that empty wall space hurts to look at.
