09 April, 2017

Open Plan Living and Minimalism


Open plan living in a minimal way requires constant tidying. When an item has been used, put it away. If you don't do this, it gets cluttered and messy so very quickly. It takes a bit of practise to get into this way of living, and it's easy to think 'I'll do it later', but when later comes there's a huge pile of stuff needing to be dealt with.

Little routines can mean a person can retrain themselves to act on auto-pilot, and after time, you don't notice you are doing it. Things just happen, good things, things that bring benefit. I must take this moment of enlightenment back home with me, and use it in my un-minimal house.

My brain is currently trying to work out how my life could be squeezed into a space like this. One of the things lacking here is wardrobe space/drawer space for clothing. That would need to be remedied. We would also need a Ben-cave, a place for him to play games and have the option of working from home.

For me, the biggest things could be getting rid of stashes: books, DVDs, yarn and fabric. With books, I have already turned my back on dead tree based reading, and only now buy books for my Kindle. This makes me wonder, do I need my paper books anymore? I am slowly buying electronic copies of the books I already have, want to read again, but are in paper. I wonder how long it will be until we cross over into streaming services for films? And my crafting supplies have reduced considerably.  This year, they will be reduced even further. (That being said, I'm off to buy another pack of fat quarters for a baby quilt I want to make.)

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