TAMBERDI: minimalism

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minimalism 7:22:00 AM

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How Minimalism Will Change Your Life: A Guest Post From Sarah Jones of Diamonds N Denim

guest post 4:00:00 AM

My Life before Minimalism

Minimalism is something I've only recently started to appreciate. Growing up, my bedroom alone was about 450 square feet. I lived very comfortably, thanks to my parents' hard work. I was surrounded by things, and that overexposure is what pushed me to lead a life of minimalism. This is my journey.

To make a long story short, my paternal grandfather, a farmer, died when I was eight. Nine months later, my paternal grandmother died. Since my parents had a good sized basement, the majority of their things were boxed up and put in storage there. No one knew what to do with anything. My dad could sort through their things at his own leisure at home this way. My grandmother had been a very organised person, but she labeled and kept everything. Just as an example- she had boxes upon boxes of 'baby stuff'. She kept all the cloth diapers, diaper pins, toys, and even my dad's retainer. She held onto every single worksheet my dad completed in school (K-12) and neatly filed them away, it filled seven totes. All this stuff literally filled our basement, top to bottom. It was so overwhelming to even look at. My dad certainly had his work cut out for him. Before he really dug into it, he tragically, and unexpectedly died, nine months after my grandma's death.

Initially the shock of losing practically half my family at once, kept my mom and I out of the basement. After some time though, we decided to do something about it. We literally ruined the majority of our holidays, just stressing over how much work the basement was. We would clean, and work for an entire day, only to take out about a dozen boxes or so. Even after a full day of work, it seemed as though nothing changed. Sometimes we would aimlessly walk around in the basement for an hour or two, before deciding to not work on it at all. We had no idea what anything was worth, if we should keep it, or if we should drive it into town for the local Goodwill. When I moved out, the basement was nearly back it's original state. It took ten years for that to happen.

My mother has been burdened for ten years over junk. For a decade, she dreamed of a clean basement, so that she could have back her reading nook, and craft center for her gift wrapping, sewing, and crafts. She wanted to put in a home gym and a few beds for sleep overs. All that time, she worried about keeping the basement door shut so that guests wouldn't see all the clutter. Looking back, we should have rented a dumpster and thrown it all away, valuable or not. That was not worth the time, the effort, or the stress.

My Life after Minimalism:

Today, I'm living in a 70 square foot semi with my husband, and my medium sized dog. I'm working on seeing the 48 continental states, building my blog, and looking for land in Montana to homestead on. Truly, I've never been happier. Minimalism has been my saving grace. Almost everything I carry is something I need. I still have a lot I need to part with (I know one man who only carries two jeans, five shirts, socks, shoes, wallet, an iPhone, and a charger!), but I am improving myself.

These are my husband and I's beds:

This is our pantry. For the most part, it's pasta, canned vegetables, soups, and spices and herbs. I do have some processed sweets for those pesky PMS days though!

This is our closet. Our half totes each contain all the clothes we need, sans our snow suits, and two pairs of shoes.

This is our refrigerator. We keep drinks, lunch meat, a speciality item (this week it was a chicken salad), milk, eggs, butter, and meats. Hamburger, sausage, bacon and pork roasts are some favorites.

I cook using a single-burner range, a Teflon pan, and a slow cooker.

And finally this is my 'office'. The plants are completely unnecessary but they make me so happy.

I don't even miss the things I left behind, and really, I can't even remember half of it. I'm not going to push you to do the same, because if you're here reading this, chances are you've probably already started your journey.

Best wishes to you all, thank you for stopping in, and thank you to Tiffany Amber for welcoming me here today!

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How I Minimized My Needs and Maximized My Travel Experiences

guest post 4:00:00 AM

As a highly sensitive introvert and a writer, while travelling, I am focusing mostly on my feelings, sensations, sounds and pictures. To not distract myself I had to pack as light as possible. First, I had to be able to walk with my backpack so 15kg was the max weight I could allow. Second: I didn’t want to spend too much time packing and unpacking. Third: I didn’t want to spend too much time doing makeup or choosing what to wear.

Yet, three weeks ago I spent over half an hour and thirty euros on the post office to send back home 2,5 kg of unnecessary things (including the bag that you can see on the photo) that I carried on my back.

One of the items was a gorgeous green dress. I thought I would need it, but I’m a tomboy. I’ve worn it twice. It made me thinking, and I had to review my beliefs.

What Minimalism Means to Me and Why I Don’t Need Much

Minimalism for me means having only the most necessary things, so, i.e., I don’t have any makeup cosmetics in my case. I don’t like doing makeup, and I’ve decided that I won’t need it. My cosmetic case has 12 small items inside and a backpack consists of 11 clothes, not counting the lingerie and accessories.

I started travelling at 28th of October. Am I sad that I have to wear two pairs of trousers on and on again? Not at all. Do I sometimes think that I wished to have something else to dress? Rarely. I’m rather happy that I don’t have to spend time searching and browsing through my closet. I’m wearing whatever I have close by, and I’m ready for the day.

Also, I don’t buy unnecessary things as souvenirs. I picked up an advertisement bag in Switzerland. I use it for my laptop, grocery or laundry and I know I will bring it back to Poland. It doesn’t matter that it wasn't pretty pictures of Switzerland or their logo – but I have memories of a wonderful time spent with my friend associated with it.

What is my idea of slow life?

Slow life is also close to my heart. I left a job in the restaurant to travel around the world, to cut myself off from the constant noise, haste, stress and a continuous flow of stimuli.

I like to immerse in the new world slowly, stroll through the city, look how people live.

I also enjoy cooking for myself. Some people say that they don’t go for holidays to cook for themselves – for me, it’s one of the most rewarding and relaxing activities. I like to learn local recipes that make me closer to a different culture. That’s why I’ve made a cataplana dish three times last week while living in Airbnb apartment in Quarteira.

How to Implement Slow Life Standards While Travelling

Slow life for me means having respect for the environment and economy. That’s why I recycle whenever possible, use sharing economy like Airbnb and Blablacar and I’m learning about a culture of a country that I’m in, mostly by discovering the history and cuisine. I enjoy going to the market, talk to the vendors, buy fresh produce and seafood from them because I can see a face of my seller and hear advice from them.

What a Minimalist Tomboy Needs in Her Backpack

I’m much happier living the life where I look for the memories, views, impressions and relationships, instead of material things. Still, I need some things so if you’re curious what is in my backpack (and I am packed for about four months), then there you have it.

Cosmetic case:

the shampoo bar from Lush

I’ve read about them on another travel blog, and I fell in love. The bars are small, smell gorgeous, last for months and make my hair behave.

Face wash in a small tube
Intimate wash
Toothbrush and toothpaste but I also have a liquorice root as an alternative while camping. I used a miswak before; it’s a Salvadora Persica (Arak) root, popular on East. It tastes like horseradish, but it’s healthy, natural and efficient.
Crystal deodorant

It should last for a year and has no artificial perfumes. The container was quite large, but it fell apart, and I threw it away.

A small tube of sandal oil (instead of perfume)
Face cream with SPF 30
Mooncup

That was one of my best purchases last year. Takes no space, it’s light, and I can carry it even in my pocket. It’s reusable, should last for over ten years and it did cost me only 30 euro.

Hand cream.
Two lip balms
Flaked soap

Clothing:

Six shirts (two long sleeves, three short, one ¾)
zipped blouse
module trekking trousers

jeans
Two layer jacket
leggings
sweatpants

Accessories:

trekking shoes
sneakers
flip flops
a large scarf that I’m using as a blanket, pillow and poncho
the elastic band that I’m using either as a hat or sleeping mask
trekking poles
sleeping mat
sleeping bag

Essentials

I have to write a blog from my travels, and I’m a bookworm, so there were a few things necessary for me. I’m a bit old school, but writing is way easier for me on paper than on the screen. So:

three notebooks (one for drawing, two for writing)
laptop and mouse
kindle
a few pens and pencils
rubber
a portuguese magazine for language learning (and when I finish reading it, I will reuse it to make a paper Christmas tree to remind me of home)

But as I mentioned before, I’m a cook. I didn’t take makeup cosmetics but I took some kitchen equipment with me.

Kitchen equipment

two parts dinner pail – the pot with the cover that can be used as the pan with two cups and two sporks.
Opinel knife
spices in a string bags
light plastic cutting board
yerba mate with bombilla (a straw for drinking)

I’m not a coffee drinker but sometimes I need a kick in the morning and mate infusion works just perfect for me.

Those are my essentials but we’re all different, so let me know: what are the necessary things for you? Are you a travel minimalist or do you prefer to pack your case “for every possibility”? Let me know in the comments.

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How to Cull Your Wardrobe in 6 Steps

capsule wardrobe 5:00:00 AM

Hey again! Today I thought it would be helpful to discuss paring down clothing into a succinct capsule. If you are unfamiliar with the capsule wardrobe concept, it's really just an idea that we should keep a small set of clothes and wear them until they need to be replaced.

This idea is beneficial in many ways; from going easier on the environment to lessening one's contribution to unfair working conditions for those in sweatshops, the reasons to try this out are endless. I'll be making a post on this in greater detail very soon!

Step 1: Pull out all of your clothes (yes, everything). Put them in one space so that you can see them all together.

Step 2: Visually organize the clothing into distinct groups. The grouping here is entirely up to you, but generally some distinctions that tend to work well are color,seasons, and type (pants/shirts/etc.).

Step 3: Try to eliminate the nonessentials,doubles, and pieces that work with only one outfit. You're going to want some variety, and this is where more neutral and basic pieces are perfect. Another thing to consider in this session is how you feel while wearing these clothes;you only want to keep those pieces that you feel confident it and truly like-otherwise they'll end up sitting in your closet!

Step 4: Try on your outfits. I just mentioned the importance of how you feel in these pieces; don't keep something just because something looks good and the colors work together when you'll be uncomfortable all day! The purpose here is to love your clothing and eliminate the stresses associated with it.

Step 5: Enumerate the combinations you can have, and see if this is enough to last for the time between doing your laundry. If you've got enough, great! If not, then consider if you'll need much else and whether or not you'd be open to doing your laundry more often. See if you'll have an outfit for any occasion you'll attend in the future (job interviews, formal dinners, working out, casual occasions). Once you've worked out the kinks, move on to the next step.

Step 6: Donate the rest of your clothing to family/friends, non-profit charities, or see them on sites like Vinted/Mercari/Poshmark! There will always be someone who'd appreciate your clothing so don't just throw it away. Textile waste is already a huge problem, and the amount of textiles thrown out every year is astonishing.

I've really tried to simplify this process, but don't feel bad if it takes longer than expected. It took me some time to really be satisfied with my wardrobe, and over time you'll have to replace pieces. This is expected, as everything wears with time. Just know it's about what you like and what fits you. You don't need exactly 33 pieces of clothing to be "finished"; you can consider this finished when you have enough clothes to be satisfied yet not more than you really need. I hope you found this of some use. If you've tried out capsule wardrobes in the past or would like to, let me know in the comments! I'd love to know about your experiences.

Love and Light,

Tiffany Amber

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