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
That’s pretty close to what most people would call Van Life. There are massive communities around that.
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
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.
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.
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 true. Performance vs aesthetics. I know I’ll have better airflow inside my PC with proper cable management, whereas I couldn’t even begin to give a fuck what under/behind my desk looks like…
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.
fear a man that carries a framing hammer and a gas powered soldering iron in the same bag.
What about a ball peen hammer and a battery powered soldering iron?
Depends on the soldering iron. I’ve got a Craftsman brand one that runs on drill batteries and it’s got a little too much oompf, it’ll burn itself up if you leave it on high. But shit like that “Cold Heat” one they were selling in infomercials? Nah those have never produced a single solder joint.
I’ve got one of those milwaukee ones that my work bought me but I want to get that fancy one from ifixit, mostly I just want to try it out.
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.
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.
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
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.
Damn phone! Thank you for letting me know. I’ve updated my post.
And yes, it would be much harder outside of cities.
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.
I think this is why the “15min City/Neighborhood” is a popular idea. Small clusters of group where you can walk and get all your basic needs within a 15min walk. I don’t really think this is feasible in the US though, unless someone decided to build an entirely new city.
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.
Lets be honest. Most people buy stuff to impress other people. At this stage in my life I have no fucks to give about that any more.
Speak for yourself. I buy stuff for my apartment because I want it to feel homey; I don’t really care what other people think of it as long as it looks presentable.
Beg pardon, but are you male or female?
What would be something homey but not presentable?
I get you. I rarely have other people over. I feel like if I had to start over, like if my place burnt down, I would live more like that
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
That carpet has too many… uh, “colors.”
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
It’s more the need aspect you mentioned that I’m talking about. People living with what works or is good enough. I feel like it can be totally be intentional. I imagine a lot of people just sleep with a mattress on the floor because they don’t feel like a bed frame is necessary for example.
Where people draw the line is one of the things I’d find interesting if that makes sense
The issue is, that you can’t easily reach the fridge so you can’t get a new can of beer without getting up
You need a sofa for when you have girls over but other than that I see nothing wrong .
I’m not seeing a question in there. What are you actually asking?
Edit:
After clarification, I do have an answer, albeit second hand.
I actually know a small group of people that adhere to a very minimalist, portable lifestyle.
They essentially live out of two vehicles, a van and an old station wagon. They’ll settle down in a town long enough to do some work, gather funds, and move on whenever they get bored, or can’t get jobs.
They’ve been at it for maybe twenty years? Certainly after 2k. I met them through a friend that fronts a band, as the group I’m talking about are all musicians, and do some busking as well as session work among their other talents.
Supposedly, they started out just following bands around, the way people used to with the Grateful Dead, but not a single specific band. I know they hit festivals across the U.S., including some of the less music festivals like the rainbow gathering.
But, when they’re in a town/city, they’ll get a hotel, start looking for a short term rental they can use for a crash pad/bath/kitchen and then start working. Most places, they know people in the various scenes and subcultures, so it’s pretty easy for them to get going. I’ve let them park at my place a few times, though it’s been a while, and I don’t know I would now. They tend to still want to party a bit much for my household to handle currently
But each person only really owns what they can carry in the van. They do have stuff that they stash here and there, like some spare gear they keep at the studio my musician friend has. They’ve got some camping gear they share as a group.
Anyway, the point is that while they’re a group, they do keep their lives extremely minimalist even when they’re “settled” in one place for a year or so. The kind of minimalist in the meme you used, only no TV, and usually no real furniture at all.
Like, they dropped into my town maybe eight years ago, and stayed for maybe six months because one of their parents lives in the next town over and needed some help, and one of my uncles was willing to rent to them super cheap. The few times I went over, I had to bring my own chair. They ended up buying two beds, and some kitchen gear, which they left behind when they moved on. They also left the place spotless, which made my uncle quite happy compared to the crap that would happen when he would usually rent that place out (it’s just a spare trailer he inherited and put on the edge of his farm) to family.
They’re all in their mid to late forties now, and the last I talked to any of them, they don’t intend to settle down until they don’t have a choice. They supposedly put money aside into retirement accounts and such, but I dunno.
Their whole thing is about rejecting the idea of permanence, of being locked down into one place and being “owned by the shit we own”. Anything that isn’t essential, they leave behind, or sell off when they move along.
They’re wondering if there is a subset of the minimalist community whose goals are specifically nomadic.
Ahhhh, that makes sense now. Thanks
I’m not a member of any such community. But I keep things light. I don’t collect a lot of stuff.
What kind of work do they get into?
When they were here, it was mostly farm work. My uncle had them cleaning stuff up around his place, and they did some picking at a strawberry farm that I know of.
In bigger towns and cities, they tend to try and busk if they can, but don’t mind doing stuff like waiting tables, dishwashing, etc in restaurants. One of the guys has done a good amount of construction over the years. I’m pretty sure they’ve also done some weed dealing here and there.
They also do craft work and sell the stuff. Kinda junk imo, but it sells okay.
But, when they’re in the right cities, what they really focus on is session work. Mostly bluegrass and folk, plus some standard country. From what they’ve said, a few weeks in Nashville can set them up quite well, assuming there’s enough going on that their contacts can get them working on. It isn’t necessarily something they can just roll up and be in a studio, though. They have to plan the stay ahead of time, based on there being work.
One of the guys used to strip lol.
