The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Minimalism in 90 Days – The Pre-Move In

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    For those of you who missed it, I moved from a 1800 square foot furnished townhouse to a 895 square foot condo. Since my life was going into boxes, I decided to create my own variation of Ryan Nicodemus’ Packing Party. I decided to move myself to the new place but not unpack anything until I needed it to see how much stuff I actually use and what I truly need to function and feel comfortable.

    I closed on the condo on September 29th but I won’t move in until October 11th. I needed time to buy some basic furniture, pack up my life, and get it moved to the new place.

    Let me start by saying, Ryan’s Packing Party is a lot easier than mine. Moving sucks. I feel like my life for the last week has been hijacked by furniture stores, delivery people, utility people, and movers.

    I’m really glad I did a major clean-out of my life last year. I still had more to get rid of in this move, but it’s a lot less than what I’ve already parted with to date.

    I’m writing this post from new condo on the eve of the official move-in, at my new standing desk from Ikea, while I’m waiting for the furniture guys to arrive to exchange the damaged box spring they delivered earlier this week with an un-damaged one.

    The only furniture that belonged to me in the townhouse was a bookcase and my mattress so I had to go furniture shopping. Here’s what I’ve purchased so far furniture-wise for the condo: bed, box spring, 2 bedside tables, dresser, desk, desk chair, coffee table, 2 end tables, entertainment table (for the TV), and 5 lamps. The fact that I made this many selections without crying is a miracle. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m hellaciously indecisive. I have trouble ordering a sandwich. I purchased a couch too but it won’t be ready for a few more weeks so I’m sitting on a camping chair for now.

    My Living Room - October 10, 2014
    My Living Room – October 10, 2014

    Some people may be wondering if I’m a minimalist if I’m buying this much furniture. To me, minimalism isn’t about having as little as possible. It’s about limiting myself to the things that add value to my life. It’s ok to be comfortable.

    In the back and forths from the townhouse to the condo, I’ve brought over a few boxes, some oversized items that didn’t fit into a bankers box, and a few garments that I’d rather keep on hangers instead of folding them and getting them wrinkled. I brought over all my empty hangers in my laundry basket. It seemed dumb to have 3 boxes just for hangers. I cleaned out the freezer and realized the freezer at my new place is a lot smaller than the one I’m used to. I also went shopping for a few items that I knew I would need early on like a new comforter and toilet paper.

    This is supposed to be the dining area, but for now it's where the boxes are going to be.
    This is supposed to be the dining area, but for now it’s where the boxes are going to be.

    Here’s how unpacking is going to work. The movers are going to bring my things to the condo. Everything will be placed in the great room and nothing will be unpacked until I need it. (I expect this will be the fastest move they’ve ever done.) Once an item is unpacked, it can’t go back in its box. It has to be put away, given away, or thrown away. Today, I had to unpack a notebook so I could leave a friendly note on the windshield of the truck that’s been parking in my space.  Now I need to decide where notebooks are going to be stored.

    For the most part it’s been fun creating my new living space but I’m at the point now where I can’t wait to be settled in.

  • New Project: Minimalism in 90 Days

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    I’m taking my minimalism project to the next level. When I moved to Phoenix ten years ago, I moved into my parents’ second home – lovely two bedroom, two bathroom, 1800 square foot, furnished place with a pool and a yard. It’s been a wonderful home but it’s time for Rosie and me to get our own place. I recently found a condo that I loved from the moment I saw it – 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 900 square foot place with a patio and a nook that will be my home office.

    I’ve been systematically cleaning out my stuff for the last eighteen months but for this move, I’m stealing an idea from Ryan Nicodemus, one of The Minimalists. When he decided to become a minimalist, he and his fellow minimalist friend Joshua Fields Millburn had a “packing party” where they packed up all his stuff as if he was going to move. For the next twenty-one days, he only unpacked what he needed as he needed it. After the twenty-one days, he went through his boxes, pulled out a few extra items, and got rid of the rest. By packing up his stuff, it opened his eyes to how little he actually needs to be happy and comfortable.

    I suspect my new place will look like this for a few weeks. Charted by Shelah from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
    I suspect my new place will look like this for a few weeks. Charted by Shelah from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

    So here’s my plan for the move. I sold or gave away all my furniture before I left Oregon. (As a joke, I signed a lot of it – does anyone still have any of that stuff?) Once I take possession of my condo, I’m going buy a few staple furniture items that I know I’ll need – bed, couch, desk, and probably not much else. (Oh, and I promised Rosie a memory foam bed for her birthday.) I’m going to box up all my stuff – and probably use file size boxes so their easy to use and stack. Each box will be filled based on where the things were stored in the house and labeled so it will be easy to find stuff after I move. I’ll also go through my boxes of kitchen stuff and linens from my Oregon apartment and get rid of the stuff I know I won’t need in my new place.

    After I move, everything will stay in the boxes. I’ll only unpack or buy things as I need them. I’ll probably do this for three months. By then, the weather will have changed from warm to cold so I should have all the seasonal items I’ll need unpacked. I’ll probably spend the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s going through the boxes one more time before giving away whatever I’m not using. If I get to the point where I know I’m not going to be going into the boxes anymore, I’ll call it early and do the final clean out then.

    I’m curious to see how many boxes of stuff I actually own right now compared to what I actually use. There’s nothing like moving to motivate you to get rid of your stuff.

  • Minimalism Project Update – Cleaning Out My Photos

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    I’ve been on a roll with my minimalism project lately. I cleaned out my CDs, got rid of most of my Star Trek collection, and most recently I scanned and threw out most of my photos. I got rid of a lot of my photos last year when I cleaned out my dresser, but I still had about half a drawer of photos.

    During my down time for about a week, I sorted my photos, sent them through my scanner, and saved them to my hard drive. I kept the prints of the ones that were the most important to me and I threw out the rest. I have less than a shoebox of photos left.

    I also threw out all my negatives. I kept all of them for years, taking comfort in the fact that I could reproduce an image if necessary. But really, what’s the likelihood that I’m going to want a photo that I only have a negative of and that I’ll remember that I have a negative of it? They all got tossed.

    Scanning all my photos was a fun trip down memory lane. Here are some of the highlights.

    I was an adorable baby. (1980)
    I was an adorable baby. (1980)
    Always an athletic kid (1987)
    Always an athletic kid (1987)
    USAIGC Regional Gymnastics Championships (1995)
    USAIGC Regional Gymnastics Championships (1995)
    The Psychotic Friends Network (2000)
    The Psychotic Friends Network (1999)
    Undergrad Graduation (2001)
    Undergrad Graduation (2001)