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
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.
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.
You can probably crosspost on !minimalism@lemmy.world. 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
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.
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.
Damn phone! Thank you for letting me know. I’ve updated my post.
And yes, it would be much harder outside of cities.
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
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.
What would be something homey but not presentable?
Beg pardon, but are you male or female?
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
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.
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.
Yes. I have very limited/cheap furniture. Almost everything I own comes from discount stores or thrifts. I don’t have an attachment to any of it. I’m debating going the Peace Corps so I don’t really want to own anything that I’ll have to pay to store.
Something that I’ve found works well for sleeping is a tatami mat and futon mattress. It’s best if you can air out the mattress and mat outside occasionally. But you can fold and roll both. You can also stack up layers of those $4 Walmart fleece blankets to adjust coverage.
Whenever I see an image with this caption, it usually looks mostly fine but seems like something about it would cause neck pain. Usually it’s because the TV is on the floor, but this time it’s because it looks to me like sitting comfortably in that chair and leaning back would require craning your neck to view the TV.
Also, I can’t tell for sure, but the chair looks like it’s a recliner. If so, it seems like reclining would bump into the bar area. Might be misjudging that, though.
