I Suck.

I do, I really do.

Simple Black Coffee has been near the forefront of my mind over the last few months but I’ve just never made the effort to hop on here and actually write something.

Not an excuse but I’m chalking it up to human nature and nothing more.

So here we are. I’ve gotten down to just a few things left to get rid of (it’s amazing to look back and see how far I’ve come) and there’s not much decluttering left to do. There are some tasks like scanning papers, cleaning out files, looking through home videos to determine what to burn to DVD and some collections to sell that are a little challenging to list on eBay. That kinda stuff is there but that’s about it.

I’m almost 40, I’m verrrry close to my goal of being a minimalist and owning what I truly want by that age and the type of personal decluttering writing I was doing on here just isn’t applicable anymore.

People are still visiting the site for which I’m grateful and I know I can still be relevant but the site needs to grow in a new direction.

A direction I’m not sure of.

What I’m going to do is simply start writing more. Articles may or may not be about decluttering, simple living or minimalism at all but I need to blog freely to help determine where Simple Black Coffee’s future lies.

Thanks for your support and patience with me and have a great day!

Posted in Thoughts | 9 Comments

Incubus Travels Light

Just a quick blurb today.

USA Today has a recurring feature focusing on touring music artists and yesterday they had a short article on the band Incubus.

Lead singer Brandon Boyd leads a minimalist lifestyle…on the road at least.

Pack light: Boyd sticks to a minimalist rule. “I try to bring as little as possible because you can always find things on the road, and that’s part of the fun. You bring your absolute essentials.” His three necessities? “My leather jacket, my camera and my sketchbook.”

It’s nice to know that, although he can probably afford to buy whatever he wants, he tries to get by with what he needs.

Posted in Randomness, Travel | 2 Comments

Dan Price’s World

Sketches

Occasionally I’ll pop over to read what’s new at The Path Less Pedaled. Russ and Laura tour around the country on Brompton folding bicycles and Amtrak trains (and that’s cool all by itself). I was excited to see that they stopped by Joseph, Oregon and visited with Dan Price for a bit. I’ve been a fan of Dan’s for a long time now and love his book Radical Simplicity – I keep a copy on my desk as a visual reminder that life is what you decide to make it. His book and story were one of the earliest motivators that set me on the path to simple living and inspiring me to do more with less. If you’ve not checked out his book I hope you will consider reading it. He also regularly publishes small zines full of stories and his ingenious art. He offers them to the public in volumes called Moonlight Chronicles.

So Laura and Russ made a short video with Dan and it’s really cool to not only hear Dan talking about his life but to see the areas where he lives. Russ and Laura did a great job in the video in offering glimpses of where Dan does his thing. We get to see his workshop, a little bit of the hobbit hole and various other parts of his meadow. It’s just enough to whet your appetite and make you want to go visit Dan yourself someday.

If you’ve not opened yourself up to the world of Dan Price I hope you’ll do so now. Here’s another video interview from 2003 made by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

The picture above is from Russ of The Path Less Pedaled.

Posted in Randomness, Simple Living, Video | Leave a comment

Simplify 2011: Week 32

I haven’t written a post in this category since week 25. I’m a 6 week slacker.

I did, however,  get rid of a few things since then. Even though I’m still working my way down to my version of “enough”, it’s apparent that there’s just not that much to get rid of anymore. Some of the things heading out the door are mine, but a few things are household items that are no longer needed.

Continue reading

Posted in Simplify 2011 | 2 Comments

Flaws

I had been hemming and hawing about a new post for the last couple days. Then Joshua at The Minimalists put a link to my site in his newest essay. That helped get me in gear so that new readers wouldn’t think Simple Black Coffee is an abandoned website.

I apparently took a break from blogging during the entire month of July. I say apparently because it was not a planned absence from the interwebs. I had no idea I was taking a break. I published my last post sometime near the end of June and here we are at the first part of August. I wasn’t tuned into twitter or facebook that much either and even had a couple people contact me through twitter to make sure I was okay. That was very nice and I appreciate that I was missed, Thanks. So, I’m sorry about that, I guess sometimes life happens and blogging doesn’t.

But we all have flaws don’t we. Sometimes we like to call them weaknesses instead. A weakness can perhaps be improved while a flaw is permanent? One of my flaws is procrastination and another is failure to get started on something. I’m not sure if they are the same or not, I feel they are different. I have a HUGE project that I’ve been avoiding because I was given 18 months to do it. That was almost 12 months ago. It may not be a HUGE project after all but I don’t know yet because I haven’t begun working on it. That’s my failure to get started. I think procrastination comes along after I start something and then stop because I then know it’s difficult and I want to avoid it.

Besides personal flaws, there are flaws that exist in things as well.

I had my huge garage sale back in the spring and since then have felt much better. Stuff has been gone and I truly feel more like a minimalist than I ever did before. I have no regrets. There were a few things left after the garage sale that, instead of donating, I opted to sell on Craigslist instead. One item was an inflatable rubber kayak.

I got started on my Craigslist listing by taking great pictures showing all sides of the kayak. I wrote a very full description and I even threw in a weblink to the manufacturer’s website so they could see what a new kayak costs. The only thing I didn’t do was disclose that I had repaired 2 holes. At that time I didn’t think it mattered, I wasn’t trying to hide anything.

Little did I know.

I received a few emails right off the bat and the first thing they asked was whether there were holes. *sigh* I wrote each of them back with the truth that there had been 2 holes. I had done a great job repairing the holes. I followed the manufacturer’s instructions and had used the repair kit that came with the boat. Now, if the company includes a repair kit when you purchase a boat doesn’t it mean that they anticipate holes can occur in a rubber kayak and that upon repair the boat will still float and function as it should? This was not some $10 Walmart model kayak. It’s high grade rubber, constructed well and came from a reputable boat manufacturer.

Guess what, despite dropping the price and subsequently including a detailed description on Craigslist about the holes and how I repaired them I still have the damn kayak.

I hope that people are less judgemental about persons with flaws than they are about things with flaws. Both can still meet your expectations.

Posted in Thoughts | 6 Comments

Make a Trade Instead of Selling

There are things we want and things we don’t want. Things we love and things we, well, just kinda-sorta like. Why not turn some of those things that you simply like into things you truly want.

An item I love is a t-shirt printed with the Henry David Thoreau quote “Simplify, simplify.” I bought it in 1998 while visiting Walden Pond in Massachusetts. I’ve worn it over and over and it’s now showing extreme signs of wear. The seams are shredding, it’s no longer red but a dark shade of pink and it’s not fit to wear to work. A few items I only liked but no longer really wanted were some Thoreau stamps. They were various versions of First Day Covers for the Thoreau stamp when it was issued in 1967.

Thoreau FDC

I had 3 First Day Cover envelopes as well as a program from the Commemorative Stamp Ceremony held in Concord, Massachusetts.

ThoreauCeremony2

I also had a poster that was used to advertise the upcoming stamp in the post office. These were all pretty cool items but I was willing to get rid of them. I had a feeling that finding a buyer for these items wouldn’t necessarily be quick or easy.

poster

But I had an idea.

I knew The Thoreau Society held periodic auctions raising money for the continuation of the study of Thoreau and his work. And I thought maybe, just maybe they’d be willing to take these items from me to use in their auction and in trade send me a new Simplify, simplify t-shirt. The items I had would certainly end up in the hands of fellow Thoreau fans and would help the society raise money.

And whadya know, they were willing.

I packaged up my items, sent them off and within a week I had a brand spanking new t-shirt to start wearing out. Maybe instead of just selling off your unwanted stuff you could set up a trade of your own!

If you’ve not heard of one of the greatest experiments in trading called One Red Paperclip you should definitely check it out, it was a really cool project that ended in a free house.

Posted in Minimalist Living, My Life Minus... | 6 Comments

Simplify 2011: Week 25

I started the week by listing 10 things on Craigslist. Some items were leftovers from the garage sale and others were new items I decided to sell. I’ve only sold 2 of the 10 items so far but have significant nibbles on other items so there’ll hopefully be more sales…

1. Yakima rooftop bike rack – I tried to sell this at -I believe- 3 different yard sales. But it wasn’t until I put it on Craigslist that I found a buyer. And I sold it for almost double the amount I was asking at the yard sale. Plus, the buyer was excited to find one at the price I was selling it for. We both won. I think I owned the system for about 12 or 13 years and I managed to sell it for almost half of what I bought it for.

2. Railroad whistle sign – I  found a sign with a big W on it a few years ago along a section of railroad track that had been paved and converted to a biking and hiking trail. I thought the “W” stood for Wabash Railroad, the line that ran through that area. When I decided to sell it I researched how much it might be worth. It turns out these signs were all over the country. They didn’t stand for the name of the railroad, instead they were a reminder for the engineer to sound his whistle because he was approaching a crossing. How bout that? I learned something AND made a few bucks.

I have a post coming in a day or 2 about some things I didn’t want that I traded for something I did want. Fun!

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