Favorite Things: Engagement Ring

Posted on June 6, 2011 by

Today’s guest post from Laura M. of smash your t.v. and have adventures is part of Simple Black Coffee’s Favorite Things series. Submit your story to share.

Ever since Craig started this series a few months ago, I wanted to contribute. The only problem was that when I sat in my home and looked around at each item I owned, I would think to myself, “I love that… but I could do without it if I had to.” How I feel echoes Dusti’s thoughts on not having a favorite anything. Yeah, I would be a little sad if I lost one of the few possessions I have left, but they’re replaceable. But, there’s got to be something I really cherish.

Some items in the running: my DSLR, my iPhone, my iPad, my hand-made purse, a pair of jeans, books, my stuffed animal (yes, I have one stuffed pig that I’ve had for years and I’m not letting go any time soon; go ahead, laugh at me – I dare you), and chapstick. And just when I thought I settled on my favorite item, I was reminded of something I have and wear every day: my engagement ring.

It’s a symbol of love and devotion in a diamond that rests on my finger at all hours of the day. Although removing it doesn’t make me any less engaged, I will cherish this ring for the rest of my life. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way about a piece of jewelry. The thing I also love about the ring is how simple and light it is – one diamond that I barely feel on my hand. It doesn’t weigh my down at all. It is only when the light catches it and creates a bright glimmer that I notice it and smile.

Thank you, Craig, for creating this series to remind us that although we have favorites, most of the things we have are replaceable. Only a few are really cherished.

Today’s guest post was written by Laura M. of smash your t.v. and have adventures. Follow her on Twitter @simpleLaura.

Previous posts in the Favorite Things series:

Posted in Favorite Things | 8 Comments

Commitment

Posted on June 2, 2011 by

I’ve been reading The Dip by Seth Godin. I may have actually read most of the book by now but I find myself flipping around various sections instead of reading straight through.

The point of Seth’s book is that there are times when quitting something makes sense and is -in fact- the right thing to do at that time. Quitting one thing in favor of paying more attention to another thing can be ultimately beneficial.

I’ve seen this concept in action by some people and have also seen other people that certainly need to embrace this idea. The most glaring example I’ve encountered in a long time occured just this evening.

Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughts | 4 Comments

Minimalist Wallet

Posted on May 24, 2011 by

I’m proud to announce that today I’m featured in The Everyday Minimalist’s Minimalist Wallet Series. It’s a weekly series profiling minimalist bloggers and what they carry around on a daily basis.

Check out what I carry around.

Posted in Guest Post | 1 Comment

Simplify 2011: Week 20

Posted on May 23, 2011 by

This week I was busy with a lot on my to-do list so there wasn’t time to declutter until the weekend. Sunday I forced myself to do 2 things: mow the lawn and take over control of the garage in preparation for the garage sale – which is now just 3 weeks away. We used to have a garage sale each spring but haven’t had one in the last couple years. I would really like to make this the last garage sale for a very long time so I want it done correctly. That means lots of plastic bags for customer’s purchases, lots of change, everything organized and especially making sure that there are prices on everything.

But, in much the same way you don’t start cooking in a dirty kitchen I needed to straighten up the garage before I started filling it with stuff from the attic. I had been a little lax in my organizing over the late fall and winter so there was junk covering the top of my bench. I hadn’t gone through my tools and supplies in a couple years so I took time to completely empty the bench and all my storage bins and put back what I really needed. I then went around the remainder of the garage sweeping dirt and leaves into the trash can and gathering unwanted items as I went. Some stuff went straight into the trash and some went into the garage sale pile so it’s not listed here – but it’s quite a bit.

Here’s what got tossed into the trash:
-Wooden handles: they went to a broom and rake that broke…but I kept the handles “just in case.” One was just half a handle, what was I thinking?
-Homemade hiking stick: I never used it again after I realized I don’t like hiking with a stick.
-6′ flag pole: This was attached to our front porch, but it’s old and worn out and I need a whole new setup out there.
-Snowboard: it was a cheap plastic one that we bought our son to learn on. Consequently one of the cheap plastic straps broke and it’s unrepairable. We’ll get him a new one next winter.
-Plastic box: my son stores his legos in a 3 drawer bin so he didn’t want the box they came in. I thought I would use it for some kind of storage, but never found a reason to use it.
-Picture frame: this plastic frame expanded over time and it’s not safe to put glass in it, it might fall right out.
-U shaped piece of metal wire: from an election sign, thought I’d need it. Nope.
-About a half pound of various little metal bits and plastic parts: All the extra stuff from those ready to assemble furniture pieces like bookcases, microwave stands and DVD stands. Don’t need junk parts I can’t use on anything else.

While it’s nice to have a list of stuff for this weekly post again, none of this was too major. But I feel good about my progress just the same.

Posted in Simplify 2011 | 2 Comments

Excessive

Posted on May 20, 2011 by

20110520-054644.jpg

To use vernacular made popular by Chandler Bing from the TV show Friends: Could there BE any more packaging in this sandwich kit?

Every single component of this sandwich is wrapped in heavy plastic….sheesh.

*sorry for the slightly crappy quality of the picture, I was using my camera phone.

Posted in Consumerism, Environmentalism, Food | Leave a comment

Favorite Things | Guitar

Posted on May 20, 2011 by

Today’s guest post from David William of Almost Bohemian is part of Simple Black Coffee’s Favorite Things series. Submit your story to share.

I’ve been following Simple Black Coffee since I first saw Craig’s ‘Your Favorite Things’ post with Joshua Millburn. I was actually the lucky winner of his gorgeous $300+ Allen Edmonds dress shoes. I enjoy seeing the strange and absolutely different things people deem their favorite.

As a minimalist myself, there isn’t much I physically own that isn’t my favorite thing. If it isn’t something I am crazy for, I simply get rid of it.

The few things I choose to own are all things that excite me and have a specific purpose to me.

It’s difficult to pinpoint that one thing I’d be determined to save from a fire. Specifically, my custom surfboard by the insanely talented Eli Mirandon, my 1947 CZ motorcycle (same as James Deans first bike), and my meticulously restored 1944 Remington Rand typewriter (I’m a sucker for love letters) would all be in the running.

surfboard and typewriter

But even those things I could replace. What I count as my most prized possession- my favorite thing- is not even technically mine.

1978 yamaha guitar fg340

It’s my mom’s 1978 Yamaha FG-340 acoustic guitar. My dad bought it for my mom brand new way back in the day and I sort of, well, ‘inherited’ it since it wasn’t getting much play anymore. I’ve since become the most accomplished musician in my family. My mom can forget ever getting it back. :)

The tone is deep and beautiful; the strings sing sweeter than a Beatles melody.

So that’s my favorite thing: my mom’s guitar. Oh, and the 6′x9′ world map circa 1984 also ranks up there.

Today’s guest post was written by David William of Almost Bohemian. Follow him on twitter @almostbohemian.

Previous posts in the Favorite Things series:

Posted in Favorite Things | 8 Comments

Community Amongst Strangers

Posted on May 17, 2011 by

This morning I was sitting on the couch in the middle of my second cup of coffee ruminating about the day ahead when I get a twitter ding on my iPod Touch. Someone had typed @simplblckcoffee into a status update. WooHoo! I love tweets.

Turned out it was my buddy @andrewodom referencing one of my Simplify 2011 posts in one of his blog posts. Here’s the ensuing conversation:

Andrew Odom Andrew Odom
Making A Difference means Making A Difference -http://goo.gl/2kd0h @simplblckcoffee #tinyrevolution
Craig Keirstead Craig Keirstead
Andrew Odom Andrew Odom
You are welcome. You truly have inspired me during the months.
Craig Keirstead Craig Keirstead
wow! I dunno how the heck I did that but thanks
Andrew Odom Andrew Odom
Mostly scrutinizing what you need and don’t need and doing so without being self-righteous about it.
Craig Keirstead Craig Keirstead
it’s funny because I look at stuff you do and am inspired to get busy doing something outside
Andrew Odom Andrew Odom
That is why we all need each other! Mutual inspiration and piggybacking.
Craig Keirstead Craig Keirstead
without a doubt, living a simple/minimalist life is tough w/out community. Twitter is oftentimes my jolt to get back on track.
Andrew Odom Andrew Odom

WORD!

Which brings me to the point of my writing today. The community of strangers. I’ve never met Andrew Odom. We’ve tweeted, facebook chatted and read each other’s blog posts for several months now and that’s about it. I’d love to meet him someday but even if that doesn’t happen it won’t change the way my online interactions with him positively affect my life.

What I wrote above is absolutely true. I do get stuck in the middle of my to-do lists or errands and the mire of my 9-5 job and I do get lazy and put off making progress towards my goal of owning the stuff I truly want by age 40. But what really gets me back on track is reading something in my RSS feed from a favorite blogger or hopping on twitter for 10 minutes and reading what’s been going on in other people’s lives. Maybe I’ll follow a link and see a cool picture or maybe I’ll follow a link to an article to read or maybe I’ll just see how other people’s days are shaping up. Whatever I do in that 10 or so minutes I leave twitter feeling energized and ready to knock off a couple tasks on my list.

I don’t know the vast majority of the people I follow on twitter. Twitter is a community of strangers but it’s really not too difficult to identify those people that think like you do or do things you want to do. My follow list is between 150 and 200 and they are almost all people that I gain inspiration from in one form or another. The easiest way to form your own community on twitter is to find one or 2 people you like and take a look at who they follow. Then follow some of those people and check their lists. Soon you’ll have a group of people that are a lot like you, doing their thing just like you are. Over a month or 2 you follow some more, unfollow a few and -poof- there it is. Your own personally tailored, inspiring kick-you-in-the-butt life coach. And it’s all right there, free for the taking.

Who knows. Maybe you’ll end up inspiring someone else that you only thought was inspiring you. It makes you feel really good.

Posted in Thoughts | 4 Comments

Simplify 2011: Week 19

Posted on May 16, 2011 by

On the one hand these Simplify 2011 posts are important because they help keep me on track…but on the other hand it’s so hard to come up with something to get rid of on a weekly basis. The really BIG post will be the week of the yard sale, that’s coming up in almost exactly a month. After that, this category of post will likely be more sporadic as there won’t be a ton of “stuff” to try to get rid of anymore.

Anyway, onto Week 19. I got rid of…

1. a work hat. Yep, big deal huh? It’s because it’s a crappy old hat and won’t sell in a yard sale. I still have one baseball hat for working outside and a broad brimmed hat to wear while mowing during the summer.

2. a poster in the garage that I realized I didn’t want anymore.

3. a car. Well, sort of. About 15 years ago my dad gave me money to buy a barely running Volkswagen Type 181, aka a VW Thing. At the time of purchase he was living several hours away from me so I put my name on the title. (Really it was his car but there’s a small part of me that thinks that if my mom knew he bought another car she’d have had him sleep in the garage.) Not long after that the car was taken to their house and I’ve had very little exposure to it ever since. Getting the title transferred out of my name was mostly paperwork housekeeping, but if we get all technical and legal…I got rid of a car!

I continued to get things ready for the yard sale this week, tossed some stuff in the trash, tossed some stuff in a box for the sale. I’m getting there, I can’t wait for it to be over to be honest with you.

On a side note, my wife has started to clean out stuff too! Since her graduation (with her second degree, I’m so proud of her) she’s been cleaning out magazines, old paperwork, her makeup, as well as closets and other assorted piles that had accumulated for the last few months.

Onto week 20!

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Small (Really Small) Apartment

Posted on May 16, 2011 by

258 square feet masterfully turned into a great little living space.

It reminds me of another small multi-use apartment I posted about last year.

I could live here, how ’bout you?

Posted in Minimalist Living, Video | 3 Comments

Track Your Veggies

Posted on May 10, 2011 by

I was sitting here at work this evening eating my salad and munching on pita chips with hummus when I glanced at my pre-packaged salad and saw an imprint on the bag. It was a web address and a code. I hopped on over to Harvestmark.com, punched in the code from the bag and up came a webpage showing the details of my salad.

Salad

It turns out that the Romaine and Iceberg lettuce came from Salinas, California. The red cabbage is from Florida and the carrots were grown in Georgia. The entire salad was packaged in Springfield, Ohio on April 29th.

That’s quite a lot of info for just some vegetables. Plus, there’s a Food Safety Status entry on the website that tells me there are no issues…which is good.

Several farms and stores use Harvestmark to offer customers a way to see where their food came from. Kroger also lets people check the origin of their organic chicken. Maybe this is a sign of things to come and we’ll be able to track most food someday.

There’s also a Harvestmark iPod Touch/iPhone app so you can check produce at the store. Pretty neat. Not earth shattering cool, but neat.

Posted in Food | 2 Comments