Archives for Minimalism
Creating a minimalist workspace — from Zen Habits
We are delighted to have Leo Babauta of Zen Habits as a guest columnist today. Please give him a warm welcome and check out his awe-inspiring website afterward. We thank Leo for being a part of our month of sharing.
How minimalist is your workspace? An uncluttered workspace is a thing of beauty.
I write a lot about minimalism on Zen Habits, including guides to creating a minimalist home, minimalist housework, and beating clutter entropy.
On Unclutterer, my favorite feature is the Workspace of the Week, with its cool setups.
Today, I thought I’d share my pretty minimalist workspace, and share some thoughts on how to go about creating one of your own.
What’s a minimalist workspace?
That question will have different answers for each person. There can be no single definition. The ultimate minimalist workspace, I think, would be to have no desk or papers or computer or anything of the kind — just yourself. You’d think, and talk, and maybe sit on the floor.
Of course, that won’t work for most of us, so it’s more useful to look at our minimum requirements, and focus on creating a workspace that addresses these essentials and nothing more.
So the first step is for you to consider your requirements for working, and what’s essential to your workflow. If possible, streamline and simplify that workflow and those requirements. Then, once you’ve got that down to a minimum, see what the minimum setup would be for those essentials and your workflow. Eliminate everything unnecessary.
What are your requirements?
It’s interesting to note that what you think your requirements are might not be the minimum. They might just be what you’re used to doing.
Taking myself as an example: I used to work with tons of paper, files, sticky notes, and all the usual office tools (pens, pencils, notebooks, pads, stapler, hole puncher, whiteout, calendar, personal organizer, etc.). But then I realized that it’s possible to work without paper, and I’ve eliminated the need for all that stuff. In fact, as I’ve eliminated paper, I’ve eliminated the need for drawers.
Now, you might not have that luxury, and I’m not saying you need to go that extreme. Your needs may be different than mine — but the point is to see if it’s possible to change the way you work, so that you still get the essentials done, without all the same requirements. It’s worth some thought at least — and if you make changes, as I did, you might find that changing things in small increments is better. I didn’t do away with paper altogether. I did it in steps, eliminating different needs for paper one at a time.
My Minimalist Setup
Basically, I have an iMac and a table. No need for papers, files, drawers, other tools.
I work from home these days, and I do everything online. I do have a phone (elsewhere in my house, so it doesn’t disturb me) and a cell phone (also elsewhere), but I don’t have a PDA, an iPod, a printer (though my wife has ordered one for her needs), a scanner, a fax machine, or anything like that. I don’t print anything and I don’t use fax (an outdated technology).
On my computer, I mostly just use Firefox, as I do nearly everything online. I also use text programs for writing (TextEdit, WriteRoom mostly) and a couple other utilities such as CyberDuck for uploading files, Quicksilver for everything, and GIMP for photo editing.
All my organizing needs are taken care of on the computer: Address Book, Gmail, text files for to-do lists and errands and ideas and projects, Gcal for scheduling.
Tips for Creating Your Own Minimalist Workspace
You won’t need to have my setup, but once you’ve determined your minimum needs, here are some tips for making your workspace as minimalist as possible. Not all tips will work for you, so pick and choose which ones will work best for your workflow.
- Have one inbox. If paper is a part of your life, keep an inbox tray on top of your desk and make sure ALL papers, including phone messages and sticky notes, go into this tray. You might have to train your co-workers if they’re not already used to this. Don’t leave papers scattered all over your desk, unless you’re actually working on them at this moment. You might also have a “working file” folder for papers you’re working on but not at this moment, but put this working file in a drawer, so that it’s out of the way. Clear out your inbox each day — nothing should go back in there after you process them. It’s not a storage bin, but an inbox. Read more on clearing your inbox.
- Clear your desktop. Aside from your computer, your inbox tray, your phone, and maybe a nice photo of a loved one, there should be nothing on top of your desk. No papers (again, unless you’re working on them), no notes, no stapler or pens or other junk. Clear as much of it off as humanly possible. If you want to include a couple other essentials, you should, but be sure they absolutely must be there. Keep it as clear as possible, as a clear desk is a relaxing workspace.
- Get rid of knick-knacks. This goes with the above item, but many people don’t even think about all the little trinkets they have on top of their desk. They’re usually unnecessary. Toss ‘em!
- Clear the walls. Many people have all kinds of stuff posted on their walls. It creates visual clutter. Get them off your walls. If it’s a reference guide, put it on your computer and set up a hotkey so you can call the guide up with a keystroke when needed.
- Clear your computer desktop. Many people also have tons of icons on their computer desktop. It’s the same principle as a real desktop — clear it of everything unnecessary, so you can have a nice simple workspace. Keeping icons on your desktop is usually inefficient. It’s hard to find them among a jumble of files. If they’re necessary to open many times a day, file them away and use a hotkey to call them up. Quicksilver for Mac or Autohotkey for Windows are my favorite programs for this.
- Re-examine your paper needs. I started doing this a little over a year ago, and one by one, I realized I could eliminate my different needs for paper. I stopped printing stuff out to read (duh!) and just kept it on the computer. Yeah, that’s obvious. I also stopped keeping paper copies of files I had on the computer, as they just took up more space. Also fairly obvious, perhaps. I also asked people to stop faxing me stuff, and to email it instead. That should be obvious, but I think a lot of people ignore this step. I also asked people to stop sending me paper memos, and use email instead. Stop circulating documents by paper. I stopped bills and notices coming in by paper that I could get online. I stopped catalogs and newsletters coming in by mail. I still get some mail, but for the most part I toss it. You might not be able to eliminate paper, but you can probably reduce it.
- Eliminate unnecessary tools. Think about each tool you have in your desk, in your work area, and even in your office. Do you need a stapler and hole puncher? Do you need all those pens? Do you really need a fax machine? Or a scanner? You might not have control over all these types of tools, but if you do, eliminate the ones you don’t really need, maybe one at a time.
- Simplify your filing. As mentioned above, it’s unnecessary to keep paper copies of files you have on your computer or can access online. Back stuff up online if you’re worried about losing them. Having stuff digitally makes them searchable, which is much better than filing. Just archive, and search when necessary. If you do need paper files, keep them alphabetically and file immediately, so that you don’t have a huge “to be filed” pile. Once every few months, weed out unnecessary files.
- Go through each drawer. One drawer at a time, take out all the contents and eliminate everything you don’t need. It’s much nicer to use drawers if you can open them and see order. Have a designated spot for each item and make sure to put those items back in that spot immediately, every time.
- Use a minimalisk desk. As mentioned above, I just use a table, as I don’t need drawers. While you might not want to go to that extreme, you can find desks without too many drawers or contraptions or designs. Simple as possible is best.
- Clear the floor. There should be nothing on your floor but your desk and chair. No files, no boxes. Keep it clear!
Popularity: 31% [?]
Modular kitchen design
While looking around the web for multi-functioning kitchen tools and gadgets, I stumbled upon the following design for a modular kitchen. As you can see from the photos, the modular kitchen designed by Fevzi Karaman is an interesting concept for small spaces. It looks to be, at this point, just a concept. Hopefully, in the near future this modular kitchen concept will be available for purchase. Just about everything you need in a kitchen is packed into this small, rectangular counter top:
Obviously, this is intended for small living spaces and isn’t going to be very useful for larger families. For a small space, however, it is well done.
(via Tuvie.com)
Popularity: 31% [?]
Unclutter your writing with self-imposed limitations
Two ideas recently converged for me in one device. The first idea is the notion of self-imposed limitations, and the second is the concept of retro-computing. The device is the AlphaSmart Neo. Here’s how it all fits together.
Self-imposed limitations
I’m not the first to note the challenge that modern computing presents to human concentration. Writing is a hard thing to do, and when you have to do it, easy things like email, feeds, and Facebook can tempt and paralyze you.
The name of the game is focus and a cottage industry of apps has sprouted around eliminating distractions. The poster-child for these is WriteRoom, which hides everything on your screen except a monochrome text-editor. Slate has called these programs “zenware,” while the New York Times took a more Western tack and called them “biblical.”
These programs work because they allow users to self-impose limitations in order to concentrate and get more done in less time. Internet-related distractions are not the only target. In large part these tools are a revolt against the tyranny of Word. That was the focus of the New York Times piece, which was inspired by the Steven Poole essay “Goodbye, cruel Word.” In it he explains how the Microsoft flagship long ago gave up the pretense that it was a tool for the art of writing. A good tool disappears in the act of creation. Word might once have been such a thing, but that’s certainly no longer the case. Poole, an author of two books and countless articles, writes:
Many people agree that revision 5.1a, specifically, was the best version of Word that Microsoft has ever shipped, combining utility and minimalist elegance with reliability. Sadly for me, although it wasn’t strictly necessary, after a few years and a colour Performa I “upgraded” to Word 98, and somehow the magic was gone. Yes, I turned off all the crappy lurid toolbars and tried to make the compositional space as simple as possible, but by this time Word was stuffed with all kinds of “features” that let you print a pie-chart on the back of a million envelopes or publish your cookery graphs to your “world wide web home-page”, and it already felt to me that Word was only grudgingly letting me write nothing but, you know, words. Trigger Happy got out of Word 98 and onto the streets, but not without routine crashes and the occasional catastrophic loss of a few finely honed paragraphs.
He goes on to say that he’s converted to WriteRoom and Scrivener, but not before giving us a tour of the tools that he’s loved the most. Apart from Word 5.1a, they include a Brother LW-20 electric typewriter with a 6-line LCD screen, and an ultraportable Psion 5. What he likes so much about WriteRoom and the rest, he says, is how much they imitate the single-minded purposefulness of those old tools.
Retro-computing
That brings me to the second theme in this story. One way to achieve zen word processing is to hide the fact that your modern computer is a modern computer. (Out there, no doubt, is someone who paid $1,800 for a MacBook Air only to then run WriteRoom on it.) It’s an attempt to travel back to a time before virtual tailfins. Another way to zen, however, is to simply use the tools from that era—the era in which word processing had been perfected.
Writer Paul Ford has said that his weapon against distractions was installing WordPerfect for DOS on his computer—the original that WriteRoom emulates. As a result of switching to the mouse-less, crash-less WordPerfect he says, “My average daily word count has doubled, and my stock of fresh ideas seems to be replenishing.”
Another promoter of retro-computing is Andy Ihnatko who inspired me to look not just to old software, but to old hardware as well. He sings the praises of his NEC MobilePro 790, a Windows CE device he picked up for $10 at the MIT flea market. It doesn’t have the MacBook Air’s 1.6 GHz or good looks, but it matches its weight, comfortable keyboard, and more than serviceable screen. But when distraction-free writing is the goal, the latter matters more than the former.
The AlphaSmart Neo
I think I did Andy one better, though, or at least more retro. I discovered the AlphaSmart Neo, in part thanks to Paul Ford’s writings because the Neo is his companion to WordPerfect. What is the Neo? It’s a full keyboard with six-line LCD attached. That’s it. No distractions. It’s a thing of beauty.
At two pounds, I take it everywhere. I love my MacBook, but it kills my back, and for no good reason since most of the time I just want to write. Instant-on, and automatic save of every keystroke make it even more appealing. Some other retro advantages:
- At an all-day conference my three-hour battery on my Mac isn’t much help and I have to be on the hunt for limited power outlets. (The NEC MobilePro wouldn’t fare much better.) The Neo’s frugal processor and simple screen, on the other hand, gets me 700 hours from 3 AA batteries. That’s about a year’s worth of normal use.
- The keyboard is amazing. It’s a real, honest-to-goodness keyboard with satisfying travel and quiet clickitiness. It really feels better than my Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, which is the same design as the Air’s. It also beats out the MobilePro’s slightly cramped keyboard.
- AlphaSmart was started by two former Apple engineers and it has overtones of the eMate 300. Like the eMate, the AlphaSmart was designed for the education market, and it shows in the build quality. If it’s tough enough for kindergardeners, it’s tough enough for me.
Most important, though, is that it keeps me focused. If I go to a coffee shop to get some work done, the only thing I can do with my Neo is write. There are no distractions. There isn’t even bold or italics (something I get around with Markdown). When writing is the only thing you can do, you get it done, and it remains an enjoyable activity because it’s not the thing that’s keeping you from Twitter.
At some point in our technological past we perfected word processing. Every feature since then seems to have subtracted from the experience. Do yourself a favor and look into some single-purpose, “underpowered,” and self-limiting tech.
Popularity: 47% [?]
Workspace of the Week: Minimalist Desk
This week’s Workspace of the Week is Lucy’s 10 Lives’s minimalist desk.
This isn’t the most unclutered workspace I’ve ever seen, but there’s still something very charming about it. I like the symmetry bewteen the right side of her desk with the walls and the open desktop on the left for multi-purpose workspace. I find it comforting.
Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.
Popularity: 36% [?]
Uncluttered doesn’t have to mean sterile
When my husband and I were registering for wedding gifts, we had an epiphany about our future: we will eventually break our dishes and glassware. We doubted that we would break each and every dish, but we knew that a few would become casualties amid our daily routine.
Acknowledging that dishes will break resulted in a few changes to our registry. First, we decided to register for plain, white dishes of which we had no emotional attachment but served high utility. We went with a pattern that had been produced by a major manufacturer for decades because we knew that it was likely to continue or at least be easily replaced off of Replacements, Ltd. Also, we went with plain white because we knew that we could dress it up or down, as well as put it in the dishwasher.
Second, we decided to register for glassware that we knew was being discontinued. This kept the cost low, and paved the way for our real hope with our glassware. The idea was that as each piece broke, we would replace it with something completely different from our original set. If any of our friends broke a glass and offered to replace it, we’d just tell them to buy an inexpensive glass of their choosing. Variations in glassware look creative and inspiring against our plain white plates when we set the table.
It may sound cluttered to have non-matching glassware in the kitchen, but it’s not. We don’t have more glasses than we need, all of our glasses are functional, and they are stored appropriately. Being uncluttered doesn’t mean looking exactly the same, it means using and honoring what you have and being organized with its storage system.
The idea of mismatched glassware against a plain background can be instituted in many areas of your home. Think about having every chair around your dining table being different pieces from the same period or knobs on your kitchen cupboards being the same style but in different colors. Remember that good design and an uncluttered life can be full of variety and creativity in unconventional ways. You don’t have to live in an uncomfortable, soul-less museum to be clutter free.
Popularity: 53% [?]
Empty rooms? Get rid of them
Reader Vicky writes in to ask:
I was wondering whether you might have any thoughts on what to do with the empty spaces left behind from de-cluttering. Specifically, we have decided that two full rooms of our house - the guest bedroom and the formal dining room - are serving no purpose and we would like to get rid of everything in both rooms. But what should we do with these new wide-open spaces? Having a blank formal dining room right as you walk in the house is a bit of an eyesore, and moreover it creates a temptation to fill the space with new purchases we don’t need.
Now, you should take what I’m about to say to you with a grain of salt, because you’re talking to a serious unclutterer here, but I would take the opportunity to do something radical.
Sell your home and move into something smaller.
American home sizes have more than doubled since the 1950s, yet we constantly complain about not having enough space. The bigger a house we buy, the more we buy to fill it, and this has led to the proliferation of the self-storage industry. Now that you’ve realized that you don’t need those two extra rooms, why look for excuses to fill them up again? That said, if you’re passionate about ballet, for example, and you’ve always wanted a dance studio and it will bring you joy to have one, by all means repurpose the room to be a dance studio. But, you wouldn’t be asking what to do with your space if you had a definite idea.
To me, a formal dining room is a unitasker. If you don’t use it more than two or three times a year, why bother with it at all? And, think of how much money you’ll save if you move into a smaller, cozier space. You could have your house paid off in much less time, or move in closer to the city to shorten your commute.
Popularity: 44% [?]
Uncluttering Music Production with Logic Studio
Not so long ago, creating professional music tracks required racks upon racks of specialized equipment and cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
While thousands of little blinking lights and twisted nests of cables may look impressive when Sean “Puff ‘P Diddy aka Puffy’ Daddy” Combs rolls up with his entourage to cut a new single, such setups can do serious damage to both your wallet and your limited space.
Apple recognized the burgeoning independent music market in 2002 with the first version of it’s Logic Pro software, and truly brought production abilities to the masses in 2004 with GarageBand. It didn’t take me long to ditch my PortaStudio, VS-840, and associated bins of tapes, disks and patch cables.
GarageBand is currently included as a standard software application on all Macintosh computers as part of the iLife suite. It’s perfectly suited to quick recordings when inspiration strikes, and even producing very passable demos. Professional quality recordings, though, still demand more robust — and much more expensive — software.
But yesterday, Apple changed the game again with the announcement of Logic Studio, which integrates Logic Pro 8, formerly separate application Soundtrack Pro, a new interface for using Logic Pro for live shows, as well as thousands of loops, plugins, and software instruments. This is a pretty incredible suite, and I predict that some musicians will literally be abandoning their racks for Macs and USB controllers.
And the best part — the whole package can be had for just under five bills, which makes it the ideal solution to serve as the hub of a minimalist recording setup. Add a decent mic, and good pair of reference monitors or headphones, and you’re in business. As an added bonus for us unclutterers, Apple also has abandoned the annoying USB dongle that formerly plagued pricey pro software packages.
Way to go Apple — yet again.
Popularity: 43% [?]
MIT designs clutter detector
Have you ever been in a rental car and wasted time trying to figure out how to open the trunk from the driver’s seat or turn on the headlights? Have you been in a restaurant with a menu that has so many words and typefaces on a page that you have to concentrate intensely to decide what you want to order?
A team of engineers at MIT believes that these frustrations are caused by visual clutter. In response, they have designed a visual clutter detector to identify when bad design hampers a person’s ability to understand information, causes confusion, or interrupts concentration. The clutter detector is “a breakthrough that could help everyone from fighter pilots to Web site designers.”
A PC World article discusses the clutter detector’s methodology:
… clutter is perceived differently by different people, so coming up with a universal measure of what’s hard or easy to pick out in a display is challenging. The model takes into account such factors as color, data and contrast.
Visual clutter is obviously different from physical clutter, but if you rid your view of clutter then you rid yourself of distractions. Check out the article and the underlying research (available for .zip download here) for more details.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Netflix for books
As a dedicated unclutterer, I love Netflix. Why fill your home with DVD boxes when you can have every movie ever made at your disposal just as long as you’re willing to wait a couple days for it? Sure, there are going to be those titles that you absolutely love and will want to own to watch over and over, but most of the time movies are one-time consumables you don’t need to hang on to.
That said, I’m so excited about Book Swim, a new service that promises to do for books what Netflix has done for DVDs. You pay a monthly fee, come up with a list of books, get three in the mail (no postage fees either way), return them when you’re done (no late fees) and get the next one in your queue. How awesome is that?
It sounds like a great way to sample books you might not otherwise pick up. They have plans from 3 books out at a time for $19.99 a month, to 11 books for $35.99. Sure, the library is always another great option, but this is so convenient for busy folks. One feature I dig: If you really love a book you can just keep it and pay them for it. I’m not sure how great their selection is, but I plan to get a subscription and report back with details. Anyone out there already a Book Swim member?
Popularity: 38% [?]
Keyless entry = less keys
Reader Ralph writes in with a tip that may well belong in a Extreme Minimalism Monday post. He writes,
I hated carrying around my keys so I installed combination door lock deadbolts on my house doors. ”Look ma! No more keys!” … There’s also no need to give spare/emergency keys to family, they just know the code.
He points us to this keyless lock solution from Codelock. Not sure keys bother me that much, but if they bother you, pair this with keyless entry in your car and you’re home free.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Website helps identify walker-friendly neighborhoods
When I lived in downtown Washington, D.C., I didn’t have a car. I didn’t have a need for one. The grocery store was four blocks away from where I lived, my job was less than a mile, my husband worked from home, the metro went everywhere I regularly went (including the airport), and I saved so much money on gasoline, insurance, maintenance, and car payments that I never felt frustrated if I needed to take a cab.
Many of our readers who subscribe to a simple living lifestyle and also eschew car ownership might be interested in a website I stumbled upon recently. Walk Score rates different addresses based on their distance to walkable locations like grocery stores, restaurants, libraries, schools, parks, and then looks at accessibility, speed controlled streets, and other walking-friendly factors. According to the website, I used to live in a “walkers’ paradise” with a score of 92 out of 100 possible points. I would agree completely with that score.
Readers looking for a car-less lifestyle should definitely give Walk Score a look before your next move. The site’s how it doesn’t work page is worth a read, too. It’s informative and quite entertaining.
Popularity: 24% [?]
Living small
A big “thank you” to The Consumerist for directing us to this news …
According to the Lowe’s website:
Soon after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, architect and planner, Andres Duany developed the concept for a small, permanent home designed as a dignified alternative to the FEMA trailer. The first Katrina Cottage was designed by Marianne Cusato as affordable housing for displaced residents and emergency workers …
Now, as a result of demand in other markets, Lowe’s is making available Katrina Cottage plans and kits to consumers across the country.
Similar to the Sears “Modern” mail-order homes that were popular in the first half of the 1900s, the Katrina Cottages are considered to be complete homes. A purchase of a Katrina Cottage contains all of the required materials except for the home’s foundation, HVAC system, and furniture.
The smallest blueprint plan Lowe’s offers is for a two bedroom, one bath, 544 square foot home. The largest blueprint plan is for a five bedroom, three bath, 1807 square-foot model. There are 11 plans total, and all models have plans available for additions and build-outs.
Pricing isn’t direct on the website, but piecing together what information exists, it looks like costs start around $20,000. For the price of a new car, you could have a new home.
If the cottage style doesn’t speak to you, but you’re interested in small, pre-fabricated homes, you might enjoy the homes listed on FabPreFab. Many of the homes on the site are just as small, some ever smaller, than the Katrina Cottages.
Popularity: 21% [?]
Free-up space in your bathroom by getting rid of nail polish
My mother has the most beautiful finger nails a woman could ever dream of having. They’re strong and straight and no one believes her when she says that they’re real. She doesn’t have professional manicures and, even though you won’t believe me, she doesn’t wear finger nail polish.
To let you in on a secret: My nails are not as beautiful as my mother’s, and I don’t wear finger nail polish either. I wouldn’t even know how to put it on if someone gave me a bottle.
I trim and file and put lotion on my cuticles so that my nails always look healthy, clean, and well-maintained. My mom might even buff hers a bit to make hers shiny. But, open up our bathroom cabinets, and you won’t find finger nail polish anywhere.
In my experience, people only notice someone else’s nails when they are dirty, unkempt, or have chipped paint on them. If you’re looking to free up some space in your bathroom cabinets, you might think about getting rid of your finger nail polish supply. In addition to giving you some space, it also has the bonus of saving you money on polish and polish remover. I also don’t experience stress about chipping my finger nail polish right before an important meeting.
If you decide to get rid of your finger nail polish, be sure to dispose of it properly. Remove the nail polish cap and allow it to become a solid (do this in a well-ventilated area, like on your front porch). Once it is a solid, it is safe to throw away in the trash. If you have an extensive finger nail polish collection, then take all of your polish to your local hazardous waste disposal facility. It is unsafe to dispose of liquid polish in your trash. Nail polish remover should also be disposed of at your local hazardous waste disposal facility.
Popularity: 21% [?]
Everyday things: Are you buying quality or quantity?
I recently stumbled across the April 2005 article “101 New Uses for Everyday Things” on the Real Simple Magazine website. The article is a bit folksy, but I like its underlying premise: Items you already own can serve multiple purposes and save you from having to buy even more stuff.
If you own olive oil, do you also need to own wood polish?
Knowing about the potential of what you already own can keep you from having to acquire even more things. What are some everyday things in your home that can serve double-duty? Let us hear your suggstions in the comments.
Popularity: 15% [?]
A man in uniform
MacUser points us to an article by design academic Steven Heller in the AIGA journal about Steve Job’s wardrobe. Heller imagines a fictional interview with the Apple iCon in which he only has one question:
Heller: Mr. Jobs, it’s not easy to get you to sit for an interview, so I’ll make this short. Why do you always wear blue jeans and a black turtleneck?
The question’s never answered in the “interview,” but in the comments Heller suggests that Jobs understands that he is part of the Apple brand and therefore brands himself consistently whenever he’s acting officially. I think that might well be part of it, but here’s a recent photo of Jobs at one of his kids’ soccer matches — he’s wearing jeans, a mock turtleneck, and presumably white New Balance shoes. So it seems he always dresses like that.
Popularity: 21% [?]
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