The Secret Life of Your Trash

Through minimalism, each item I get rid of, I then have to decide where it should go next: in the trash, consignment store, Goodwill, or repurposed to someone else's household. Seattle already strives to be a very green city, with recycling and composting laws to reduce the amount of trash in landfills. Seattle Residents can view their Seattle Public Utilities newsletter this season to read about, "Where Does It Go? The Secret Life of Your Trash."

On average, each person in Seattle generates 2,200 pounds of recycling, food waste, and garbage each year...yikes! I know through recycling just old school papers and photos, that I had 200 pounds.
Transporting, processing and disposing of garbage is expensive. Therefore, it is important that we all understand where our trash goes, and our continued need to reduce the amount of waste that we generate. For those individuals that live in Seattle, you can use the new "Where Does It Go" tool for up-to-date information about which items go in the recycling, compost, or garbage bin at seattle.gov/util/wheredoesitgo

Ideas for reducing waste and ways to recycle and compost even more:

• Cleaning out your closets? Visit the Threadcycle web page: kingcounty.gov/threadcycle
• You can now donate ALL your unwanted clothing, shoes, purses, and linens. 
• Items that are ripped, torn, stained or worn out can be recycled into industrial wiping rags, insulation, sound-proofing and stuffing
• Borrow and share: borrow that specialty baking pan from your neighbor and lend a ladder in return.
• Organize a clothing swap to refresh your wardrobe without sending any items to the landfill.
• For Seattleites, you can borrow tools, kitchen appliances, and extra chairs from one of Seattle's five tool libraries at seattle.gov/util/reducereuse
• Neighborhood tool libraries have more than the typical repair tools. Unique tools you can find cider-presses, food dehydrators, and candle making kits.
• Most tool libraries also offer classes: bike repair, earthquake retrofits, fixing appliances, chainsaw safety, and more.
• Located in West Seattle, Southeast Seattle, Captiol Hill, Phinney Ridge, and Northeast Seattle neighborhoods.
• Declutter your mailbox: stop clutter at the source by opting out of mail you don't want
• Visit seattle.gov/stopjunkmail for links to FREE opt out services
• Instead of buying brand new items when your favorites wear out, visit your local tailor, upholsterer, or shoe repair. They can give new life to your old stuff.
• Reuse and second use: shop at second use stores:
• Reuse: Thrift and consignment stores extends the life of shoes, clothes, and furniture.
• Remodeling: find vintage door knobs, floor tiles, countertops, and more at salvaged building supply stores.
• Re-fashion: Stained t-shirt; make it a DIY rag rug. Have a tear in a bed sheet; use it as a drop cloth for painting projects.

Many of you may be embarking on spring cleaning; therefore, I ask that you pause a moment before you instantly throw something in the trash, and consider if it could possibly be reused or recycled!

The Minimalists: Everything That Remains

"Imagine a life with higher standards. Imagine a life with less clutter, less stuff, fewer distractions. What would that look like? Imagine your life with less--less stress, less debt, less discontent. What would it feel like? Now imagine your life with more--more time, more contribution, more elation. Imagine better, more interesting relationships. Imagine sharing meals and conversations and experiences and smiles with people who have similar interests and values and beliefs as you. Imagine growing with your peer group and your loved ones. Now imagine cultivating your passion until you can't imagine a day without pursuing it. Imagine creating more than you consume. Imagine giving more than you take. Imagine a consistent commitment to growth. Imagine growing toward your limits and then past your limits and waving back with a smile. Imagine still having problems, but better problems, problems that fuel your growth and excitement, problems you want to face. Imagine getting everything out of the way so you can love the people closest to you. Imagine the myriad ways you can show your love, not just say it, but really show it. Imagine holding hands and exchanging hugs. Imagine making love with the man or woman you love, unencumbered by the trappings of the noisy world around you. Imagine making your priorities your Real Priorities. Imagine real success. Imagine feeling lighter, freer, happier. What you're imagining is a meaningful life. Not a perfect life, not even an easy life, but a simple one."

The second novel I read by The Minimalist was Everything That Remains. This book continues documenting Joshua Millburn's pursuit of embracing simplicity and getting himself out of debt. The message of getting rid of excess stuff can be liberating. I definitely admire individuals that are able to become minimalists instantly. For me, it has been a slower process, but the end goal of living more deliberately is still in my sights.

So far in 2017, I have had two big "donating" trips to Goodwill. Below are photos of some of the things that I was finally able to part with, because they no longer served a purpose, and I could no longer justify keeping them in my apartment. Also, below are some advice from the book that showcases how minimalism can be a life choice.

• American Tragedy
• Important topics/issues/concerns that should be discussed when in a relationship:
• children, short-term goals, long-term goals, interests, values, beliefs, and desires.
• I don't want this life. I want something different, a deliberate life, not some nightmare that I've been sold as the American Dream.
• Open Windows
• How Colin Wright became a minimalist and said goodbye to his old life, and said hello to traveling the world.
• Being a minimalist is not just having very little with you; it's actually about owning very little. Because the act of ownership is what stressed me out, kept me from feeling free.
• Having this realization is one thing, making the change is another.
• Keywords "becoming a minimalist," "living with less," and "minimalism" yield results for three different websites: Becoming Minimalist, Be More with Less, and Zen Habits.
• Be More with Less
• Runs Project 333, a minimalist fashion challenge that invites people to dress with thrity0three or fewer items for three months. Many have found immense benefit in slashing their wardrobe, reducing their closets down to the essentials.
• Zen Habits
• Website about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives; delivering easy-to-digest messages about clearing the clutter so people can focus on what's important, create something amazing, and find happiness.
• I hadn't focused on what I'm passionate about. I haven't made writing a must. Instead it's been a gigantic should in my life. I should write, I frequently remind myself. I should, I should, I should. I've said it more times than I can count--just shoulding all over myself.
• What do you do?
• What we are really asking is:
• How do you earn a paycheck?
• How much money do you make?
• What is your socioeconomic status?
• And based on that status, where do I fall on the socioeconomic ladder compared to you? Am I a rung above you? Below you?
• How should I judge you?
• Are you even worth my time?
• Passion isn't followed, it's cultivated.
• Strong Moves Slow
• I started, small, asked myself: What if you removed one material possession just one, from your life each day for a month. What would happen?
• What we're not told is that decluttering by itself doesn't solve the problem, not long term anyway.
• Discussing how to get rid of our stuff answers only the what-side of the equation, but not the why; the action, but not the purpose; the how-to, but not the significantly more important why-to.
• Each of my belongings--my kitchenware, my furniture, my clothes, my car--has a function. As a minimalist, every possession serves a purpose or brings me joy.
• The Sound of Minimalism
• Those three delicate words: just in case. I know them too well. For the longest time I had an intimate relationship with just in case. I held on to hundreds--maybe thousands--of things, just in case I needed them.
• Personal anchors--all the circumstances that keep me from realizing real freedom.
• ex: material possessions, mortgage, car payment, bills, all debt, relationships
• As a kid we use to ask " what if" with so much optimism (What if we could fly), but now the only time we seem to ask it is out of fear.
• What if has become disempowering.
• Clarity
• "Follow your passion" is crappy advice.
• What's important to consider, then, is this question, "What is my mission?
• Like passion, one's mission is not preexisiting. And it's not always easy to find or pursue. Ultimately, I believe that anyone can be passionate about virtually anything, so long as it aligns with his or her values and beliefs.
• A well-curated life
• Deciding to live with no goals for a while
• Breaking free from goals changed my life in at least three ways
• I am less stressed
• I am more productive
• I am happier
• Success=Happiness + Growth + Contribution
• Encourage you to take five-steps towards a meaningful Christmas
• Avoid holiday doorbuster sales
• Gift your time
• Gift experiences, not stuff
• Ask for better Christmas gifts (raise funds for your favorite charity)
• Soup-Kitchen Christmas (local soup kitchen, homeless shelter, foodbank, or any place that needs volunteers)

Yes, this is a container for Pringles chips. When I was in elementary school, I use to put chips in my lunchbox. And I have kept it ALL these years.

The kitchen is a room that I am constantly re-evaluating the items in it. Have I used them yet? Are there other items that have multipurpose that can get rid of items that have only purpose. In addition, I found so many items that I just used once or never used and they still had price tags on it.

The dream of having a Beauty and the Beast library has been seared in my head since I was a little kid. However, rarely do I reread books, and books take up a lot of space and are heavy to move. Therefore, I finally parted with more books that I have already read, and know I will not reread. I still have 100 books on my 4-shelf bookcase. However, I am deliberately reading more books from my shelves, instead of borrowing constantly from the library; therefore, the decluttering of my personal collection of books will continue throughout the year.

This round of decluttering, I removed canvases and pictures from my walls of my apartment that no longer brought me enjoyment. In addition, I tackled my DVD collections and got rid of so many DVDs and TV series. Also, in this photo are a lot of "just in case" items that I was holding onto for that sole reason.

When you get rid of 12 pair of shoes, you will also be able to get rid of a shoe rack. Ta-da!

Minimalism: Essential Essays

Since January 2016, I have been decluttering my belongings and constantly reevaluating the possessions I still own, and justifying the value that each item brings to my life with applying minimalism and insights from the book The Joy of Less.  Towards the end of 2016, I watched the documentary Minimalism on Netflix. In the Netflix documentary, The Minimalists (Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus) mention some of the books they have wrote; therefore, in 2017, I began reading their books. So far, I have read three of their novels.

The first one I read was Minimalism: Essential Essays. This novel highlights essays from the first nine months of their journey into minimalism. The focus of these essays state the importance of living a more meaningful life with less stuff. Below are tidbits that I found profound or helpful with  my continuous journey with minimalism.

My easy recommendations to start decluttering:

1) Go through your socks, and get rid of any that holes in them

2) Go through your perfumes/colognes/lotions and discard any that no longer smell good to you.

3) Go through board games that you no longer play.

4) Get rid of chargers/cords that you no longer utilize their appliance/device.

• Minimalism
• Many people might think the point of minimalism is only to get rid of material possessions; however, that is a mistake.
• Minimalists don't focus on having less, less, less. Rather they focus on making room for more, more, more: more time, more passion, more experiences, more growth, more contribution, more contentment, and more freedom.
• Even though everyone embraces minimalism differently, each path leads to the same place: a life with more meaning.
• Minimalism is not about deprivation; but rather, finding more value in the stuff you own.
• Decluttering is not the end result, but it is merely the first step.
• Stuff
• Go through your closet, and dump every item that you don't love. You might get to the point of owning just a few outfits that you enjoy wearing and brings you joy, than a mediocre collection of once-loved threads 
• Quotes that can help with minimalism
• "Reject the basic assumption of civilization, especially the importance of material possessions."
• "The things you own end up owning you."
• It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."
• Collecting is just hoarding with a prettier name.
• Technology
• Digital clutter can be a significant problem Try to digitize your physical items whenever you can (DVDs, photos, CDs, and files of paperwork you hardly ever need).
• We can focus on what we have instead of what we don't have;
• Go without: when we go without, it forces us to question our stuff, it forces us to discover whether or not we need it, and sometimes we discover life without it is actually better than before.
• Repair it: we can attempt to repair the item (household item). This makes the most sense when applied to a car; when the brakes need to be replaced, you wouldn't buy a new car.
• Replace it: we can purchase used items, we can buy products from local businesses, and we can often downgrade and still have what's necessary.
• Finances
• "Ask yourself, am I going to get more value from the thing I'm about to purchase, or am I going to get more value from my freedom?"
• No informed person would argue that we should stop spending money or that we must stop consuming. Consumption is not the problem--consumerism is.
• Consumerisum is compulsory, insipid, impulsive, unfocused, misguided, and seductive.
• Minimalists invest in experiences over possessions. We all can spend money without acquiring new material things.
• Ex: concerts, vacations, community theater
• To avoid Sale Prices of items. There is a preference for paying Full Price because it can make you question the purchase a great deal. Question if the new possession will add real value to your life.
• Take control of your fiances:
• Write down all your expenses (mortage, car payment, rent, credit card statements, meals, gasoline, electricity, student loans, bottle water, trips to Starbucks, retirement, healthcare savings, etc). Then separate it into three catergoreis:
• Needs
• What do you really, truly need to live (i.e. food ,water, shelter)
• Wants
• Many of the things you want, can lead to happiness, but we can indulge into too many wants (i.e. designer clothes, vehicles, impulse buys). Another way to look at this category is to ask yourself, "What adds value to m life?"
• Likes
• Many of the things we sort of like suck up a ton of our income.
• Financial Freedom
• Five steps you can take today to ensure you will never again struggle with money:
• Budget: Establish a written, monthly budget
• Give every dollar a destination at the beginning of the month. By establishing these boundaries, you won't worry about what you can and can't purchase because money that wasn't assigned at the beginning of the month can't be spent mid-month.
• Teamwork: Everyone in your household, even your children must have a say in the written budget.
• Adjust: you will have some slip-ups along the way because it is part of the process. At first, you and your family should scrutinize your written budget, daily, and then eventually wekkly.
• Safety: It's best to create a Safety Net saving account $500-$1000.
• Pay Yourself (Invest) : Right now is the best time to start planning for your future.
• Debt-Free: There is no such thing as good debt; some debt is worse than others, but it is never good.
• Minimize: By clearing the clutter from our lives, you will be able to focus on eliminiating debt, changing your habits, and making better decisions with fewer resources.
• You can sell belongings in yard sales, consignment stores, flea markets, and online.
• Don't know how to start minimalizing, start here for tips and best practices TheMinimalists.com/start
• Contribute: donate your most precious asset--your time via local soup kitchens, foodbanks, homeless shelters, Habitat for Humanity.
• Important Things we Put off
• Living Well, last will and testament, power of attorney, and being an organ donor.
• uslegalforms.com is a online resource that you can utilize. In addition, wikiHow.com can point you in the right direction.
• Mindfulness
• How to start meditating
• Instruction: Download free instructions from someone like Sam Harris (TheMinimalists.com/sam), or pay a few bucks for the Headspace app.
• Five minutes: start with just five minutes a day. Set an alarm on your phone to help remind you to make time for this.
• Give yourself a break
• Five Ways to Creat Solitude in Chaotic times
• Wake early
• Schedule time to read
• Go for a walk
• Exercise
• Get rid of distractions (i.e. turn off your cellphone for a while, get rid of a few clocks, check social networks only once a day).
• Diving into something new can be terrifying, or at least uncomfortable, but those feelings of discomfort are indicative of growth.
• Overcoming self-doubt: negative self-talk is demoralizing and destructive; therefore, here are some new questions to ask myself
• Did I have good intentions?
• Did I do my best to communicate the message?
• Was I as genuine as possible?
• Was I honest in the message I was communicating?
• Did I consider the other person's feelings before I spoke?
• Gift Giving
• Gift Experiences, not stuff
• concert tickets, a home-cooked meal, tickets to a play or musical, breakfast in bed, a back rub, watching a sunrise, taking a vacation together, etc
• Letting go of physical gifts
• The best way to approach the no-gift-getting concept is to be proactive: set the expectation with your friends and family that you don't need any more stuff, and if they want to give gifts, they can get you experiences that you will enjoy.
• We have been told gift-viging is on of our "love languages." But rather gift-giving is a destructive cultural imperative in our society; we have become consumers of love.
• Relationships
• Change isn't easy, but we are not afraid of change but rather, we are afraid of rejection.
• You can use minimalism as a way that involves questioning your life, not other people's lives. But rather simply looking for happiness, using minimalism as tool to search for deeper meaning.
• We often develop relationships out of convenience, without considering the traits necessary to build a successful bond with another people (i.e. unwavering support, shared trust, and loving encouragement).
• It's easy to develop a connection with a co-worker, schoolmate, or someone who's always there--even when they are not adding any real value to our lives.
• If you are unable to change the relationship, end it. It is okay to move on. You owe it to yourself to be happy in your relationships.
• Moving on is sometimes the only way to develop new, empowering relationships.
• Passion
• "Follow your passion" assumes a) you have preexisting passion; and b) if you match this passion to your job, then you'll enjoy that job.
• Most people do not have preexisting passions.
• Contribution
• It's cringeworthy whenever we see people who attempt to get without first giving, to take without contributing. Scientists have a name for this kind of organism: parasite.
• The key to giving, then, is simple: add value first without any expectation of receiving anything in return. Do this with enough frequency, and you'll get way more than you give.
• Success
• Thomas Jefferson's ten rules for a good life
• Never put off til tomorrow what you can do today.
• Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
• Never spend your money before you have it.
• Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap; it will never be dear to you.
• Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.
• Never repent of having eaten too little.
• Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
• Don't let the evils that have never happened cost you pain.
• Always take things by their smooth handle.
• When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, count to 100.

Books to read

• Dave Ramsey's book, Total Money Makeover provides step-by-step formula to create a detailed plan, cut up your credit cars, and face your debts head on.
• Change Your Brain, Change Your Life by Daniel G. Amen explains the ties between the human brain and the human body.
• Waking UP: A Guide to Spirituality without religion by Sam Harris; he also has a blog SamHarris.org
• Seth Godin's free manifesto, "Stop Stealing Dreams," at StopStealingDreams.com

Blogs: Study Hacks

Resources

-free, attenuated version of the Myers-Biggs Type Indicator tests at TheMinimalists.com/mbti

-To learn more about Intermittent Fasting, visit Martin Berkhan's website, LeanGains.com