Not Buying Anything

I recently found a great blog, Not buying anything. I can't stop reading it.
Stuff like this:
"All I am saying is that since the 1950's a few hundred million of us have gone off on an insane tangent like drunken kings and queens. And we are taking everyone, and everything else, down with us. We know it is bad, but we can't stop."

Here is a simple living story I found from the blog (author of the story unknown):

Of Mice And Men And Simple Living

A young man asked a sage what he should do to find meaning and purpose in life. "Live simply," the holy man told him. "Have only this small hut and the meager loincloth you wear. Keep the hut clean, your life orderly, and your mind quiet.

The holy man went on his way, vowing to return sometime to see how he was progressing. And this earnest young man began living his simple life.

After some time, he was distracted by the holes he found in his loincloth, and complained of it to his neighbor.

"You've got mice. Get a cat," advised the neighbor.

So he got a cat to get rid of the mice, but found himself having to borrow milk to feed the cat.

"Get a cow," suggested his helpful neighbor.

And he did. But then he had to find hay for the cow, until the neighbor counseled him, "Get a field and grow your own." The man did that, too. Before long, he acquired an estate, a wife, children, herds of cattle, machinery, servants, merchants to pay, profits to invest. His life was anything but simple.

One day, as promised, the sage returned and inquired of a farmhand about the young man. The servant had no idea who the holy man was searching for, so he took him to his master.

At the sages approach, the master of the estate vaguely recognized this tranquil man, who carried nothing but a staff, a pot of water, and the clothes on his back.

"What happened?" the holy man asked. "I left you here in a plain hut with a loincloth and instructions to quiet your mind."

The other man racked his brains to remember. He thought of his fine house, his servants in the fields, his splendid clothes. And he reflected on all the worries that accompanied them; the bills and duties and never-ceasing schemes for getting more things.

At last he remembered and blurted out, "I had mice."



We often hear a similar story. People decide to upgrade or renovate one thing, and soon everything around the shiny and new starts to look really shabby and the "need" to upgrade and re-do spreads like a wild fire.

How do you prevent this?

Easy! Never make the first upgrade.

If you absolutely must (because the old thing broke or the ceiling is coming down) then stick by a decision to only get new things to replace broken things.
If you can get a second-hand version, well you are in the clear, since it's not brand new and blindingly shiny, and the old stuff doesn't look glaringly different in comparison.

Stop the spread on it's tracks.
We like the worn-in and comfortingly familiar better anyway, don't we?

"You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy."
- Eric Hoffer

Spring cleaning

I got this blog award from Mira

and this is the first time I will do this.. at least the part where I tell seven random things about myself.

1.My first name means the First of May. Which is not news to you if you are Finnish and remember my name.

2.I just gave myself a haircut. And bangs. But I'm not sure I like them.

3. I have five chronic illnesses. Sometimes I'm not sure though that they are all separate illnesses. Because that would be really weird. Like it's weird how doctors think they can separate a person into these sections that supposedly have not much to do with each other.

4.I'm not too keen on cooking and if I spend a day alone I never cook. I may or may not eat left-overs if I remember / have time.

5.My favorite pieces of furniture in our home are my desk and desk chair.

6.And my least favorite pieces of furniture in our home are my husband's desk and desk chair...

7.My favorite number is 8.

8.Since 8 is my favorite number I will give you an 8th thing: My sister's family got a horse today!!!!!!!!! I mean he actually arrived at his new home stable today and we will go there next week for three nights and get to meet him too.

And in the first picture you can see how our living room looked for a short moment after I had organized Indiana's stuff and vacuumed.

While I cleaned and thought about what I would want to move to a tiny house, and about the stuff we used to have but is long gone now, and what we have left.. I realized something. I like making things, or learning to make them, not having them. If a thing doesn't have a very important function or a very special memory attached to it, I start to see it as a nuisance. I am interested in ideas, skills, learning, stories, spirituality, love, laughter. Intangible things. Stuff just gets in the way.

I'm constantly at tiny house- related web pages. And looking at house listings. There really aren't many small houses... But the right house that we all love will come along. We are not in a hurry, and since we are renting this apartment, our schedule is very flexible.

Part of my sudden enthusiasm for house cleaning and organizing has to do with the fact that I'm kind of trying to estimate how much space we actually need. (40 m2 + an attic bedroom and a sauna in the yard?) But really, the bigger challenge may be in finding something that is both as small as we'd like, and otherwise suitable too, with a good location, and no big renovations needed.. Uh-oh. Doesn't sound very easy!

I'm itching to get rid of some more stuff, but I'd have to involve the other family members too. I think it would be great if Indiana would pack her own toys and books when we move. Then she could pack everything that is important to her and she wants to take, and after practicing my parental veto right I would donate the rest (unless of course she would demand to take each and every thing.) Also I will ask my husband to pack his own things. The previous two moves I have packed and unpacked his stuff but I think it would be better if he had to touch each thing himself and decide if it was really worth it to move.

I am thankful for not wanting a big expensive house.

Having a small home with no mortgage -or a very small mortgage that can be paid off fast- is a great freedom.

Start small, you can always get bigger later!

A couple who were living in a one-bedroom apartment while expecting their first child, lamented how they need a bigger place, and that three bedroom apartments are so expensive in the area. Wait, what happened to upgrading to a two bedroom?

First of all, I think people expecting their first child should know that babies take practically no space at all. And the amount of space toddlers take is directly related to the amount of toys you buy them. Just wait and see if you can live where you are for a few years. You might be surprised.

Secondly, you are just having your first child. You may have another, and you may not. And you might even consider that the kids, should you have more than one munchkin, could, and would probably like to share a room.

If you may (or may not) need more space in ten years' time, why pay for it now?

The same goes with baby clothes and gear. Don't buy for the future, you just can't know what you will need in advance. For example, we cloth diapered Indiana fully during the first year, and she mostly wore wool pants and a shirt. Some other moms swear that onesies are the greatest in baby-wear. Or you may find that your toddler turns out to be a total tomboy and instead of wearing pretty dresses (which you have bought her a closet-full, up to size ten) wants to dress like a bum.

Likewise, if you are building a house, consider just building a very small space that you can add on to later if need arises. Buy small, get it paid off, then build an extension. You may find you didn't really need that extra space after all. (Then your kids leave home and you don't have to rattle alone in a big empty house.)

Or you are buying new dishes. Buy a few of each kind you need, then see which ones you are constantly running out of, and buy a couple of more of those.

Just don't fall in to the mind trap of expansion and accumulation as a natural law. It doesn't naturally follow that if something is good, then more will be better.

I'm getting off the soap box now and telling you that we had a nice weekend. We went to the Zoo -alas, no manul to be seen this time either, he is notoriously hard to get a glimpse at- and heard the tiger MEOW and lion RAWWWR. The lynx were in a playful mood. (I always feel a bit torn about the Zoo. It's great to show children these animals, and the Zoos do help save endangered species.. but still. You know.)

And today we visited my sister's family and saw a house. It was small, the whole lot was only 320 m2 (under 3500 sf) and the footprint of the house less than 50m2 (500 sf). It was a 1 1/2 story house so there was a second floor that was slightly lower space, with slanted walls because of the gambrel roof. It consisted of a kitchen and living room downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. There was only a toilet inside, no shower. The shower was in a separate small sauna building, which also had a cold storage space that could be turned into a studio for me.. The house is only 50 meters (about 150 feet) from the sea. I thought it was very sweet.
My husband seems to think we need a shower in the house :)
For me the bigger issue was that the sauna was teeny-tiny. Like one person sauna, two if you don't mind sitting butt-to-butt. Not a family sauna. It had been renovated just a few years ago, and I guess the old couple who lived there liked it that way.

The problem is that we were wishing to not have to renovate. At least nothing big and scary that involves plumbing.
But there are really rarely houses for sale in this area, which is really close to my sister's house, and by the sea, in a wonderfully idyllic tiny village. I can totally see us there. I just instantly really liked the house. Even the bright red old kitchen cabinets and the brown 70's back splash tiling. But my husband is the cautious, sensible one, who thinks about whether we would get too stressed out about a big renovation - or having to go through the snowy yard to take a shower. Sigh.

Anyway. This cute little house seemed quite big according to my scale. We'd be happy and comfortable in a smaller one too. Really people, the key is just to have less stuff. It really is that simple, I tell you! You can have enough space tomorrow! (Or at least in a month or two that it takes you to de-clutter.)

But it's not very often that you see houses smaller than this for sale. This cutie was built in 1926.

Now, I will pray that the right home will come along and that we will recognize it and make the right decisions.

Good night. Tomorrow I will go paint a little.

Tiny Homes Simple Shelter

I do occasionally buy something for myself. I recently got this book from Amazon and I've been reading it and looking at the pictures and showing Indiana too.
I want to share a couple of my favorite pictures from the book that epitomize simple interiors to me. A lot of raw wood and just a few, basic pieces of furniture and mainly functional objects.

We have started to look at small homes in the area where my sister's family lives. We are not in a hurry to move, but when something suitable comes along, we will go see it to get an idea of what's out there.. Obviously we have had to think about what we are looking for and what are the most important things for us in a home. And we both agree that it should be small. I think we could even buy something around 500 sf (just under 50 m2) if there was an option of making a sleeping loft, and build a studio in the garden.

There are some really great things about living small. We now live in 56 m2 (600 sf) and I feel like we have a lot of space, so I'm not just being a starry-eyed idealist here :) (And I totally think that this could be turned into a two-bedroom apartment, and you could live here even with two kids.)

Some things are really obvious. Smaller is cheaper. A while ago there was a 47m2 cute old red house, built with logs, and a sauna building with another small room and a big yard with a permit to build more, for sale for 150 000 euros. And often the asking price is a little higher than the final selling price. For reference, a 130m2 old house in the same area costs 265 000, or that's what they are asking. A hundred thousand euros (or more) in difference, if you are willing to pare down your stuff, live with the essentials and with a little space. (Remember that here's always the outside, or the sauna building if you really want to be alone!)
It would be really great to have a fully paid-for home sooner rather than later. That kind of money makes a big difference in the years of mortgage payments, and how much you have to earn to pay for the house.

And then there is one of the favorite benefits of minimalism: easy cleaning. But even with very few belongings, if you live in a big place, there is still more to vacuum, and you have to gather the toys and things from all over the place. Compact living space is just faster to clean and organize, and even more so if you keep things sparse. The small place would almost take care of itself. I already find that staying on top of our home is pretty effortless. Sure, there are dust bunnies sometimes when I have neglected vacuuming, and the living room is in disarray most of the time (it is Indiana's main play space after all), the sheets are probably rumpled on any given day.. But it's never more than fifteen minutes from presentable. The laundry doesn't pile up either because we would run out of clothes if we didn't take care of it. And since we line-dry (not a big deal around these parts of the world, by the way. A lot of people do it.) and must fit all the laundry in two racks, we can never do more than two loads at a time. I absolutely love having a minimal wardrobe and I will never go back to stuffed closets and piles of unworn clothes. I have lived with a small wardrobe for nearly four years now.

Small places are cozy. Remember how you loved small places and nooks as a child? If you have children they will love living in a small place. When I was looking at the pictures in the Tiny homes book with Indiana, she said she wished we had a bed in a closet like they had in one featured home. It was a traditional Scandinavian built-in bed with double doors you could close for privacy. I would have loved such a bed as a child and I still think it looks incredibly cozy.

I know people often say how children need lots of room to play, but really, I think it's the adults' preference.
How many children you think would really prefer to live in humongous houses and mansions with twelve rooms? Maybe some do, bu how many do you think fantasize about living in tiny huts and cabins? I remember that even as a teen, I loved to make a comfy nook in-between my bed and the wall. I put pillows and a blanket there and it was a wonderful spot in my room -which was never very big to begin with. At one point my ideal home, when I was going to move out on my own, was just a studio with a mattress on the floor and a stereo, and a tiny kitchenette.

I'm still totally fascinated with tiny houses, and this is a great book to browse through when dreaming and planning. We are not going to build our own house, but who knows, maybe we could build a studio in time. I am really in awe of these people (and also my own father who built our house without any power tools except a chain saw to cut wood planks to size) who take matters into their own hands, and decide that they do not want a conventional home and the expense that goes with it, be it mortgage or rent. People who have no previous experience in carpentry or building, making up for the fact with determination.

I may not be determined, but I can be stubborn!
I am ready to think of ways in which we could reduce our belongings a little more.

Answers to some prayers

I'm thankful today. After a few months of being sick and completely wiped out, I have a little bit of energy. I've been praying for it, and it's amazing how thankful I can be for a simple thing that is so easy to take for granted.

Like, to make spinach crepes for lunch instead of warming up something in the microwave. These gluten free crepes/pancakes turned out really yummy, and Indiana gobbled up her spinach and wondered why spinach pancakes are food, not "herkku" - like a dessert. They are a common Finnish food, usually eaten with tart lingonberry jam, but we haven't had them in ages because the ready-made ones are made with wheat flour.

And I've been reading to her a lot. Yesterday we read a whole 90-page book and today half of the second book. I adore the Onneli ja Anneli books by the Finnish author Marjatta Kurenniemi. We read my mom's old Milli Molli books twice already, all three of them. This girl of mine is bottomless pit with books!!

I've been cleaning too, though it doesn't look that way from the pictures. I seem to have a bunch of Traveling Stuff in my household. Some items return to their designated spots (like that stuff hanging from my chair!) within seconds when Indiana notices that I have moved them.

And the best of all, I've been working. I made new canvases, broke my canvas pliers, went to the city to get new and stronger ones, made more canvases, and painted.

I am incredibly thankful for the inspiration and energy to paint. It is sometimes so hard to begin, and the longer I go without working, the harder it is to get back to it. Sometimes I question the whole purpose of my work.

Just this past fall I had serious issues with it. I thought about quitting. I had painted only three paintings during the whole summer. I prayed for an answer -Is this really what I'm supposed to do with my life? Because if it is, I want to do it, but please give me a sign. Right after that I got a call from the Artists' association that I'd sold a painting, and someone else had reserved one, but wanted to see another one that was not there, to choose between them.

I was happy... but still in doubt. So I asked for reassurance. "If this is the sign that I was asking for, can You please confirm that?"

I took the painting there and soon after I got a call that the buyer had wanted both of the works. So all three were taken.

I now thought that this can't be a coincidence. I thought that I'm probably really supposed to be an artist. But I had no inspiration and no interest and no energy to work. So I prayed again, telling Him that I want to do what I'm supposed to do, I want to do His will, but I can't do it alone. I need help. Can He please help me out?

Ever so slowly the foggy fatigue is lifting (and the nausea and throwing up I suffered with for over a month is completely gone). And I have WANTED to paint. Since I don't remember when.

Sometimes I think art is silly. That I'm just wasting materials. And making another material object. And if people buy my works -well I'm flattered and happy to have made some money, but I also feel a bit uneasy about it. Is art just more stuff for the world and people to deal with? Is it just wasting resources and wasting money?

But then I think about how God is the ultimate creator and artist, and He created us in His image. He made us creative. All of us, even though not all of us are the same in terms of artistic tendencies. This spark is in me for a reason. When I am immersed in painting, I know it is right. I am acting out the image of God in me. Besides, there is nothing else I can do. I'm not employable by the real world and nothing else ever holds my interest long enough.

I just don't think I can escape it. So I better embrace it.

Homes are for people (not people for homes)

Can you learn to happily live with chipping particle board kitchen, cat-clawed furniture, torn rugs, water damaged parquet flooring, uneven stone walls with a few extra holes in them, and packages of toilet paper rolls, hangers, etcetera stashed in piles as "toys"?

I realize that I have. These are not things that bother me.

What gets to me is unused stuff, stagnant piles of clutter, accumulating dust in between the stuff, the sense that there is too much.
Or that something is for show, for calculated cool-effect.
A new reader here, EcoCatLady, made a comment about us never really owning anything. I think that thought can help us distance ourselves from identifying with our possessions. It's all transient, it's on loan. If it's not even really ours, then how can it be "us"?

It can't. There are things we like more than others, some colors make us happy, some scents bring back good memories, some things we appreciate for their durability or comfort. It's okay to appreciate these facts, but it would be a mistake to be always searching for the next thing to complete you, make you more you or tell the world who you are. Or even tell you who you are. You can't buy yourself an identity, sense of wholeness or belonging or purpose.

Lots of stuff, or lack of stuff, or particular kind of stuff, will never bring you lasting satisfaction. You just can't make life about stuff.