I really need to read a woman's reaction to this article (will share with a few friends right away). If you can achieve this beyond a bachelor pad, the weed that you are smoking is indeed of very high quality.
I have achieved simplicity with my significant other (female). It is important to address the need to nest, while also focusing on preventing/removing cluttering. Ensure her nesting needs are met, while focusing on minimalism, and it is achievable.
Also, go for the smallest living space that is needed, or the need to nest will fill it. Quality, in what you do have, also helps.
The caveat is we are not planning on children, which simplifies this.
Concur. I lived out of a suitcase for years. It was quite handy back when I was a student and moving from place to place every 4 months.
But then I moved in with a girl after school and all that went away, we needed to buy kitchen shit, dvd shit, bedroom shit, shit to hang on the walls, stuffed animals from thinkgeek that look like sushi, etc.
Congrats. Awesome! I'm glad you still find ample time to tell other people about it on the internet though. Without you, no one would ever know what it is to escape the grips of a television and experience a real life.
You're in the comments thread of an article about simplifying your life and having less stuff, and you sarcastically criticize me for suggesting you remove TV from your life. I offered that advice because I honestly think it's helpful.
What were you expecting to find when you came to these comments?
The people I know who are really into minimalism in a quasi-spiritual way are actually married or long-term partnered couples. It can take either a hippie-ish sort of form, or an upscale-but-minimalist, sleek modernism type of form.
I think of bachelor pads as really more defined by "stuff". Most single guys I know have huge piles of entertainment stuff especially: big-screen TVs, videogame systems, a wall of videogames and DVDs, miscellaneous electronic gadgets that seemed cool at the time, etc.
We know different bachelors. Most of the non-fratboy pads I have seen that are truly depressing are an inflatable mattress/pile of yogamats/camping mattress on the floor and a pile of books (sometimes a laptop). I've been in 4 bedroom houses which other than a thin layer of dust had nothing but the mentioned items in them. Some view their lifestyle as minimalist, others just don't see the need for owning anything. 'I don't need a fridge because I don't cook', 'the washing lady comes once a week, so I don't need a washing machine', 'I've never opened that cupboard'. Those sort of statements are signs that you need to help your friends get some serious help. If someone can't come round to your house because of your 'minimalist' lifestyle that is a serious problem. Humans are social creatures, if you can't socialise something is wrong.
That sort of lifestyle is just as damaged as the sort that compels people to store every pizza box and newspaper in the corner and prevents them from throwing anything away.
