How I minimalized Facebook

I just wanted to make a short post about my current experiment regarding Facebook. On my account I had less than 100 friends but still felt as though I had a kind of addiction to it, constantly checking it multiple times a day, reading all about other people’s lives, etc. I know it made me feel overwhelmed but I did not know what to do about it. Delete my account? No way! Far too drastic! So I thought it over a little bit and decided to make a new Facebook and take a break from my account. I decided to deactivate it for now until I can finally feel okay with hitting that ‘delete’ button.

I tried this once before with little success, but this time I was going to do something different. Not a big difference, but a difference nonetheless! I made a new account using a nickname that I don’t usually go by, and using my middle name rather than last. I figured that way no one could find me unless they knew me very well or trying super hard or if I added them myself. I made all my settings to as private as possible. I did not upload any pictures of myself- only the picture above for my cover image (a photo of a painting) and my profile picture is just a picture of a maneki neko (Japanese waving cat). That’s it. I don’t plan on tagging myself in any pictures or uploading any pictures. Not that I am ashamed of myself or don’t want to share, but that I don’t need to do so on Facebook. I don’t plan on putting all my personal information on there either. Why does anyone else need to know that? So they can compare their lives to mine and in turn feel better or worse about themselves? So they can be nosy about what I am up to? No thank you!

I think that is important- your Facebook profile does not represent who you are. Just because you can personalize something and flood it with photos and information about yourself does not make it you.

Now the most important and critical step: Unfollow your friends. Yes, unfollow your friends.

That’s it. I think that is the most important step.

I used to spend hours reading through my feed and seeing what my friends were doing. Seeing their successes. And then comparing myself endlessly. This friend is going to a foreign country? I have never done that. All these friends got offered jobs? I didn’t. And continue for hours. Maybe some people don’t have a problem with comparison, but I think many do- it is hard not to compare when you feel you are failing and everyone else is succeeding.

Most of us know that people don’t put forward their failures for all to see- they put up the best picture of themselves, the most flattering presentation of their lives.

And it is hard to always remember that.

I found this quote in an article I just read and found it quite relevant:

“And then there’s social media. Today, each of us can build a personal little fan base, thanks to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the like. We can broadcast the details of our lives to friends and strangers in an astonishingly efficient way. That’s good for staying in touch with friends, but it also puts a minor form of fame-seeking within each person’s reach. And several studies show that it can make us unhappy.

It makes sense. What do you post to Facebook? Pictures of yourself yelling at your kids, or having a hard time at work? No, you post smiling photos of a hiking trip with friends. You build a fake life — or at least an incomplete one — and share it. Furthermore, you consume almost exclusively the fake lives of your social media “friends.” Unless you are extraordinarily self-aware, how could it not make you feel worse to spend part of your time pretending to be happier than you are, and the other part of your time seeing how much happier others seem to be than you?”

– From Love People, Not Pleasure by Arthur C. Brooks

By not following any of my friends I can eliminate that need to compare from my life. There is nothing stopping me from looking up my friends to see how they are doing, but it is no longer a constant feed of comparison to everyone. It allows me to still have Facebook as a means of connections and communication but in a simpler way. This also makes my friends lives a spoiler free zone! When I see them I will actually be able to catch up and learn how their lives have been going! Remember when you used to call your friends up to tell them something exciting/good/bad/sad happened? Sometimes I miss that personal connection rather than broadcasting your joys and sadness to everyone. Also: much less drama.

I also used Facebook as a way of finding minimalist/spiritual blog posts and inspirational photos before, and this way I have streamlined that. Making a new page gave me a fresh start. Although it was a bit of logging in and out, I friend requested my old page and from there looked through all the things I had liked and was able to cut out a lot. Now my page is also less cluttered with random information and likes and all that other garbage. I get updates from a few blogs to read and think about every day rather then having a feed that seems to go on for miles until I am caught up.

My Facebook is back to being a way to connect with the world rather than being dragged down by it.

This may not be for everyone but so far it has definitely been helpful for me. I will post an update about how it is going in the future. I am hoping I can keep up with it instead of falling back on old habits! And maybe someone else will give it a try and it will help. Until next time!

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**Update 8/21/14** – I have had my Facebook like this for a few weeks now and still going strong! I must say it has made quite a difference in my life and has changed me for the better. I got myself to delete my old account as well! It is working wonderfully because I no longer waste countless hours reading through my dash, I read a few articles about minimalism/simplifying life/Buddhism for maybe 30 minutes and then that’s it! And I can still message my friends to try and plan things and they can still comment on my posts if they like. Although I have made an effort to try not to post as much on my Facebook. If I hated getting negative feelings and thoughts of comparison by seeing what other people posted, why would I want to do that to others? So far I only really posted about my successful day of food making which I was so proud of I couldn’t help it! And that is by far a big change for me! I don’t think I’ll be going back to my old Facebook ways anytime soon.

Minimalist Bedroom Transformation and the Art of Letting Go

I have been meaning to blog much more than I have been (which I have basically not blogged at all- so I am not doing so great!) about my journal towards being more minimalist. I first came across minimalism a few months ago. I honestly don’t remember how it started, I believe I came across the Becoming Minimalist blog and from there I somehow found a facebook group about minimalism- called a 30 day challenge. I believe that was around sometime in April (my earliest post in the group was from then) and it has since become a very important part of my life and something I am very passionate about. It really has changed my way of looking at the world and I really hope to write more about it on this blog.

So first my first truly minimalist inspirational post I will show the progress made in regards to my bedroom! This is my bedroom at my parent’s home. It certainly has been through many changes and transformations over the years, but I think this is the best yet. The first two photos are probably from my sophomore year of college, so about four and a half years ago. I am guessing I had just come home for winter break when I took these pictures since my space was usually not that messy normally! But even so you can still tell that there is just a lot of STUFF everywhere! Stuff on my dressers, stuff on my desk, stuff on my wall, stuff hanging, stuff all over! I don’t know how I lived like this!

I went from living like this:

to this:

.

..

…

And finally fast forward four and a half years and this is how my room looks today:

 

I am so happy with the progress I have made!  I have to say I would never have guessed my room would end up how it is now!

The majority of my decluttering only happened in the past few months. My room at home kind of acted as a storage space for my stuff since I currently live with my fiance at his parents house and am not home very often. But every time I went home over the past few months I would spend hours going through all my stuff.

The first few rounds of going through things is easy in that you are only skimming the surface, most of the possessions you get rid of at first are things that you either know you don’t need, wish you hadn’t bought in the first place, or don’t really have a strong connection to. Once you get past those items it starts to get tough. You tell yourself, “Oh I might need this when I get my own place!” or “I spent so much money on this so I really should keep it!” or “But this is from -insert special memory here-!”

But you need to just let it go.

(I constantly will start singing the Frozen tune in my head to make it easier and give myself some positive reinforcement! haha!)

Having that item doesn’t bring you happiness. In our consumerist culture we are made to feel that our lives will be happy/complete/made better by buying something, when really, you end up feeling less happy because you desire more. We think that we need to personalize everything in our lives so it reflect who we are, when really all we need is to be ourselves without the help of some external object, or the need to show off who we ‘are’ to others.

I keep trying to tell myself “I am enough”.

I don’t need a Coke bottle with my name on, or a cute cell phone case that supposedly reflects ‘who I am’. No piece of plastic can ever represent who you are. You are more than that. You are more than the clothes you own, the car you drive and the pictures you post on Instagram. You are more than your facebook profile and your job and the money you have in your bank account.

All these thoughts are what I have been reflecting on over the past few months and have really helped me let go of things in my life. Most of the things I have donated to thrift stores (or my large collection of books I took -multiple trips- to a used book store and got store credit!) instead of trying to sell them. Originally that was my plan, but the last time I went home I honestly just didn’t want to look at all the stuff I had and just wanted it gone. Once something is put away in a box and you haven’t used it or thought of it for a month, you realize it was something you really won’t miss if it is gone for good.

I am still planning on continuing to go through my things and let go of more, but I am so proud of how far I have come. It amazes me how much I have managed to accumulate in my mere 23 years of existence. But it feels like a weight lifted off my chest to have let go of so much of it. It has truly changed the way I look at things. I now know that buying whatever item won’t bring me happiness.

That comes from myself.

 

 

DIY: Money Envelopes

Like many people I suffer from having too much debt. My problem is not so much with unpaid credit cards but student loans in an amount I hate allowing my mind to ponder upon. Adding in the fact that until recently I have continued further education (tuition bills came every semester) and only worked about 8 hours a week because of that, my money situation hasn’t been so great. So when I heard about the Dave Ramsey Envelope System I was intrigued. I think it is a great system! Unfortunately for me, I just don’t make enough to really get my momentum going with it at this point in time, but I am prepared for when I do! I definitely want to utilize this once I start getting paychecks that actually mean something. I also love cute patterns and pretty paper. So I came up with my own plan to make some envelopes! I thought having fun and pretty envelopes that I invested my own time in making would make me a bit more excited about this than just using white envelopes. Silly, but true.

What you need:

1 Envelope you can gently open apart to use as a pattern maker
1 Gluestick
1 Scissor
Scrapbook paper from local craft store x how many envelopes you want to make!

This really is not super difficult and you probably don’t need me to ‘explain’ it to you (you are smart and capable!) but I thought it would be nice to at least share the idea. I picked out a bunch of scrapbook papers that I liked and tried to match them to what I wanted each envelope to hold money for. Popcorn paper is for my entertainment envelop, strawberry paper for my grocery envelope, etc.

So first step is to gently open up your envelope being careful not to rip it. Line up the wings with the edges of your paper (as shown below). Next step: Trace! This is always the most frustrating part for me! I always mix up my lines! And after you trace just cut out your flat envelope!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next you just fold your edges in and get your gluestick ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I place my envelope on a piece of scrap paper to not make a total mess of my desk. I found it easiest to put the glue on the edge of the inside bottom flap- so just fold your side flaps in where you want them and then just press the bottom against them. Viola! You now have a pretty envelope to store your cash in!

Here are all the envelopes I made. It was a good chunk of time and effort to make all of these, but they turned out really nice and I do plan on using them as soon as I can. For any who are curious, my envelopes (from left to right): Wedding/Apartment/Home Savings, Prescriptions/Appointments, School Loans, Christmas gifts, Furbabies, Misc, Dinner for Two, Entertainment, Gas, Groceries. And they are stored in an expandable coupon organizer that I had left from college. Hopefully this gives some of you the inspiration to make your own!

New things in the works…

Transformation in progress.

Easy Lunchboxes

 

Well I am trying to do good on my last post and here I am actually writing a blog entry! CRAZY!! So I thought I would write about my current obsession with lunch boxes. Like I have a serious addiction to these things. And since my fiance and I (I GOT ENGAGED! Since I didn’t make a post about that lol I just thought I would mention it.) are trying to eat healthier, bento box style lunches seemed like some I should look into. The soon-to-be-Mr. has made me actual Japanese style bento lunches before and I always really loved them but they are a lot of work and he puts a bit of time into them, so they aren’t the most practical for everyday use.

Blast from the past! A bento that Myko made me while I was studying for my B.A.

(but they are super cute!)

So anyway- I follow some Pinterest board about lunchboxes and say a lot of pictures of Easy Lunchboxes and I become very interested in them. I started looking up all different kinds of bento and lunchboxes on Amazon like a mad woman! I spent way more time than I should have! But after reading reviews and other bloggers post about them I thought I would give them a try. I figured if they helped me eat healthier and save money on food (not to mention eating much less processed/packaged foods!) then they would be worth it. And I was in love with the ‘bright’ color version. I also bought some of the much cheaper Ziploc version when I was at Target for comparison (and so I could make Myko lunches too- he said he didn’t care what it looked like!)

Honestly I could tell the difference in quality immediately. The EL are made of much sturdier stuff for sure. One of the Ziploc ones actually cracked a tiny bit when I was handwashing it before I even used it! It is just my personal preference but I also find the EL to be more stylish/visually appealing. But that isn’t a big deal. The Ziploc containers did seal better- I put water in each and closed them to see how much would leak out if turned upside down and the Ziploc did do a better job. Although the EL packaging does state it is not leak proof, so it isn’t a big secret. After a bit of jostling the Ziploc leaked too though.

Look at those colors! I really love the brights!

So to end my comparison of the two- they both seem to be useful for their purpose, but if you want something more sturdy I would go with the EL. I have not used them in the dishwasher or microwave yet, but just from the feel they are so much more sturdy and would probably hold up better and more long term than the Ziploc (so it might be better to just spend a little bit more to get them to last longer vs having to keep buying more of the cheaper Ziplocs). But I can understand being tight on money… Easy Lunchboxes are my pick in the end though.

I also bought a new lunch bag so that I would be able to fit the EL for taking them to work and such (and that is such a cute lunch bag!). I love the pattern and it even came with a box in it! When I put the EL inside there was more free space (so maybe one could put an ice pack in with the EL!). And the upper compartment was a nice size as well- I could fit an apple and a banana and there was still plenty of extra room.

And here are some food pictures!

My bagel fit perfectly in the large section! I will definitely be using this for breakfast- it was so quick and simple! Makes my breakfast planning much better!

Some of my supplies! I got the breakcutters at a thrift store a little while ago and bought the silicone baking cups at Micheals for $5 (look on the website/app for a coupon! I had a 50% off baking supplies coupon!)

A work in progress! This was my messy station! I try to buy as much food as possible at the Farmers Market (and not as much at big grocery stores)- so this week I put everything away and labeled it right away so it would make things easier for me (and it definitely did!).

Viola! Finished products! Very simple and super easy!

So we ate our dino sandwiches for lunch today! Yum!

So all in all I am very happy with my purchase and I think it will pay off (I wish I could have gotten them for free- but oh well! :D) I wish I had caught on to this sooner! But I am having fun now that I have. I want to work on expanding my bento collection and get more goodies to use (I want to get cute animal toothpicks!) But for now this will be enough (my empty bank account demands it) and maybe I will post more in the future about how it goes. I would love to get some stainless steel bentos but they are wayyyyy out of my price range! For now I am excited just to get started with these!

And I will end this post with a kitty picture! She was being my assistant while I took pictures with my phone.