The season doesn’t officially start until March 20th, but the sun is shining, the days are getting longer, and you can already feel the Earth’s metaphorical rebirth looming just around the corner.

It may be that I just really despise the Winter months, but Spring is always a hugely inspiring time for me. Not only are the ladies trading in their jackets and sweatpants for tank tops and skirts, but I can finally enjoy the outdoors again, my energy levels increase, and I generally just want to get more done.

The term “spring cleaning” may be an American thing (I honestly don’t know), but I imagine nearly every culture practices a similar activity this time of year. Christians have Lent and Hindus have Holi, for example. However, these events are much more about cleansing the mind, body and soul than they are about cleaning out the garage.

As a minimalist, I strongly believe that both are critically important. In order to even begin focusing on the mind and body, removing   physical distractions has to be your first step.

Below (in no particular order) are some ways I plan to get my house temple in order this Spring:

• Tidy Your Space. No surface, drawer, or closet is safe.
• Reassess Your Possessions. Unless you’re hardcore dedicated to not buying anything at all like Josh of The Minimalists, then chances are you’ve accumulated at least a few things since this time last year. Go over all your new purchases, as well as your older possessions, and contemplate whether or not you really need them. Toss everything that doesn’t make the cut. Your wardrobe is a good place to start.
• Organize Your Digital World. As we reduce our consumption of physical goods, it’s inevitable that our “digital stuff” will start piling up more rapidly than before. As with physical clutter, clutter in your digital work space can make it hard to remain focused and productive. Spring is a opportune time to clean out your download folder, organize your music, clear your inbox, make backups, and get your desktop in order.
• Fast. Fasting certainly isn’t for everyone, but you do owe it to yourself to at least check it out. If you’re observing lent, you won’t be eating meat on Fridays and are generally expected to reduce the food you eat on a daily basis.  I suggest you take it a couple steps further, and maybe cut out meat entirely or go a day without a single meal. I’m no expert on the subject, but I do plan on having a couple meal-less days this month.
• Meditate. Again, I’m no expert on the subject, but I do plan on reasserting myself in this area and will at least be attempting to meditate for 10 minutes every day.
• Terminate Detrimental Relationships. This is the most difficult step, at least for me. As harsh as it may sound, friends, business associates, and family members can weigh you down and hold you back, much like possessions do. You don’t have to be mean about it, but don’t waste your time gently hinting at it either. Some people just aren’t positive for your personal growth.
• Exercise. This is yet another way to clear your head and body. Even if it’s just a 15 minute jog everyday, a little bit of exercise can work wonders for your psyche.
• Measure Your Progress and Plan for the Future. Now that we’re about a quarter of the way through the year, so it’s time to see how well we’ve done with our New Year resolutions (if you set any), and honestly reassess our goals. With prime travel season right around the corner, now is the time to start figuring out how, when and where you’ll be spending the remaining 9 months of the year.

Will you be partaking in any of the above activities as part of your springtime rituals? What else do you plan on doing? Is this the best or worst blog post you’ve ever read? Whatever the case may be, let me know in the comments below or on Twitter.

For whatever reason, I’ve been contemplating the merits of returning to some sort of ‘day job’.

Now, I’ve only been working for about 7 of my 24 years on this planet, and a lot of that time has been spent working for myself, so my ‘day job’ work experience is relatively limited. That said, there isn’t a single job I didn’t feel completely destroyed by when I finally decided to quit.

Without further ado, here’s a quick rundown of the crappy jobs I’ve held in the past:

1. Fabric Store (~1 Year)
   As I was preparing to graduate from high school, my mom landed me a sweet job running the cash register, vacuuming the floors, and cleaning the bathrooms at a local fabric store for a whopping $7 per hour. I learned a lot, had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with my mom and got to observe her in a work environment. I also despised it, and finally quit after getting wrongfully chewed out by my b*tch of  manager.
2. Pet Store Chain (2-3 Years)
   I actually really enjoyed working at this popular chain of pet stores. I worked with a lot of great people, some of which I still keep up with today, and even started my first meaningful relationship there. Taking care of fish, reptiles, and other little critters was also great fun. Then I moved, tried transferring to another store location, but the chemistry between me and the other employees just wasn’t there like it was before. I was also attending community college and started to make some serious money with affiliate marketing,  so taking orders for under $10 an hour just didn’t seem worth it anymore. Peace.
3. Mall Kiosks (1-2 Years)
   This was an interesting time in my retail career. As far as retail jobs go, it doesn’t get much worse than working at a mall kiosk. However, I was typically the only person working, and I was able to sit on my laptop, killing the empty hours between customers. In other words, I was getting paid an hourly wage to build MY business. It was so-so, but the last thing I wanted to do was sell DVDs and iPod covers, especially when I was working another job…
4. Data Entry (~9 Months)
   Of the four, this was the most financially rewarding job I had. Unfortunately, it was also the most life-sucking. I spent 30 hours a week copy/pasting numbers from poorly formatted PDFs. This job ended rather abruptly as I was unable to juggle it with my kiosk job and classes. However, in my short time there, I got to experience the cubicle lifestyle, and was able to discover early on that I didn’t want any part of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d probably take some junior copywriting position at a large firm, without second thought. Put my 40 hours in, take orders from my boss, and collect a paycheck every couple of weeks.  I could spend the time searching for a job that I’d only be partially interested in.  I just can’t justify building someone else’s business when I could be building my own business, getting one step closer to unadulterated freedom.

Security, disposable income, and benefits.

I get it.

I just don’t want it.

As you can see in the photo, owning less does not always eliminate clutter. There are only about a dozen articles of clothing in this picture (I have more clothes at another location), yet I still can’t bring myself to fold and put them away every few days.  This has been going on for about 2 months now, and the result? The build up of clutter is making it near impossible to focus.

I’ve been able to achieve laser focus when I am on top of the clutter, but my standards been raised as well, and even a handful of empty Fresca cans on my desk is enough to drive me mad these days. I really need to make sure my space is clean if I want to get much of anything done, but when I do stay on top of it, I can feel a direct increase in my productivity and overall happiness.

Totally worth it.

Donating almost everything I owned is already proving to have a significant impact on the time and mental energy I need to dedicate to relocating. Though it just hit me last night, how little time I have to get all my ducks in a row. So, here’s what’s going down…

I originally wanted to take my time and spend all of June, July and August on the road, but I soon came to the realization that it was a horrible time to migrate South, and I’d never survive the heat. A problem you never have to think about here in upstate NY. A three month nomadic adventure by myself is setting the bar really high, stir in 100+ degree weather and it would have almost certainly resulted in failure. I’ve now trimmed my trip down to only a month on the road; two weeks in the Washington D.C. area, and two weeks exploring the South.

Alfred, NY to Washington D.C.

It will be a straight shot (6 hrs.) from Alfred to my Dad’s place in Gaithersburg, MD – my first temporary “hub” – only a 30 minute drive into the district.This will be the perfect opportunity to spend some time with the many close friends and family who are scattered throughout the Greater DC area. As great as spending quality time with friends and family can be, returning to your hometown can also be stressful, but more than anything else, things become stagnant and dull, and there’s nothing I want to do more than get out of there.

I’m hope to be back on the road by June 15th, but if there’s some cash in my pocket, and a reason to leave sooner, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Washington D.C. to Austin, TX

This portion of the trip is still very much up in the air, and I’ve intentionally kept it that way. I don’t want to feel obligated to go certain places or to see particular things, and playing things by ear will allow me the opportunity to really take in the local sights, people, and cultures.

There are some places/activities that I’d really like experience, but this trip is much more about the journey than it is about the destination anyway, so I won’t be to upset if I can’t make all of them:

• Spend some time in Asheville, NC to see what all the hubbub is about
• Revisit the beaches of the Outer Banks, where I spent many childhood summers
• Hike the Great Smoky Mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee
• Explore Nashville and maybe even Louisville
• Visit some friends who have moved to NC, SC and TX since leaving the D.C. area

I have no idea how all these activities will fit into my schedule, or if they will at all, because I also have my eyes of other great ways I can spend my time. I honestly have no plans or expectations at this point, but I do know that this will be one badass nomadic adventure. The downside to this spontaneity is that I’m still clueless as to which route I’ll be taking, and could very well end up zigzagging the entire Southeast.

There’s still a lot of preparation that needs to be done before I can leave Alfred with confidence. The itinerary is bound to come together more over as moving day approaches, but only time will tell if this is an effective way to “plan” a trip. Because I’m such an amateur when it comes to this stuff, the coming weeks are sure to hold many unforeseen obstacles that I look forward to conquering.

Be sure to stay tuned via RSS or Twitter over the next couple weeks for updates on how I’m getting prepared, both mentally and physically. It will certainly be a learning experience, and I hope you follow along so you can learn from my mistakes.

Photo by Ian Broyles

I recently picked up a new notebook in an attempt to become more mobile, and because my Dell netbook bricked while I was home for two weeks during the Christmas holiday, and work had to be done.

Normally I would load up the hard drive with as much crap as possible, and with 450-something gigs to fill, it was very tempting. The music folder on my desktop PC is out of control, with newly downloaded albums and tracks saved in a number of random places. I didn’t want to have to deal with the same problem again on my laptop.

Luckily, my desktop was still Upstate, and I didn’t have access to my collection of media, nor the many work files I store there. Chapter 9 of Leo Babauta‘s Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life was also a great inspiration in keeping a minimalist computer.

However, I was then left without a music solution.

I’ve been using Pandora at home and on my phone for years now, but not being able to select individual tracks nor albums to play is a major downfall.

I’ve seen members of Wickedfire reference Grooveshark many times, and those guys usually know what they’re talking about, so I chose to give it a try. And I’m really glad I did because Grooveshark is easily the best music streaming service I’ve tried to date.

Pros:

• Huge Selection of Music. Grooveshark has just about everything, including some obscure Drum & Bass, and music of other genres, that  most other services wouldn’t normally carry.
• Portability. It is really nice to be able to listen to whatever you want, no matter where you are. For $9/month or so you can also get access via your iPhone or Android device – perfect for on the road.
• More Space; Less Clutter. The biggest advantage of using Grooveshark for all your music  needs is that you no  longer have to store music locally on your hard drive. I’ll never have to organize my music folder ever again because Grooveshark does it for me.

Cons:

• They Don’t Have Everything. I know, it’s asking a lot for a free service to provide me with all the music I need, without limitation. I’ve found that, although most all albums are listed, many are missing individual tracks. But I’ll deal.
• Requires an Internet Connection. It’s rare that I don’t have access to Wifi, and my Droid is pretty good at filling in the gaps in coverage. However, I’m more than happy to give up temporary access in exchange for keeping my music collection out of sight, and more importantly, out of mind.

Getting Rid of Your Physical Music Collection

For those of you still using physical media, such as CDs or tapes, you have the most to gain from a service like Grooveshark. I haven’t purchased a physical CD in years, but I still have about 100 albums stored under my bed. And this is how I intend to get rid of them:

1. Make a list of all albums in my collection, along with the artist’s name just in case.
2. Find said albums in Grooveshark and add them to my ‘music library’.
3. Tracks and albums I can’t find on Grooveshark will be ripped from the physical CD, or in the case they are too scratched, will be downloaded elsewhere.
4. The CDs and their storage racks will be donated to Salvation Army, friends, or whoever will take them.

This could easily take a few hours to complete, but will make a great weekend project.

Bonus:

Better Grooveshark

I try to avoid Lifehacker when I can, purely because it’s a hassle to keep up with the massive amounts of content they post everyday, but it’s hard to overlook their many “golden nugget” posts.

Today on Lifehacker, they’ve posted about Better Grooveshark, a simple browser extension that strips the ads that Grooveshark displays on the right panel, and replaces it with a lyric search. It will also update your browser title bar with the currently playing track so you don’t have constantly switch between tabs.

Note: The lyrics panel is sometimes a little screwy, and will appear above the other panels. Simply click the little arrow on the right side to minimize/maximize, and it should work itself out.

A very cool plugin, indeed. However, if you’re going to strip the ads, do the guys at Grooveshark a solid, and sign up for their premium service. It’s totally worth it.

What streaming music service do you use, and why? What other apps that operate in ‘The Cloud’ help you minimize your life the most?

Back in Gaithersburg, MD, I was able to get all kinds of great free stuff. Both the quality and quantity are greater there because people need to make more room for their new stuff.

I haven’t had much luck with Freecycle here in Alfred, nor Craigslist. Although I don’t really have much of a need for anything either, and only pursue the really great stuff.  A small car makes it easy to paass over larger items like sofas, desks, etc. All of which I’ve realized I don’t really need.

I did, however, stumble across a salvage yard with help from my roommate and part-time business partner, Michael Stevenson Jr. He’s been in Alfred for years now, and is no stranger to what most people would call “junk”.

Anyway, we were driving down Main St. the other day, and he points this place out. We pop in today, and sure enough, there are a bunch of sweet vinyl covered, wood chairs. Unfortunately, many of them were damaged by the snow and ice, and only 2 of them would fit in my car, but a steal nonetheless.

They’re really nothing special, but we can only borrow our neighbor’s chairs for so long, and these will go nicely in the kitchen. Chairs seem to be in increased demand in the kitchen with all the group dinners we’ve been having as of late.

The best part about these chairs, of course, is that they can be tossed right back into the dumpster they came from. Although, my roommate will likely hold onto them and get a bunch more use out of them, long after I’m gone.

The moral of this story is to use free and used stuff when the opportunity arises, but you have to keep an eye open for the opportunities. Spending less or getting stuff for  free also makes it infinantely easier to get rid of when it’s just taking up space and distracting.

Where I am now:

Physically, I am in small town in New York State. Mentally, emotionally, philosophically, on the path of life? I have no clue. I think I’m too young and human to be able to truthfully answer such questions. I’m OK with that, though.

I’ve only recently discovered the wonders of the minimalist lifestyle, so I have a long way to go before I can truly consider myself “minimized“.

How I got here:

I was drawn to starting my own business at a young age, but often questioned my path due to society’s expectations.  I was supposed to graduate high school, goto college, get some ‘computer job’ because that’s the line of work everyone was getting into, eventually start a family, and sit at a desk until retirement at 65 (more likely 75-80).

Don’t get me wrong, I understand how much that lifestyle makes sense for some people, most people even. The problem is that that lifestyle almost without question relies on complicating every facet of your life, usually with things and commitments.

Though I’ve always been inclined to avoid the rat race, I’ve only recently accepted my choice to avoid this lifestyle at all costs.

Luckily, my years of building Geocities pages in the late 90s led to a comprehensive knowledge of online marketing and copywriting that now allows me to earn a meager salary as a freelancer, from anywhere in the world.

I know, it’s a bit strange for someone to adopt a lifestyle that condemns owning more, when it’s their job to convince others to buy things, but that’s far too complex of a subject to get into here.

In September of 2010, just a few months ago actually, I finally moved from my home town of Washington DC to Alfred, NY. I never actually lived in the District itself, but on both sides of it, in the suburbs of Virginia and Maryland.

The move to the rural Southern Tier of New York has been an eye opening experience to say the least. The days pass slowly here, and life is generally simpler, and the people more resourceful. The closest strip mall is about 25 minutes away from home, but (almost) everything you need is in walking distance or a short bike ride away, so there’s rarely a reason to make the trip. Alfred is a great town for a minimalist, or a minimalist-in-training like myself, for sure.

Where I’m going:

As much as I enjoy Alfred, I have no intention of staying. My lease is up at the end of May, and I’ll be heading South to Tennessee; likely Nashville or Chattanooga. It’s considerably warmer, and there’s generally more going on in Tennessee in comparison to Alfred. The move will also help keep me on my toes, ready for my next move.

Before I can make the move there are a few things I’ve got to take care of first:

• Fit my “life” into my Nissan Sentra: As appealing as ditching my car is, it just doesn’t fit into my plan, yet. In the mean time, I need to reduce my possessions so I can fit everything into my small, underpowered 4-door. This includes my basic possessions, as well as camping supplies. Basic interior modifications will need to be made to the car to make it more livable for when I’m in between, what I like to call, “home bases”. Many things will be donated.
• Ditch the desktop: I only recently purchased the laptop that will eventually replace my desktop PC. The laptop isn’t anything special, but it’s more powerful than my desktop, so I have no reason to hold onto this big black box. This task will include moving files to external hard drives, and uploading things to the cloud. Likely by taking advantage of a hybrid of the strategies discussed in Leo Babauta‘s The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life.
• Stow things away: Some would say that putting things in storage is cheating, but I disagree. No one path is right for any two people, and limited storage makes a lot of sense to me. Valuables, and things like old yearbooks will go into a couple small boxes and will be stowed in the basement of my mother’s house in Virginia. I’ll be there at least once every year, and will annually have the opportunity to add/take from these boxes, and get rid of things I’m OK with letting go.
• Save a nest egg: Saving definitely isn’t a strength of mine, but is necessary for my success. 6 months of rent, approximately $2,400 saved before May would be ideal, but is unlikely with all the projects I’ve got going on. $1,000 is more than enough for first month’s rent and a deposit in most small towns, and would suffice. I can always earn extra cash in between temporary destinations, working via 3G and free wifi.
• Get healthy: The only thing I’m worse at than saving is staying healthy and in shape. Quitting cigarettes is an obvious step in the right direction, but may or may not happen. Eating right, however, is a must. I’m currently working on developing a vegetarian dish, and I’ve begun to slowly replace highly processed foods with natural alternatives. I already get  organic veggies and fruit from the local market, organic grass-fed beef and raw milk right off the farm, and there’s only one good restaurant in town — this should be easy.
• Become mentally prepared: Learning to be comfortable with less, as I’ve discovered, is actually much easier than it would appear. That being said, I’ve still got a long way to go, and I’ve only begun to learn to resist the impulse to buy. I intend to meditate more regularly, and to reflect more deeply both here, on this blog, as well as internally.

This is just the beginning, and 2011 will be the best year ever – I promise!

The photograph used in this post is of Taughannock Falls, just a short drive from here in upstate NY, and was taken by Daniel Peckman.