Simpler

Once again I find myself apologizing for not writing to you recently. It’s been a busy month.

When last I wrote, I was in the middle of my simplification and de-cluttering project. All floors but the dining room floor are cleared and cleaned. The dining room is the staging area for getting rid of ’stuff’ right now.

Yes, the floors are all clean. I broke down and replaced my old Kenmore vacuum with a Dyson. This is the Apple of vacuum cleaners: expensive, powerful, and Just Works. I managed to collect eight or nine hoppers of dust with it. Yikes.

I’ve dumped cable, but kept Netflix. The only “TV” shows I watch now are Democracy Now! (weekdays, 1 hour), TED Talks (weekly), and Diggnation (weekly). I end up doing other things while listening to them unless a TED presenter is gives a media-heavy presentation. Thanks to Connect360, I can stream any of these to my XBox 360. I’m using Netflix mainly for indie flicks and documentaries.

I’ve also changed my eating habits completely. I started a few months ago, and worked my way into a strict vegetarian diet. The whole process was progressive. It’s basically down to vegetables and no oil. Low fat, high fiber.

I’m also cooking more. I make the time to prepare my dinner (and sometimes next day’s lunch) when I get home in the evening. I’m also making oatmeal muffins every week that use no refined sugar or oils. Beats spending $1.82 on the heartburn muffins at the office cafe every day. ($9/week!)

I’ve also been getting out and walking more, using free weights and getting some sit-ups and crunches in where I can. I figure nobody is going to exercise for me.

I don’t know when I’ll write again. Hope you are well,

- eli

Comments (5)

  1. Hey Eli. Been a while since I visited your blog. Nice to see you’re doing well.

    I don’t know if I could go strict vegetarian. I’m too much of an omnivore, I guess.

    Dave

    Friday, August 17, 2007 at 6:35 am #
  2. eli wrote::

    It’s not easy Dave. Especially the oil part. I’m learning to deal with it though.

    Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 8:34 am #
  3. OX wrote::

    Hey eli, how would I go about contacting you/emailing you about something? Feel free to email me. I think you’d like it. :)

    Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 8:55 pm #
  4. Ben Carey wrote::

    I’ve been going through this myself. I’ve always been pretty crazy about de-cluttering, but I’m trying to take it to total minimization.

    My plan now is to take a picture of everything I own. I want to end up with something like http://www.cpluv.com/www/feeditem/2342/.

    I was somewhat inspired by this posting (http://www.rucksacklife.com/2007/04/visual-inventory-of-everything-i-own.html), but I don’t think that it’s more inspiration than a goal.

    Thursday, October 11, 2007 at 6:38 am #
  5. lowmagnet wrote::

    Wow, a photo of everything owned in isolation. Neat project. I don’t think I could pull off the rucksack thing, though. I’d love to have less things, since it’s so easy to misplace the things I have. I also try to keep my bedroom minimal, with a basic bed, clock radio underneath, and the chair in this picture.

    Thursday, October 11, 2007 at 7:13 am #