01.21.2016

0700

I bought this shirt in 2000. The shirt is from Consolidated Skateboards, a great company. I bought it because the quote sparked my interest and I’ve never been able to let it go. It’s a simple red long sleeved shirt, with only the front print that you see, and nothing on the back. I never knew how much of an impact those words would be.

When people say that I’m simplifying my life, I jokingly call my system “Being Strategically Lazy”.

When I decided to start living a zero waste life and because I was eliminating so much from my life, I was also eliminating the amount of storage area I actually needed. So here are a few things I decided to get rid of:

1. Dresser:  I use one shelf now and I hang up the rest of the items
2. End Tables: I use two ottomans that have lids which I can flip over and use as mini portable coffee tables
3. TV stand: My TV currently sits on a book shelf. I’m planning to use a projector that will be mounted to my wall to watch movies/TV (but that’s for the future)
4. Filing cabinet: I digitized all of my documents and keep a small folder of the legal documents.
5. Nightstand: I use my drafting table stool as my stand and I made a shelf to sit at the bottom of it, so I could at least place items down. I also created a pocket so that I could have a location to place my phone when it was attached to the charger as well.
6. Bookshelf: I donated of one of my two bookshelves because I had digitized almost all of my books so I didn’t need the piece of furniture anymore.
7. Futon: I donated my futon and replaced it with a couch 🙂 So it’s technically a replacement piece

I have:

• 1 four level bookshelf
• 1 couch with two ottomans
• 1 bed
• 1 drafting table, which I use as my desk
• 1 hope chest, which I use as my seat at my desk
• 1 “nightstand” (I use the chair from my drafting table set as my nightstand)
• 1 dining table with 6 wood fold up chairs
•  1 IKEA Poang Chair

I think getting rid of the dresser made the biggest impact because it wasn’t just the frame of the dresser or the drawers themselves, but it was also the amount of the contents stored within each drawer. There’s another article I read which might be of interest for those who want to read more about this: 15 Pieces of Furniture You May Not Really Need

It certainly helped me look at the use of furniture differently. Here’s my little nightstand contraption. I made the pocket from an old pair of jeans and I used pink shoelaces as ties for hanging the pocket. I used an old picture frame as a flat surface on this nightstand and attached it with some sticky velcro dots that were left over from another furniture set. I found a bag of pink shoelaces at my aunt’s house, she was going to throw it out, so I took it home. I keep all of my velcro straps because velcro is amazingly versatile and I keep extra metal rings and shoelaces  for projects like these.