Minimalism: A Documentary

Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things follows the story of Ryan and Josh.

Friends since childhood, they each found 'success' in the high-flying corporate world but were desperately unhappy. Until they discovered minimalism.

The film is about the story we are fed - especially in the USA - that buying things will make us happy. That earning more, and working more, will makes us happy. That our lives are all about buying things.

Ryan and Josh (The Minimalists) bust apart this myth - through their own story and talking to authors, economics experts and normal people who have decided that enough is enough.

They say they're not evangelising or trying to convert anyone, but it's hard to see the movie and not be motivated to declutter your life. Perhaps I was already a convert. Either way, the documentary definitely opens our eyes to the consumerist message - how pervasive it is, and also how flawed it is.

Check out the trailer and see if your local library has the documentary. ~~If that's not an option, it's also on Netflix. You can rent or buy it digitally on iTunes or through Amazon. You can rent it on Google Play. If you prefer something physical you can buy it on DVD.~~
UPDATE: The full movie is now available for free on YouTube.

Comments

What to do with 128 pens?

I never need buy a pen again. Ever. The pen round-up. I searched the house for pens and gathered them up. We had 128. Woah - that's more than I expected. Then it was test-time. (You can get a lot done watching summer sport ;). Good ones went on the table. Broken ones in the box. Pen operations I saved a few 'broken' pens, by taking working insides and matching them with functional outsides. Particularly much-loved pens, for sentimental reasons, were given a life-extending 'ink transplant'. Final Tally We ended up with 67 broken pens and 61 good ones. And about 10 pencils. What to do with 67 broken pens? In my city Biome recycles pens . It's as easy as taking them into the store and dropping them into the giant collection box. Decluttering and recycling together - I love it. A lifetime of pens An average pen writes 45,000 words. So that dedicated shopping list pen on the fridge could write a 20-word shopping list for 43 years. Our 61 pens repre...

Don't dump on charities

Netflix causes mass dumping. Here's an alternative. January is usually a big month for physical donations to charity. In 2019 it's been over-the-top (literally) as charity donation bins have been overflowing with items. The Netflix series "Tidying Up" by famous declutterer Marie Kondo (see her book ) has inspired many to declutter their homes. But in the process they've cluttered the streets. What's so bad about donating? When the bins overflow the extra items are thrown away. Having been in the weather, the rain and on the ground, they are classified as contaminated and cannot be sold. To make it worse, much of what fills the bins is not good enough to sell, and is also dumped. Bad donations hurt charities 13 million dollars. That's how much it costs charities to deal with all the junk we dump on them - 60,000 tonnes a year. Lifeline says half its stores have stopped accepting donations. We might think we're helping, but that's a lot ...

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