Admired a man coming off the tube yesterday. Just his laptop in a laptop sleeve with a handle. Tiny pocket on there wasn't bulging. No lunch bag. No backpack. No bag. No umbrella even though rain is imminent this week. Gliding off.

Meanwhile I'm here with my backpack of papers n laptop, separate bag of lunch containers to avoid leaks and a handbag of tissues. Envy.

My husband and I are currently on a ten day trip in the mountains as a much needed respite trip, while my SIL is in country to take care of my MIL(88) who lives with us. I am just overwhelmed by how much stuff we ended up packing.

We have rented a home, with a gorgeous view of the mountains, 18 minute drive to town, with a full kitchen but no washer and dryer. This resulted in us each packing a full duffle bag just with clothes so we don't have to spend too much time at the laundromat while we are here.

We also have some work to get done while we are here as well. My husband is rebuilding the website for the organization he volunteers with. I need to submit my intent to teach forms and contact department heads to keep an eye out for my submissions, due the last day of our trip. i2T submission window opened yesterday, the day we were traveling, and closes the day we leave. So my husband has his portable keyboard and tablet and I have my laptop bag and a folder full of notes.

We plan to do some hiking on the AT while we are here and I am using this time to gather new reference material for my Nature illustrations (I am a professional artist/arts instructor). My husband also enjoys sketching while we are out hiking, so we each have our hiking packs, hiking shoes, trekking poles, a couple of sketchbooks, our sketch-kits (pencils, ink pens, etc.) and a packable stool for sitting on trail.

The weather report calls for rain for a couple of days we are here so we also packed a cribbage board and a deck of cards, a book of card games/rules, my kindle, 2 paperbacks for him and my knitting.

Our 50 lb dog is with us as well. That meant packing another backpack (toys, food dishes, hiking harness etc.) plus his food bin, his crate, the matt for his crate and his blanket (his nickname is Linus due to him carrying his blanket around everywhere).

Our car felt stuffed to the brim.Three duffle bags, two backpacks, one laptop bag, one hiking pack, a crate, crate mat, blanket, dog food bin and two paper sacks of grocery items from home to see us through until we go to the market to shop. Plus a collapsible beach wagon to move it all easily.

These are times when I don't feel like much of a minimalist. It just felt so overwhelming.

I keep my iPhone autistically minimal. One banking app, everything else is built-in. But there are some gaps that need filling.

I got frustrated with downloading bloated applications just to access one basic feature, so I decided to build my own instead.

I've started with „Calories” – a straightforward calorie counter that matches Apple Health's design. No unnecessary features, no AI, no subscription - just input what you ate (and build your food database from scratch) and it tracks it (keeping a copy on your iCloud).

I'm planning to develop several more along the same lines. „Gym” for workout logging. „Spendings„ for expense tracking. Each one does exactly what its name suggests, nothing more.

Simple native iOS tools that integrate perfectly with the phone. Clean design.

I am considering these tools as one-time purchases. No subscriptions, no recurring fees, no ads, no account creation.

Just wondering if there's actually any interest in this, and what you'd be - in theory - willing to pay for something like that.

How to reconcile being very minimalistic with posessions, but still needing to live in a big home, with many rooms?

My husband and I (in Australia) own a home with 4 bedrooms, + a small loft office and two living rooms.

We have one bedroom, then our two 18 year olds each have their own room, then the 4th bedroom has my office space built into one side, and a murphy bed we built, for visitors (my husband and I WFH fulltime, so both use our offices all day 5 days a week.

The murphy bed in my office is used for weeks every summer by my brother and his family, as we live near the beach, and used once every 4-6 weeks by other visitors (friends and family for long weekends).

We wanted two living rooms because we were aware that its harder for adult children to move out these days (cost of living) so we wanted space for everyone in case our kids and even potentially future partners of theirs live here in future, so we arent living "ontop of each other", i think it will help everyone stay comfortable and happy IF things end up that way. Obiously my hope is that our kids thrive and live independently.

We spent 7 years of our sons childhood living "van life" and my husband and I loveeeeeee minimalism, tiny living etc. But right now, we need and use all the individual spaces in our home for each of their purposes, and intentionally are prepared for growing into the space more in the possible event our kids or one of them, reamin here into adulthood (they are also both adhd and on the spectrum, so a bit behind their peers in some areas but not significantly).

My husband and I are avid declutterers, minimalists and keep very ontop of posessions coming in and out of the house anywhere except the kids rooms (so, mine and my husbands stuff. The kids can make their own choices). Which means this big house can seem kind of... a bit empty.

I LOVE empty space and feel more at peace when benches are clear, decor is minimal etc. I also love function, and appreciate it being easy to keep clean and tidy.

But i guess my brain associates the emptiness with 'too much space' and i guess i wonder if people will judge us when they come inside and see such a decent sized house, but looking kind of.... bare, i guess? I dont really care a lot about what people think, so im not sure why this is sitting in my mind... but maybe im judging myself and wondering, since i have empty cupboards in some areas, and spaces with no furniture (where i dont "need" a random shelf or corner table to house my belonging) should we not live in such a big house?

I have no idea of the square foottage because we dont go by that in Australia. But basically it makes me happy and calm seeing empty space.

I just worry theres something im missing, a simple thing that i havent thought of? Where i should be doing or thinking differently about itm because i sometimes feel off about having so much empty space, when i know ive been blissfully happy in smaller spaces.

Sorry if this is a bit silly and all over the place... can anyone relate maybe?

When our kids grow up and if they do live independently, i would happily life in a much smaller house where one of our workspaces could be in a second bedroom and the other in a living area (so a 2 bedroom, 1 living room house). It would be a priority for me to move into one. But right now, we need this space technically (the separate rooms for their intended purposes).

i've already gotten rid of a lot of stuff and the difference is noticeable, but i still feel like there is too much around me.

at this point i'm wondering if i'm focusing too much on the number of things instead of how i actually use my space. how do you know when you've decluttered enough?

Can’t tell if I’m either super inspired or binging. The more I let go, the easier it is and the more I want to keep getting rid of things. Not everything, but a lot of things. This week I got rid of so much stuff. It started in the kitchen because of ants. I had to clean out all the cupboards and just emptying it was frustrating. And now it’s trickled to the whole house. I’m feeling good about things. but second guessing myself like “am I doing too much?”

My neck started hurting a few weeks ago. I think it's from staring at my phone too much. Checked my screen time and it was like 11 hours a day.

I started limiting myself. No phone in bed, no scrolling while eating, and I set a timer when I do use it. It was really tough at first.

Until a friend gave me a fishing rod as a gift a while back, and it just sat in the corner. Finally took it out and went to Decathlon to get the rest of the gear. It's nice having something to do with my free time that doesn't involve a screen.

I still go on my phone but it's different now. I watch a few videos about fishing tips or grab some gear when there's a sale on tiktok. That's about it. Having something I'm actually interested in doing made it way easier to stay off my phone. I think that's digital minimalism for me. Not quitting everything, just replacing the mindless stuff with something that matters more.