Musings of a Traveling Minimalist Family

We would not really consider ourselves "true" minimalists.  But we have lived with as little as "possible" for over a year now.  Even in Texas, people who came into our house thought it was very empty.  When we left Kansas we really did pare way down and since we've been in New York, we have lived with only what can fit in the back of our Suburban and what gracious rentals provide us.  Our first apartment we were very grateful to be provided with a stove, fridge, minimal furnishings and a toaster.  The cabin we moved to most recently is also furnished...but much differently.  Here are some pictures I took while we were trying to make this place our temporary home.  Enjoy!

The bathroom is not very well planned out (speaking from a design standpoint) so the toilet/sink are bottlenecked at the back.  That little area is STUFFED with...stuff...the medicine cabinet, sink cabinet and little wicker furniture thingy are cram-packed with everything a person might ever need.  Such as used toothbrushes, used contact lens cases, pads from 1987, etc. etc.  And every spare surface is covered with doilies or blankets.  There are so many rugs that some are hanging from the towel racks.  I took pictures because I needed to rearrange *everything* to put our own things away so that I would know where to put stuff back when we leave. 

In going through the cabinets, I feel like I know the people who grew up with this place as their summer house in the 70's.  They like to throw *really* big parties with lots of food and lots of booze.  Every cabinet was jam-packed like this.  Even the freezer was fully stocked with bags of ice and freezy cups.  The fridge had some beer and some juice and loads of condiments.  The closets are packed to the gills like this.  There are random pieces of furniture all over the house that are filled like this with stuff.  I found every possible thing I could need to have a cocktail party for 50.  They had a whole cabinet crammed full of spices from the 90's.  It was truly amazing.  I don't think I realized how much I like living with little until we walked in here and tried to make it suit our needs.  All this stuff really bears down, crowds in and suffocates.

But I am not about to complain.  Please don't mistake any of the above banter for complaining.  It's really more of an amusement and I think the people we are renting from are really sweet and caring.  They want to provide every possible thing a cabin renter could need.  How could I even think of complaining when the view is like this!?

And we have managed to clean out the cupboards and make the place a little more well-suited to our own needs.  If someone went through our house, they might think we were a hair "off" too.  Check out all that gluten-free, organic stuff.  Know anyone else who carries around 7 different kinds of tea with them across the country?  Yes, we are definitely our own brand of strange.

And we are 100% living it up in this crammed-to-the-gills cabin.  Next week we will start decorating for our "Christmas," which for us will mean a lighted tree and some paper chain decorations.  I bet if I go through these closets I might find some kind of Christmas decorations circa 1974.