Recognize that words are cheap, it’s easy to verbalize a desire rather than take the first steps to achieving it. This past April was a month of activity and I was amazed at how much I could accomplish by saying less and doing more. Documenting your actions is one of the best ways to stay motivated and make further progress. I am doing that here for my own purposes and hopefully to inspire others.

Create Something

I enjoy working on websites as a hobby. This past month while assisting someone with computer issues, I discovered that they were looking for someone to help redesign their business page so I jumped at the opportunity. The site is not super complicated and I used an existing WordPress template. Regardless, I am proud of it! Check it out here.

and a fun little doodle I did at a MPLSzine event.

Kick Back

April was filled with entertainment. I had the fortune of attending the amazing concerts of Calvin Harris and Crystal Castles. I had never been to a show at one of the performance venues which was exciting to experience. Also who doesn’t love flashing lights and lasers?

Stewart and I had a little too much fun using the photo booth at the Yelp Nouvelle Vague hosted at Rouge. Free burlesque dancing and cookies made for an interesting evening. Great free perk for writing up reviews about my favorite local businesses.

Find Beauty

During the St. Paul Art Crawl, I gained access to an eclectic collection of apartment interiors lived in by various local artists. For example, I found this unique light sculpture work created by DesignHMC and the artist had some great mid-century design sprinkled throughout her apartment.

Get Involved

ArtCrank is an event that highlights poster art designed by local artists to celebrate the bike culture in Minneapolis. Since its inception, it has spread to other bike friendly cities. After attending the last two years, I decided to give back by helping the organization execute the Minneapolis 2013 event. Turnout was amazing despite the unfortunate rainy weather and I had plenty of opportunities to interact with members of the cycling community while managing the area designated for bike parking. I also spotted this beautiful bike seat flask holder.

Moral of the story, get out and get active!

When I first heard that someone had offered a reasonable price for the house, I was relieved. My parents would no longer be responsible over a living space that was too large and difficult to maintain. But as I was convincing my parents to sign the deal, I felt a growing sadness in the back of my mind.

While it’s best to cast away sentimental value as a reason for clinging to material goods, I was still affected by severing ties with this structure comprised of bricks and wood. My childhood home felt as though it had been leveled before my eyes with the a few flicks of a pen in a realtor’s office.

No more turning over rocks to inspect bugs in the backyard or witnessing the perennial pink blooms of the cherry blossom tree. No more summer drives by the lake with the windows down. I knew those days had died long before the selling of the house, but when?

This initial sadness subsided because I knew the memories of residing there would remain and the physical structure itself held little importance to me. I now had a new concern. Without the house, how often would I realistically return to that place I used to call home?

I feel like a lone traveler on a train car that suddenly took a new direction. Parting ways with others after sharing a lengthy portion of our life journey left me longing for a past that no longer exists. I wonder if I will ever reunite with the friends from my formative years.

Hopefully this change will not lead their temporary absence from my life to permanent separation.

Change is bittersweet. All things must come to an end to make way for new opportunities and experience. My parents will move, time will pass and the house will remain. It’s funny how something that seemed so permanent can quickly become a fleeting thought.

It’s a throwback Tuesday on minimal-ism. Today’s daily carry source comes from someone I met in my hometown long, long ago. I’m not sure if he recalls, but David and I took high school art classes together. I remember he displayed a deep artistic talent in his work, something that I really envied. I was even more impressed after discovering his many accomplishments at Reclaimed Cleveland and thankfully, he agreed to share his daily carry and give a little insight into his current projects. So cool!

Bio: David Meyers (Design Director / Maker)

A transplant to Cleveland from Detroit, David arrived in 2007 seeking an industrial design degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art. During his time at the Institute, David grew interested in sustainability design and it soon became a passion and the focus of his BFA thesis. After presenting his thesis at the Institute’s 2011 Spring Show, David was approached by Reclaimed Cleveland founders Deej Lincoln and Aaron Gogolin. He was later asked to consult on the company’s product design and brand. Several months into helping refine the vision of the company, David accepted the position of Design Director in charge of product design and marketing.

A Bit About Reclaimed Cleveland

(check out their website at ReclaimedCleveland.com)

Reclaimed Cleveland is now entering it’s 3rd year. In the past 2 years we have gone from concept to formidable furniture company. We have come along way, but are still growing and still have a long way to go. We now have retailers in multiple states including Ohio, New York, California and Colorado. We sell online through our own website and occasionally through Fab and Gilt Groupe.

MISSION

Reclaimed Cleveland is a retail and custom furnishings company, which re-purposes local materials that would otherwise be bound for disposal. The goal of the company is to serve Cleveland’s progression into a sustainable 21st century, while preserving its history in heirloom quality furniture.

NEED

The City of Cleveland’s mid-twentieth century population was nearly 1 million people. In the last 50 years, the local population has decreased by two-thirds because of a migration out of the area due to loss of manufacturing jobs. As a result, approximately 15,000 houses (some estimates claim more) stand vacant and are scheduled for demolition in the next 5 to 10 years. Millions of tons of materials from these demolitions are considered garbage and shipped to area landfills each year.

UPCYCLE

Our main source of materials are condemned Cleveland area structures; but other material sources include urban trees removed to make way for utilities and land use in the city, retail storefront renovations, or any other local materials going to refuse that our designers can manipulate for re-use. Most of the houses slated for demolition in Cleveland are nearly 100 years old (some even older) and were built with old growth lumber that is as dense as it is beautiful. Reclaimed Cleveland is leading the effort to salvage this lumber and giving it new life as well-designed house furnishings and accessories.

PROVENANCE

All Reclaimed Cleveland products are stamped with the address of the structure from which the lumber was reclaimed. Images and information in respect to each structure can be found on the “Salvages” page of our website. Although we make multiples of our pieces, each one is unique and traceable to its origin.

My Daily Carry: (From left to right / top to bottom)

• KEYS - To my office home and car. I drive a 2003 Volvo S40, the same car I have been driving since high school. Also a Reclaimed Cleveland Keychain (coming soon).
• SUNGLASSES – (Persol’s Model 0649 Suprema Havana) W/ Bobber Croakie. My eye’s are very photosensitive so I almost always have my sunglasses with me. The are also a must when working with the bright light of our laser cutter.
• WALLET – (Brand – Property Of…) I like a slim and simple wallet. (so do we!)
• PHONE – (iPhone 5) With a pine Reclaimed Cleveland iPhone Skin (material salvaged from 12617 Abell Ave. Cleveland, OH. I took the liberty of laser etching “THIS PHONE BELONGS TO DAVID MEYERS” on the skin in case I lose it.
• SAFETY GLASSES – As the Design Director of Reclaimed Cleveland I am often running back and forth from the shop and office. It is alway a good idea to wear safety glasses when working with wood, but especially when working with reclaimed wood as nails and screws can sometimes be missed in the de-nailing process.
• PENS AND PENCILS – I use a mechanical pencil when marking wood for cutting as it has a fine point for precision cuts. I usually carry an array of pens for sketching, but I prefer a TUL fine point for the initial rough sketch and a BIC ballpoint for thickening the line weights.
• RECLAIMED CLEVELAND 6″ RULER – (coming soon) I usually carry a tape measure in the shop, but I have recently been working on small accessories and found it more precise and easier to use and carry our newly developed 6″ in ruler; made from Pecan Wood salvaged from the flooring of a Chrysler Stamping Plant in Twinsburg, OH.
• POCKET KNIFE – Everyone, especially a designer / craftsman should carry a pocket knife.
• BUSINESS CARD – I alway carry some Reclaimed Cleveland Business Cards with me in my wallet. It is only befitting that they are made from Reclaimed Wood.

Thanks David!

From a young age, I was trained to always focus on the future. My parents guided the first 21 years of my existence using practical wisdom they had acquired throughout their own life experiences. With a lot of hard work, planning and a bit of luck, they climbed the socioeconomic ladder, moved across the globe and raised a family.

As a child, one does not have deep existential thoughts and when I was old enough to contemplate them, the thoughts were suppressed by real and perceived feelings that I had no control over my environment. Attend elementary school, middle school, high school, college, find a job, have kids, retire, die.

Everyday I went through the motions; worked hard in school, received solid marks and moved to the next step in my life without a thought. Although there were times when I would grow weary of the present state of affairs, I knew that the next phase was just on the horizon. By focusing on the brighter future to come, I could grin and bear until it was time to move on.

Awakening

This mindless state didn’t change until I came out in my freshman year of college. It was the first time that reality was at odds with a seemingly preordained existence. The coming out process helped me build self confidence. With it, I learned how to deflect and later silence my parent’s well-intentioned attempts to coax me back into the preplanned path they had anticipated for me. This issue improved with time and the unexpected stumble was forgotten. I went on to graduate and lined up a job at a reputable company.

But my plans were derailed for a second time shortly thereafter. I became disillusioned with my work. I spent long hours in the office, received praise for job performance, lived in an expensive apartment,and had more money for nicer things. These were supposed to be the symbols of a successful and happy life, but it did not bring me any joy or satisfaction. I felt like I had been deceived. Why had I worked so hard for this? All that effort for some meaningless trinkets and an empty existence.

There was no longer a defined next step, no time frame to grin and bear. That’s when I reached a breaking point and decided to change my environment. I quit as gracefully as I could and found a new job that gave me more free time, albeit less money, and began shedding the things I had acquired that did not make me happy. With more leisure time and fewer possessions to distract me, I had room to breath and reflect. I accepted the ambiguity in my life and celebrated the fact that I did not have to live according to a rigid formula.

Growth

Instead I began to focus on personal growth. Incorporating minimalism into my life allowed me to travel more, read more, discover new hobbies (like writing this blog), focus on building/maintaining relationships and become more fit.  I became content with cultivating myself. I wasn’t as focused on what was coming next. I was too busy enjoying the changes that were going on right in front of me.

I discovered that I derived a large amount of happiness from doing things for others. I became more charitable with my money even though I earned less and began dedicating time to volunteer with organizations that aligned with my interests. I stopped going through the motions and just doing what was expected of me so I could get to the next phase.

By being mindful of our surroundings, we can control the direction of our lives and the type of person we want to be. Recognize that things don’t always happen for a reason and reject that there is some splendid afterlife awaiting you. Be empowered to take action instead of embracing complacency. Take responsibility for making this life meaningful because it’s all you have.

My parents showed me that education is the cornerstone to success, it allowed them to raise five intelligent and talented children. Although our university degrees gave my siblings and I access to jobs with higher incomes, some of us chose to take a different direction. The real value of education is derived from the new routes it creates to better pursue what we want out of life. It was never about stuff but rather freedom, freedom to pick our own path.

Here is a beautiful picture I took at the top of the snowshoe trail.

After reflecting on my three priorities for 2013, I decided to take the plunge and commit to traveling internationally this year. The plan is to fly myself and Stewart to Santiago, Chile in the fall or winter to visit a friend. While the dates have not been set, I have already started to save money  to fund the trip. Intention is the first step to success. With a clear financial goal in mind, it’s important that I keep tabs on my spending. Here are a few strategies that have helped me stick to my budget.

Learn to Leave It

I enjoy shopping as an activity. In the past, I believed that leaving the store empty handed meant that I had wasted my time. However, after I began focusing on minimizing my belongings, I became more thoughtful about my purchases. I also discovered that whether or not I made a purchase, I still received enjoyment from the shopping experience. Now I get just as much satisfaction when I walk away with nothing because it means there won’t be any chance of buyer’s remorse.

Advertisers are paid to make a compelling argument to buy their products. They offer low prices but only within a short time frame. They want you to believe that if you don’t buy right now, you’re missing out.  To dispel this feeling of urgency, I shop in small doses and do it often. The more I shop, the more I realize that these deals are a dime a dozen.

If you wait, another deal will resurface down the road. There have been countless times where I was set on buying something based on low price but decided to step back and wait. In many cases, I changed my mind during the waiting period and realized that I didn’t need or want the purchase. Ask yourself, would you still want to spend the money if it were full price? If the answer is no, it’s probably best to walk away.

Shopping with a List

One of the easiest ways to stick to my budget is avoiding unwanted purchases. Obviously that’s a no-brainer, but even routine trips to the grocery store puts you at risk of impulse buying. Aside from physical stores, we are bombarded by sites focused on flash sales and forums populated with user aggregated deals.

The shopping list strategy will help you avoid this problem, it forces you to plan your purchases ahead of time and helps you set boundaries on what you can buy at the store. If something is not on the list, do not purchase it. If you find that you still need it after getting home, you can always add it on to a list for a subsequent shopping trip.

Can’t resist those flash sales? Remove the urge to shop by unsubscribing from their newsletters and email alerts. If you don’t see the sale you won’t be tempted to buy.

Use More? Spend More

Cheap is not minimal. If you have something that you use often, don’t feel guilty about spending a little extra to get the very best that you can afford. You won’t need or feel the urge to replace a higher quality item as often which will save you money in the long run. Need recommendations? Check user reviews on sites like Amazon or search this subreddit BuyItForLife, it provides recommendations from owners about which products have proven their durability.

A few weeks ago, Stewart and I picked up this Bunn coffee maker from our local Salvation Army for $30 (it was an open box return with an original msrp of $100). For an upgrade that was relatively inexpensive, it has become one of our favorite purchases to date.

Stewart and I are serious coffee drinkers. Before we purchased the new coffee maker, we were using a cheapo Mr. Coffee machine that functioned but was unattractive and poorly constructed (we cleaned it up and donated it to the Salvation Army the same day we upgraded). Aside from the improved aesthetics, the Bunn coffee machine is also extremely convenient to operate which means that it’s being used more often.

As an added bonus, the new machine stores a carafe full of heated water in a reserve tank at all times which we can use to make tea on demand. With this new feature, we were able to eliminate our electric kettle thereby consolidating the number of appliances in our home.

Less is more, but make sure that the few things that you decide to keep around serve you well.

I haven’t had much to write about this past month so I decided to take a break and enjoy the holiday season. Now is a good time to sift through the belongings accumulated in the past year and purge anything that is no longer useful. Back when I started this blog, I wrote a piece about sentimental value. It was top of mind while I was doing my own assessment of what material goods were worth holding on to. One of the most difficult obstacles I experience during this process is the guilt of ungratefulness for returning, donating or disposing of things that were gifted to me. To overcome this feeling, remember that the thought that went into procuring the object is important, not the object itself. In the future, I plan to opt out of gift giving or request consumables to avoid this issue. A smaller focus on gift giving is also better for the environment according to this spot-on opinion piece from the Guardian.

On another note, 2013 is just around the corner and I’m grateful that a group of my friends planned a less conventional way to ring in the new year. Instead of heading to the crowded bars, 8 of us rented a small cabin on Lake Superior where we will enjoy an extended weekend of skiing and relaxation. The last time I skied was in high school so wish me luck!

. . .

2013

In 2012, I swore off making a new year’s resolution. Instead I wrote down the three most important aspects of my life for that year and devised realistic steps I could take to continue prioritizing them. This strategy provided a clearer route to success than a conventional resolution. I urge you to sit down and take 15 minutes to complete the exercise. Below is an updated version to reflect my priorities in 2013.

Health

2012: Hiking, half-marathon training (I did this one!)

2013: Yoga 2x week (increased from 1x week in 2011), continue biking to work (recently hit 3500 miles commuted to work by bicycle)

Financial Stability

2012: Pay down mortgage, student loans, increase savings (Cha-ching! my net worth is now positive for the first time, budgeting works)

2013: Pay down mortgage, pay off down payment loan from parents ($2.9k of $5k remaining), pay down student loan ($15k of $30k remaining, eliminated one of the two loans in 2012), increase savings

Travel

2012: Michigan 3x, go to at least 1 country I have never visited (visited DC for the first time and went to NYC), Northern Minnesota

2013: Go to at least 1 country I have never visited and/or trip to Pacific Northwest (Portland and Seattle)

. . .

Inspiration for the Holidays

 1.) “How did you get by” Story Corp

2.) I’m Fine, Thanks (great documentary, $5 for digital copy/stream so you don’t have to find a place to keep it after you are done watching)

1. The Crowds

Nothing turns me off more than having to wrestle over material goods while dodging and shimmying my way between the bodies of others. Black Friday draws out not only the most intense shoppers, but the infrequent ones as well. When stores are packed with people, it makes the shopping experience chaotic and confusing. Often times, I try to escape those retail environments by walking out empty-handed or worse, experience buyer’s remorse from purchasing something I did not really want or need. With the modern age of internet retail, I prefer perusing deals from the comfort of my home. You can search community aggregated/rated deals from sites like slickdeals.net or fatwallet.com.

2. The Pressure

The purpose of sales are to highlight good deals on specific merchandise. As I mentioned earlier, during Black Friday everything is on sale . This makes it all the harder to determine what you actually want to buy and it’s an arduous task sifting through which sales are truly worth browsing. The point of Black Friday is to whip the shopper crowds into a buying frenzy, loading up on door buster deals and hopefully picking up a few other things they were not intending on purchasing as they make their way to the checkout lines. This strategy is great for their profit margins, but a destructive force in my attempt to curtail my consumption and decreasing material goods that don’t add meaning to my life.

3. What it Stands For

While Thanksgiving itself is diluted by traditions that may impede the enjoyment of spending time in the company of loved ones, Black Friday exacerbates the problem. Black Friday is a holiday that was created solely to promote gratuitous consumption, a way for retailers to increase profits thereby lifting themselves into “the black”. As time has passed, Black Friday has grown, with some retailers opting to start before Friday, cutting into the Thanksgiving holiday for the workers required to work the sale. Not only does Black Friday overshadow a holiday meant to solidify relationships with friends and family, it has begun to cut into it. We have replaced the meaningful interactions of Thanksgiving with a day dedicated to worshiping material goods.

Thankful for opportunities to reconnect with an old pal over a cold brew

That’s why I will pass on waiting in lines this Friday to get more “stuff”.

As the beginnings of winter start to take hold, I have readied my bike for the harsher road conditions to come. If you have read my prior posts, you might know that I am a “winter warrior”, aka a year round bike commuter (if you’re interested in learning more, check out my article on winter biking gear). This evening I had my studded tires swapped on at a local bike shop which made me realize, prepping for winter biking this time around has cost me next to nothing because I can reuse all of my gear from last year.

All that was purchased this season was a second set of wool base layer clothing so I could alternate the sets between washings and a bright red Marmot Key Pin Goretex jacket for improved nighttime visibility and full wind resistance. If you are looking for well-priced outdoor gear, you should check out SierraTradingPost.com, they have huge discounts on brand names and if you follow them on Facebook you can often find 30-40% off promo codes.

Because biking is an extremely economical form of transportation, going car-less was one of the most significant ways of cutting costs from my budget. As a result, I was able to save up an emergency fund of nearly $10k in the past two years. Having this money saved was a great feeling, but a few weeks ago I noticed that my spending had become more aggressive as the emergency fund grew.

In response, I took $5.5k from the savings account and eliminated one of my two student loans. This reduced my student loan debt to $15k, half of the $30k I had started with upon graduation in 2010. With one of my debts completely paid off, I felt extremely motivated. My goal to save money and pay off debt was revitalized by a smaller debt total and less cash in my savings account.

The last change was the replacement of the medicine cabinet with an attractive vintage mirror. The storage provided by the medicine cabinet was no longer needed after adding over the door storage. The mirror (from Craigslist $100) is marked with a Decorative Arts Inc. NY sticker and was owned by the seller’s family since the 1940s or 50s. Next step is to find new lighting!

While perusing the web for storage solutions, I found this DIY project at Kyle Wilson’s blog and thought it was ingenious. Here is a how-to with pictures from my own endeavor. If you have an old set of drop handle bars and quill stem the cost of this project will be less than $20. However, even if you purchase the handlebars and quill stem, it shouldn’t set you back as much as a fancy wall rack and I think this solution looks a lot cooler.

I need to give a shout out to my local Ace Hardware, they helped me find all the right parts and also they helped me re-thread the old quill stem in their workshop. The total cost was under $15 for all the hardware and the work. Amazing!

Tools

• Measuring Tape
• Hammer
• Power Drill
• Phillips Screwdriver

Materials

• Galvanized Floor Flange 3/4″
• 5″ Galvanized Nipple 3/4″ (this is the threaded pipe, the quill stem needs to fit snuggly into the galvanized nipple)
• 4 Drywall Anchors (if you are drilling into drywall, I ended up only using 1 of them because the other holes hit a stud in the wall)
• 4 Screws
• Drop Handle Bars
• Quill Stem

Step 1:

Place quill stem into the galvanized nipple and place it into the floor flange

Step 2:

Slide the bars into the opening of the quill stem and adjust the bars so they are on a 45 degree angle if the flange were on a vertical wall

Step 3:

Find the desired height and area you want the rack to sit on the wall. I made nail holes to mark where I wanted to put the rack and then drilled the anchors/screws into the wall. I had to pull the stem out a bit to extend the distance from the wall. The end of the stem to the flange measures about 9″.

Step 4:

Hang that beautiful bike and take it all in!