June 2025

Minimal Monthly

Hello, hello!

I've been on another one of my massive purges the past couple of weeks, and made more progress in my year-long Swedish death cleaning roadmap, woot.

It started innocently enough one Saturday afternoon. I had to reconfigure a Sonos speaker sitting on my little trolley of office supplies. Then I noticed the trolley was all dusty. When I started dusting, I realised a lot of it can go.

That sparked a big paperwork shredding session. Then I decided to let go another ton of old books. And then...

The sewing machine.

Half of my rubber stamp collection.

A sticker maker.

Art supplies I never use anymore.

The old iPad. Two Apple routers in their original boxes. My Nintendo console and all the games, all the games.

I wasn't done yet. A keyboard followed. 12 brand new sketch pads. Collage ephemera. Gadgets. A drum pad... and so much more stuff. Good Lord, I still had so much stuff. I just forgot about it because it was, if I say so myself, rather cleverly organised and out of sight.

So I sorted out a little mountain in the end. I still liked everything. But I just hadn't used in a really, really long time. With the exception of the books that go to a local reseller, I wound up donating everything to a youth centre I support every so often. They were thrilled by the selection and good condition of it all, and I got a four-figure tax deduction for my next return. Win-win. They even came and picked everything up themselves.

Big purges like this feel very, very good. I'm on a proper roll again now, too, and finally ready to tackle the dreaded cellar this summer. 😬

Three Good Reads

Decluttering books made me want to share a few oldies but goodies before I let them go. One short, one long, one heady, these are really good. Maybe something for your next summer read?

For all mums everywhere. Published in 1996. Amazon link.

Collection of essays from 1993, spanning everything from rape and censorship to Madonna, Clarence Thomas and rock. An American pop culture reader tour de force. Amazon link.

Digital minimalism flip-book from The School of Life. Think I picked this up in 2017. Really enjoyed it. Amazon link.

Mixed Bag 'o Links

Got one of those rolling carts? Real Simple magazine has five things you can do with it. (I love these as an art caddy!)
It's BBQ season. Over on Youtube, the Weekly Home Check smooth-talks you through some literally nitty-gritty grill cleaning. Good channel btw, with a load of other useful shorts like this one for deep-cleaning the washer.
The Seattle Times spoke to a few professional home organisers to find out what they do keep. Yep, sentimental items made the cut. Whew, we're all human.
Home office: Honestly the most impressive battlestation I've seen in a while. Must've been a DIY 3D print job done out of passion.
Oldie but goodie from creative Austin Kleon: how to fold a one-page zine (and how to read like an artist!).
I've been using Manus more lately for work-related research and it's good. Like, really good. If you lack access, here's an invite.
If you're in the Apple ecosystem, the free Notes and Reminders apps are all you really need to wrangle your to-dos and projects. Get the most out of them with this simple trick.
Good Housekeeping has four simple decluttering hacks that will make your week a bit easier. I'm a fan of the Sunday handbag reset myself. 👜
A different way to make personal donations I spotted on Reddit. I can see this working if you live in a city with tower blocks.