Minimalism Archives - Traveling Wallet

20Jul 2017 by The Roamer 1 Comment

Capsule 8: Spring & 2 years of capsule wardrobes

I first started my capsule wardrobe experiment back in July 2015. I had no idea it would last this long. Today I wrap up 2 years of living with capsule wardrobes. All just 3 months at a time. When I started I didn't commit myself to doing it forever, but it has been such a good experience that I have kept going. Spring 2017 was the final chapter of year 2. My 8th capsule. Here is what I picked out and wore. (more…)

30Jun 2017 by The Roamer 2 Comments

Capsule 7: Winter and a Wrap dress

Capsule Wardrobe, Minimalism

The mini retirement is just around the corner, so for year 2 of capsule wardrobes, my goal is to get all my clothes to fit into 1 bin and 1 backpack. Fitting our entire life into 2 cars means No space for superfluous rarely used items. Here were my pick for my 7th capsule wardrobe Winter 2016. You can compare it to last Winter's Capsule 3 wardrobe picks and looks. My last winter capsule I had 40 items. This year only 36, I'm slowly learning to do more with less. (more…)

26May 2017 by The Roamer No Comments

Capsule 6 & A 10 x 10 Challenge

Capsule Wardrobe, Minimalism

The mini retirement is just around the corner, so for year 2 of capsule wardrobes, my goal is to get all my clothes to fit into 1 bin and 1 backpack. Fitting our entire life into 2 cars means No space for superfluous rarely used items. Here are my pick for my 6th capsule wardrobe Fall 2016.You can compare it to last Fall's Capsule 2 wardrobe picks and looks. (more…)

21Apr 2017 by The Roamer No Comments

Capsule 5: Summer, No purchase necessary

Minimalism

Welcome Its spring of 2017 and I am currently living in capsule number 8 and getting ready to close up year 2 of dressing with a capsule. I am 3 capsule wardrobes behind. Here is capsule number 5. I am planning to keep these updates short and simple. This isn't a fashion blog so I don't want to have 3 capsule posts in 3 weeks. I am rolling out 1 a month and in June we should be all up to date. My goal in year 2 ( capsule 5-8) was to get all my clothes to fit into 1 bin and 1 back pack. When I just started out, my goal for year one of my capsule was to test out the majority of my wardrobe. I had lots of clothes I…

17Feb 2017 by The Roamer 6 Comments

Home Tour & 2016 purge review

Housing, Minimalism

Why a home tour? Well honestly, I wanted to catalog what the house looks like now. After all, the goal is that everything must go. If you are new here, you might not know that the Roamer clan is planning BIG life changes. We are planning to relocate. From sunny California to (more…)

13Nov 2016 by The Roamer 2 Comments

Surviving 1 year of colorful capsule wardrobes, and cutting my wardrobe by 47%

Continuous improvement, Minimalism

The traveling wallet is our journey through many of life's facets. That's why I like to cover a few main topics here on the blog: travel, money, family and minimalism. This post is for those interested in minimalism. In this case creating a minimalist wardrobe and purging the items that just hung around. This year I completed a whole year of living with capsule wardrobes. If you don't know what they are, it's when you remove everything from your closet and pick only some of your clothes to live with for 3 months. In my case I choose to hover around 38 items. It included: tops, bottoms, and shoes. In the end I created 4 capsules to cover the whole year. After the experiment I can say its a great gate…

24May 2016 by The Roamer 4 Comments

Capsule Wardrobe Experiment Update

Continuous improvement, Minimalism

It's not a new story to open up your closet and find nothing to wear. I hate to admit it, but I was just like that. I was so frustrated once I even posted it on Facebook. I received a flood of comments, full of sympathy, so many of my female friends could relate. Had they been standing next to me I'm sure I would have seen their heads nodding up and down. Woe is us. Last year after connecting with the minimalist movement I learned about something else. Capsule wardrobes. When I first started my journey into capsule wardrobes all I knew was that it promised I wouldn't open up my closet and feel like I had nothing to wear. It was going to solve that problem. So I…

26Mar 2016 by The Roamer 2 Comments

Minimalism without waste

Minimalism

We've been living in our new apartment for 3 months now and moving can have many benefits. For us it was a great excuse to purge mercilessly any items we could so that we wouldn't have to move them. As I spoke about during the great moving purge. As I work towards minimalism, I am also trying to do it without waste. As I removed the excess I want to do so with this quote in mind. Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or do without. (more…)

24Mar 2016 by The Roamer No Comments

The Great Moving Purge

Minimalism

While I don't think I had ever heard the term minimalism growing up the word hoarding I was familiar with. There were shows about it after all, and while our home never looked like that. There was enough clutter to make me feel anxious. (more…)

02Nov 2015 by The Roamer 5 Comments

Capsule Wardrobe Lessons: Love yourself

Counter Culture, Minimalism, Monthly Challenge

Its November and I am in the last month of my 2nd capsule wardrobe. But before we can talk about the 2nd go I want to share a recap. In September I completed my first capsule wardrobe challenge. This year I've really enjoyed taking on these monthly challenges. It's an organized way to try something new, and usually it's really fun too. So what's the benefit of a capsule wardrobe? How many items do you get? Is it going to benefit you financially? and most importantly what did you wear these past 3 months? 1st capsule outfits, Summer 2015 I'm so glad you asked. Well start with the easy one. Below you'll find a collage of my outfits. At work I wear a uniform (self imposed) which falls outside of my main…

11Jun 2015 by The Roamer 6 Comments

5S : Continuously Improving your living space

Continuous improvement, Counter Culture, Minimalism

Maybe you're new here. Maybe I just haven't talked much about work. ( why would I? after all I am here to try and escape it) yet with my avid distaste for corporate schedules and time restrictions even I have to admit I've learned quite a bit. Welcome to Lean. My trade for most of my working career was in Lean Manufacturing, also known as Industrial Engineering, or Continuous Improvement. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. In a nutshell my job was to analyze processes and remove waste. Removing waste is very important in a business. Its what keeps you profitable. Yet what really amazed me as I learned more was how these philosophies and their application were so widely applicable. Even at home. I've read finance blogs…

07Jun 2015 by The Roamer 3 Comments

2nd Go at the mins game

Minimalism, Monthly Challenge

At the beginning of May Mr. Roamer and I decided to give the #minsgame another try. I am more and more drawn to minimalism and the idea of simplified living. [caption id="attachment_1213" align="alignright" width="169"] Round 2 of the Minsgame[/caption] We didn't make it to the end like last time. Actually comparatively we did a lot worse (as you can see in the picture). However, I am still happy with the results as the changes still yield compound benefits. In the sense of now I have less to clean up and I'm never going to have to organize that item(s) ever again. When I'm purging sometimes its very difficult. I can easily convince myself to keep stuff. I think someday I'll use it. But I have a secret weapon.... When I…

25Feb 2015 by The Roamer 8 Comments

31 Day Challenge Update

Minimalism, Monthly Challenge

Ahh, its about time I pump out this update. Before the new year started I decided that I was going to participate in the minimalists' game. The challenge was set to start on January 1st, and go until the 31st. The idea? To eliminate 1 item the first day, 2 items the second day and so on. To my surprise but joy, Mr. Roamer decided he would participate too. In essence doubling the amount of items we would have to purge. Before the Challenge [caption id="attachment_734" align="alignleft" width="169"] Our closet. Looking exceptionally unkept.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_913" align="alignleft" width="300"] A side of our room, boxes abound[/caption] Per our pictures you can see some of the stuff that has accumulated in our apartment. I'm kind of bummed. I really wish that I would have gotten…

30Dec 2014 by The Roamer 7 Comments

Will you take the 31 day Challenge?

Counter Culture, Minimalism, Monthly Challenge

I don't really write about minimalism but it is implied... oh wait I haven't implied it either. Well then ok... As an aspirational traveler but also a parent stuff can easily become burdensome. I've been working on trimming down on my possessions because they really have become more trouble then they are worth. To help keep me motivated and also spurn me into action. Aggressive action! I am going to do the challenge posed by The minimalists( you can read more about it here). I will be starting January first. I will try to follow the rules but I am making one alteration. I know how difficult it can be to resell stuff so I am giving myself 30 days to sell the stuff that I think I can sell.…

Category: Minimalism