My Timeless Things

Last week, I opened my closet and as I picked up my sweater that warmed me on these cold winter days, I thought for a moment: "They will say this sweater is stuck on you too." Although this sweater has been in my wardrobe for the last 3 years, its existence is actually older. It is a sweater that came to me from my aunt. Its color and texture is still like a stone, so to speak. I think the model is also original and it is a very comfortable and warm sweater. It is actually a good example of what I am talking about: timeless.

When I first heard about minimalism, I didn't know it was going to be a turning point in my life. I was living with my mother and I was constantly questioning the things at home and in the office where I worked. Why did we have 50 tea cups in our house where 2 people lived and maybe 10-12 guests came at most at a time? Why were our office desks crowded with pencil holders holding pens we didn't use when we were so digitalized?

After I learned about minimalism and the definitions settled in my head, I started to sift through my own clothes. As much as my sweater is me nowadays, my drawers full of clothes back then were not me at all.

Most of them were bought on a whim. The first thing I looked at when buying them was not the quality of the materials or the impact they would add to my life, but the fact that they were popular at the time or a great deal on sale.

One of the biggest mistakes when it comes to minimalism is to focus only on the process of elimination. But the real work is in choosing. Choosing what to add to your life from the beginning is the first step. Then, when things get complicated and things get out of control, it is important to decide what to keep, not what to eliminate.

When you eliminate some items, the money you spent on them hurts. It is like a wrong investment. I also feel sorry for the raw materials, energy and human labor spent in its production. But it is important not to feel sorry, but to learn from it. In my first elimination process, some labeled items from my wardrobe taught me to be a conscious consumer.

Then the concepts of cost per wear/use entered my life. If a product is worth 100 TL and there is a 10 TL equivalent, it is not right to directly call the 100 TL one expensive. For the person, "How much he/she will use this product" is the most important thing. When I use the 100 TL one 100 times, its cost per use comes to 1 TL, while when the 10 TL product worth one tenth of it breaks down on the first use, or when I realize that I don't need it at all, or when I see that it is not comfortable to use, let's say if we use it 2 times, the cost per use will be 5 TL.

We need to pay more attention to this, especially in long-lasting products. A good suitcase or bag you buy, organizers you buy to use the inside comfortably, and products such as makeup or jewelry bags make your work easier on every trip, while reducing the cost of use in each use.

A friend of mine who knows what I am talking about recently asked me, "Don't you ever buy anything new?" Of course I do. Of course I do, sometimes because I need it, sometimes to renew what I already have. But there is an important question I ask when buying: "Will I still be using this in 5 years?"

If the answer is no, I don't buy it.

This is what it means to go for what is little but permanent. You don't chase after trends. You look for things that preserve the essence. And this perspective spreads to every part of life over time. Not only in things, but also in habits, in relationships, even in pace.

Those who know me are familiar with my travels with a backpack. Or when we went on a 1-week vacation as a family and fit into 2 cabin suitcases. I first learned to carry less stuff when I started going to camps during my university years, and then I discovered that I didn't like to wait for a suitcase when traveling by plane in my job where I traveled all over Turkey for 6 years, and that I wanted to get moving as soon as possible.

Still, it is not enough to set off with less stuff. That little needs to be in its own order. Knowing what's where when you unpack, putting your belongings in your accommodation or returning them at the end of the trip... it's just as important for me to be practical while collecting.

It has been 15 years since I read my first word on minimalism. My biggest "good thing" is to have adopted this philosophy of life before I left my mother's house and set up my own organization, and to choose the items and business partners I have added to my life accordingly.

Have you met the minimalist life?

Author: Hale Acun Aydin