Tag: minimalism

5 More Extraordinary Ways To Travel Like A Minimalist

Want to get more intense with your light traveling? Here are 5 more tips …

It has been an awesome couple of weeks during the How To Live Anywhere launch. Thank you for being a part of it! Let’s switch gears from all the business focused articles for at least a day, huh?

Last year, I wrote an article on ZenHabits called The Beginner’s Guide To Minimalist Travel. If you haven’t already read it, go ahead and check it out after we’re done here.

We’re going to take minimalist travel to the next level.

As an ultra light traveler (ok, technically not) my goal is not only to pack as little as possible, but everything I pack should have multiple uses.

As an example, I use the Dr Bronner’s soap I mentioned in The Beginner’s Guide as body wash, face wash, toothpaste, and laundry detergent. I stopped washing my hair with hair products almost a year ago so I don’t use it as shampoo, but it can also be used in place of your shampoo.

1) Use USB Rechargeable Electronics

If you’re traveling it’s a given that you’re going to bring electronics with you. Especially if you’re like me and you’re working as you travel. I’ve got a laptop, an iPod, a digital camera, a Flip Video camera, and a small flashlight (torch).

But I’ve cut my chargers down to the bare minimum.

While my laptop is charging (or I’m working) I charge most of my electronics.

My iPod charges with a small iPod cable and not the big iPod charger and the batteries to my Flip and flashlight charge using a small USB AA/AAA battery charger.

You can buy a USB battery charger almost anywhere that sells rechargeable batteries. If you can’t find it locally, Amazon has them.

Unfortunately, my digital camera has it’s own proprietary charger, but thankfully it’s very small.

2) Stick To One Credit Card and One ATM Card

The rationale for traveling with more (what I’ve heard from people I’ve met) seems to be “well, if something happens to one, I still have a back up.”

On the surface that seems like a great argument, but it’s completely unnecessary.

Let’s pretend you fall into the unfortunate situation of getting mugged. If you get mugged all of your credit cards will probably be taken. If you lose your wallet the same holds true. Having a backup in either of these worst-case-scenarios will be utterly useless. (Unless you happen to keep your cards in different places.)

Instead, stick to one credit card. Either one that gets you the most points or cashback or one that doesn’t charge international fees (my preference).

If you’re in the U.S. get a Capital One credit card. They don’t charge international fees so you never have to worry about being hit with the industry standard 3% fee for the “privelege” of using your card in another country.

Along with your no fee credit card, find a bank that offers no fee ATM withdrawals. Many online banks with corresponding stock trading accounts offer ATM cards that refund your ATM fees worldwide.

Additionally, sometimes banks in your home country will have an association with banks in other countries. For example, with my Bank of America ATM card I get fee free ATM withdrawals from any Westpac bank in Australia or New Zealand or Deutsche Bank here in Wroclaw, Poland. :)

Confession: I also travel with an Amex Platinum card so I have access to their benefits. Completely worthless card to actually use for transactions outside of the USA though.

3) Replace Your Shaving Cream or Foam With Shaving Oil

Shaving oil is a shaving cream/foam replacement that packs up much smaller than even travel sized shaving products. It’s also good for both men and women.

Shaving oil is not the same as pre-shave oil. Pre-shave oil is a conditioning oil used before your shaving cream/foam. Shaving oil, on the other hand, is used in place of shaving cream/foam.

I personally use Pacific Shaving Oil and love it more than any other shaving product I’ve ever used. One tiny bottle is good for 50-100 shaves depending on how many drops of oil you need to use. I use 8-9 drops per shave.

Just as important as being a minimalist product, shaving oil provides a very smooth, close, shave. I have horribly sensitive skin and Pacific Shaving Oil is the only product I’ve ever used that keeps me from getting razor burn. (I think it’s the only company I’m a fan of (err, I mean Like of, haha) on Facebook.)

4) Pack Your Own Towl

That’s not a misspelling. I’m referring to the MSR Packtowl. It’s a highly absorbent towel that packs up like a deck of cards. It may not be luxurious, but it’s small, light, dries incredibly quickly, and gets the job done.

It’s a must in the bag of any minimalist, ultra-light, traveler.

If you’re staying in hotels this isn’t relevant for you, of course. But the PackTowl is indispensible if you’re camping, hosteling, or CouchSurfing.

5) Vapur-ize Your Water

I forgot to write about this in my updated packing list because I didn’t use it in India or Thailand. Been using it daily here in Poland. Speaking of Thailand, on the streets all around Chiang Mai there are purified bottle refill stations for big 5 liter water bottles. It costs only 1-2 Baht (2-6 US pennies) for a refill. I do have video of the process and will post it some day. :) Tangent over …

The Vapur anti-bottle, available through Vapur.us or Amazon ($7 more expensive on Amazon), is one of those products I can’t believe I didn’t come up with myself. Not only is it BPA-free, but it rolls up tiny.

Let me repeat that last part: the Vapur water bottle rolls up. It rolls up! Which means you can take a reusable water bottle with you anywhere.

You might be thinking “Doesn’t buying a new water bottle go against what minimalism is all about?”

Not necessarily.

Minimalism isn’t only about not buying stuff. It’s about living with the essentials and not overconsuming.

If you regularly buy bottles of water you now have no excuse not to take a reusable bottle with you everywhere. The Vapur fits anywhere.

And if you already have a bulky reusable water bottle give it to a family member or friend.

Traveling with a 16oz (almost half liter) water bottle that folds or rolls up simply makes more sense than any other option.

I hereby declare you ready to travel the world with the bare minimum. The absolute essentials. When you have the best time of your life thank yourself for having the courage to be a minimalist.

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I’ve had lots of new friends visiting here in the past few days. Is that you? Hi! I’m Karol (Carl not Carol). Thank you for stopping by. I write about fun things like traveling the world, minimalism, challenging authority and ourselves, and working from anywhere via a laptop. I don’t know how many thing I own (I’ve never counted) but I live out of a 32L backpack and own 3 t-shirts. :) Welcome! I hope you stick around.

On Dependency (or How To Stop Being A Wuss and Embrace Change)

How to stop being dependent and start living an awesome life…

The problem with relying on someone or something is they (or it) won’t always be there. Then what?

If we’re not prepared to live without something, suddenly being forced to live without it will be an enormously difficult, and stressful, transition.

I’m not immune to being dependent.

Just one example: I used to use a blender every morning to make my breakfast smoothie. Fresh (or frozen) fruit with soy/almond/rice/hemp milk or coconut water. It’s healthy and because my body doesn’t have to work hard to digest it, incredibly energizing. I can drink the smoothie and I’m immediately ready to start the day with a quickness.

I’ve been “on the road” for over 7 months and I don’t have my blender. Therefore, I don’t have my go-to breakfast and my days don’t start out “right.”

The Root Of Dependency Is A Fear Of Change

Adapting to change is part of human nature. A look at any time in history proves that we’ve been adapting to change since the big bang.

But for some of us, adapting to change doesn’t come naturally anymore. We still adapt because we have no choice, but we don’t do it willingly.

I used to strongly dislike change myself, but now I relish in the opportunity to flex my change muscle.

Going back to my breakfast example: Instead of my regular morning smoothie I now eat a bunch of locally available fresh fruit. (Here in Chiang Mai I eat a lot of pineapple, mango, cantaloupe, and bananas).

Change is good because it pushes us to our limits. How do muscles grow? By stressing them; making them work. The change muscle is no different.

Some Of Us Hate Change

For example, when a significant other goes out by themselves, are you the type who doesn’t know what to do with yourself? Do you feel bored, hurt, abandoned, or worse, jealous? (Life Lesson #59: Jealousy is mankind’s most useless emotion.)

Is this any good for you or the relationship?

It’s OK To Hate Change

If you’re currently dependent on someone or something it’s going to be uncomfortable at first when making the move towards independence.

By independence I don’t necessarily mean getting rid of whatever you’re dependent upon. I’m not suggesting everybody in a relationship break up.

When I encounter a couple that has their own separate lives in addition to their lives together I feel an immense sense of happiness for them. That is my vision of an ideal relationship, although it’s very rare.

I refuse to settle for anything less and when I see a happy couple that also have separate lives it reinforces to me that it’s possible.

Girls should have “girls weekends” and guys should be able to “hang out with the boys” or whatever the case may be.

How To Embrace Change

Step 1: Take A Small, Easily Doable, Break

Break free from whatever you’re dependent upon for just 24 hours. Knowing you’ll go back to whatever it is you’re dependent upon in 24 hours will make it easier to get through it.

Some things you may want to break free from:

– TV

– Internet

– Texting

– A relationship (I don’t mean this negatively. I mean it in regards to my view of a healthy relationship, both platonic and romantic.)

– Your iPod

– Fill in the blanks: _______

Step 2: Reflect On The Change

After 24 hours are up reflect on how you felt by breaking your dependency.

Was it easier or more difficult than you expected?

How do you feel about the change?

Did you immediately go back to your dependency? In other words, were you counting down the minutes until you could watch TV, go online, text your friends, etc?

How To Truly Break Your Dependencies

A 24 hour break is all well and good, but it’s just an exercise to help you realize that you really can adapt to change and break a dependency. It’s not a permanent solution.

The ultimate test in breaking your dependencies is by practicing minimalism. Getting rid of extraneous “stuff” (<– PDF written by, uhh, me, haha) will make you realize just how little you need to live a Ridiculously Extraordinary Life.

Every day people ask me how I can possibly live with so few things. On the flipside, when I see other backpackers almost falling over due to the heavy loads on their backs I wonder how they can possibly “live” with so much.

The stress and strain on their faces is blatantly visible.

Or when I hear someone complain about how much debt they’re in while buying a new camera lens, new video game, new clothes, new car, or new anything, I can’t help but think how positively they could change their lives with a little bit of minimalism.

When you practice minmalism you have fewer choices to make, fewer things to keep track of, fewer things to stress about, and you begin to progress towards Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom.

Need Minimalist Help?

There are a lot of good eBooks/Web sites out there. I’ve mentioned many of them in the past.

Leo Babauta’s work is a fantastic place to get what you need.

– The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life (<– Leo’s print  book)
– Mnmlist.com

Other minimalists you may enjoy:

– Everett Bogue

– David Damron

– Tammy Strobel

– Joshua Becker

There are many more, but there’s only so much you can read in a day. :)

How do you feel? Hit me up in the comments …

How To Minimize Stress and Maximize Awesomeness!

If you’re stressed, here’s how to relieve that stress and live awesome …

During the courses of our lives we go through a lot of transition periods. Transitions can be both stressful and awesome.

Marriages, graduations, new careers, new relationships, new destinations …

That last one is an interesting one for me and it prompted this article.

My second night in Bangkok I hung out with Sean Ogle of Location180.com (check it out, he rocks) and we were talking about how much we love our lives. Is that nerdy? ;)

But we were also talking about stresses involved with our work. That stress being, we love what we do, but when we’re in a travel period (transition period) and visiting a new city, it’s tough to get work done. And not working is stressful because it’s something we enjoy. It’s a funny cycle. :)

Tangent (you know how I love them): Sean is also a guitar player. Like me, he gets stressed if he can’t play a guitar for an extended period of time. One of the many reasons I built a guitar in India is because when I was traveling through Australia/New Zealand for 4 months it was stressful not having a guitar.

But I digress …

While in Bangkok (I’m in Chiang Mai now, love it!) I knew it was just for a short while so I put off work even though I had stuff to get done. On both Thursday and Friday I went to one of the Regus offices in the city (free access with my Amex Platinum Card) and did 1-2 hours of work. But the city was calling me so I answered.

What Are Stressful Transitions?

Stressful transitions are different for me and you. Mine are things like being on the road for an extended period of time vs staying put in a new place for an extended period of time.

Traveling around New Zealand in a bus for 30 days? Awesome! But stressful as all get out. (I think I’ve used that phrase twice within the past 2 weeks. When will it get out of my system? Nobody knows.)

Goa, India for 2 months? Besides the first few weeks of figuring out Internet access, not stressful.

The last 24 hours were a little bit stressful:

– 14 hour overnight train (thanks to the nice British family who let me take one of their bottom, roomier, berths in exchange for my crappier upper berth!) with a bunch of loud drunk punks.

– The one vegetarian dinner option on the train wasn’t available (they did have 10 meat options, so you know, really catering to all the Buddhists) so when I got to Chiang Mai I was starving.

– The first few apartments I looked at were out of the way and expensive. Walking from apartment to apartment in the 100F/38C heat was exhausting.

But then, awesomeness:

– I quickly found a great veg restaurant.

– I found a sweet apartment for $300/month (including Internet and weekly cleaning) with 3 veg restaurants within a 60 second walk!

– All the stress immediately melted away even though I felt like I just took a shower and thought I might faint. :)

Our goal in life should be to minimize stressful transitions to maximize awesomeness.

The reason I do what I do the way that I do it is to minimize stressful transitions, which makes the fun stuff even more fun for me.

Sure, I don’t see as much as other people who travel. But I’m not here (there, or anywhere) to see everything. I’m simply living my life in a way that makes me happiest.

The Game Changer: Minimalism

My secret to minimizing the stress of even stressful transitions is through minimalism.

Minimalism and Transitions

Less stuff = less stress! ;)

My stressful transitions are less stressful because I have less to worry about.

If you’re stressed, I guarantee adopting even a little bit of minimalism into your life will do wonders to relieve your stress.

I could write for days about minimalism, but here are some rock stars who have written a lot about it:

Everett Bogue – The Freedom of Living With 75 Things

Tammy Strobel – How To Unplug From Stuff

Leo Babauta – Oh, just read everything at Mnmlist.com and ZenHabits.net :)

David Damron – 15 Ways To Become A Minimalist In 2010

Colin Wright – All 51 Things I Own

Now that I’m so quickly settled here in Chiang Mai I’m going to:

– Work.

– Eat awesome food.

– Do some fun shit.

How about you? What do you do to minimize stressful transitions and maximize awesomeness?

Gratitude #001 (Or Sweet Things From Kick Ass People)

I like what these people are doing…

After yesterday’s post about “Thank You” I felt compelled to write this post. Yes, my post schedule is completely off this week, but that’s OK.

A lot of fun things have been happening with friends and I want to share that with you. If you’re reading this blog then you’ll probably like what they’re doing too.

I’ve numbered them, but they’re in no particular order.

1) Get Out of Debt

Baker over at ManVsDebt released his first eBook UnAutomate Your Finances: http://manvsdebt.com/unautomate-your-finances

No, that’s not an affiliate link. While I am an affiliate, this is bigger than putting money in my pocket. I think you should consider getting UnAutomate Your Finances if you’re in debt.

I’ve read it, it’s actionable, it’s doable. I like that type of shit. I know, wtf, spending money if you’re in debt? The truth is you don’t need this book. You don’t need any book. But if you don’t know what to do, this is a highly recommended action plan you can follow.

On a related note: I’ve written a post called “How To Deal With Debt” that I still haven’t posted. In that one I’ll use an affiliate link for Baker’s eBook. ;) Dealing with debt is an important step to living anywhere, so we’ll cover that when the time comes.

2) Minimalism

Everett Bogue has been on fire lately. He interviewed me in January. That’s not part of the “on fire,” but I digress … just a few weeks ago he released a practical eBook on minimalism called The Art of Being Minimalist. Although I don’t really write too much about minimalism here, it’s a way of life I subscribe to.

After reading Everett’s eBook I was compelled to send him a 2,400 word essay about minimalism that will either be included in an update of his book or shared with you some other way.

Again, this is not an affiliate link. I truly believe Minimalism is one of the easiest paths to Freedom: http://www.artofbeingminimalist.com/

3) Create A Movement

Everett Bogue again. I said he was on fire, didn’t I? Last Sunday he released a free eBook called How To Create A Movement. It’s short and fluffless. You know how I hate fluff.

Thank you for joining my Ridiculously Extraordinary Movement. You rock for being here. :)

4) Use Your Skills For Good

In early January Shannon Albert made a post asking for help brainstorming an online project. In essence, she was wondering how to monetize her skills. I made a comment on that post even though I didn’t directly offer any advice. I had a feeling I knew what Shannon was going to do.

See, before I even started RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com I e-mailed Shannon for help with the design. I designed this blog myself, but without her help, it would look like poop. (Yes, I did just use poop instead of crap or shit, what of it?!)

You can now hire Shannon to create a blog from scratch or help you with setting up WordPress, among other things: http://shannonalbert.me/blog-services/

The video I have planned for Friday also references Shannon’s “brainstorming” blog post. It’s about Tools. And it’s important.

See you tomorrow with a new video: “Failure Doesn’t Exist.”

15 Minutes – Clean Clothes – Anywhere In The World

If you’re traveling ultra light you’re going to have to wash your clothes fairly often. Machine washing is a waste of resources. In this video post I’ll show you how to wash your clothes anywhere in the world in just 15 minutes.

If you’re reading this via e-mail/RSS and the video doesn’t show up click here to view this post online.

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As you saw in my ultra light packing post I don’t pack many clothes while traveling. 3 shirts, 3 socks, 3 underwear. That means I have to wash my clothes often.

Machine washing is a waste of time, money, and the environment with such a small load.

In this video I show you how to wash your clothes ANYWHERE using a 12″ x 12″ aLoksak and organic fair trade biodegradable Dr. Bronner’s Soap.

In place of Dr Bronner’s you can use any camper’s or vegetable based soap. These biodegradable soaps are easier on the environment, especially when you’re in the middle of nowhere.

If you don’t want to watch the video I’ll quickly break down the process:

Step 1: Toss your dirty clothes into an aLOKSAK, making sure to leave enough room for water. If you have a lot of clothes you’ll probably have to do more than 1 load.

Step 2: Fill your aLOKSAK with enough water to soak the clothes.

Step 3: Add ~10 drops of Dr Bronner’s soap. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but this soap is highly concentrated. You don’t need much.

Step 4: Kneed the clothes for 2-3 minutes.

Step 5: Leave the clothes in the aLOKSAK for 10 minutes.

Step 6: Rinse clothes.

Step 7: Hang your clothes to dry using your elastic clothesline.

Total time: ~15 minutes.

Of course, if worst comes to worst you can always just wear the same dirty clothes for 8 days straight like I did in Germany. :)