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"Sufficiency list"

I do not believe that there is a perfect number of objects one can live with. To equate minimalism or voluntary simplicity with living with a certain number of items is reductionist and not useful. Of course one can, in a playful manner, ask oneself, could I live with under 50 items, 100 items? But it perhaps should be a tool for reflection used with a sense of curiosity and with a desire to learn about oneself, rather than something to strive for, because that number depends on many factors. For example, I don't have kids, pets, or plants. My hobbies do not require any additional items. I've never felt drawn to decorations or the need to keep sentimental items. I prefer a minimalist aesthetic and calming colours. I don't like furniture. At the same time, I live in a cold climate. 

A "sufficiency list" was an experiment I started around 2016, where many things coincided. At that time I wanted to understand my own consumption pattern better while I was researching businesses on sustainability paths. I began to wonder what consumption of individuals should look like for such businesses to exist. And while my own consumption does not provide a blueprint for anyone, and is not representative of consumption in materially wealthy Nordic countries, autoethnography is a beautiful method; hardly any other method provides this depth of insight, including insight into challenges and struggles. There was also a very pragmatic reason for the list: when I travelled, I wanted to contemplate what I actually needed. Since I would travel by train, it seemed (and was) best to take as little as possible with me. 

The list has expanded and contracted over time, but it hasn't changed much at all. What made me think again about the list were two things. I received some news about my article which reports this list, it will be published soon. And recently I also finished some personal care items (three natural ointments I got in Sweden and Finland) and decided not to replace them because in this climate my skin does not get as dry as it used to become in northern Sweden, and in summers my skin doesn't require much support at all. 

The sufficiency list from my article (true as of August 2022): laptop, phone, headphones, passport and other documents, notebook, pen, shoes, backpack, bank card, personal care items, towels, sweatshirts/t-shirts, trousers/shorts, bowl, fork, spoon, knife, stockpot, dish brush, tote bag, jacket, handkerchief, scissors, blanket, lunch box, mug, scarf, mittens. 

Since then, I gave away the blanket and the lunch box to someone who wanted them. Some of those things don't belong to me. The headphones belong to the university, so does the notebook and the pen. Bowls, forks, spoons, and the knife I borrowed from a friend. I gave away the mug I had in Sweden and bought a water bottle and got a mug as a gift from my Swedish colleague. 

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Drying my hemp scarf 

After some days of wearing this scarf almost every day for various reasons (sometimes because it's cold, at other times to separate myself from a busy environment, or to protect my hair from intense sunlight), I decided to wash it. I hand-washed it in cold water. After that, it became even more beautiful. It developed wrinkles and finally doesn't look new. To dry it, I attached a string from an old piece of clothing to some shelves. I don't use those shelves for anything else, and would have removed them if the apartment belonged to me. 

In the picture above one can see sunrays entering my apartment in the morning. During these very sunny days, I went out often in the morning to say hello to the sun and the sea, and in the evening to see these pine trees on the Western side of the island: