About

Hello and welcome to Minimalist Sometimes

My name is Anne Lene (I use both as they are my first and middle name, not my first and sir name 😉 ), and I live on the west coast of Norway. And you are wondering where in the world Norway is? Well have a quick look at the map.

I live in a smallish house (about 75m2 or 807 ft2), and I love the idea of a clean uncluttered space and not owning more than I need. But lately the clutter have started to creep up on me, and I don’t like that one bit.

This blog is about my personal journey towards becoming what I would call a moderate minimalist.

So why a blog? And what’s with the name Minimalist Sometimes? 
Well, you know how you can feel like a “minimalist at heart” (yeah I know, wishful thinking), but your life do not seem to reflect this. Quite the opposite, it’s starting to look pretty messy, and you swear it wasn’t that long ago that you were in full control of your house and your life.

This is me – a Minimalist sometimes 🙂 and I thought that if I’m going to give “becoming a moderate minimalist” a proper try, I might as well write about it.

And if I’m lucky, some of the stuff I will be writing about on this blog might inspire others on their journey.

So here we go… my journey starts. Will you be joining me?

Anne Lene

61 thoughts on “About”

  1. Pingback: 9 – Blending In | Three-Sixty-Five-Minus-One

  2. Thank you for visiting our blog and for following!! We’ve never been to Norway but would LOVE to one day!!
    P.S we love the idea of de cluttering and being minimalists too… Although we are not always good at it 😉

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    1. If you ever decide to come to Norway, let me know, and if you are in my neck of the woods, I’ll show you around 🙂

      PS. I’m a minimalist in learning myself, we’ll see how it goes through the year.. But so far, do good 😉

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  3. What a great concept you have. I am always looking to become a minimalist, in my own way. I was doing so well until we bought a bigger house. Don’t ever do that! Anyway, I can always make an effort to continue my minimalist habits. Thanks for dropping by my blog http://feb122010.wordpress.com.

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    1. I won’t be buying a bigger place anytime soon, I love my little house 😉

      You know there are so many ways to be a “minimalist”, it doesn’t matter if you surround yourself with 10 or 1000 objects, as long as it’s only the things you LOVE (or really need) you have in your life 🙂

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    1. Yes, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on you 😉 I really like the pictures I’ve seen so far, and I’ll be spending some time with your words over the next few days 🙂 thank you for popping by my site as well, I appreciate that a lot.

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  5. Hey there Anne! You started following my blog so I wanted to check out your blog and say, “Hi!” I like your philosophy here chica. I’m certainly a clutter hater (and at the same time I’m a good clutter creator). I also love the “idea” of not owning more than I need. Still, in our modern world it’s hard to separate “needs” from “wants”. I mean, do we all really need cell phones? Just saying. Anywho, it’s a pleasure to e-meet you and I look forward to getting to know you better. Celeste 🙂

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    1. Thank you 🙂 as much as I love a decluttered space, I’m pretty good at messing it up as well 😉 that’s why I decided I needed to do even more inroad in my “stuff” than before. And you are right, it’s difficult separating needs and wants! We sure collect a lot of stuff because we think we “need” them, but then we really don’t. It helps being mindful about what to bring into your life and house though…

      Thank you for stopping by and checking my blog, I really appreciate you taking the time. And it’s a pleasure to e-meet you as well, Celeste.

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  6. Hi Anne,
    Thank you for stopping by my blog. I’m glad you liked it.
    I like your idea of trying to declutter and minimalize. I’ve been working on that project myself (for years). It’s hard. One of these days I’d like to be able to just say the heck with it all and take a trip around the world on a little sailboat. That’s my dream anyway. 😉

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    1. Yes, it’s not easy to get down to just “the basics” 🙂 I like your idea about a trip around the world in a sailboat. Would you believe I once spend years building a 43 feet ocean sailer with a friend? The plan was to sail around the world in it. Unfortunately it got stolen and sunk, that kinda messed things up 😦 I wish you luck in achieving your dream, I’m rooting for you 😉

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  7. Thank you for visiting my blog. Like you, my husband and I want to live in a ” sufficient for our needs” mentality. We are trying to sell our house with a goal of buying a smaller house. The less one has the freer one is! In a world where is thought to be more, your blog is a good reminder that that isn’t necessarily true!

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    1. Wow, that’s pretty committed 🙂 I lived in US a couple of years as an expat, and there they gave me place twice as large as the one I live in, completely empty, ready to be filled with stuff. I remember moving in I had no idea what to do with all the space, it felt HUGE! It’s funny how easy it is to adjust though 😉

      Moving back to Norway to my small house, I can tell you, it’s just as easy to adjust to a smaller place again 🙂 and I have to admit, I prefer this. It’s less work to keep clean and maintain. Now if I could just shred more of my stuff it might even be easier to keep tidy 😉

      having to consolidate my full house in Norway with the stuff I collected over two years in US, I ended up with way to much stuff, I’ve shred a lot if this over the last couple of years, and I’m still going at it.

      My best advice if you are planning on downsizing to a smaller house, start the declutter job right away 😉

      You are right though – less = more – and with that I mean, less stuff to hold us back gives us more time to pursue what makes our heart and soul sing!

      I wish you luck in downsizing, and I hope you find that perfect house for you and your husband!

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  8. Great site! De-cluttering and keeping things simple is such a great way to live! Visiting Norway is on our family bucket list. My husband’s roots are from the Drangedal area. Hopefully someday! Looking forward to following your posts!

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    1. Thank you 🙂 Drangedal is a nice area, I hope you get to go someday, and if you ever decide to go to Norway, let me know! And if you are at my neck of the woods… (Vest coast) I might even show you around 😉

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  10. Wow, I love your blog and what you are doing. I’m always trying to declutter and am so much better than I used to be, but I am pretty bad. I saved an Easter egg for a whole year even though it melted and went a weird colour because I didn’t want to throw it out. I still have a chocolate Santa looking at me from Christmas. I like chocolate a lot, I don’t know why I feel the need to keep it and not eat it!! I am getting better at giving away clothes, but am now apparently holding onto foodstuffs! OMG! Thanks for the inspiration!! xo

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    1. Thank this is highly appreciated. It is a bit funny though, you received your nomination from “The next 50 years” who in turn got it from ME 😉 and passed it on to you 😉

      Since I just recently did this, I hope you are ok with me changing it up a little 😉

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      1. That IS very funny! 🙂 It’s probably through her nomination list that I discovered you, actually 🙂 Sorry not to have realised that you’d already received the award. Although it’s a pleasure for me to re-nominate you, anyway. Of course, do as you wish with the award!

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        1. It’s all good 🙂 I just thought it funny, that’s why I mentioned it 😉 I’ll come up with something about it hopefully sometime this weekend or early next week.

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    1. Thank you, appreciate that 🙂 I haven’t quite found my writing voice yet. That’s ok though, I’m enjoying blogging, and that writing voice…! I’m sure it will come… 😉

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    1. You know the world is small in the blogging community 😉 I never thought about what counties would be visiting my blog, when I started. But have to admit I was very excited as I got readers from all over, even as new as I am, I think I’m up to 40 different countries 🙂 thank you for popping by my site, I really like yours 🙂

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  15. Hi Anne
    I love your blog. It’s great to connect with someone else who is attempting to reduce the amount of ‘stuff’ in their life. I can certainly relate to the love of clear, uncluttered space while, at the same time, having a tendency to mess it all up again!
    My approach so far has been to have a 30 day plan to get rid of one thing on day one, two on day two right up to 30 on day 30. I have so much stuff that a radical method was needed! I managed to get up to 27 days before I had to pause and take stock. The best thing I have found is that I now know where everything in my house is. Although there’s still too much of it in my opinion.
    Anyway, I will follow your posts with interest and hope to pick up some minimalist pointers.
    Louise.

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    1. Thank you, Louise 🙂 I like your approach as well, it seems like you’ve been doing pretty good on “30” day challenge. Lasting 27 days is massive, just think of all the stuff that is 🙂

      I like the clean look of a uncluttered space as well. And even though I still have a lot of things to get rid off, I too find it’s much easier to locate my belongings! It’s really cool isn’t it, when there is air and space around our belongings 😉

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    1. Hi Cheryl 🙂 I’m born and raised in Norway, lived here most of my life, with the exception of 10 months in London, UK when I was 5 🙂 and a couple of years in Houston, Tx (sept 2007- sept 2009). My 2 years stint in Houston gave me a bunch off friends I don’t get to see enough as I only have one trip a year back there 😦 fortunately today there are facetime, skype, txt and phone so we do manage to stay in touch quite a bit 😉 but I wish I had a transporter like in Star Trek, then I could have traveled back and forth all the time 😉

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    1. And thank you for your follow, Melinda 🙂 I’m glad you are enjoying it. And you can binge read anytime you wish, I’m enjoying catching up with all your comments 🙂 I’ll be working my way through your blog to slowly but surely 😉 i’m glad we found each other too!

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  24. I like the idea of you blog and will be following you along! Being a minimalist, at least sometimes does really free you!! We are traveling long term with our daughter and we became minimalist ( couldnt just carry all the shit with us 😀 ) We love our new life style however wont be lying that sometimes I do miss all those unnecessary things that makes your life so much more comfortable 😀
    Thanks for stopping by at my page as well 😉

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    1. Thank you 🙂 I’m impressed with your travels, and bringing a small human with you, is even more impressing 🙂 I’ve already been checking your blog out some.. and no doubt will dig myself even deeper as I love traveling, and one of my dreams (and plans) are to travel the world 🙂 Do you have any blog posts about what stuff you are bringing? I’m really into minimalist traveling/packing and wouldn’t mind some tips if you have any, for what to bring (or not bring) 😉

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      1. Thanks a lot!! We travel right now quite a lot with Lia and it is not that difficult as people might think 😀 Too bad I dont have enough time to write about all the places we have been 🙂 As for packing, I definitely will write a post about it! You are already the second person who is asking 🙂 When the post will be out I bet people will be surprised how little we have with us!

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        1. I’m sure they will be… I’m working my way into “only” a 25 litre backpack… not quite there yet, but almost 😉 but that’s only been short trips… not sure if I will manage when I start to add those typical things you need on longer far away trips. So yeah, it will be great to see what u guys bring (or don’t bring) I’m sure I’ll get ideas for how to get down to my 25 litre bag 😀

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