Welcome back to my channel for a little
minimalism q&a. 
I asked you on YouTube and Instagram
what you wanted to 
know about minimalism.
I got a bunch of questions
which I try to answer today.
This video is sponsored
by Blinkist, you guys already
know Blinkist and I'll talk more about
them later in the video. The first question
is: How to get rid of stuff that
you don't need anymore, rationally, 
which are emotionally hard to
let go though. That's
pretty common, I'm familiar
with that. There are things that
only emotionally relevant because
they are linked to a memory, for instance.
This frame has no practical
use for me, it's only of
emotional value. And especially
with memories you have to
be a little relaxed with things since
if you throw them out, they're gone.
If I give a book away I no longer read,
and then want to read it again, I 
can buy the same one again.
It's not that simple with memories so
if you think you
can't let go yet, 
it's mostly because
memories are attached to it.
You gotta be careful with that.
There are things that
you just don't give up because you
are afraid of letting go in general, 
it's human in a way.
You just don't want to let go
of stuff because you give up
some sort of security. Everything
you got, you got and you can
use it in any situation.
It's not really a security though.
They don't protect your life, 
they don't make you happy, 
these are things you have to
take care of yourself.
Therefore, at least for me, 
the emotional value of stuff has
decreased rapidly
over time. That way
it's easier to let go.
Question number two: What do you
miss most about your former flat?
Before this I lived 
on I think around 140 m2
of living space.
For two people.
It's certainly different. I think
I don't miss anything though.
I rather think about
all the cleaning that's necessary
for such a large space.
The only thing I can think of
which is obvious because
of the job I have is 
that I can't have a real studio
in here where I can leave
my gear the way
it is all the time. You can get that
in other ways, you can rent out a place
which I might do in the future.
But that's certainly something I
think about sometimes.
What do you suggest with stuff you 
only use from time to time.
Like wellies. There are things 
you really only need from time to time
but it's got to be just that -
you can't take anything else.
I'd say wellies are a pretty 
good example.
There are situations, though, where
you just think you need exactly
this one thing whereas in reality
there are other gadgets which
combine several functions and you 
only have one thing which serves
multiple purposes. For example
in the kitchen: 
There's rice cookers, pressure
pots, egg cookers,
there's all these gadgets which
in the end can be replaced
by a normal pot. 
Some things you think you need
from time to time, like a rice cooker,
you have to ask yourself if it's 
worth it to spend so much money or
that much space in the kitchen for
a thing that can be replaced by
something I already have.
Maybe with a little more effort.
If I have a thing for each purpose
but use it only once a month
I have a lot of stuff that just
sits there for the rest of the
month. I just don't like that.
Next question: Have you ever 
gotten rid of something you later regretted?
Um ... I don't think it 
happened that I threw out
something I really
missed later.
In my case, which I mentioned earlier,
the emotional value is mostly with
memorabilia. Some things are 
both practical and full of memories,
yes, that can happen. But
the things that really
hold memories for me are
mostly my diaries, which I'll never get
rid of. I always make sure
I take my time with
it and if I feel like I'm not
ready for throwing it out, 
I just don't do it.
When did you start looking into
minimalism? What was the reason?
I think it all started in
2013 in London.
I was there to do my 
internship for four months.
I got there by train
and because it was four seasons
from summer to winter,
I had to pack a bit more clothing.
I had two suitcases
and I stumbled around with
them through the Paris subway,
which is where I changed trains.
With two suitcases you start
to bump them around with your 
knee. And when I got there
my entire knees were blue.
You eventually ask yourself 
whether you really need all the 
stuff you took with you. I'd say I never
packed excessively, I never had 
issues with suitcases being to small.
But in those four months I surely
realised that you need A LOT less
than you actually think. What mattered
to me was not the stuff I had with me
but the experiences I made.
This idea caught hold
so when I got back I started to
declutter a lot more, which increased
over the years.
Because at some point you
feel this freedom. Like, 
in London I only had
what I carried in these two 
suitcases. I didn't have to worry about
anything else. Not having to do that because
you don't have so much stuff in the first
place was a very beneficial thought.
I think that's what started it all.
I was also asked: What's it
like as a gamer and nerd
if you see all the merch
out there and you'd love
to just have it all. Yes, I'm
familiar with that. If you've been
to Gamescom, there are a lot
of things which are pretty cool
and you'd love to put them in your
shelf at home. But they don't have
any practical value.
It's not always easy to
resist that wish to put
stuff in your cupboard
because you have these connections
with some things. I don't think that's 
wrong by itself. The question is whether you
act on every one of these impulses,
and I think no. What I try to do is
at Gamescom, for instance,
to look at the stuff, I love it,
then I do another round
and debate whether I really want
to buy it. Some things are really
expensive anyway. I try, with 
merchandise and the likes, 
especially Lord of the Rings, that's
my weak spot, to incorporate it
into my house so it's got a practical
use. My folding table for example
is wrapped with the map of 
Middle-earth. That's one option, 
and apart from that just take
your time, also with online shopping.
Just wait for another day or
or a full week,
and if it's something bigger maybe
even a month. It's 
not something urgent, you don't have 
to have it right away. It'd rather 
give you joy in the long run, 
but you have to find that out first.
Because in the end
multiple new things at once are 
too much, you can only enjoy
one of it at a time. By waiting
a little, it works a lot better.
My foot fell asleep,
I'll continue anyway: 
Is there a product where you can't or don't
want to make cuts? 
For a pretty long time, it's been books.
The newest books are not usually
available in the library. As of now,
it's certainly on a different level than
it was. I have a lot less books and buy
a lot less books, and I 
don't keep them as long because I can
tell pretty soon whether I'm going to
read them again or not. Other than that,
I think you always have to cut back
on those things where you realise you
get overwhelmed, which is not
the case anymore in most areas
for me. Only maybe
with tech, but even there, 
I no longer have this 
urge to buy stuff, most of the time.
I mean, sometimes you freak out but
that happens to everybody.
But it's rare because I don't want to
take care of the stuff in everyday life.
Even with gear. As great as these things
are, I know I can't
use all of it in the end and if
I don't know their use properly
because I can only learn one thing
at a time, there is no point
in having it at home.
My foot is dead.
Alright. Then I was asked
about minimalism in the closet and I
talked about this in my 'what minimalism is'
video and the 'how to get started' video
already, you'll find it
up here. 
You can also see the process
of decluttering in my case.
I put on some music or
Blinkist, and speaking of Blinkist,
let's talk about the sponsor
of today's video. 
Blinkist is an app where
you can listen to over 3,000
summaries of non-fiction books
but also entire audio books
which I like because some of you
have said that below the older videos
that it would be great if one could
listen to full audio books and dive deeper
into a topic and that's now
possible. Thumbs up! 
I mostly listen to 
the summaries. That way, especially
when I tidy up, clean, declutter
or take a walk, I can gain
a little background knowledge
about certain topics.
I get an overview over a topic and
decide - getting back to the books topic -
whether I should buy 
a book or not.
It helps to have heard about the main
points in the book to find out
whether I'm interested in more.
That's what the app is great for.
Titles are in German and English, I
mostly listen to English originals,
you can also read the summaries.
That's great for the bus,
where it's often too loud to listen
to stuff so I'd rather read the texts.
I'm really happy with the app
and use it a lot in everyday life
because it's just a way to
get into a topic within a 
pretty short period of time.
I like it and 
if you'd like to test it, you can
try it out for free, and then get 
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subscription at this link.
If you're interested, 
check it out and let me know
what you think.
The ventilation just started.
I gotta switch it off I think.
Alright. Vent is off -
again, like I said: 
www.blinkist.de/nessa - that's where
you get the discount.
Check it out,
I better change my position
or my other foot will fall asleep too.
Okay. Moving on. With:
Dealing with stuff that
someone gave to you. It's not always
your own emotional value that's 
attached to something and that makes you
keep stuff, sometimes it's the fact 
that someone else
gave it to you and therefore
the other person might have an
emotional loss if you gave it away.
One thing is to always say
that you don't want 
or need presents or that
you either have very specific wishes
so people only give stuff to you
that you really need. It's
still gonna happen, though, that
you get stuff and you already
realise while unpacking: hrm. 
You're going to keep it a little, 
you might still develop an 
interest in it,
you can't know that right away.
But after a few weeks it becomes 
clear whether
this thing will have a value for
you or not. I then pass these 
things on nonetheless or gift them
to someone else. And I'm open about
it with the person you gave it to me.
'I know it meant something to you and you
gave it to me so it means something to me
but it just wasn't for me, which is
not a problem at all. I still
loved that you made me a present.'
It might not work for everyone
and in every situation. 
I know. It worked for me though.
Sometimes the other person won't 
even know.
You don't have to tell them
right away but if it happens, 
I try to be open about it.
But it's become rare because
most of the time I 
let people know that they shouldn't
just buy something for me, I try to 
live with less stuff. Things that
are of no use to me in my life - that doesn't
help anybody. Alright.
As it turned out, this video
is far too long so I split it.
This is the end of part one,
and if you haven't seen your
question, it's going to be in part two.
Thank you very much for watching!
My arm's gonna fall off
because the camera is so heavy so I'll 
keep it short: I'll see you next Saturday at 6 pm CEST
and until then, have a nice week.
As always, ciao.
