Green gets rid of the brown.

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There are plenty of cleaners and bleaches out in the market today. But with companies such as Seventh Generation leading the green revolution, other companies are beginning to see the light.

Clorox came out with a line of products called Green Works, and I decided to give it a try.

I squirted a couple of ounces of their toilet bowl cleaner, which I must say smelled pretty good. Definitely better than the smell of bleach or vinegar.

After a couple minutes, I scrubbed the bowl and voila, you can now see my white porcelain throne in all of its glory.

You heard it here last.

That’s right folks. I am officially the last person on earth to own an iRobot Roomba.

But who cares, because my place is clean! And I didn’t have to lift a finger. But laziness wasn’t the only reason why I bought it.

My apartment attracted a whole lost of dust. I mean I could literally see dust bunnies hopping around my apartment.

So what exactly is dust?

Dust mostly comes from dead/dry skin cells, mixed in with dirt, hair, lint and other small things. Pretty gross huh? I leave my window open all day, so you can imagine how much dust my place was accumulating.

Which brings me to the Roomba. I’ve been testing out the Roomba for a short while now, and I must say that I am impressed.

I come home to a clean floor, which is not only visually clean, but tangibly clean as well.

This is what the Roomba picked up the first couple of times it went around my place(Target receipt and orange peel added for effect). I was living in filth my friends.

I now run it every couple of days while I’m at work, then come home to a dust-free floor.

It takes just a few seconds to clean after each use, which isn’t bad at all.

Since the Roomba doesn’t get along with cords and clutter on the ground, it forces you to keep your place clean and minimalist.

And finally if you’re wondering how much money I blew on this, I bought a remanufactured one for $99.

if mr. rogers was a colorblind minimalist POV style part 1.

Sorry about the lack of quality posts as of late. Been busy with stuff yada yada, you know the story. Here is the first part of a mini-series that I am dubbing “if mr. rogers was a colorblind minimalist POV style.”

Although I am far from being the perfect minimalist, I have picked up some minimalist habits along the way. I have decided to compile a little Mr. Rogers type deal in black and white. You know how every time Mr. Rogers comes or leaves he has a few things that he always does? Well, this is what I do, only it’s in black and white. And it’s from my point of view.

If you can actually take anything away from this post, it’s that you should have a place for everything. That way you’ll know exactly where everything is, and your place will be free of clutter.

This is very very simplified. But it keeps things from getting out of control. When I need something, I’ll know exactly where to look.

Place my keys, ID badge, paper wallet and phone on my landing strip.

Put my one piece of mail on my landing strip to look at later.

Drop my bag on the bag stand.

Hang up my bike.

Slip my jacket on a hanger and put it back in the closet.

Lay my shoes down on the shoe rack.

Turn on television.

Plop down on sofa and enjoy some R & R.

minimalizing to maximize.

When I first moved in.

How the same area looks now.

my minimalist “workstation.”

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any real minimalist design photos.

Pictured above is my little computer(slash)everything desk. I got the white table at ikea on sale for less than $38. The ikea chair was a sweet find on craigslist for $10. And the toy on the table, well let’s not get into that (although I was able to snag a student discount).

Is it too white? Eh, I like it because it forces me to keep the surface area uber-clean.

the greatest and worst feelings in the world all in one post.

One of the greatest feelings in the world is coming home to a sink with zero dirty dishes.

Now some of you would argue, “WTF?!?!? You think having an empty sink is one of the greatest feelings in the world?”

I counter with this:

Have you ever come home only to find your kitchen sink to be piled as high as the sky with dishes, bowls, spoons, spatulas and yogurt?

Isn’t that the worst feeling in the world? Well, the opposite of a full sink would be an empty sink. And the opposite of the worst feeling in the world is the greatest feeling in the world.

cable unmanagement.

In my never ending quest for true minimalism, I have encountered many stumbling blocks.

One of those stumbling blocks is the power block; otherwise known as the surge protector.

Just take a look at the pictures, they are literally poison for the eyeballs. I have audio/video cables, light cords, and even more AC power supplies hooked up into one surge protector.

If I had an outlet behind my television, I could just hide this monstrosity behind it. But I don’t. So I am going to have to come up with some clever way to sort it out. I’m hoping I will have a solution to this by next week, so I can post an updated entry titled “cable managed.”

have a seat on my coffee table.

We all know that in small areas, it is best to have furniture that can pull double duty. Kris, from bltd.com, posted this sweet looking piece from DWR. However, not everyone can afford the hefty $998 price tag.

I was really contemplating buying something like this for my place, as an endall solution for my seating arrangement. Fortunately, ikea has something similar, and with some slight modifications could be transformed into the DWR piece.