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Sunday, 16 July 2017

Living in one room


At the moment I'm doing a traineeship in the Cairngorms on path building and, as it's only for 6 months and I don't have a lot of money coming in, I decided to only rent a room.  It's definitely fitted the purpose, but after years of living in a flats and bedsits on my own with multiple rooms (the properties I lived in which were labelled bedsits had a bedroom/ living room, kitchen, and my own bathroom so not really the typical bedsit) I thought it would be interesting to see how well I could do it again.

I had a few memories to fall back on, such as boarding school where you only had the space around your bed and flat sharing with just the room.  There is almost always communal space, but I'm a bit of an introvert and spending time on my own is a necessity meaning I spent a lot of time in my room.  To begin with I had my stuff everywhere, basically wherever I could fit it, but after a while it began to make sense to separate which ever room I was in into sections and organise my things accordingly.  So that's what I've done here.



When you come through the door there is a large window on the left which my landlord has put this large mirror.  I use this point for the things I need to remember before I leave for the day, such as SPF, my antihistamines, and my cycling helmet.  I also keep my hairbrush and hair ties.



There are two wardrobes in the room, but I only have use of one, which I use for all my non work clothing.  I have a lot more clothing then I actually need and I still have items at my partners, but I like having the choice and at the moment I wear all of them.  I'm not buying non work clothing at the moment and as items wear out I'll not replace them until I have a much smaller wardrobe.  I also keep my reusable bags, bags I use for travelling, and shoes.  My waterproof work bag and yoga mat also stay here as well as this is where there is the most space in the room.



Beside the wardrobe is a TV I never actually use, but the storage unit underneath is where I keep my cleaning supplies.  As I only have to keep my room clean I only have a microfiber duster (it collects and holds onto the dust instead of just throwing it into the air - very important when you have dust allergies), water and vinegar solution for the glass and mirrors with a micro- cloth, Milton for my Mooncup, and shoe polish for my work shoes.  I also have bicarb soda which is a good all round scrubber and deodoriser.



There is this very long storage unit against the wall (with my landlord's magazines).  I store my very old and dying laptop in the open section.  I use the top draw for the stationary I'm using for my traineeship and my maps.  The draw below is basically my junk draw in which I just shove everything I don't have a place for.  This is a draw I need to organise over the next week.  The basket contains all my toiletries that I'm using at the moment, including the perfume and nail polish I'm using in this year's Project Pan.  There isn't really anywhere else for me to store these and the basket keeps them all together and out of the sun.  I'll hopefully be able to use a smaller basket by the end of the year.  I also keep the course work I'm working on at the time on top to remind me to keep working at it.  The last item is my laundry basket with my home made laundry powder.



Opposite the storage unit is a chest of drawers in which I keep all my work clothes (underwear on top, trousers, long-sleeve tops and short-sleeve tops in the middle, hats, scarves, and gloves at the bottom.  As I live in this room and have no desk to work or eat on, so I have a tray so I can work on eat either on my bed or on the chair in the room.  This is also where I keep my sunset alarm clock, water bottle and mobile phone when I'm not out.  I also keep my binoculars here (you never know when you might see something out your window) and my diary so I can have a look at my to-dos when I first wake up.



My only personalisation of the room is my wolf pillow that I keep on the bed.  I don't really like having a lot of nick nacks around and this is all I need to make this space feel like mine.  All my jackets and waterproofs are kept on the door.



The last piece of furniture in the room is a bedside table.  The bottom draw has all my spare toiletries (mainly antihistamines) and the makeup I'm working on.  The top draw is my bedside table draw and has everything I use in my night time routine, including my lip balm, hand cream, diary and what I'm reading at the moment.  I'm trying to read a little everyday just before I go to sleep so that I'm not watching a programme on my tablet up until that point. 

As I'm out most of the day the size of the room doesn't really matter to me and, if I'm feeling a little bit trapped, it not difficult for me to get out into the country side.  Keeping my things to a bare minimum and in order also helps stop me feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff.  I still have just over another four months of living here, but so far it has been a good reminder of how little I need to live.  In fact, I probably have more with me then I actually need.  I'm not quite ready yet to go completely bare minimum, but as I use up and don't replace products all the items I own will naturally reduce on it's own.  The items I've left at my partner's are items and products I don't feel I need at the moment and these are the items I've been decluttering from.

I don't ever want to live in a large space, it doesn't seem viable or sensible both financially and environmentally, and this has highlighted to me just has easy it would be for me to do so.  All I need to do now is get rid of some more stuff.

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