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I often hear that I cannot practice minimalism in San Francisco — it’s a city, it’s expensive, people are busy, etc. I’m confused by that because it makes me wonder what people think minimalism must be.

There’s no one way to practice minimalism — you can do it living out of an RV, backpacking around the world, living in a tiny house, living on a large farm, living anywhere. For me, it means enjoying a simple life with my wife and kids, learning to be content and not needing to buy things all the time, living with fewer possessions but more time to do the things I love, living with space in my life.

I can do that anywhere.

Sure, many people in cities (including S.F.) are busy. That doesn’t mean I have to be. Many people drive around crazily in cars all day — but I walk or take transit. Many people are caught up in a life where they have to impress others, but that’s less important to me.

Housing in San Francisco is expensive, but other than that I need to spend very little — I mostly cook for myself with simple ingredients, shop at thrift stores when I need something, and walk. What San Francisco does offer that I love is a health-conscious environment, a gathering of amazing independent-minded people who are doing their own thing and loving it, a spirit of open-mindedness and a love for nature and art, a great place for my kids to explore. Also, the Giants.

At the same time, others wonder whether they can live a minimalist life in the suburbs or a small town, where they don’t have access to good public transit and must rely on a car. Of course you can: learn to find contentedness, get rid of unnecessary stuff, spend your time doing free or cheap things you love instead of shopping. You can also go car-lite if you like, walking and riding a bike when possible, and doing things at home or in your neighborhood much of the time. In fact, some people have ditched their cars completely while living in the country or suburbs — even people with kids.

Minimalism doesn’t need any one type of environment. There are no prerequisites for minimalism. Do it however you want, however you can, wherever you want.

Clocky for Mac - World clock app:

Nice, minimal, one thing well, world clock app for your menubar. Need to keep track of multiple time zones? This is worth a look.

“For non-necessities, simplicity of pricing is key. Apple thrives at this. Their consumer products tend to follow a simple good/better/best pricing hierarchy, where the only difference is storage capacity.”

- John Gruber: A Rule of Thumb: Pricing Should Be Simple (worth reading)

New York based DBA comes with The Endless Notebook. A notebook that can be grouped with notebooks due to a specially designed pocket on the front cover. Combine the notebook with other Endless Notebooks, an existing diary or Moleskine notebook.

The Endless Notebook is available in a ruled or a blank edition.

Go J Go Team Shirt Drive:

This has nothing to do with Minimalism. In fact, it is only loosely related to anything Mac. That said, I wanted to steal a few minutes of your attention for something far more important.

You may not know Stephen Hackett or his excellent Mac related site forkbombr​.net but you should. Not only because Stephen is a great guy and good writer, but because ForkBomber is quickly becoming a leading source of Mac goodness on the web. Here is another lesser known fact about Stephen – He is also the father of a little boy—Josiah—with a brain tumor. In his words:

Our son Josiah has been receiving treatment there since May 2009 for a brain tumor. His treatment has consisted of several surgeries and 16 rounds of chemotherapy, coupled with physical, occupational and speech therapy.

St. Jude treats patients without regard of their ability to pay. That’s pretty cool. To put this into perspective, Josiah’s medical bills — after just 6 months — totaled almost a million dollars. After a year, he was at just over $2 million. Just stop and think about that. It’s pretty mind-boggling. Needless to say, St. Jude is an unbelievable blessing to families with children affected by diseases like Josiah’s.

As a father, heck, as a human being, I can’t even begin to fathom what it must be like to face that situation, let alone with the courage and humility that Stephen shows.

Therefore, some of my internet friends and I are trying to help. Stephen has been selling t-shirts online and donating the proceeds to the hospital. I would like to invite you to join me in buying one. They are only $18, and all of the proceeds are donated to the the wonderful hospital that is saving the life of his son and countless others at no cost to the families.

So please, find some room in your budget to help out Stephen and then, do yourself the favor of subscribing to his site.

Ringer for Mac (and iPhone) [Sponsor]:

I’m very happy to welcome Ringer for Mac (and the iPhone too) as this week’s RSS Feed Sponsor. Ringer is the effortless way to make custom Ringtones for your iPhone using the audio you already have in your iTunes library. Not only that but they have a version for the iPhone as well.

Look, there are ways to make ringtones for your iPhone without buying a thing. Go ahead, Google it. What you will find is a long drawn out set of complicated instructions that in the end may give you what you want. You could also simply pay to download a ringtone from the iTunes store’s limited collection. But why would you want to do any of these when there is a better and cheaper way (remember, time is money).

With Ringer, I was able to make a ringtone in just under three minutes. Downloaded the app, browsed my iTunes library right there in the app, found DEVO’s “Freedom of Choice” (Duh!), used the waveform to choose exactly the riff I wanted, created the ringtone which Ringer added to my iTunes Library, synced. Boom! New spud-a-rific ringtone. Fun and fast.

Seriously, this is magic. Plus, it’s only $.99 cents in the app store right now. That is basically free. You would spend at least that much for a single ringtone from the iTunes store. Go get this.

With spring on its way here in Amsterdam, we open the doors to our gardens again, eager to sit outside in the sun. What better way to do just that than in a chaise longue?

This lounge bed, Marilyn, was designed by Spanish architect Borja Abellán and designer Nacho Soler for a furniture contest.

Abellán, who’ll soon be graduating from the University of Alicante, says that the central design concept came from Marilyn Monroe’s famous pleated skirt.

When the chair is closed it is completely flat with straight lines, but when the back comes up, it has a gentle curve. All in all the result has a beautiful sculptural quality.