I love the simplicity of a small design change for a big impact.
Sometimes you don’t need a fancy, pie-in-the-sky sort of idea.
You just need a minimal change that in hindsight, will seem so obvious that you feel stupid.
Here is the best example: Tea towels, with grommets hammered into them, so they can be hung on hooks easily.
So what are some other changes that can be made for maximum impact?
Off the top of my head:
- Placing long, smooth, thin flaps underneath anything with a zipper, so the zippers don’t get caught on the fabric underneath
- When lining a jacket, purse, or any kind of garment, put a bright colour or pattern that is only meant for the owner to see
- Putting faucet spouts OUT and away from the back of the sink: when the water is on low, it’s difficult to wash your hands
- Multiple items that can be stacked (Tupperware has finally come on board with this!)
- Pockets and organizing sections in purses and bags so that everything is not mixed into one big mess
- A wooden cutting board with sturdy legs on the bottom so the whole bottom doesn’t get soaked in a pile of water
- All adapters and plugs should conform to ONE standard, so if I go to Tokyo, Spain or the States, I can use ONE plug
Concojones
on Nov 18th, 2009
@ 7:33 am:
- All sorts of batching: blogs, email, physical mail, bills, chores: I collect them together somewhere and process once a day/week/month.
- minimalist wallet: credit, debit, ID cards and perhaps a bill of paper money all bound together by an elastic band. I recently discovered that there’s a firm that actually commercializes a dedicated band (hey, my idea!!!). A few blank business cards serve as an agenda (one side per week, so that’s some dense writing), bundled with the rest of the wallet.
- keyboard shortcuts on the computer (XP: I put programs in the upper left side of the start menu and when you press the ‘windows’ key + the first letter of your program, it will start. Faster than using a mouse.
- there is plenty of other things because I’m really into this, but nothing comes to mind right now…
everydayminimalist
on Nov 19th, 2009
@ 8:36 am:
@Concojones: And now your ideas have been STOLEN.
Just kidding.
I like the idea of batching. I tend to do chores a lot, but I hate doing 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there.
When I am on a cleaning roll, I do it ALL at once.
As for a minimalist wallet, ever thought about a cigarette case? Those things are awesome for holding cards and money. Really handy. $15 at the most.
Keyboard shortcuts are my love for sure
I learned all the shortcuts on my PC so I could do things a lot faster…