This was originally written after 30+ hours of no sleep while incredibly drowsy on a flight from Taipei to LA on May 30. So if it sounds spastic and crazy, accept it.

Also, this is not for the average consumerist who doesn’t even know that minimalism is a word.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

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Over the past year, I’ve experimented in ultra minimalism and am oftentimes found to be in the midst of yet another life experiment.

‘Ultra’ can be replaced for the word ‘Radical.’ Either way, it works. Both refer to extremes. And both are at the far end of the spectrum. The spectrum can’t even see them anymore because they’ve gone too far over the edge.

Here are some experiments in ultra minimalism that I’ve partaken in or am still undergoing. Perhaps this will give you some ideas for your own radical minimalist journey.

1. Live Out of 1 Bag.

Living out a bag is seriously really fun. I absolutely LOVE it and find it insanely freeing and amusing.

“Would you like to check any luggage in?” asks the ticket attendant at the airport.

Smiling, I say, “No. Just this bag.”

Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

You sling that simple bag over your shoulders and you’re off to yet another whirlwind adventure.

Hop onto a plane, land in Dubai. Jump onto a boat, land in the Mekong River. Hop into a car, land in New York. Jump into a bus, land in Berlin. Hop onto a camel, land in Libya. Jump onto a motorbike, land on the coast of the South China Sea.

And all the while, the only thing you have is that little bag of yours. Everything you own in the entire world, on your back. This is exhilarating! This is freeing!

You must try it sometime, friend.

Some simple tips to do that:

1. Stop buying what you don’t need.
2. Buy only the necessities (food, some clothes, some footwear).
3. Pay off all your debts, all your credit cards.
4. Get rid of excess credit cards. Keep just one or get rid of it all.
5. Get rid of everything that doesn’t fit into a pilot suitcase.
6. Now get rid of the suitcase.
7. Get rid of everything that doesn’t fit into a backpack.
8. Now get rid of the backpack.
9. Live free.

Okay, let’s backtrack to step 8. Truly, you can be super ultra radical extreme minimalist by having no things whatsoever. You wouldn’t wear any clothes because clothes are things. You wouldn’t wear any shoes because shoes are things. You would be naked and maybe a bit cold before the police came and arrested you for public nudity and indecency. That would be the end of your super ultra radical extreme minimalist experimentation (for now).

But step 7. Things that don’t fit into your backpack shouldn’t be given another backpack to then put them in. That just defeats the purpose of 1-bag living. Whatever doesn’t fit, get rid of it.

If it’s something you need to give to family or friends, maybe the next best option is to mail it to them. But evaluate why you are needing to give things to family or friends in the first place. Give with purpose and meaning, not because you think they’d like this cool wooden croaking frog from Thailand.

Things for your 1 bag:

Keep it simple, folks. SIMPLE.

1-2 shirts.
1-2 pants/shorts.
1-2 shoes.
1 jacket.
3 pairs of underwear.
Your laptop.
Your notebook and writing tool.
Your camera.
Toiletries.

You may wonder about the 3 pairs of underwear deal and what that’s all about. I’ll explain in a moment.

2. The Same Clothes, Over and Over and Over Again.

I love wearing the same clothes over and over again. Of course, they have to be my style and taste, be comfortable, and easy to wash in the sink and dry overnight.

I wore the same pants, sweater and shoes for 7 weeks straight at the office until my last day of employment back in October-November 2010. Don’t say it’s not possible. Impossible isn’t even in my vocabulary.

I wore only 3 pairs of underwear during my 3-month adventure in Southeast Asia. Yes, I had plenty of opportunities to buy new pairs of underwear, but who needs to do that when I have a sink, a bar of soap and running water? I did and still do all my laundry myself by hand. It’s easier, cheaper, faster in most cases.

It’s okay to wear the same shirts and pants day in day out, you know. Yes, it may get pretty dirty, and you may start smelling like a homeless person, but the same principle applies. If you hand wash it every now and then, you’ll be fine.

No one bats an eye and gives a shit what you wear. All they care about is themselves. Truth!

So if what you wear is starting to smell and they don’t like it, that’s when people will speak up. They won’t say anything for the sheer fact that you are wearing the same pants and top again. And who should care anyway? It’s your experiment. Have fun with it like I do!

3. No Home, Ultra Minimalist.

Sometimes, I find myself homeless when I’m caught in between places with no place to stay at that particular moment. But then, a good, kind soul would open his/her home up and let me crash on their floor or couch.

I’ve slept on park benches outdoors, in airport terminals, on the dirt floors of small, impoverished villages, in the car at a parking lot of a Walmart, amongst other choice stores in America, in apartment building hallways, in hotel lobbies. My hoodie acted as my blanket and my bag as my pillow.

Having no home as an ultra minimalist is quite possible when you travel around the world. It doesn’t mean you necessarily want that, but it could happen.

Can barely get past the fit-all-my-things-into-1-bag step? Or you’d have to wear the same clothes over and over again and hand wash everything?

You may not want to try this No Home experiment then. Not yet at least.

4. No Past, Ultra Minimalist.

Deleting all of your past files, your old photos, your past online profiles, your accounts, EVERYTHING. No past. Ultra Minimalist.

Don’t do something that will cause the IRS or government to come tracking you down and pounding on the door of your home at 3 in the morning, but if at all possible, you can delete as much of your past as you want.

Stop putting your shit on the Cloud because you’re just moving your files from point A to point B. Keep certain things on the Cloud, like amazing work you’ve created and people will benefit because of it, but a lot of other files, like your freshman year college papers, can probably go.

Read this for how to do exactly that.

5. No Online, Ultra Minimalist.

This doesn’t mean you are forever gone from the Internet, though you can be if you choose to. What it means is you are selectively online for a few moments at a time, paring down the essential web stuff to a set period.

Maybe you’ve reduced your social medial profiles. Maybe you closed off another dead website of yours you were playing around with. Maybe you’ve deleted your Twitter and Facebook accounts and said, “Fuck this shit, I’m going fishing.”

Can you bear to delete one online social media account? Or pare your numerous credit cards / banking accounts into one? Scattering yourself all over the Web is not much different than climbing onto the Willis (Sears) Tower ledge in Chicago and stripping yourself naked so everyone can see your kibbles and bits. You’re literally out there and everyone can see you. But do they like what they’re seeing? That’s the question, isn’t it?

Put your clothes back on, gather your shit together, and put yourself back into one piece — on the Web.

Here are a couple of ways:

Ultra minimize your Twitter.

• Follow only those you really really enjoy talking with, love their work, or are in collaboration with you on similar projects. This number can fluctuate and it probably should.
• Follow zero people. A nice, quiet haven where the noise and chattering has stopped, just like that. It’s possible. People may feel hurt that they are being unfollowed but realize that just because you’re not followed, doesn’t mean your work and words aren’t being read. Never forget that it’s still out there, and people can and do still see your profile, your tweets, your thoughts. I do that with a few folks I’m not necessarily following but that I’ll check in once a week to see what they’ve been up to, without having it in my daily Twitter feed the whole time.

Sometimes I follow 0 people, sometimes I follow 25. It really depends on my state of mind and if I need a clear space to think when I’m on Twitter.

Of course, the ultra minimalist way is to not be on Twitter at all. I may get there, but for now, this works. Maybe it can work for you too.

Ultra minimize your Facebook.

The ultra minimalist way is to delete the entire thing.

HOWEVER.

If you have many contacts outside of the States, like I do, and they exclusively use Facebook rather than Twitter, it may not be such a good idea. Evaluate your needs and go from there.

Do you add friends as a come one come all approach? Or is it very selective?

As a writer, my work is known from all over the world and people friend me because they want to see more of who I am all about. A glimpse of a person’s profile and profile pictures. So I let them. No big deal to me for now. Should I decide to hack away at all these folks, or deactivate my Facbook all together, then that is my choice too. I love choices, don’t you?

Untag untag untag! Unflattering, disgusting pictures of yourself that you wouldn’t want on your profile. Like that time your roommates black Sharpie’d your face while you lay passed out from drinking too many shots of Patron. And then had to go to work the next morning. Yeah. (For the record, this did NOT happen to me. Yet.) Ultra minimize and have 0 photos if you’d like.

Stop playing those damn FarmVille web app games. Go out to your backyard and plant a real-life small garden instead. Harvest actual vegetables rather than imaginary ones while getting some real sun and being healthy. Who would’ve thunk??

6. Your Own World, Your Own Rules.

Ultra minimalism is your own world. There are no rules you need to live by except for the ones you decide to create. Think of it like one major playground that you design yourself. Fan of the monkey bars? Hate the swings? Design your world the way you want it. You’re the architect and artist here.

I stare at my bag of things and sometimes think that I have too many possessions when I know for a fact I have very little. Call it my perfectionism tendency. Call it an obsession. Call it an addiction.

Frankly, I don’t care what it’s called. As long as I am happy with where I’m at in my life, minimalism and all, that’s all that should matter.

7. Ultra Minimalist Workout.

Ah, working out. Who here does it and what kind?

Is it at World Gym or Gold’s Gym where you run on the treadmill like a caged hamster? (It’s okay, I do that too sometimes.)

Or do you take martial arts, Yoga, Pilates, cardio kickboxing, pole dancing classes?

Or do you just do full body no-equipment-necessary workouts?

The ultra minimalist way would be — you guessed it! — no equipment full body exercises.

For instance. You can do 100 pushups in 6 weeks’ time following this pushup training regimen here.

The most I’ve done in a row is 35 and that was Christmas 2010 after 2 heaping plates of food and 3 slices of cheesecake. And no, none of this knees-on-the-ground wimpy girl pushups. But full out man-sized ones all the way down! Please. I don’t mess around.

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Have fun with your life experiments. Write about it on your blog if you have one. You may inspire another person out there to do one of their own, you just never know!