Urban Nomad

This article is centered around my experiment and experience in downsizing my life and adopting a low carbon footprint lifestyle with fewer, more beautiful things. Through this year long exploration I will be weighing the pros and cons of living as a realistic minimalist, or as I like to call myself, the Urban Nomad. 

In the age of rising housing costs and Marie Kondo, it seems many of us millennials, and even people in my parents’ generation, are choosing to live in smaller, yet functional spaces. This transition wasn’t an easy one since I grew up in the Bush era of McMansions and “maximalism.”  Since moving back from Los Angeles and San Diego, I have given up using a personal car. My fiancé at the time and I shared her car after I sold mine when moving from Michigan to L.A. this past year. I had the final straw of car ownership when we went out to our car and found the back window shattered and the contents of the car had been stolen. There’s always issues and maintenance, and occasionally finding my forgetful self running out of gas on Sunset Boulevard. Though having a car is unquestionably a luxury and convenient, it can be a pain in the ass. And don’t even get me started on the endless traffic on the 405.

Since being back in Grand Rapids, I left many of those stressors behind me and entered into a peaceful, albeit solitary life. 

While we may not have excessively congested highways in Grand Rapids, summertime is colloquially known as “Construction Season” and many roads and highways are routinely closed for maintenance, causing delays and aggravation. I have completely bypassed having to directly deal with such doldrums, much to the irritation of my Uber or Lyft drivers while I sit in the backseat, sunglasses on, catching up on my work emails and client messages. Not such a bad life is it? In bigger cities this is the norm, but it is starting to catch on in mid-size cities as well with people beginning to realize that car ownership does not necessarily mean freedom.  

 I rented a studio apartment at Heritage Place, a new apartment building in Heritage Hill, which as it happens is my favorite neighborhood in Grand Rapids. I’m perfectly situated between downtown and Eastown, where my salon is located, and close to all the best shops, restaurants, and music venues in the city. I can walk to markets like Cherry Hill or Martha’s Vineyard and on nice days I can walk to and from work, which definitely gets my cardio in for the week. I enjoy being in my favorite spots and having the ability to hop in an Uber or Lyft versus driving and stressing about car problems. Not everyone’s lifestyle is conducive to living without a car, but for me it works wonderfully and at this time comes in far under the cost of owning a car. 

I now mindfully purchase things, and very intentionally replace things I gave away from move to move. Becoming a realistic minimalist has been a very freeing transition and has eased my anxiety about my home surroundings and organizational methods. Having less clutter and a fabulously organized space makes for a more productive life and ease when it comes to finding something and realizing what you actually use. 

I have developed this sort of hunter-gatherer lifestyle in which I shop for food daily based on my tastes and mood, which completely eliminates any food waste and curbs the temptation to overeat or stockpile superfluous food, or overindulgence. I am now a more mindful eater, and exhibit more gratitude in the things I put into my body. 

I truly was never happy commuting to work via personal car, as driving has always been a huge source of anxiety and stress. Now, rather than fighting traffic and holding back obscenities for incompetent drivers, I stroll with my coffee and occasionally a cigarette (we all have vices) and enjoy my 10 minute walk to work. I’m fully aware that this method is only practical in warmer climates in a single person's life that has responsibilities only unto themselves. As I write this article it is early June, and perhaps come mid-October I will have to replace my car—however for now I can enjoy this lifestyle. If I lived in a more densely developed city that had a multitude of options for public transportation or superior, more affordable rideshare options, then maybe a personal car would not be a necessity on a daily basis. 

Through this experience I have learned to enjoy the little things, slow down and breathe, feel a sense of connectedness with the Earth, and not take things for granted. I’ve had the opportunity to have a clean slate and the luxury to plan my own future from the ashes of a past life. I get to live, work, shop, drink, and eat within the same neighborhood and become a figurehead in my community. I will now use these experiences as the example for all my future life plans, and as a guideline for how I conduct my business and personal life. 

#urbaneer #livesmart #minimalism