Minus Kit
Zongliang Lou
With the flourishing of global economy, materialism and consumerism are taking over our life gradually. Our attention is distracted anywhere by everything around us like smartphones and social networks. People are receiving stress from our own desires and losing control of self-awareness in some way. Everyone wants more.
However, as Antoine de Saint Exupéry writes, “perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ” Obtaining too much will never make life better and easier. Thus, my question is: how can we simplify life with a tangible method of reducing excessive possessions?
My approach to solve this problem is the Minus Kit. It is a set of tools to reduce excessive possessions, including a To-Minus List, stickers, a calendar and paper box subscription service. The To-Minus List works like a To-do List, but it reduces matters in life instead of adding more. It comes with a double-sided marker, to cover up the solved matter and forget it. The stickers are like the “Red 1” on iPhone Apps, reminding people to clean up the redundant objects. For the calendar, one tiny question encouraging people to meditate and simplify their life will be on each page everyday. And the paper box subscription is a service to send people containers to fill up with unnecessary objects and donate to charity organizations. Throughout using the Minus Kit, people are encouraged to do minus to their life step by step.