6 Best Minimalist YouTube Channels

In honour of my picking up YouTube again I am sharing my 6 favourite minimalist YouTube channels for your viewing pleasure!  Go check them out and get inspired to make more steps towards minimalism in your own life.

Light By Coco 

Coco was the first minimalist YouTuber I started watching, and she's still my favourite.  Her life is so relatable, and her tips are extremely helpful.  Her video on digital organization was the inspiration for me to organize my computer and email!  I also love her aesthetic and calm demeanour.  

Exploring Alternatives

This couple actually sold their home and began living in a VAN.  Talk about inspiring minimalists!  They share great tips, snippets from their life, and other minimalists' stories.  They're actually incredibly relatable, despite their extreme lifestyle.  I've found them more recently but have found myself spending lots of time on their channel!  

Melissa Alexandria

Not only does she make really helpful videos on all aspects of minimalism, but she's also a vegan! (10 points for gryffindor!)  She's concise and very warm in her videos and I love her personal style (she wears almost as much black as I do - which is really not an easy task!).

Lavendaire

I have a serious hair crush on this girl.  Oh, and her videos are great, too!  Aileen's a big fan of the KonMari method, just like I am, and I really enjoy her videos about her journey with decluttering using Marie Kondo's book as a guide.  Her channel is wonderful for those of you who are just beginning your journey with the KonMari brand of minimalism as she has quite a few helpful tutorials on methods from the book!

Mademoiselle

Jaime-Lee's capsule wardrobes are on point, and really helped me while I was in the planning stages of mine!  She is definitely very style focused, so if you're a self-proclaimed shopaholic her channel might fulfill your urge to shop without actually having to buy anything.  (A major pus when you're trying to reduce your belongings!)

Inspiroue

Cynthia's another great one to watch for fashion inspiration.  She's all about sustainable fashion, which really aligns with my perspective on clothing.  She also does capsule wardrobes and encourages thrift shopping!  Her videos tend to be on the longer end with a LOT of helpful information!

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Who's your favourite minimalist to watch on YouTube?  I'd love for all of us to find more quality YouTubers to pull inspiration from on our minimalist journeys!

Until next time,

Linked Up!

Happy Halloween!

Hi, guys!

Halloween is one of my favourite holidays.  I mean, that's not overly surprising, given I'm an actor (so duh, I love dressing up), but ANYWAY... dressing up for Halloween is the best!  I love crafting, but almost never have time for it, so Halloween is the perfect excuse to get creative.  

So from my happy ghoulish heart straight to yours, 

The month of October has been pretty crazy for me, but Jason and I still made time for our second annual Autumn Date!  It's becoming a tradition for us to go pick out pumpkins, grab supplies, and carve them in a park, then have a fun photoshoot.  I hope we keep doing it every single year!

Here are a couple of the shots from the day (I worked hard on that kitten pumpkin!):

But on to the fun, creative, DIY part of Halloween.  The costumes!  Last year I was Jessica Rabbit:

I bought the dress at a vintage shop and cut off the straps, bought gloves and a wig, and had loads of fun with the makeup!  It all worked surprisingly well, especially the dress which I taped to myself with approximately 29 pieces of double sided tape!

The year before that I was a unicorn:

My favourite parts were my homemade horn out of rolled up foam paper glued to a headband and my tail made out of 3 pastel boas tied to a fanny pack!  Any excuse to wear a fanny pack and I'm there.

And the year before that I was Minnie Mouse:

I had the dress already from a dance costume, but painted the trim, added the bow and buttons, and sewed it up into a bustle over my tutu!  I also made my ears from foam attached to a headband.  Anyone sensing a trend?

What am I this year, you ask?  I've been dressing up for the past couple of weeks at work, since I work at a costume shop, and have been having lots of fun trying on the wigs especially!  

I LOVED this green one:

And I had fun with this little Miss Monroe cut:

But my very favourite costume was this one:

Here's the caption I wrote on Instagram for those of you who don't do the whole Insta thing!  Though you should.  Really.

"Spokescow to the rescue! Just casually being the voice for the voiceless today at work. 🐮 Cows are beautiful, loving, and intelligent animals, just like you and I. I want you to imagine that your neighbour, a woman you don't know well but seems nice, was forcefully artificially inseminated. Would that make you angry? What if, after nine long months, she gave birth, only to have her baby taken away from her forever so that machines could be hooked up to her breasts to extract the milk meant for her child. Would you be angrier still? And what if as soon as her milk dried up she was artificially inseminated again, and so on, until she was unable to conceive. I bet you'd be fuming. And what if, when she was finally unable to become pregnant, she was killed and her body parts used to make clothing and glue and other products. I bet you'd be disgusted. And what if you learned that her female children were subjected to the same fate, while her male children were killed to be eaten as a delicacy. I bet you'd stand up. I bet you wouldn't be able to stay silent. So how come when it happens to a female cow it's ok? What is it about a cow that makes us feel justified to systematically torture? The dairy industry is NOT blameless. Far from it. If this post makes you angry, as it did several customers at my store today, ask yourself why. Why should someone pointing out the obvious, that a cow's milk is meant for that cow's children, not for human consumption, make you so mad? Is it that you don't like thinking about it? Does it make you feel guilty? It's time to look inside yourself and decide if you can be responsible for the immense physical and emotional suffering that these beautiful creatures experience every single day of their lives. And you are responsible if you're consuming the result. It's not ME you're mad at. It's you."

But what am I going to be today, for the real Halloween?  You'll have to watch the video below to find out!  I wanted to take this opportunity to finally talk to you (out loud!)... in my first YouTube video in years!  Check it out below and don't forget to subscribe as I plan on uploading more videos for you in the very near future :)

Until next time,

Do you have a YouTube channel?  I'd love to subscribe!  Comment below and let me know a bit about you and leave your channel's name and I'll check it out :)  And subscribe to each other, too!  I want us all to get to know each other :)

Also, I REALLY want to see all of your Halloween costumes!! Tag me @elizabethturn on instagram and twitter and Plant Based Bride on Facebook!

Linked Up!

Oh, and also:

Declutter Your Computer!

Most of us use our computers everyday.  So why do we let them get way more cluttered and disorganized than our home?  I recently did a laptop rehaul and wanted to share my tips and tricks to a minimal, organized computer with all of you!  

Keep your desktop clear.

The desktop of your computer is like your desk.  It's home base, and everything you do stems from it.  Or, thinking of it another way, it's like your foyer.  The first and the last thing you see when using your machine.  So why do we clutter our desktops up with random screenshots, files, gifs, and folders?  I don't know about you, but when my desktop is cluttered it adds to my anxiety to a significant degree, without my even realizing it.  Keeping my desktop clear at all times has been incredibly refreshing!  I'm never going back to keeping 3 or 4 folders and countless random files there for "easy" access.  Because, let's be real, how hard is it to just go to the file you need in finder or to search for it in the search bar?  

I only keep files on my desktop that I'm currently working on (like graphics for my blog posts that I'm creating in photoshop).  But as soon as I'm done working on it, away it goes.

Oh!  Another thing, for Mac users specifically.  Please oh please keep your doc tidy!  A doc with 20 applications on it clutters up a desktop just as quickly as 20 files.  I like to keep mine VERY minimal - just the finder, system preferences, mail, calendar (to remind me of the date quickly), iMessage, downloads, and trash. Anything else I need I can quickly open using the launchpad shortcut (by pinching with my thumb and three fingers).

Behold the glory of my clear desktop (and my handsome fiancé!):

Clean out your contacts.

Friend from elementary school's mom's cell number?  Delete.  Coworker from three part-time jobs ago?  Delete.  Ex-boyfriend with whom you never again intend to speak?  Delete.  When you clean up your contacts it makes life so much easier.  No need to scroll through 12 Nicks to find the one you're trying to email.  Bite the bullet and make friends with the delete button!

Another thing to try, especially if you have a lot of coworkers or acquaintances that you need to keep in contact with, is to add how you know them in the "company" field.  This way you'll always remember which Susan is from your book club and which one works with you!

Sort your photos.

We take so many more photos than our parents, so shouldn't we have more captured memories to enjoy?  Not quite.  So many of us have such a disorganized photo folder that once a picture is taken, it never sees the light of day again.  I find that sad.  Why let thousands of photos take up precious storage space on your laptop without reaping the rewards?

But I know that you already understand why sorting your photos is important.  So let's get to the real question: how the heck do you do it?

1. Start by compiling all photos in one place.  I choose to use a Dropbox folder, so that I can access my photos from anywhere and they're safe if my computer breaks.  I don't use the carousel feature, however, as I just don't like it.
2. Automatically backup new photos from mobile devices when you plug them in.  I downloaded dropbox onto my computer and set it up to automatically save new photos from my camera roll whenever my phone or iPad are plugged in.  This way every time I charge my photos are being backed up to dropbox!
3. Create a naming system and stick to it.  I like to keep it simple.  All of my general photos are named in the following manner: year_month_day_short description (ex. 2015_10_19_autumndate3).  Graphics I create for use in blog posts and on social media I name following my filing naming system (described below!).  This makes it easy to find any photo!  Even if I forget the specific day it was taken on or description I used, scrolling through that month's photos brings me to it pretty quickly!  *For full disclosure, I'm still in the process of updating older photos to this naming system.  I have quite a few and it's taking me a while, but I'm doing it and noticing a big difference!
4. Delete duplicates and unnecessary photos.  While it may take 20 selfies to get the perfect one (believe me, I've been there) - you don't need to keep them all.  Delete all of the photos you're not going to want to look again again to remember a specific day or event, or need to post in the future.  Be harsh when critiquing photos.  Keep only the very best!  Your future self will thank you.  *I like to do it once a week so that I don't get a build up of too many photos that need to be sorted through.  It also helps exponentially if you delete unnecessary photos on your mobile devices throughout the day before syncing to your laptop or desktop!

Create a filing system and follow it.

This is a big one.  I keep all of my actual files on Dropbox (which just shows up as another file on my hard drive since I have it installed on my macbook) rather than in the "documents" folder.  This way, all of my files are accessible from anywhere and protected from computer crashes!

The next step is to create just a few folders for your main categories of files (just like in my Take Control Your Email post!)  Here are mine:

Within each folder I may have a couple subfolders, or not, depending on the category.  For example, my PLANT BASED BRIDE folder has a couple of different subfolders for different purposes, while my HOME folder only has one:  HOME_ARCHIVE.  Each main folder has an archive folder for old files I don't reference regularly but may need someday down the line.

I also have a system for naming each individual file.  Each file name starts with the shortcut for it's category (the main folder it belongs in).  So blog files begin with PBB while financial files begin with FIN.  Next comes the year and the month, then a short description.  Here's an example file: PBB_2015_10_declutteryourcomputer_pin (category_year_month_blog post title_graphic type).  Another example: HOME_2015_07_leaseagreement (category_year_month_short description).

You may have noticed my file named TEMPORARY.  This is exactly what it sounds like!  I keep this file for random screenshots and photos I save for short-term use.  I make sure to delete everything in this folder on a weekly basis.

Backup your files.

Once a month I plug in my external hard drive and copy and paste my Dropbox folder into a file labelled: (year)_(month)_dropboxbackup.  It's easy, and means I have a backup with all of my files easily accessible if dropbox ever goes down!

Reset once a year.

Once a year I like to reset my computer to its factory settings to keep it clear of cookies and hidden files that slow it down.  It's like getting a brand new macbook each year!

And there you have it!  My tips to declutter your computer and keep it organized all year long.  I hope you try some of them out and that they simplify your life as they have mine!  Watch out for my next post in the Living With Less series: all about decluttering your phone!

Until next time,

Do you have a system in place that you find keeps your computer in tip top organized shape?  Please share it in the comments!

Don't forget to subscribe to the Plant Based Bride newsletter (form at the bottom of this page) for the weekly newsletter and exclusive freebies!

Linked Up!

The Minute (Wedding) Guest List!

Weddings are exciting.  But deciding who gets to come?  Less so.  How can you possibly decide between both of your families and friends?  How do you choose who deserves an invite?  Well, I've made a handy infographic that will allow you to draft your guest list in 60 seconds, flat! 

Easy peezy, lemon squeezy! 

Until next time,

How many guests did you have/do you plan on having at your wedding?  Don't forget to subscribe to the weekly Plant Based Bride newsletter!

Linked Up!

Be sure to follow me on Instagram, @elizabethturn! 

Hello, October! 💀🍁 What are you most looking forward to in the month ahead? I’ll leave my answer in the comments! 🍂

What would you want fo sip from this mug? ☕️ Hot apple cider? Chai tea? Pumpkin spice latte? 🍂

Continuing on with my fall-loving basic-b self... here’s a fall gratitude spread in my @archerandolive morning sun square notebook! 🍂 What’s your favourite thing about the fall time? 🎃🍁🕯 Swipe up in my stories to see the blog post where I walk you through the steps to make this spread 🍂 and use my affiliate code PBB10 for 10% off your @archerandolive purchase!

If being a basic fall-loving candle-obsessed white girl is wrong I don’t wanna be right 🍂🕯

The rolling weekly... where all the nitty gritty planning goes on in my bullet journal ✍🏻 The left side is for day-specific events and tasks, and the right side is for a weekly task list. I have a dedicated video explaining the method on my YouTube channel if you want a deep dive! Tap the link in my bio and scroll down for the direct link to the video. What kind of weekly layout do you prefer in your bullet journal? Or are you more of a daily person? Or are you like my husband, using your monthly spread exclusively? I’m always so fascinated to see how different our bujos are to suit our individual needs! ✨ Notebook: @notebook_therapy gentle giant B5 - affiliate code PBB10 for 10% off! Paints: @winsorandnewton designer’s gouache Nail polish: @lightslacquer citrine

Get you someone who looks at you like Yoda and I look at each other 👁👄👁

A little teaser for you 👀 My October Plan With Me is up on my YouTube channel now! Swipe up in my stories to watch 💀

Rocking my newest @analuisany pieces ✨ what’s your go-to daily jewelry? My necklace is the Ciel Locket (soon to contain tiny portraits of my cats), my earrings are the Rox Small Hoops, Mini Twisted Hoops, and Milo Huggies, and the jewelry case is their new green velvet Travel Jewelry Case 💫 Get 10% off your purchase with my code “ElizabethT10” and curate your own unique look with fairly priced sustainable pieces from @analuisany ✨ tap the link in my bio or swipe up in my stories to shop! #analuisapartner #gifted

The inner cover of my new BuJo, a constant reminder that we can always start again ✨ 2020 has made so many of us feel like our lives are on hold, but even with everything being thrown at us we can find a way to persevere. It certainly won’t be easy, but the older I get the more I find that life is largely made up of these moments where we must choose the path we wish to take to overcome the obstacles in our way. Don’t wait for 2021 to get back to living. Choose to leap into your new beginning on your own terms. 2020 won’t defeat us. Even if you can’t find a way to take that step for yourself right now, take it for the good of someone else. I’m setting up a recurring donation to @rainbowrailroad - a Canadian organization saving the lives of LGBTQIA people around the world (discovered thanks to @canadasdragrace 🇨🇦). @blklivesmatter also deserves your donation if you have a few dollars to spare. Let me know how you’re taking a step for yourself or someone else to tip the scales of 2020 towards a net positive impact in the comments below. With kindness and action we can be the change and make the world a better place for all of us❤️

Enjoying the afternoon sun ☀️ how’s your Monday going?

Spent yesterday celebrating 6 years with my favourite weirdo ❤️ Here’s to 60 more, @jcabanaw ✨ Swipe up in my stories to see the step by step process of this spread in my blog post for @archerandolive ☺️ Would you ever use a square notebook for your BuJo? You can use my affiliate code PBB10 for 10% off this gorgeous square @archerandolive morning sun dot grid notebook and everything else on their site, too!

A little reminder for you today ❤️ You are deserving of love. Yes, even if you don’t always love yourself. Or don’t love all of yourself. Or don’t feel loveable. Of course, finding a way to truly love ourselves is an important journey to take, but it is still a journey. It takes time. And it isn’t always linear. If you love yourself on Monday, but struggle to love yourself on Tuesday, should your family and friends and partner stop loving you starting Tuesday until you find that love for yourself again? Of course not. But we are constantly fed messages of “No one will love you until you love yourself.” Or “People will only love you as much as you love yourself.” These messages are harmful and untrue. We ALL deserve to be loved. Humans require love and connection to survive. And sometimes the only way to learn to love yourself is by looking through the eyes of someone who loved you when you didn’t even know how to begin. So today I want to remind you: You deserve to be loved. Just as you are, right now, today. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Keep looking where the light pours in 🌤 quote page in my September set up in my @notebook_therapy B5 gentle giant notebook. Use code ‘PBB10’ for 10% off and to support me and my content! ✨ Tap the link in my bio to watch my entire September plan with me including the process of this painting 🎨

One of my favourite reads of the month was The House of Styx by Derek Künsken ✨ La colonie has built a life in the inhospitable clouds hovering above the hellscape that is the surface of Venus. They live their lives in man-made habitats or native floating plant-like trawlers, surviving in any way they can despite the roiling storms, extreme temperatures, and acid rain. One family, les D’Aquillons, has sunk to the dangerous depths, cut off from the government’s aid and grieving their losses. Until one day a trip to the surface leads to a discovery that could change everything. The House of Styx is one of the most fully realized hard sci-fi novels I’ve ever read. La colonie has history. They have developed their own culture and hierarchy. They struggle to find meaning in the formless clouds above a planet that will do anything to end their lives. This novel explores grief and loss, gender identity and queerness, addiction and self-harm, and so much more. The characters are incredibly well developed and deeply flawed, and I found myself quickly getting attached. I was also pleasantly surprised that les colonistes originally hailed from Québec, as a bilingual Canadian myself. There is a dangerous beauty to the setting of this tale, and Künsken’s imagery captured my imagination from the start. I honestly can’t think of anything I could want from this story that I didn’t get, and I can’t wait to read the next instalment! Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Swipe up in my stories to watch my August reading recap and September TBR ✨ #netgalley #thehouseofstyx

Busy month ahead 🌲 What’s your focus for September? Mine is rest. I had a very hectic August and September will be packed, too, so I need to remember to take time to myself to rest and recover ✨

“Émile was no ancient priest or shaman, but here he was, a supplicant offering in Venus’s name, giving away one of their homes like a fatted bull, festooned in the fetishes of the goddess whose favor they sought. He was returning to the underworld he’d escaped in an effort to lift his family to the stars.” The House of Styx by Derek Künsken 🕊 And so my candle addiction intensifies... don’t mind me adoring this venus bust scented candle (and the sandalwood candle in the back, too) by @interlude_candles 🕯 #gifted I burned these while reading the last few chapters of The House of Styx, a hard sci-fi that takes place in the roiling clouds above Venus. Trust me when I tell you to run, not walk, to get a copy of Derek Künsken’s genius first instalment of the Venus ascendant series. Swipe up in my stories to read my full review on @goodreads ✨ Thank you to @netgalley and Solaris for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! #TheHouseOfStyx #NetGalley

Hello September 👋 I’m fully prepared for fall vibes and I am not ashamed. Have you set up your September spreads yet? Notebook: @notebook_therapy Gentle Giant B5 (get 10% off with code PBB10) Tap the link in my bio to watch this set up! 🌲

A heart of gold and a stardust soul ✨ what’s your favourite thing about yourself?

If I were a painting 🖼 inspired by @shirinatra ‘s #PaintingMeetsPhotoChallenge from last week. Check out my stories to see the stages of editing to get to this final result! What would you want a painting of you to be like? 🎨

I can’t believe August is almost over! ✨ What was the best moment of August for you? Mine was my 28th birthday and being made to feel so loved and special ❤️ I was thinking about where 18 year old me would have wanted to be at 28, and I feel like she never would have dared to dream to be as happy as I am. I am so lucky and feel incredibly grateful 🥰 thank you to all of you for being a big part of that! *I totally forgot while filming this set up to add the last few days at the bottom! I did little diagonal half days when I realized 😅