What it means: It refers to the neo-minimalists, an unstoppable army of feng shui masters keeping everything clean and uncluttered – and keeping the binmen in their jobs. What they’re not keeping are all the things they claim choke up our modern lives: books, CDs, photographs, magazines, newspapers and a million other pieces of ephemera that no longer have a place in the brave new, digitised world.
These born-again minimalists were once umbilically attached to their precious “stuff”, but now, realising the error of their old-fangled ways, are zealous in their rush to cut all physical ties with the past. Out goes the CD collection – it has been uploaded onto their iTunes library. Out goes the actual library – every book is now neatly stacked on the Kindle. Out go the bulky photo albums – they’re all on an online slideshow, and no need to worry about anyone getting pawprints on them. Out go the bookshelves, CD towers, picture frames and magazine racks – they’re empty. Meanwhile, the binimalist’s computer desktop is getting ever more cluttered with digital files, and their iPhone is stuffed with so many apps, it would take 10 lifetimes to use them all.
How to say it: "Poor Dad, he tried to be a binimalist, but he couldn't bring himself to throw out his vinyl copy of
Sgt Pepper."