Came to a similar epiphany when I had to move out on short notice. Since then I follow what I call the "1 suit case philosophy" - If I can't fit all my stuff into one standard size suit case and fly, then I have too much stuff.
My tool cabinet has about $4000 in tools at this point, many motorcycle-specific ordered from abroad and not easily borrowed or bought at short notice.
Board games my wife and I enjoy sharing; my archery equipment; snorkel and dry bag; guitar, etc. As it is, it's a good thing my dad was a tool junky (and master craftsman), so he didn't mind my storing all my woodworking and hobby electronics gear in his garage.
Yeah, if my only occupations were programming and media consumption, it would be a lot easier to live out of a suitcase, but physical activities are kind of amazing.
Perhaps we are dinosaurs who cannot understand this new world where everything is virtual.
a tv for gaming/television is also out of the question, they'd never let you take that along in your suitcase.
doesn't sound like a life i'd like to be honest.
in all seriousness, its perfectly fine to have stuff. just ask yourself before you buy it, wherever you'll still be using it in ~12 month or so. otherwise, its probably just a fad you shouldn't spent money on.
And why won't they let you take you kitchen knives on a plane? I fly with kitchen knives all the time.
I have always rented serviced apartments so the bed sheets, cutlery and other equipment is always in the flat I rent so I use that.
My sports clothes and other hobby equipment also fits into the single suitcase. I keep my clothes collection quite small, if I am not wearing something for a year I will throw it away or give to charity.
You'd be surprised how useful it is to have all your stuff fit into single big suitcase if you love traveling around the world. It's very easy for me to travel or to move around the world for work.
I had to help my sister move apartment recently and I was shocked by the massive amount of stuff she owns. So many suitcases and bags, we had to rent a big van to move it all. I don't get it.
I suppose one could rent those sort of items as needed but for most of the nuclear family population it is financially more logical to own them.
Depends on how often you move. Are you moving once every other year or once every other decade?
Most serviced apartments have all of those (well except lawn mower obviously). So just rent serviced apartment wherever you are living/working at the moment and you can easily have all your stuff fit into one suitcase.
This will help you move after better jobs easily and whatever premium you pay you will make back by having better jobs and higher salary imho.
Job mobility is very undervalued these days. I think it's a very strong job negotiation tactic to be so mobile as you have many options to choose from for work as it's so easy for you to move.
Most people don't move all that often after their 20s or early 30s (even without a family).
But I am single and right now exactly in the 20s/early 30s part of my life so I find the mobility I gain from owning very minimal inventory of things great.
I have lived and worked in 4 different countries since 2010 and it was great to get to work in different places/cultures and experience life abroad. Obviously eventually I will settle down somewhere.
Having nothing to move could actually indicate to an employer that you are not planning to stay very long.
Even if you keep around some stuff that are not vital but ‘nice to have’, maintaining a restricted set of things that are enough to live your life if the whole family had to move without notice helps for peace of mind.
Of course, YMMV, but in my experience life is generally less simple once you share it with other people.
If you can tell your potential employer that you can fly to country X any time as you just put all your things into a single suitcase, it makes it much easier to relocate for jobs around the world.
Once you settle down and have family / children, obviously you will probably stop moving around and probably stay in a single place for a long time and only move once in a decade or so.