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Comment by sz | Hacker News Reader

I've been wanting to start an inventory of every item I own with the goal of going minimalist but it's so daunting I haven't started yet. And I'm a college student! (Maybe there's room for an app here?)

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Here are my notes from a Bruce Sterling keynote [1]. I liked the "life simplification" part (32 min mark). But found the rest of his talk dull and poorly delivered.

[1] "Dealing with stuff" -- Bruce Sterling http://video.reboot.dk/video/486788/bruce-sterling-reboot-11

- Pay most attention to your "common everyday objects". That is, anything that takes up your immediate space: on your body; in the room with you. Also those things that take a lot of your time

- Buy the best possible common everyday objects you can. Most importantly:

-- your bed: you spend a third of your life in it. Consider the per-hour cost

-- your chair: stop whining about your wrists and back hurting and buy a really good chair. Again consider the per-hour cost

- Ditch anything you haven't used in the last 12 months. eg: wedding china, tuxedo, everything in your storage locker

- Only buy real things you really use

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How to get rid of stuff.

First, note that getting rid of stuff is HARD (but doable). Do NOT start on impulse. Think hard about it and make sure you're morally prepared.

Then... for each item in your life ask the following questions:

1) Is it beautiful?

Test: You have it on display. You share its beauty with the people in your life.

If yes then keep it, otherwise...

2) Is it emotionally important?

Test: It has a narrative. You share its story with other people.

If yes then keep it, otherwise...

3a) Is it a useful tool, piece of equipment, or appliance?

Test: It efficiently performs some useful function. It actually works. It is the best possible tool. (Do not put up with broken or shoddy stuff)

Bruce's side comment: There's nothing more materialistic than doing the same job 5 times because your tools are inferior.

3b) Are you experimenting on it?

Test: You methodically work on it and you publish your results.

Bruce's side comment: Beware brand-new time-sucking beta-rollout crap.

If yes to either then keep it, otherwise...

4) It is unworthy of taking your space or time. Virtualize it (take its picture; record the barcode; record any anecdotes about it) then get RID of it. If you ever need it again, get another one from eBay.

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Why would you do that?

Just open your closet and throw out each thing unless you used it in the last week. Just throw it out now. Tomorrow is a euphemism for never. You can always buy or borrow if you need it later.

http://www.jperla.com/blog/post/stuff-minimization-framework

Again, I'm a college student. Re-buying stuff I threw out based on a naive criterion like that would be terrible with my limited resources.

An inventory would help me better decide what to throw out and keep me organized. If someone built an inventory app that could keep track of purchases via bank reports and OCR'd receipts, I would probably pay for it.

What I did (http://www.thintz.com/essays/less-stuff) is to take stuff that I didn't think I needed and move it to the basement. If it stayed down there for awhile and I didn't miss it, then I knew there was a good chance that I didn't need it anymore.

My friend uses a less wasteful, but slower technique. Here's what she does every spring and fall: 1. In the fall, she boxes up or separates everything she hasn't used in the past week. For clothing, she just turns the hangers in the closet around (so the open part of the hook is facing you.) 2. She lives her life for six months. Every time she uses something, she puts it back in the normal cupboard rather than back in the box. 3. In the spring, she simply gives away all the boxes and all the clothing that is hanging backwards. She allows herself a couple of "passes" for special clothing (e.g. she might know that she has a few weddings coming up so she'll keep an extra dress.)

You might start kicking yourself when winter rolls around all you have are cargo shorts and a few ironic t-shirts.

Luckily I have a "I threw out all my winter clothes and all I kept was this ironic t-shirt" t-shirt.

But seriously, it is not that hard to figure out? Do you really need a computer program to determine how much stuff you need?

How did pre-computer generations ever manage, I guess they didn't?

No offense - if a computer program would help some people, it would actually me happy. However, so far I have a hard time to believe that there could be a market for such a program. Exception: books and other media.

I'm not saying that many people have too much stuff -- I certainly do, and I'm not entirely happy about it -- but throwing out stuff you haven't used within the last week is easily one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Which is really saying something.

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