How I Simplified My Life
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As someone currently living out of a 40L bag [1], I don't feel any great cognitive load or emotional weight lifted. We sold all of our stuff (books, desks, cars, house) in order to do a round the world trip. The process really sucked.
You do save money from living without cable or not buying so much 'stuff', but I find that to be the limit of the benefit. I have no reason to believe that we won't be buying back many of the things we sold prior to travelling. In all honesty, living out of a bag makes me want more. I miss having more than three shirts or two pairs of pants to wear.
Minimalism is fine, but all the proselytizing around it makes no sense to me.
It's just the next iteration of "I don't have a TV", now that not having a TV doesn't mean much anymore.
Basically, I find that maintaining a minimal set of stuff requires regular mental effort. So I enjoy reading about people who are especially aware of the benefits.
I imagine it's like the various weight loss tricks. If you are naturally skinny and have an ok diet, then you might say, "Why are all these people talking so much about the awesomeness of fresh vegetables? Sure, they're fine, but I don't get why people need to talk about them so much."
- phone
- tablet
- laptop
- desktop... maybe
- desk
- desk lamp
- desk chair
- bed
- clothes
When I moved to New York I got rid of almost all my stuff. I went and bought some furniture though, which I now regret. Still, at least its Ikea, which I view as single use (meaning you get rid of it when you move).
New York is a particularly interesting one for this. So many times I see posts of people moving to here that say something like "Looking for a quiet 2 bedroom apartment in UWS/Chelsea/West Village for $2000/month", which apart from being completely unrealistic leads to the inevitable exchange:
Me: do you need a 2 bedroom?
Them: yes
Me: why?
Them: err... (I've always had one|for my stuff)
Me: that'll cost you $4000/month in your listed areas. A 1 bedroom will cost you $3000 or under.
At this point people have to choose between location, money and stuff. Some choose stuff and move out to Brooklyn, NJ or Queens. Others choose money and pay it anyway. Many choose location and downsize. NYC forces this choice where many places don't or at least not to the same degree.
Fight Club said it best: the stuff you own ends up owning you.
Seriously, I hate it.
Things like tools and a box of bits make all the difference between something taking 5 minutes or potentially having to wait until after the weekend and a chunk of a day running around looking for things, or up to a week's wait for orders to come in from online.
Living in hotels makes it clear to me how much I hate being away from my stuff. So many simple things turn into major logistical and scheduling problems.
In your example, you find your box of bits and tools extremely useful and they make your life better with essentially zero maintenance cost or ownership burden. They take up very little space, and are not big and heavy to move with you.
This is not "stuff" these are valuable things in your life. Keep them!
"Stuff" are usually physical objects you have that probably get a tick in one or more of the following boxes:
a) High cost of ownership (monthly fees, or regular maintenance)
b) Requires payments just to keep/use as intended (still paying it off / satellite radio fee)
b) Big and / or heavy. They take a lot of space to own, and to move with you.
c) You use them infrequently, and don't particularly get enjoyment when you do (the "good" wine glasses for example)
These items you can remove from your life, and you will be happier for not having them.
I think you're just redefining "stuff" to suit your argument.
In normal terms "stuff" means "physical things".
You're redefining it to mean "physical things that aren't worth keeping".
If "stuff" only means "physical things that aren't worth keeping", what's the name for the "stuff" that is worth keeping?
Of course, because we're talking about reducing clutter from our lives. So by definition if something is not worth keeping, you should get rid of it.
> what's the name for the "stuff" that is worth keeping?
Sometimes I use the word "possessions", or more verbose, the things I own that I get great enjoyment from.
People seem to think this is all black and white - i.e. OMG, you need to get rid of your bed and toothbrush and soap otherwise you have too much "stuff". Move over into the grey area.
I had to quickly move out of my Brooklyn apartment a few years back, and just had everything I owned tossed into a storage unit, except what fit in my car, and stayed with friends for a couple weeks. When I got a new place, I was surprised to realize I didn't really need, or even want, 90% of that stuff. I ended up waiting a year and then just junking all of it.
It was really liberating to realize I didn't need it, then actually get rid of all of it. Regardless of what I buy or own in the future, I'll never forget the freedom of not having anything, and I'll never get too attached.
All the purging and living with no items type of lifestyle is nice for me to think about but I have hobbies that require stuff like rock climbing, backpacking, play guitar, etc. so I can't really just live in an empty room.
Instead of trying not have stuff in general, I try to not have things I don't need or want.
I do agree with the general consensus that people should try to simplify their lives if they feel they are bogged down with unnecessary things though. So, I'm glad the OP could find something that worked for him.
You either:
- watch very judiciously (save time, spend $ anyway)
- watch very profligately (spend time, get your $ worth)
My roommates and I spend the minimum on cable TV to get the discounted internet package (we ran the numbers, it's more worthwhile to get cheap cable than internet alone). And we don't feel bad that we have a crappy living room TV that no one ever actually watches.
More than any other single item that I'm aware of, a TV is a device to indoctrinate you into a certain way of thinking, and that thinking is consumerism. Everything you watch is an ad for something you don't actually need, and as time drags on, you'll slowly find yourself buying yet more stuff.
I find it extremely liberating to not have a TV and be able to think for myself about the things I do or don't want to buy, rather than have someone else tell me about it.
In my country, they are commonly referred to as "The Idiot Box". (And it's not because of the people you see on it...)
One of the reasons I quit being a pilot was because of that lifestyle: my life consisted of 2 bags and hotel rooms. If you don't stay at least in a couple of places, you will have no friends. You will be alone, always. You will never develop true connections to another human being. Being alone will affect your personality and judgement. Co-workers do not count, just as you diablo 3 friends. When you talk to me on IRC you create a distorted version of me, based upon your life experience. Specially in poor languages like english. Understanding others is way harder than it seems. It envolves much more than just conversations.
My father was a pilot for 37 years, he currently does not have one single friend except me. Not because he can't make friends, but I think people realize that his feelings against others are superficial. He wont care because having friends never changed his life, he is just fine, but: He experienced very little fulfilling moments in all that period of his life.
Life is not simple. Throwing away stuff will not make life better, or worse.
TLDR, How the hell are you going to solve human problems if you don't develop deep human relations?
Specially in poor languages like english.
So, I asked my then-fiance for some help. Here's what we did.
Phase 1 - Sorting: My fiancé came over and took all of my possessions and dumped everything onto my living room floor. The pile looked like a big ugly hill. I never imagined that I had so much stuff because when it was all so organized back then. He also brought a bunch of file-sided boxes with handles from Staples, and brought in the large outdoor garbage can (the huge one that you put out on the curb every week).
We then got to work. We had boxes for things to keep, things to give away and the large trashcan for things to throw away. I sorted through everything until the floor was clear.
Phase 2 - Digitizing: We then went through a digitized everything that could be digitized. Photos were sent to a photo scanning service. Yearbooks, journals, birthday cards, important books, etc were torn apart and put through a fujitsu scanner. For things that couldn't be fed through a scanner, like my drums and gifts that had sentimental value, I took a picture of it and donated it. This was a large project that took several months.
Phase 3 - Detaching: There were things from phase 1 that I knew I didn't want to keep, but that I didn't want to get rid of either. So I kept those things in boxes in my closet until I was ready to get rid of it. It took probably several months to a year to get rid of some of those boxes. Keeping those items in boxes helped me to detach from them emotionally until I was ready to get rid of them. However, there were some items that even after a year and a half, I still was attached to. So my husband took them out and put them in our living room again so that I could face it. I eventually got rid of those things too, but I took a picture of those items so that I could still keep the memories of what those things represented before donating them.
Sometimes an item exists just to be itself. A yearbook doesn't have any value if it isn't yours, or if you don't invest it with some. If you decide you don't want something, fine – but it seems very strange to keep around a formless simulacra of it.
A fujitsu sheet feeding scanner has been the single most liberating device I've ever owned.
When you cut apart something like a yearbook to scan it, its almost a religious experience. In faith, you sacrifice the book's corporeal form so that its essence can ascend into the cloud and live forever.
Scanned copies are a lot easier to 'take out' and browse through.
My main reason for wanting to downsize was because I didn't want to bring a bunch of clutter and stuff into my new home and life because I was starting a new life in a way. There was something appealing about having a fresh start. I still have this where when we have moved homes, I get very interested in downsizing again. It's the lure of the fresh start and getting rid of the clutter.
Another reason was because I wanted clear up some personal mental and emotional energy. I think in a way I was tired of how attached I was to some of my stuff because I recognized that I was still getting my identity from what I used to do. When the reality was, those things were not a part of my life anymore. For example, one of my first jobs was as an editor for a very small publication. I held onto every single magazine I was a part of. I think I was sick of holding on to my past and I wanted to move on. It isn't that I wanted to forget my past experiences, I just didn't want to find my identity in it anymore. Getting rid of the stuff helped me tremendously with that.
Take good care.
Also, go for the smallest living space that is needed, or the need to nest will fill it. Quality, in what you do have, also helps.
The caveat is we are not planning on children, which simplifies this.
But then I moved in with a girl after school and all that went away, we needed to buy kitchen shit, dvd shit, bedroom shit, shit to hang on the walls, stuffed animals from thinkgeek that look like sushi, etc.
As someone that hasn't had a TV for over 6 years, it's amazing how much more time you have for the things you actually want to do in life.
Sometimes the things you want to do in life are things you can do with a significant other, where your mutual interests converge.
I hope you find someone who is as interested in smug one-upmanship as yourself.
Thanks for the kind words.
My girlfriend loves hiking, camping, walking to the library, knitting and hand crafts. We honestly don't have time for "dvd shit" in our lives.
What were you expecting to find when you came to these comments?
I think of bachelor pads as really more defined by "stuff". Most single guys I know have huge piles of entertainment stuff especially: big-screen TVs, videogame systems, a wall of videogames and DVDs, miscellaneous electronic gadgets that seemed cool at the time, etc.
That sort of lifestyle is just as damaged as the sort that compels people to store every pizza box and newspaper in the corner and prevents them from throwing anything away.
I'd argue with that, as hosts probably offer their place after weighing cost/benefit ratio (e.g., inconvenience and risk vs. acquiring new connections), but I'd like to know an alternative opinion.
I, for one, have had a very chaotic period of life or a very simple and structured one, best visible by how much a mess my computer was. Only regarding material goods seems a bit half-assed then, imho.
I have way too many games in Steam and other digital storefronts, but I catalog the ones I care about and have come to the understanding that there are probably some games I will never play/finish. Those ones I just hide and never look at again. It's harder to do that with a boxed game on a shelf, which you need to keep room for, pack away when you move, and ensure it stays in reasonable condition.
Upgrading Ubuntu usually means a few nice features, some things break, some new workarounds. For someone who is not using Unity there is probably no new feature in 12.10 anyways. While 12.04 has its quirks and bugs, at least my workarounds need no change for two years.
As an aside, having an ipad seems to help keep the baby entertained with interactive books, music, TV shows, musical instruments like drums and pianos. I can see apps do away with many physical items the way digital music has done away with the CD - which I think is a positive thing as it reduces waste.
I hope you change your mind if you have kids. Living life in a 7" box is sad.
Another way to look at it is that he wouldn't have most of those toys if they were physical items - a free piano app beats that $20 toy piano that his mum glanced at in the shop and decided not to buy because she needs to buy more nappies.
It's also interesting how, because touch-input results in a direct and near-instant output, that it can be understood by an infant quite rapidly. To them an app is a real mechanical object.
Personally, I can't picture my childhood without those "injection-molded fossil fuel by-products" called LEGO.
He lives in a three-dimensional world, so I don't think he's missing out on any of those things. I'm not arguing for the elimination of physical toys - merely observing that apps have their utility and are less wasteful, resource wise.
> A cheap rubber toy piano might very well be better than an app.
Depends - physical things have a certain barrier to ownership: money. The toy he never had is easily beaten by the free/99c one off the app store. The fact that a tablet is expensive isn't lost on me, but for the amount of utility it has served it's basically paid for itself (it's his dad's tablet).
> Not to mention that they're easier to share with other kids.
Sharing is important, but it's worth noting that with apps you can have collaboration - he and I can play instruments together (like the free split screen piano or guitar apps) or play basic games all on a single screen. Of course physical things do this as well - my intent is to show that apps can be treated like physical objects.
> Personally, I can't picture my childhood without those "injection-moulded fossil fuel by-products" called LEGO.
My nickname is Uncle LEGO - he won't be missing out on that stuff. He's stuck with DUPLO until he's older though.
My kid's preschool had an idea of "loose parts" (for example: http://progressiveearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/2010/...) in which a selection of physical objects (buckets, balls, tables, blocks, boxes, ramps, branches) was placed in a large play yard for open-ended construction. The kids were allowed to do whatever they decided to do with the parts. They would build some things up across several days (without being directed).
It's important to understand that, to make this work, you don't put out everything at once. For a week, you put out a few things that go together. Then they go in to storage, and you take out a different assortment. It has to rotate, or else it becomes part of the landscape and is not used.
To do this, you need to have a considerable amount of storage space, and a staff that is energetic enough to wrangle the stuff. But the stuff itself is rather inexpensive and, by design, simple.
The same kind of ideas hold, on a smaller scale, in households.
I didn't suggest abstracting away toys. I made a prediction/observation that apps could "do away with many physical items [...]" and that it might be a positive thing if it reduces waste.
In my following responses, the implication was that touch interfaces are perhaps seen as mechanical by infants as they can touch something and it produces an immediate and repeatable result, mimicking how real world objects work. Again, I was making an observation (right or wrong), not a statement.
Lastly, with virtual toys being cheap and varied, it allows an infant to explore many different concepts that they normally wouldn't be exposed to because of economic factors (e.g. $20 toy vs free/99c app).
At no point have I suggested getting rid of toys - which would be both outlandish and impossible.
Ipad is wonderful educational device, I am amazed with what my kids are doing with it. And I am all for simpler life in my life as well, within reason of course. And kids :).
If one wants to reach a higher level than an amateur, it looks like extra items are unavoidable. Similar arguments go with say learning oil painting or say charcoal sketching. When you are a programmer, would you prefer to work with a single laptop or with an external keyboard+mouse+large monitor?
But really, all of this doesn't matter. It's so small I take it everywhere. I love the pictures it takes. Creativity loves constraints. :)
Caveat emptor, I probably wouldn't use it as a pro tool, but then again I'm not a photographer so it doesn't matter.
You mention timging. Autofocus speed and accuracy, shutter lag of DSLR and phone camera are not even comparable.
In short: moving from phone camera to an entry level DSLR with kit lenses will already be a huge step up in quality of your photos. If you understand what you are doing buying expensive lenses will add a noticeable increase to that as well. Then if you understand what are you doing and do it a lot buing a professional body will get you durability and the maximum control over the process (and ability to control aperture, shutter speed and ISO does matter too).
Yes, if you "get it" you can take a good photos with the phone if you are if conditions are favourable. But if you get it, then using DSLR will let you take more good photos, because the limits of favourable conditions are expanded a lot.
There is some truth in your last sentence, however from technical point of view, even is someone "does not get it" and would take crappy pictures on the phone then with an expensive kit he can have pictures of the same crap but with much higher quality.
That being said: The big jump is from cell-phone to DSLR (even an inexpensive one). The jump from $400 DSLR to $4000 is less noticeable.
I'm definitely not arguing that you need a high end DSLR, but even a relatively inexpensive Canon or Nikon will run circles around a camera phone.
Books - Chances of me reading the same book again are slim. But it's really hard to let go of them. I now own an e-reader, but even if I could get all of those books on it (which seems impossible, if not very expensive and for no good reason), I would feel something missing. Then again, they do take much space, gather dust and are likely to be left untouched.
Gifts from people - whilst I can relatively easily throw away stuff I bought, it's so much harder with gifts people gave me. It almost feels like betraying them.
Any practical or (pop)-psychology suggestions on how to get over these hurdles?
Every book I own now I'm able to enthusiastically tell someone about if they would ask.
Gifts: My friends and family have a new policy for gifts: "No stuff, only experiences". I don't want a DVD or a book, but I'd be grateful for some French lessons, or yoga classes, or a cooking class, or... (insert experience here)
That's what I did, anyway. I don't own an ebook reader (yet), but I'm pretty sure I won't be reading them again any time soon (if ever, for many), so I just kept a dozen of my favorites and gave away the rest.
Incorrect. Donating is nearly the same as selling them. Libraries don't lend donated books (in the common case), they dump them to a resell wholesaler for pennies on the dollar.
But still, better to pass your book along to someone who might read it, then to have it collect dust.
You don't notice how excess stuff gets in your way, until it's gone. You can start with one area at a time. Zenhabits was surprisingly motivational for me in this respect.
Books are the only possession I have many of, and that's by choice.
One quibble: If a gym membership can be replaced by jogging, then you aren't using the gym correctly. Strength training is a very different beast. You can get a pretty good strength workout with bodyweight and home dumbbells, but it's tough to match barbells.
When we arrived we made it a point not to buy a single piece of furniture. We relied entirely on unwanted furniture of friends and the Craigslist free section. With the help of our pickup truck we had a fully furnished home within a month for nothing more than the cost of gas. Next time we move a long distance we'll just give it all away and collect all new furniture at our next home. Its really liberating not being attached to anything in our home.
We don't pay for anything more than cable internet, pre-pay data and basic utilities. We don't even have a TV. We get all our movies and entertainment at the library for free. They allow for up to 6 DVDs for each of us, so we really don't miss TV or cable.
We also use Google Voice for all our phone calls and texting. We have a single Android phone and a $30 pre-pay plan with T-Mobile for going out. We use a couple voip apps so we can have both of our numbers available on the phone. Most of our calls and text messaging happen on our computers anyway.
We save on water by leaving the bathtub plugged up after our showers. This water goes into buckets throughout the day to flush the toilets. We never use the dishwasher and we wash laundry by hand when it's not a heavy load. This saves us as much as $40/mo on our water bill.
We aren't poor and could live much more luxuriously, but we choose to live this way in order to gain a richer experience of life.
Alternative hints :
- thumb rule "if you have had this stuff for 6 months but have not used it yet/removed it from its box and installed it/repaired it, then it's a waste of time and space - throw it/give it/sell it."
- then try to remove "things" from your life to measure how you feel about not having them. You'll be surprised about how many things are not really making you more or less happy. Hint: the really important things are what you usually take with you when you travel, like a toothbrush - and by improving these things you use daily you can create a much better experience for yourself
- when you move to a new place - only take 2 bags worth of stuff. Pareto law- the rest is certainly not that important to you
- in this new place only buy stuff you need - and after needing it twice, without writing down a list. If you can't remember to buy it, you don't really need it.
- experiment! Each person has "important things". What is applicable to me may not be to you. I mostly eat fresh food at home, and only cook with a microwave. I don't need any other "cooking paraphernalia".
OTOH, the most important thing to me is shower gel - I buy a bottle with a different smell each week :-]
For the author - if you want a tropical place with friendly people and great coffee shops, come to the FWI :-)
- I eat all my vegetables raw: apple, lettuce, tomatoes, red pepper... The only "non fresh" vegetables I buy (for convenience - can't find it raw where I live) is frozen broccoli which is perfectly unfrozen in the microwave, not steamed.
- besides vegetables, I mostly eat rice, eggs, fish and meat. Rice provides some glucids - and it cooks quite well in a microwave.
Fish is also easy to cook in a microwave - I loved boiled salmon with pastas, olive oil and goat cheese, but now most of the time I prefer canned mackerels because they come with a variety of sauces so I don't have to prepare them.
For meat, I've had decent result with frozen "cheap" (high fat) ground beef. I put it in a bowl- it releases grease when it's cooking in the microwave in a way that make it tasty to me (and the grease is left at the bottom of the bowl so it's easy to remove). It's not quite like boiled meat - closer to what a hamburger meat taste, and it's quick to prepare.
I know it's a weird diet.
In fact, I came to this diet not by any specific health concern but by time optimization. I like my meals to be quick and easy to prepare - if they need more than 6 minutes to prepare, I'm not interested. Cooking stuff takes time (heat transfer, etc), so most of the "cooking" was removed.
I then made my diet healthier, tweaking here and there (a bag of pop corn is quick to prepare, but maybe not that healthy) following various ideas. This caused some interesting changes - like raw eggs.
At the moment, I still keep the 6 minutes maximum limit every day, while eating was is generally considered healthy - basically it's a raw diet with varied vegetables each week, only with rice and meat being cooked. I add canned oily fish + frozen broccoli for the convenience, and I still do a bag of popcorn time to time.
Not at all, sounds pretty close to what could be considered Paleo/Keto (bsides the rice)
Okay, after looking around at Amazon for a bit, there also are microwave/oven thingies with 2 hot plates on top (like the Steba KB 52). They are somewhat expensive though.
Fortunately, that problem is fairly easy to solve. Use a cover if you microwave stuff which might splatter around.
Well, to be honest, you don't actually have to clear an oven regularly. That stuff has been burnt to a crisp ages ago. Heating it up won't produce any smoke or smell anymore. All of that was burnt away.
I lived with the burnt stuff for a while too, but decided that the next one would be a 100% microwave to avoid any cleaning issues
To me, being social is a huge driver of happiness and contentment. If you want to escape the pursuit of owning things - turn off your TV for starters.
How do you do that? Avoid responsibilities in one particular place and only buy products you can't live without.
Big deal. I don't see what's so special about it.
This also applies to IT geeks. What would you do when your cool Macbook dies? Do your work on Iphone until the replacement arrives? I would just take replacement from drawer, restore backup and be back online in 30 minutes.