Anyone have this weird fantasy?

[NW-Bound]

...DH is the retired one and what he enjoys about his retirement is the freedom to make the rounds of all the thrift stores and pick up things that need to be rescued. It's mostly electronics and crap from the 60's and 70's. He also enjoys shopping on eBay for all kinds of things.

Lately, he's been acquiring various Raspberry Pi components. These are very clever, very small computer components. At least the stuff is small...

Most guys have a hobby. As a fellow electronics enthusiast, I will have to say that this is less expensive and messy than restoring antique cars, building hotrods, etc... It also compares well with woodworking, metalworking, etc...

Some women have a hobby of making quilt or embroidery. Some are into weaving and have a loom.

It's not really "stuff" that one owns to enjoy the ownership passively, but something one works with to build or maintain a skill, or a knowledge. So, go easy on your hubby.

 

[bloom2708]

I have a strong desire to "sell it all" and liquidate virtually everything. Move to a smaller condo or smaller apartment. My wife and 3 school age kids don't agree.

I go through stages where I randomly get rid of stuff. Most of the stuff is rarely used and is not missed. Then accumulation seeps back.

No magic bullet. But the thought of downsizing, simplifying, purging is there quite often. Even with a paid off house, the taxes, insurance, maintenance, related utilities, upgrade, furnishings is quite astounding.

 

[athena53]

Well, I had that thought when I picked up my Rolex, which I had in for servicing. I'd authorized them to do up to $X in repairs and magically they found $X worth of repairs to do, PLUS $100 shipping and insurance PLUS tax. Ouch.

DH and I did some simplification when we downsized and it was a good move. He died last month and I'm getting rid of the older of our two cars. I still like having a good-sized house for DS and his family (DDIL, 2-year old and newborn) to have their own space when they visit. In some ways, we've simplified greatly. We spent $300 on clothes this year and I don't expect to spend any more in 2016. We spent about $100/month eating out. I'm not big on redecorating or buying knickknacks and nearly every book I read is from the library.

Don't ask about the travel and the jewelry budget, though!

 

[grasshopper]

I tried to declutter, but the nearest hardware store is an hour away. Luckily I have a barn full of coffee cans with fairly good screws semi-bent nails and lots of 2 inch pieces of PVC.

 

[spncity]

After a long, agonizing declutter (to put the house on the market) it's much less fun to shop.

 

[DawgMan]

I understand the fantasy. In my case, it has to do with the fact that the vast majority of the people we hang out with live very simply (most by necessity). They seem content enough and it helps to keep things in perspective. We downsized our household in 2012 and most of my hobbies are almost free now - walking/hiking, writing, playing video games, etc... But this is not for everyone.

Good point! Now that I think of it, most of our social/neighborhood friends "appear" to have/live more simply/cheaper than we do and that helps keep us in check at times. While we have our fancy steakhouse friends, we avoid any talk that suggests income/NW, but clearly live in one of the bigger houses in the neighborhood and drive fancier cars. They probably think whatever they think, but so far no one looks at me to pick up the check when we are all out to dinner. On the other hand, when dinning with business associates all the pretentiousness and score keeping comes out in the crowd which I could do without.

 

[NW-Bound]

I tried to declutter, but the nearest hardware store is an hour away. Luckily I have a barn full of coffee cans with fairly good screws semi-bent nails and lots of 2 inch pieces of PVC.

Living in a remote corner of the woods like you do, it is hard to avoid clutter when one has to be self-sufficient. It's still not as bad as living up in an isolated place in Alaska.

When one lives in an apartment or condo in the center of town and can just walk down to the street to have a meal, he may not even need a refrigerator. No need to stockpile any food, no tools for home repair, etc... Life can be a lot simpler.

 

[brucethebroker]

When DH retired we realized we could live quite well on less than $2500/mo.

I'm quite content without a lot of stuff. DH is the retired one and what he enjoys about his retirement is the freedom to make the rounds of all the thrift stores and pick up things that need to be rescued. It's mostly electronics and crap from the 60's and 70's. He also enjoys shopping on eBay for all kinds of things.

Lately, he's been acquiring various Raspberry Pi components. These are very clever, very small computer components. At least the stuff is small.

Some people just have the need to acquire things all the time. I personally don't. DH enjoys this a lot and keep all his stuff in the upstairs rooms where I don't have to interact with it, so this works ok for now. It's what he enjoys about his retirement.

The other day he took a few donation boxes to Goodwill (YAY!!!!) but came home with a coupon for a discount on a future purchase, so the net effect was negligible.

If we ever want to move he'd have to deal with all his stuff. If I die first I'm certain he'd occupy the entire house with his stuff. If he dies first I'm having a blowout garage sale and then donating anything left back to the mothership of Goodwill.

Wow, sounds like our life, except I am the junker, not DW.

 

[brucethebroker]

I tried to declutter, but the nearest hardware store is an hour away. Luckily I have a barn full of coffee cans with fairly good screws semi-bent nails and lots of 2 inch pieces of PVC.

What? No baling wire and duct tape?

 

[Islandtraveler]

Live for a while without a paycheck. It might come more naturally than you think!

 

[Koolau]

I had the same fantasy for many years. In some ways we lived it out. I have always been a "collector." Whatever I got interested in at the time, I would collect. I have only one collection left. Our kids were gone in quick succession, 2800SF house was sold and we moved 5000 miles to 1100SF condo - packing in 2 suitcases each. All furniture is now used, cars are old, life is good. Full disclosure, we keep a small apartment with some stuff back in same area we lived.

Having said all this, we spend MORE now than we used to. We primarily want experiences and the feeling that comes from helping. So I think the fantasy only goes so far. In short, if you are living as you wish (and can afford it), THAT is a near universal fantasy IMHO. YMMV

 

[HadEnuff]

I've had the same nagging thought...

Just the other day I was telling the butler that perhaps he and the maid could take the afternoon off as I would simply eat the left-over pheasant for dinner.

Aye yi yi!!! I'd suggest smaller steps at first.

 

[W2R]

So, about 3 yrs from FIRE and have been fortunate enough to have my DW at home while we raised 4 kids (2 still in college, 2 off the payroll), good income, always LBMM, stashed away $ that should allow me to live a pretty good lifestyle in RE. While our standard of living is pretty fat and I am as guilty as my DW in enjoying many of the better things in life (i.e. Nice cars, restaurants, trips, wine), I am blue collar guy at heart and if I really admit it, while all this "good sh!t" is nice, I often find myself envying those on this site who seem to be living very fulfilling lives on significantly less than I plan on/think I want. One of my plans prior to RE is to try and really simplify and start stripping down garbage I don't need, regardless if I can afford it. Will I do it... hope so, but old habits are hard to break sometimes, particularly if you don't have too. None the less, I am a "value" guy and hate waste and definitely indulge in pleanty of waste in my lifestyle today. My weird fantasy is living a happy fulfilling life on significantly less than I do today. Am I the only weirdo out their?

Oh is THAT all? Somehow, given the thread title, I half expected to see explicit photos of nekkid people doing who knows what.

Of course you can live a happy and fulfilling life with very little. In fact, it's possible that decluttering could make your life even happier because you probably wouldn't be losing things as often, and you'd have less to maintain and replace.

At some point it seems like our possessions begin to own us, instead of the reverse.

I can't say that I have cut back and decluttered a whole lot, but it kind of gave me a hint when burglars broke into my home in 2014. They tossed everything around, emptied all the drawers and closets, but ultimately took absolutely nothing with them except for $35 that I had put out for the lawn guy. I guess they just didn't want of my possessions enough to carry them out of the house. How embarrassing!

 

[Fermion]

Fantasy becomes reality

We downsized our home from 4000 sq ft to 200 sq ft.

I sold off 42 lasers and only kept the best two (one multi-kilowatt, because you just can't let something like that go)

Just have to do it. Life is short. We tossed a $260k income.

Cancer don't give a $hit how many times you run Firecalc.

 

[Hermit]

...
I can't say that I have cut back and decluttered a whole lot, but it kind of gave me a hint when burglars broke into my home in 2014. They tossed everything around, emptied all the drawers and closets, but ultimately took absolutely nothing with them except for $35 that I had put out for the lawn guy. I guess they just didn't want of my possessions enough to carry them out of the house. How embarrassing!

If you had any booze in the house and they didn't take that you need to move up on the quality ladder just a bit.

 

[W2R]

If you had any booze in the house and they didn't take that you need to move up on the quality ladder just a bit.

Nah, I don't drink so I don't keep any around. I thought all my stuff was so wonderful that anyone would want it, so I was quite surprised that they took absolutely nothing.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We've given away bags and bags of stuff and so far not missed a thing. It feels pretty good, though we have a lot of stuff left to go through.

Like some posters or the spouses mentioned in this thread, I also like to hunt for and collect bargains, but these days I try to hunt for more for bargain consumables and event tickets and passes so we don't reverse the decluttering efforts. Or we get used books from library sales we can re-donate back to the library.