Has Minimalism bitten anyone?

[NJ_Native]

I have spent my life accumulating stuff (read trappings). Since I am 6 months away from FIRE, I have this overwhelming urge to downsize almost everything. I have sold my homes (3). I have had 5-6 estate sales to sell my personal household items (furniture, knickknacks, pots/pans, old luggage, lawn equipment, tools, etc). I moved to a 1200 sq/ft apartment. I have very little now comparatively speaking but I want to off-load more.

According to Buddhist beliefs, attachment is a major cause of suffering. In terms of our personal belongings, objects eventually break down/wear out, can also be stolen or taken from us. If we are mentally tethered to our material possessions, these outcomes and events will make us suffer greatly.

Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[jetpack]

YES. Stuff has been a hindrance for travelling more... but I'm almost there.

 

[whatnot]

I am definitely trying to move in that direction. Moving my Mom 2x in the last 5 years is what is motivating me. She has been such a hoarder!!! I don't want to have so much I don't even know what I have!

 

[aja8888]

I wish DW had this mindset. And, I am not giving up my tools or antique VW!

But, for a lot of stuff we have accumulated, I have no attachment to it.

 

[Souschef]

The biggest minimization came after my wife and I married. We both lived in 1800 sq ft homes, and we were moving to a 1400 sq ft new home.
Since her furniture and small appliances were better than mine, I got rid of the most big stuff.
I put some stuff on Craig's List free, took some to w*rk for the production people to have, and the rest went to Goodwill.
We traveled extensively, but did not buy souvenirs unless they were useful. For example, a beautiful hand painted olive oil cruet from Ravenna Italy.

 

[Elbata]

My only downside is I do sometimes get rid of something I now "need". It happens rarely, but it does happen. Overall though, I would much rather go overboard in this direction, than in the direction of hoarding.

I've even gotten rid of my library with only a core of books that I refer to often. Have also scanned pictures and discarded.

A few days ago, I was in San Diego visiting a friend. His garage is his storage. In over 35 years of owning his home, he's never parked his car in his garage. He said if he was able to park a car in his garage, he'd buy a nicer car.

 

[NJ_Native]

You tell yourself that there is a secondary-market for your used belongings when make these purchases. I have really nice, high-quality things (furniture, dishware, clothes, etc) and I can barely get any interest on Craigslist or eBay. My goal this year is to get rid of the rest... No more consuming for me. I want to be light in-life. One of my happier times was when I was in college and I lived out of a small storage unit and couch surfed.

 

[Fedup]

I'm trying to get rid of my old 180,000 plus miles car this year or next, I'm waiting to see how much my insurance goes up if I do get rid of it. So that's one step in the mimimalism for me. Every time I moved in the past, I donated tons of stuff. I don't even want to have garage sale or anything.

 

[NJ_Native]

Elbata. I know! Happens to me too.

Me - "Damn it. Where is my __________"
wife - "You sold it for $3"
Me - D'oh!

 

[NJ_Native]

Fed Up. Yea. By the time you spend 4+ hours selling your yard-sale items and having everyone nickel and dime you, you get almost nothing for it. You might as well donate it and take the tax bracket write-off.

 

[MichaelB]

Anyone else feel the same way?

In our household minimalism bit but DW bit back harder, and I chose to side with DW.

 

[W2R]

After retirement, I decluttered and downsized repeatedly. As a result, I found that I had some closet space! I thought I was very well minimalized and decluttered, when I unexpectedly found my dream home and decided to move. Despite how downsized I felt I was, there was a lot more to get rid of. For every box I packed, I threw out and/or donated several full trash bags of stuff. It was nice to be rid of so much stuff.

The older I get, the less attached to stuff I am.

 

[pacergal]

Yes, we have spent time this year de cluttering. Not even trying to sell stuff, it all goes to Goodwill if usable, or the garbage if junk. Love having empty shelves and cupboards! Finally cleared out kids bedrooms and have a formal nice guest room and study/den/grandkids playroom. Not planning on downsizing the home as it is perfect for us and is only 1700 sq ft, single level. Great to age in as long as we can.

 

[O2Bfree]

Absolutely, I've been that way most of my life. In fact, I've taken up Buddhist practice to further explore the consequences of attachment in all aspects of life.

 

[NJ_Native]

The things that weighs the wife and I down are the hobbies... We go through a lot of hobbies and those hobbies have their own accouterments. We've been into tennis, running, biking, aerobics, rollerblading, hiking, etc... You always think that you'll get back into said hobby one day.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

We aren't minimalists from a philosophical perspective but we try not to buy/acquire an item unless it has a very practical use that will be used regularly. We're not perfect though as we'll still get a souvenir when travelling but it's usually just a fridge magnet.

However, we haven't de-cluttered the house enough yet. We definitely need to get rid of stuff that just sits there and we haven't used or haven't interacted with in over a year.

 

[mpeirce]

> overwhelming urge to downsize almost everything

Not here. I still like stuff.

What I have done is cutting back on buying junkier stuff (it used to be all I could afford) and am now focusing on quality items. This probably means I buy fewer things, but spend more money on each one.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Yes, we have an ongoing decluttering project. I have another stack of stuff today to take to Goodwill. I also like seeing empty space in the cupboards and closets. We have been thinking about downsizing so half the stuff has to go to make that happen.

I enjoy reading books on topics like sustainable living, Feng Shui and minimalism. Less stuff has been better for our mental health plus not buying a lot of depreciating consumer goods has been good for our retirement budget as well.

This has been a good resource for me:

University of California TV Series Looks at Clutter Epidemic in Middle-Class American Homes

" Contemporary U.S. households have more possessions per home than any society in all of global history. Put simply, Americans sure do love their stuff. But at what point do all of the toys, gadgets and big box consumables that fill their homes become too much? University of California Television’s (UCTV) web series “A Cluttered Life: Middle-Class Abundance,” tackles these questions by following a team of UCLA anthropologists into the stuffed-to-capacity homes of dual income, middle-class American families in order to truly understand the clutter that fills them."

 

[Mdlerth]

Can't get there yet. All funf kinder are out of the gartens, but two are still in the haus. We're still burdened with stuff from all of them.

Not feeling the urgency yet since I've still got TMY to go.

 

[audreyh1]

Get rid of a huge amount of stuff including a boat and a house to move into an RV and travel full time. It was very freeing.

After five years we bought another smaller house, and have more stuff, but less than before.

 

[Midpack]

We've downsized and decluttered, still in progress. Wish we'd accumulated less and decluttered sooner, better late than ever. We may never reach the austerity of a monk, but were definitely enjoying having less stuff.

 

[razztazz]

I've always had a bias towards not having a lot of junk to drag around. Then I spent 20 years in the military when it was lunacy to hoard stuff or even want to have "nice things," especially if you were single. So by training and natural inclination my physical environment is spartan by any definition. The old saying, I think Ross Perot used it, "You don't own all your stuff. It owns you." Just feels very natural to me

A few yrs ago I gave away my living room furniture sans computer desk and Capt Kirk chair to the hobo shelter. I still haven't replaced it. I wouldn't sit in it anyway

I also threw away most of a record, VHS, and cassette tape collection. Almost all the tapes either didn't play at all or were so degraded as to make them unwatchable. I could have possibly made a few bucks selling the records. Mostly classical, many out of the company's catalogue but.... Oh well. What's a few bucks? I just saved a few personal favorites and some for nostalgic purposes.

I still have never owned a microwave oven

 

[Crewer]

I think I'm there but DH surely isn't. We still way too much stuff - much of it from DH's former hobbies. As an example, he's still not ready to get rid of the 2nd piano (I was lucky he let me get rid of the 3rd and fortunate I didn't have to pay someone to take it).

Lots of other things are in the basement and he hates to go down there. If he wonders whatever happened to his old National Geographic mags I offer that I'm sure they are in the basement and if he wants to look one up he can go down there or use the electronic version on my computer. I think he still thinks they are worth alot of money. Ditto his old Britannica encyclopedias from late 1800s and early 1900s. On the other hand, I figure eventually we will have to pay to get rid of them. Or the kids will (sorry, kids).

 

[EastWest Gal]

Nostalgia and fond memories are found in some VHS tapes.

DH has an ongoing project of turning family VHS tapes into DVDs. We have run across some really funny stuff but a lot of it is plain boring. My mom and her cousins had annual family picnics starting in the late 70s and did this for about 30 years until they all started getting old and ill and just couldn't do it anymore. A couple of years they had it at one cousin's house in the redwoods near Occidental. They all decided to take a walk My mom filmed bits of it. She also filmed a short snippet of the fishpond and fountain and some of the surrounding areas. Back home she edited it, slowed down the video of the 60 some year old women walking down the road in polyester pants and tops, then overlay the Chariots of Fire theme by Vangelis. She showed it at a subsequent gathering and I thought we would all die laughing it was so ridiculous. It was nice to come across that video in my parents' collection.

I have some photos of family from the early 1900s. They are labelled and are in surprisingly good shape. I've got to find time to scan them and get them on a geneology site. Then most of them can go goodbye.

My cousin gave me a beaded handbag of his mom's and a few other items. I didn't have the heart to say they were useless. They have since disappeared into the circular file along with much of my dad's stuff.

Even well kept items like china and silver are not as valued as they once were. I wish they were easier to get rid of.

 

[ERD50]

No, and I don't understand this mindset at all. If I have some 'stuff' it's because I want to have it. If I don't I get rid of it. Where's the problem?

The only exception might be stuff I want to get rid of, but can't find anyone to take it, and it seems too good to junk. I guess I'm waiting for the right person to come along and put it to use.

So I'll try my hand at amateur psychology now - I think ideas like "attachment is a major cause of suffering. In terms of our personal belongings, objects eventually break down/wear out, can also be stolen or taken from us. If we are mentally tethered to our material possessions, these outcomes and events will make us suffer greatly. " are, ummmm, BS!

I think that is an excuse for other problems a person might not want to face, so they blame it on their 'stuff'. I control my stuff, it doesn't control me. I have just the "right" amount of stuff (like Mozart had the "right" amount of notes ). I know this, because it is what I have. If I wanted less, I'd have less. If I wanted more, I'd have more.

I think I'd be bored as a minimalist. I enjoy going from one thing to another. In one day, I might play 3 or 4 different musical instruments (and wish I had a few more to fool with), do some electronics work with components, soldering irons, power supplies, oscilloscopes, then do some home improvements with another set of tools, watch TV a bit, listen to my big stereo. Do some programming on a second computer, use my tablet later, and on and on.... That all takes stuff. I like the stuff I have. No apologies.

-ERD50