On Minimalism

Pack it up

Today was the second time in the past two years that I've helped clean out a house of someone who has died. The first was a hoarder whose house was unhygienic to say the least, and today's subject was a ex-coworker's fathers house who had lived in the house since 1971. Both were big shockers about just how much stuff people accrue throughout their lives. I'm afraid that I've been on the same path, and when I moved from my townhouse into the house I'm now living in I realized just how much crap I owned.

Now I'm tasked with packing for the next 4 months bringing only what I can fit in my Camaro. This is a familiar process as 4 years ago I also packed everything I needed into my Camaro to drive out here. But surprisingly I've not had a very hard time so far. I think it's because I'm going to leave most of my belongings here, so I don't need to get rid of stuff, I just need to figure out what I need the next few months. There are only a few things I think I'm going to miss not having this summer, mostly my inner-tube so I can float the Huron.

I've also to become a minimalist beyond just my possessions. I've had to look at the things I spend money on and minimize them too. My Netflix account and Xbox Live account also were cluttering up my life and costing me money for services that I wasn't getting fulfillment out of. So I removed them as well. I've reduced my bills down to just phone, insurance and rent.

The one thing that has helped me is my growing interest in minimalism. After helping clear other people's houses it really dawned on me just how much crap people tend to own - especially in this country. If you get a chance check out this photo documentary. I think the concept of minimalism isn't 'not having things', it's 'only having what you really need'. I've always felt much better after removing clutter from my life, and I think that's what I should strive to do. It's a conflicting view to my long held desire to make lots of money and buy a big house and fill it with cool and interesting stuff. Maybe there is a happy medium with just buying a house that fits all the things in it that makes me happy and not much more.

I think most of the stuff I have I use, which helps justify having it. I have a few college textbooks that are hanging around that I probably could get rid of. I'm proud to say that I find it easy to dump things if I don't see a real use for it. I think as I age I'll want more things because I feel I'm at the point in my life where I should really own my own wok, or tuxedo, or shoe buffer. I'm going to try and fit the materialistic urge and live my life focused on things other than my possessions.

Also being poor should help limit the amount of crap I own.