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Why I don't want stuff

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Re: Why I don't want stuff

#241

Post by vacri »

Xcelerate wrote: post #18

I relate to this guy so much. > It makes me really happy when another Christmas or birthday has passed and I didn’t receive anything. It makes me feel understood. My sister and I have this arrangement. I tell her every Christmas that her gift (nothing) is the best one, because I don't have to figure out where to store more junk until enough time has passed that I don't feel guilty throwing it away. She's even more of…

I find it bizarre that quite a few people seem to think that gifts must be things. What's wrong with buying someone an experience for their birthday? A dinner out, a massage voucher, a skydiving session... my friend has given me an Escape Room challenge for my just-passed birthday.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#242

Post by Retric »

vinbreau wrote: post #239
Retric wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of that stuff can be compact if you don't get focused on 'stuff.' Let's assume you have clothing, computer, and aka all hiking/ backpacking gear for a world tour can easily fit into a single backpack or fill a trailer. Photography, 1 decent camera is really enough. A single bike is actually fairly small. Start getting into road bikes, touring bikes, etc and they start taking up a lot of space. DIY can take endl…

"Photography, 1 decent camera is really enough." If only. I have several lenses for a variety of situations. A lighting rig for indoor shoots which includes bounces, tripods, umbrellas, cords and rigging. Then there's the tripod, plus a back pack for the smaller stuff. Not to mention backdrop equipment. There's a big difference between casual hobby and serious hobby.

Your confusing flexibility with necessity. You can get really serious about say photographing bugs with a single camera. It's not going to be as widely useful, but trying to do everything is a great way to fail.

Consider, nobody says you need an electron microscope to get serious about photography, but they can take some amazing photos even without using photons...

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#243

Post by lsc »

ck2 wrote: post #19

Not wanting "stuff" is a gamble that your present and future is secure and safe. Having been homeless at one point, I've become a bit of a hoarder, because you never know when things will go south and you are one month away from being homeless (again). Also we'll see how often you keep erasing things and starting from scratch as you get older and find that remembering things is a lot harder and takes a lot longer to…

Eh, it varies by location, but everywhere I've been, the cost of rent was dramatically higher than any sort of minimum stuff I might need... in fact, the primary reason for me to cut down on 'stuff' is to get rid of the expense of storing it.

I mean, personally, I like having 'stuff' - especially the sort of stuff I need at a moment's notice that I can't get amazon to overnight me, but if you live in a major metro, it's more of an expense than it is a cushion.

Of course, if I owned a big house with a garage, the equation would be somewhat different, but in areas where I want to live, that is somewhat unrealistic.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#244

Post by hack_mmmm »

"Living minimalistic" - life connects you more to the present. In the end, this is what matters most. But having memories makes us more empathetic by virtue of emotions. If you know yourself and connect with humanity no matter what, then living minimalistic could be great! Otherwise not!

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#245

Post by scarecrowbob »

dheera wrote: post #232
nostromo wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was a startup in this space. I have so much house maintenance stuff. For example, I only really need a ladder once a year. But I keep it around forever because when you need a ladder, you need a ladder . I would love to not have to store and maintain all this stuff and to just request it on demand. Can someone solve that for me? I'm embarrassed to admit that sometimes it's easier for me to just buy a new…

Me too. I wish there were an "Uber for photography lenses", an "Uber for power tools", and so on which deliver these items to you on demand, pick them back up when you're done, and charge appropriately you for the rental.

There are several places both by-mail and in person that I have rented lenses.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#246

Post by collyw »

branchless wrote: post #123
rcfox wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Coming over for dinner? They bring a (bad) bottle of wine that I now have to get rid of. I'm not a drinker myself, but I always assumed that people brought wine to dinners with the intention of drinking them at that dinner. Shouldn't that take care of getting rid of it?

Often it's bad because the people I know aren't rich. That's fine, I'd rather they just brought themselves. If it's bad why spoil dinner!

Use it for cooking if its too bad to drink.

Or as the Spanish teenagers do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalimotxo

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#247

Post by vacri »

mbrock wrote: post #172
CydeWeys wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To expand on baking, you're going to need a huge variety of pots, pans, baking sheets, pie pans, cake containers, cupcake trays, mixing bowls, a stand mixer, a handheld mixer, rolling pins, ingredients, etc. I know because my sister is really into baking and she has all of that stuff and more; a whole kitchen full. By the time you're all said and done you're in for over $1,000, and a bunch of cupboards are full. The…

I'd like to emphasize that I have absolutely nothing against gear. But I'm a little surprised that people continue to insist that no, one really needs lots of stuff . It's just not true that you need a huge variety of stuff for over $1,000 to bake bread. Think about it. The history of bread goes back thirty thousand years . You don't need a cupcake tray. You don't even need a baguette pan to make decent baguettes. I'…

> It's just not true that you need a huge variety of stuff for over $1,000 to bake bread. Think about it. The history of bread goes back thirty thousand years.

"You don't need a guitar to make music, because people once made music by banging two sticks together". I mean, the GP even specifically mentioned pie tins, cake containers, cupcake trays, and you retort with "baking is nothing but bread"? "You don't need stuff, because a simplified subset of what you want to do can be done without stuff"? Hell, you don't even need a hammer to drive a nail, but it's a lot more efficient if you have one.

It's doubly weird that you invoke how people ran 100k years ago, and then say "all you need are shoes". Nope - it's "no footwear". It's perfectly doable - I had an anarchist friend who spent several years without wearing shoes (excluding when he had to - boots for protection when motorcycle riding). You should ditch the shoes in your example, for both running and walking, as shoes are just as unnecessary to human locomotion as $1k of kitchenware is to baking. There's even a subgenre of running that is specifically about no shoes; I'm not aware of a subgenre of baking that is specifically about making cakes with no mixer.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#248

Post by CydeWeys »

mbrock wrote: post #172
CydeWeys wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To expand on baking, you're going to need a huge variety of pots, pans, baking sheets, pie pans, cake containers, cupcake trays, mixing bowls, a stand mixer, a handheld mixer, rolling pins, ingredients, etc. I know because my sister is really into baking and she has all of that stuff and more; a whole kitchen full. By the time you're all said and done you're in for over $1,000, and a bunch of cupboards are full. The…

I'd like to emphasize that I have absolutely nothing against gear. But I'm a little surprised that people continue to insist that no, one really needs lots of stuff . It's just not true that you need a huge variety of stuff for over $1,000 to bake bread. Think about it. The history of bread goes back thirty thousand years . You don't need a cupcake tray. You don't even need a baguette pan to make decent baguettes. I'…

Sure, no one truly needs anything, but having the right tools can make a huge difference between merely being able to do something, and doing that something well. I think we all can understand the nerd impulse to really want to get into something, learn as much about it as possible, and do it well. Having the right tools can easily be the difference between a given hobby being rewarding or frustrating, because you can't yield the results you want, or because you don't have the right tool to make a really tedious part of the process easier.

Some of the more esoteric hobbies I've gotten into have included amateur telescope making, ham radio, long-range precision reloading, and shed construction, all of which are very tool-dependent. The more and better tools you have, the more capable you are in the hobby, the better your results, and the more satisfying it is. Sure, some hobbies are more amenable to getting farther along in them with having less stuff, but that doesn't help you if you end up interested in something that is tool-dependent.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#249

Post by VLM »

vonmoltke wrote: post #146
ashmud wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am surprised big box hardware stores do not have programs to rent out bigger ladders. Personally, I do need a smaller ladder frequently, though. Community/family can be a good way to share tools, too. I have re-bought tools/parts I was fairly certain I already had, but simply did not have the time to sift through things to find. Especially for home projects that I had a small window to work on and I did not do my d…

> I am surprised big box hardware stores do not have programs to rent out bigger ladders. They do. I rented one several months ago to change some can lights on a 15' ceiling. They have basic power tools as well, though the selection is spotty from store to store.

> "though the selection is spotty from store to store."

Need a middleman "broker" with accurate local data and up to the minute stocking data. There's two "close" home depots and a local lumberyard with rentals and a regional contractor supply and a local contractor supply. Which of those five rental agencies has a stump grinder for rent tonight? Check back with me in 30 minutes. Would be nice to have an app that could tell me instantly...

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#250

Post by renaudg »

nostromo wrote: post #91
0xffff2 wrote: post #70

I can appreciate the sentiment, but I actually like doing things. Don't get me wrong, I probably spend much more time than most in front of my computer, but even so. I'm a photographer -> Two bags full of camera gear, tripod... I'm a hiker/backpacker -> Backpack, tent, sleeping bag, hiking boots... I'm a cyclist -> Bike, helmet, gloves, pump... I'm a computer engineer -> Solder station, wire cutters, crimping tools..…

I wish there was a startup in this space. I have so much house maintenance stuff. For example, I only really need a ladder once a year. But I keep it around forever because when you need a ladder, you need a ladder . I would love to not have to store and maintain all this stuff and to just request it on demand. Can someone solve that for me? I'm embarrassed to admit that sometimes it's easier for me to just buy a new…

There is one :

http://us.zilok.com/

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