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Why I don't want stuff

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Re: Why I don't want stuff

#261

Post by Retric »

vacri wrote: post #253
Retric wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really don't need a cake tin to make a cake. A sauce pan can actually be really convenient due to the handle, the release thing is generally useful, but you can also use a liner. I have watched a professional baker make several high end cakes and she used very few specialized tools. The icing/Pastry bag was really the only non standard cooking item. Remember, people want to sell you stuff. That does not make stuf…

> but you can also use a liner. Now your box of liners consumes the space that your cake tin would, and you haven't changed anything.

Unless you buy a liner as part of the ingredient list and toss it when your done. Sure, it's less than optimal if your making a lot of cakes, but if you just make 1 or 2 per year for birthdays then it's really not a big deal.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#262

Post by nsxwolf »

danans wrote: post #106
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…

In my neighborhood we all borrow each others gear, whether it's home improvement stuff, or occasionally used outdoor sports gear. Any startup in this space would have to establish the "trust" feature of a sharing community, which is a feature that a friendly neighborhood has built-in. You might be on to something if you find an easy way for people to publish their inventory of stuff to a trusted group of neighbors, m…

This model isn't great for a lot of things. Snow blowers and lawn mowers, for instance - they will break down at least once a season once you cross a threshold (single digit) of users.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#263

Post by wcunning »

pizza234 wrote: post #149
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..…

Minimalism is not a practical matter; it's a principle, a culture, and a mindset. If you observe the amount of things people throws away when moving to a new house, you'll realize that how many things are needlessly accumulated. You can bet that the same things were really needed before buying them. I'd say that the most minimal application of minimalism (this is the idea of the post) is to recognize in advance that…

It's not so much a question of what you throw away when you move as it is a question of what you're using regularly. I'll be moving for work soon, and I'll be throwing away/donating/discarding quite a few things that I will then buy on the other end. It's just not economical to ship a mattress, unless you're packing things into a UHaul, and that's not the only example. I would happily rail against the concept of disposable goods, but that's not the same thing.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#264

Post by nsxwolf »

vox_mollis wrote: post #110
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…

Prior to our modern atomized ways of living as individuals instead of parts of a community, most people solved this problem by getting to know one's neighbors and community members and borrowing amongst each other.

Doubting this. I lived with my grandparents for awhile in the 1980s, in their neighborhood which was established in the 1950s. I remember everybody had their own everything - tools, lawnmowers, snowblowers, ladders etc. Borrowing happened, but there were socially acceptable reasons for it - something was broken, you just moved in from the city and hadn't bought everything you needed yet, etc. Anyone who habitually borrowed the same thing over and over just because they didn't want to buy it would have been ostracized.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#265

Post by wicker »

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…

This is a service that's provided around here by my local hardware store, the local big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe's, and local specific equipment rental services. You can get indoor ladders from the local paint store.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#266

Post by CocaKoala »

magic_beans wrote: post #183
CocaKoala wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expensive wine is not always good, cheap wine is not always bad. One of my favourite wines is a ten bucks a bottle; it's more expensive for me now because I need to order it by the case and ship it across the country to get it, but so it goes. If somebody brings a bottle of wine to dinner, unless you specifically planned the meal to go with a specific bottle of wine (or if they specifically say that this bottle is me…

What is this $10 wine you speak of :)

Damiani Dolce Bianco, a blended table white. It's an eminently drinkable white wine, pairs well with chicken, pasta, or dishes with a citrus element. Alternatively, it's light enough that you can simply drink it on its own over the course of an evening. Drink it chilled, and I highly recommend sharing with friends.

You'll have a lot of trouble finding it for sale unless you happen to live in the upstate NY area; they're a small winery in the Finger Lakes region. I visited them once when I was living in that area, and discovered later that their table white could be bought at my local Century Wine and Liquor for ten bucks. At the time, I was living with some friends and none of us were making very much money (we were all immediately post-college), and that bottle of wine was the backdrop to basically all of our social gatherings and group dinners. A couple years later, when I moved out to California, I sent the winery an email letting them know how much I had enjoyed drinking their wine with my friends, and how sad I was that I was no longer in an area where they had distribution. In response, they offered to sell me a case for ten percent off, and covered shipping as a wedding present for my upcoming wedding.

It's worth noting here that while I'm presenting this story as an example of how nice the winemakers are, it should be stressed that they are not unusual in this regard! If you live in an area that has vineyards and wineries, you should go visit and do tastings! You can probably find cheap wines that you like, you can build relationships with the people who make the wines, and you will enjoy the wine even more for it. It's boatloads of fun to bring a bottle of wine to dinner with friends and say "Now, I know the folks who make this, they're especially proud of this bottle. Let me know what you think!"

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#267

Post by chipsy »

grownseed wrote: post #103

This is something I've written about before, at least indirectly, but I believe not owning much at all has deep therapeutical value. Until recently, I was in a very similar situation to the author, I sold and gave away nearly all of my stuff (an apartment full of it) years ago, to only be left with a backpack and a suitcase worth of stuff. It was extremely liberating, I didn't have things to look at making me wonder…

My mom, and to a lesser extent myself, have some attachment issues to old stuff. It's not quite like "Hoarders" but it's worse than it has to be, with lots of books and boxes and boxes of books, shelves buried behind boxes, etc.

Basically, all the stuff we have is a method of remembering the past, and if you are very sentimental, some of it crosses over into "If I get rid of the object, I lose the memory". Trashing stuff then becomes difficult because I have to get past that towards the practical element of "this is just clutter 99% of the time and it impedes my future self", on top of concerns like "I don't want to just trash it if it has value" which make it 10 times as difficult to eliminate stuff.

I'm attacking the problem now with a slow-paced weekly streak to clean and organize things. I don't necessarily throw things out every week, but I do document what I have and how to categorize it. That way I can make a decision without having to open a box and bring out the stuff.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#268

Post by Grishnakh »

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…

The problem is that there's no easy and workable way to share most stuff, even though it'd be nice so we didn't need to own so much stuff.

Tools, for instance: if something breaks in your house, you need a tool right now if you want to fix it. Your toilet stops up? You need a plunger, NOW. You sure as hell don't want to sign up to borrow or rent one and wait a week for that. And do you really want to use someone else's plunger? What if they didn't clean it after using it?

There's all kinds of problems with the borrowing and renting models. People don't take care of stuff they borrow/rent (and some people don't take care of their own stuff). People don't return it on time. They break it. And what kind of stuff can you borrow/rent? A lot of times, it's substandard junk, or otherwise not up to your standards. What if you want to rent a table saw instead of buying your own, but the only model available is some plastic piece of junk with horrible accuracy? You might as well not even bother with a crappy saw like that if you're trying to do any real woodworking. This is typically the case with tool rentals: the tools they rent out are barely usable, and if they ever were, they're so abused when you get them that it's not worth the rental fee. Better to just buy your own, so you can get something good, and with so little use it'll stay in good shape for a long time, and be ready to use whenever you need it. Sure, it means you have to haul around more stuff when you move, but it also means you can do a lot of things without going through a lot of logistical challenges, or having to pay a lot of money to rent stuff, of having to wait.

You said you have a bag of mountain-climbing gear you rarely use. That stuff is, I presume, gear that your life depends on. If a carabeener (sp?) fails, you can fall to your death, right? Would you want to rent some ropes and other gear that you don't know how it's been treated or maintained, or could be some cheaply-made junk? What are you going to do after you fall to your death when something breaks, sue the rental company? And how much money would you actually save by renting this stuff instead of owning it anyway?

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#269

Post by Grishnakh »

eitally wrote: post #145
ycmbntrthrwaway wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of trust, it may be possible to rent stuff in usual way by leaving a deposit and paying per hour for using someone else's tool.

And there are plenty of companies all over the world who operate profitably renting tools & equipment to homeowners.

Yeah, and the stuff they rent is probably mostly old junk and beat to hell because renters don't take care of stuff. It's probably a lot cheaper to just go to Harbor Freight and buy a tool there than to rent something.

Re: Why I don't want stuff

#270

Post by theandrewbailey »

majewsky wrote: post #36
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…

> If I want some object, I will buy that object myself. I can so relate. "What can I get you for birthday?" - "Nothing, mum. I got all I need." - "How about we go buy some new shoes for you?" - " sigh I already have a pair of shoes." :)

For the past three or so years, my mom's Christmas gift to me has been shoes, which I've enjoyed and appreciate every day.
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