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About Not Owning Sh*t

teddy.fr

11–20 of 113 posts

Re: About Not Owning Sh*t

#12
I've found myself trying to have less and less stuff. Before the big problem was that I love reading, a lot. The kindle solves that for most things, but there are still people who think that pdf is a good e-book solution , so for those I need to get dead-tree versions. Plus for comics/manga, it's the same problem.

That and I have a lot of clothes. I'm trying to make my life a bit more minimal though, and I try to avoid buying things that would require keeping now.

Re: About Not Owning Sh*t

#14
post #4

I'd like to cut down on all of the junk I hold on to. What are some helpful tips to go from hoarder to not owning shit?

I usually just tell myself : Do I want to put this in a suitcase when I move? Do I want one more thing in my place? Usually that works, after the horrors I've had involving moving.

There are a lot of boxes of my stuff sitting somewhere that will probably all go to the trash when/if I ever fetch them. Being forced to move around changed my view on a lot of things.

Re: About Not Owning Sh*t

#15
I'm currently hard at work with this self, but having a girlfriend complicates things.

Every day before leaving home, I visit my bookshelf, select one of my 1-200+ books that I never read anyway and throw it away.

I smile, thinking to myself that I just made moving out of the apartment a little .. lighter.

In under one year, I won't have any books left and I'll move on to some other totally uneccessary item - like a decorative item or pair of old shoes.

Not wanting to sound like a hippie, I still think the sheer amount of "stuff" we have in our lives is keeping us pinned down.

Re: About Not Owning Sh*t

#16
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I can figure is that he doesn't cook and just eats out all the time. He does say something about not worrying about the cost of food.

I hope he enjoys his gut and general ill-health after a year of eating out.

Why? Sushi is healthy. Salads are healthy. Lots of healthy stuff to eat out.

Re: About Not Owning Sh*t

#17
post #2

That seems extreme. I certainly cut down to two suitcases before emigrating a few years ago, and found it very liberating. In doing so I freed myself from just keeping stuff 'just in case' as I did before. I now live a much more minimal life, and feel much less surrounded by clutter. But as a permanent way of life? Nah, no thanks. I like my bed. I like my sofa. I like my tv. I like my microserver.

Weird. I read the post and asked myself "where's the news?" I thought the majority of HN readers lived like this. I do, but without the custom tailoring or whatever he was talking about. I can't afford that right now.

Owning lots of stuff is a burden. Really is.

Re: About Not Owning Sh*t

#18
Nice.

I think its important to find one'w own minimal footprint. Obviously it is different for each individual. Knowing it will ease the context switches (read: Location/Country change, status change, leaving the comfort zone etc...). Though, I doubt staying with the minimal footprint for a "really" long time is a viable option.

Re: About Not Owning Sh*t

#20
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I can figure is that he doesn't cook and just eats out all the time. He does say something about not worrying about the cost of food.

That must be a nice life. Eating out is quite an expensive way to live.

depends on where you live. I think you could do it relatively easily in Japan for example. 1k yen per meal (which can get you really good meals) would make you pay around 90k yen per month (around 900 dollars). That sounds expensive, but if you think about the amount of time you save, it might be worth it for some people.
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