Could you live with only 100 things?

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Permalink Reply by Cooscoos on June 13, 2008 at 11:03am

Three years ago, me and my husband and two cats moved from a 2,000 sq ft condo to an apartment, that if you close one eye while measuring, might come to 600 feet t-o-t-a-l.

When we first moved in, I thought, cool, how Zen, just possess what we need. It was amazingly cathartic to get rid of stuff we hadn't used, seen or even touched in years. Our new rule was going to be, if you buy something, you have to throw one thing away. "Great", I thought, the first time I bought a new purse, I just threw out an old pair of my husband's shoes! hahaha To be honest, it has to be an item owned by the person buy the new object.

So far, this paradigm has functioned moderately well. We just returned from visiting his parent's home, a space filled with stuffthat has been gathered and collected over 50 years of marriage and famly. I have to confess, there was a certain coziness to be surrounded by a plethora of objects wherein each held a story. When we returned to our spartan, zen-like home, it kinda felt lonely.

I have always liked minimalism in desgn and art. But it seems that minimalism is fine as a concept and not so much in praxis. I am still working on balancing the ideas of reducing one's stuff, but still creating a warm, cozy space.

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Permalink Reply by Nicolle on June 13, 2008 at 11:38am

Hi Austin,
Big smile on my face as I have been moving towards minimalism for hmmm freakin'forever :) and the irony is how cluttered your surroundings get whilst you are in the throws of purging...last night I was like, "O.k seriously Nicolle lets go! bare it down! you can do it! go go go!!! So thank-you thank-you for the great articles and although you do not know me - the kick in the butt!!! Good luck with your wknd and if you need a support buddy - you can do it Austin - let go of that "yeah but I might need that someday" thing!!! I am here! erm...procrastinating from de-cluttering
;0 Nicolle

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Permalink Reply by Austin from Earth! on June 15, 2008 at 9:01pm

Hehe, Nicolle, you mention letting go of the "i might need that someday thing" omg, I used to fight with my mother about that all the time. She would say, "I might need it one day.." or her favourite saying was, "I'm going to have a yardsale one day!" Yeah, she didn't have it.. when we had to move her to my brothers house, the rest of us had to go through all of that crap and have the yardsale. I voted for lighter fluid and a match, but I was overruled!

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Permalink Reply by Callie on June 15, 2008 at 12:24am

Austin I love this.. but I did it but stopped. When Duncan was really sick and I got cancer.. we were forced to sale every single thing we owned.. wedding rings.. furniture from great great great grandparents.. I kept a cedar chest and three sets of china and the silver..hahah just what we needed.. I kept the mattresses and the clothes and that was it.. for three years.. we lived in peace.. then last year I went and bought lock stock and barrell a 3200 square foot house.. it is not built yet.. we are waiting in line for it to be built. now I am living in the mission and sharing the apartments with the guys.. and my three cancer families..this apartment is small.. maybe 800 square feet but it is open with all the spaces workable for a big wheelchair that duncan use to use.. well.. now I am freaking out.. my entire mission will fit in this house that is not built yet and we have no furniture for.. of course we have couches and chairs and tables now.. and bookshelves and end tables.. life has filled it again.. but I am beginning to panic why did i need this house.. i know this blog spot is not about gathering things.. ubt I was thinknig about why we need things.. i know i need an office.. a room for duncans nurse and a mother in law suite for my parents when they are sick.. But now the idea is overwhelming and I like my little space with duncan just right at hand.. I miss him when we are at the big house visiting my folks..this new home will be lonely... so i am sure i will have everyone moved in..the only thing i am thrilled about is the bathtubs.. here when I built the mission there was a insurance risk if you put in bath tubs so all the apartments have one huge bath with a drive in shower. well now I have four bathtubs.. can you tell i miss tons of bubbles and magazines or one good book and keep refilling the tub with hot water until the book is finished....well five bedrooms and four baths.. and 13 months until move in... anyone want to buddy up.. i am paniciing and ready to sale and I paid for it in cash.. so now I am in.. oh man.. all week I have been panicing when my dad said cannot wait till that house is ready I can send you mom for a few days or duncan and I can sit by the pool and watch football... panic.. help...ha... I need some ZEN....

I love you guys.. thanks for listening. Callie

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Permalink Reply by Lynn on June 15, 2008 at 8:26am

I've been purging my apartment for a few weeks now. I'm taking my time. I don't want to become overwhelmed and then end up quitting half-way through. I started with my closet, then the bedroom... And I was shocked by how much extra I had. And what a waste! All those clothes were just sitting in my closet when there were people who would want and need them.

And now, I feel more relaxed. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I go into my closet and I see only clothes that I need or absolutely love. No more shifting through a bunch of tees to find the one that I like.

My goal is a peaceful environment containing items I need or absolutely love.

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Permalink Reply by Austin from Earth! on June 15, 2008 at 9:15am

How odd, I just found this quote shortly after reading Callie and Lynn's response:

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.
by Henry David Thoreau

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Permalink Reply by Maria on June 15, 2008 at 11:24am

My husband and I have been traveling all over the world for several years, living out of our backpack, working in some places and vacationing in others. Wonderful life... until rules and regulations in many countries made difficult to find work, so we become sedentary. During that time, I think we never had 50 things between the two of us. We were living in a little village in Indonesia for 18 months with no electricity or current water, but beautiful beaches, excellent diving, and not so good food... Our house was a little bungalow 1 foot larger than our matress, and two hammocks hunging at the porch. There I realized what we really need... We left when electricity arrived bringing too much noise and other changes...
Back in western life, I noticed how easy is to accummulate "stuff". But my experiences made it easy for me to keep control and enjoy the space...

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Permalink Reply by Anastasia on June 15, 2008 at 4:13pm

Could someone please talk to my husband? He doesn't seem to listen to me. I started on the path of lightening up and trying to limit myself as a consumer.....although still a work in progress.....
I have moved a few times in the past 8 years which is always a good opportunity to weed through the mounds of crap I've accumulated. I never thought I would marry someone who would be more reluctant to give up things than I do! I hate living in clutter ....I think Elaine L. would agree.....it feels like it clutters my mind and my ability to function well.
This has been a recent bone of contention with us as we lightened up some of his things when we moved last year but he has so many hobbies/interests and now our place is becoming filled with all this STUFF all over again. I am mortified that we look like we belong on Sanford and Son. But more than that, some of it is just indulgent and not very cost effective, necessary or good for the environment.
We are a nation that is too attached to things for sure. So many in the world barely have furniture to sit on.....I wish most of our crap would be useful to someone but a good portion of it is simply recreational and for "eye candy".
I try to donate to Good Will and Salvation Army as much as possible....but still have a ways to go....my husband ....even further.
Thanks for this post!

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Permalink Reply by Red on June 15, 2008 at 5:37pm

I love it! I'm new here, and feel so at home. I have been trying to purge all of my items for about a year now. It's a slow but satisfying process! Purge-on!

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Permalink Reply by Mary50 on June 15, 2008 at 5:51pm

I have a 3 bedroom 2car garage with stuff. Not to mention a backyard. Now I have purged most of it. Getting downto best getting rid of the rest. I find I have more time for me things and less time on maintenance. It is hard keeping the family on the band wagon. But they are enjoying dusting less stuff. So less stuff coming it. Hurray. Quick close the door before more stuff comes in.

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Permalink Reply by Kristen's Raw on June 15, 2008 at 8:12pm

I have a long-term goal of living a more simple life. When I was in the corporate world, my boss owned my time. And, since I didn't own my time, I felt compelled to own things. I looked to my possessions to define me and represent who I was. The cycle was: get paid more, work more, buy more.

Then, some years ago, I heard the saying, "The things you own end up owning you." My buying behavior came into perspective and I found myself buying fewer things, because I didn't like the idea of being owned by my possessions (it was bad enough being owned by my boss - haha). It didn't take long before I realized that I yearned to own my time, not material objects, and that I longed for a more simple life. (Here is a very cool story regarding stuff that further strengthened my resolve.)

I've been successful at reducing my consumer footprint, and I'm happy with the results. I know what I'm doing is healthy for my soul and for the earth. It didn't happen overnight, and it took some getting used to. Now, when I think about making a purchase, whether it's food, clothing, kitchen equipment, books, electronics, etc, I take the time to think through the following: 1) Do I really need it? 2) Do I really want it? 3) Can I wait 2-weeks and then decide whether to buy it? 4) What resources and energy went into making this product and what am I doing to the earth by consuming it? After going through those questions, I have found that in most cases, I'm eager to say "no" and happy as a result.

Fast forward to today: I still had a lot of things from my previous lifestyle and it became apparent that it was time to declutter my home by cleaning, purging, recycling and throwing many of them away (readers of my blog know I did this hardcore a couple of weeks ago). The quote I reference earlier about "...things owning you" has taken on new life for me. I always thought about it with respect to monetary issues (buy fewer things, fewer things own me). Now, it goes beyond that, because possessions not only cost money, but they also cost time, the thing I'm anxious to own. This became apparent when I started thinking about how hard it was to keep my home clean. Why? Because I owned too much shit. Hence, I had too much to dust. Couple that with the fact that I live in the desert with a dog that sheds, and I had a recipe for dust-covered objects. I pretty much had to thoroughly clean every couple of days, or when that Arizona sun came streaming through my windows it was a gross site to see all the dust floating through the air. I immediately thought, "Oh boy, that's either going to end up on my floor, bed, table, etc, or I'm breathing it in. Ick!" Bottom line, I was spending too much of my precious time cleaning and wanted to figure out a way to reduce that. Answer: Have fewer things to dust.

Therefore, I decided to declutter and clean my home - purge style. I spent a couple of days going from top to bottom, under beds, through closets/cupboards, etc and created a HUGE pile of stuff to recycle, give to Goodwill, and throw out. It felt so good, cleansing, and liberating.

Considering the future: As many of you know, we're doing some family planning, and we're definitely interested in homeschooling. Apart from the obvious benefit our kids will experience from it, we also want to travel the world with them during these childhood years (even living abroad part of it). This requires packing and moving. When the time comes (whether it's sooner or later), I want to be able to put as few things into storage as possible, making it quick and easy to pack up and go. When I think about possessions in that perspective, it quickly becomes apparent that if I haven't used it within the past year, odds are that I don't need it and someone else might get better use out of it than me (time to recycle).

To further hit home the point, we watched a great documentary, A Crude Awakening. It's about the oil crisis, how dependent various cultures around the world are on it, and what we need to think about going forward. People need to realize that just by driving less or getting a Prius car are NOT the only things we can do to help lighten our footprint when it comes to oil consumption. It reaches into every purchase we make, whether the oil was used to make the product or deliver it.

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Permalink Reply by Austin from Earth! on June 15, 2008 at 8:56pm

Kristen, I love this! Thanks for sharing! I'm totally downloading, well..trying to download the "Story of Stuff." (Download completed! Yay!)

When I look around my apartment at all of the stuff i've throw money at, it just makes me sick. Not five feet from me is a HUGE elephant, it stands about waist tall (i'm 5' 3") and is more heavy than my freakin' loveseat. I saw it on the way into a store a year or so ago and I was all excited about it, to the point I forgot what I went into the damn store to begin with! Saw the price, went to a clerk and said "Make it happen." I promptly handed over my visa, and two guys loaded it into the backseat of my car. I don't even remember how I got the damn thing into my apartment now. But there it stands.. with my fedora (the black one in my picture) resting on its head. Did I need this monstrosity? HELL no.

Lucky you, I found a picture of it. LOL



I don't know why I felt compelled to share any of this... LOL just go with it.

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