My cup runneth over, and I need a mop.

I'm thinking of an experiment. I'm curious as to how little one person can get away with owning. My brother is a truck driver, and can fit all of his worldly possessions into one duffel (at least he could before he got a computer). I met a transient man who lived out of a satchel the size of a platic WalMart bag. . . by choice. I grew up in a pack rat family, frequently feeling burdened by the magnitude of possessions. I'm the spartan of the family!

Right now, I'm paying a lot of attention to which of my junk I actually use and what just sits around. My clothes occupy a closet and a full chest of drawers. What I actually wear takes up one laundry basket. I'm about ready to send the rest to new homes. Then there's the dishes and "toys" to deal with. I don't know how ready I am to go all out nun (Sex not included, of course.), so the experiment must be made, for perhaps a month to start.

I live in a teeny house shared with my boyfriend and another couple. My boyfriend works two jobs because he likes to feel that he's accomplishing something. He collects video game systems that he never has time to play anymore. I worry about him sometimes. The other couple is a little better, but also very materialistic.

I have a futon in the garage, I got it before I moved in. The garage is set up like an unused room, with no heat or air conditioning. There's one functioning electrical outlet, and no inner walls. It's barely a room. I'm thinking about cleaning it out and separating myself for a month, eating only what I can cook in one soup pan and using the bare minimum of clothing. Black jeans, black shirts, one pair of shoes, la la la. I want to know how little I can get away with. If I can last a month, maybe it will last longer.

I'm just kicking around the idea. I'll sort of be looking for a spiritual epiphany of some kind while I'm not distracted. I'm reading whatever I can find on the subject, Tao Teh Ching to Koran (Don't even know where to start, there.) to Fight Club (My favorite.). Does anyone here have any advice on the subject? I'm open to options.

 

I have no advice except to say that I admire your motivations and the fact that they're still intact, given you're 21, not 17.
Hooray for you!

 

I've been thinking the same lately. Don't know why I need all this stuff, everything is kept just in case one day it'll be needed...and I know it never will. If only I had the courage to clear it out...

 

sounds like my kinda dude.

 

I just don't get it, politicsareawesome.

 

We try to get by with what will fit in our van. It seems to me, that so many people operate under the rule of "it's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it". As someone that generally likes to travel light, that idea kinda worries me. When we need something like furniture, we go to thrift stores. We get stuff that can be used over and over. When we decide to move, we donate the stuff back, so someone else can practice the same concept.

 

Duffel and library. I might be able to do this.

 

I thoroughly enjoy a few video games, nothing really to get

 

You can live with nothing. Look up a woman who goes by Peace Pilgrim (she's dead now but had an amazing life/message well worth reading, has a website and all). She had nothing but the clothes on her back, a pen, her mail, and I think that was it. Everything else was given to her (food/shelter) though she would never ask for it, and often would not eat for days, and sleep in ditches, etc.

anyways, I'm doing the same thing you are, little by little. When I move out this fall is when I'll really be hemmoraging my "things," the vast majority of which I consider clutter. I've gone on a bike tour (made it to Minnesota (from Detroit) before getting hit by a car and having to stop) which helped teach me how little I need my stuff. Actually it made me realize that I don't even want most of it, I want a simple life. I also camp/hike a lot, and I'm working on taking fewer supplies (like cookstove, water filter, etc), to go "ultralight" as they say in the lingo. It is another thing teaching me simplicity. If I don't need something when I'm backpacking in the mountains, what makes me think I need it living in an apartment in the middle of a city?

When you think about it, our needs are SO easily met. It's all our materialistic "wants" that keep us poor. Poor in the sense of "not having 'enough' " because we define needs and wants in a very poor, materialistic way.

So, in closing, bravo to you, you have my support. I don't know if I'd expect an epiphany just because you're getting rid of material clutter, unless you are also removing mental/spiritual clutter at the same time (that's the clutter that REALLY matters anyways). I hope you don't take that as discouraging, but we need to be realistic and honest with our expectations.

LINKS!

Here's a great site for living cheap: http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0302hsted/030206possum/030206toc.html

a hipforums thread on cheap living, may have more ideas http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10472

 

Thanks, TrippinBTM.

 

forgot the peace pilgrim link, http://www.peacepilgrim.com/

 

That's sort of the point.

 

it's usually not physical clutter that plagues us. having a bunch of junk to our name is neither distracting nor helpful (unless its useful stuff that we make use of). the problem is usually attachment to the 'stuff.' if you kept all your stuff, but didn't 'really' care what happened to it, it'd be the same as giving it away, except you can still borrow it from yourself if you need it. however, if you feel that this cannot be accomplished because of your attachment to things simply because they are your things, then maybe getting rid of it will help. i come from a pack rat family too, and im undergoing a similar process having to move from a 5 bedroom house to a 2 bdrm apartment. im taking my books, cds, musical instruments, and all that jazz, but trying to get rid of stuff i cant make use of. thats probably the important part; getting rid of that which you have no use of, but attachment to.

 

BluE, you're right, it's the attachment that counts. but sometimes I do feel like it's weighing me down. Life could be so much simpler without all of it, with only the things I really need.