Minimalism

Several times in the past few years, I have watched documentaries, read articles, and generally pondered about minimalism. There is a whole movement. People live in tiny homes and such.

While I am and never have been a shopaholic, the number of possessions I own have very steadily gone up over time. To the point where I go months on end without using some of the stuff that I own. More importantly, the more stuff you own, the more of your time it takes to keep track of things, attend to them. If you had two cars instead of one, you might end up driving the same, but now have to make sure you keep track of two service schedules, keep them clean, worry about small nicks and dents on two cars. 🙂 I could personally use not worrying about too many things. (note – I don’t own two cars. I did own a motorcycle and a car at some point, but even that was a bit much. 🙂 )

Now, how much stuff do I actually own ? I live in a one bedroom apartment, and have had my parents come live with me for a few months. So, I did need to get the bare minimum so they would be comfortable. A double bed, side tables, dining table, a couch, TV, a TV table …etc. Other than this, I have a stackable bed for myself, a small writing table, a couple of shelves. Then there is the WFH kit from office – a larger work desk, and a chair. That is essentially all the big stuff.

Most of everything else I own, traveled with me in a sedan cross country just a year back. Pretty much everything I own – including my clothes, kitchen items – including toasters, nutribullet, a rice cooker, camping gear – including hiking poles, an ice axe, 4 sleeping bags, 2 tents, 4 sleeping pads, 2 pillows, sports equipment – including a tennis racquet, a couple of badminton racquets, disc golf set, a guitar, a Thule bike bag, a computer monitor, most footwear, cutlery, ..etc, all fit in my sedan. Other than things that fit in the sedan, I had my books mailed to me in a few small boxes. I also had a couple of bicycles mailed to me.

I have of course bought a small number of miscellaneous items such as pedestal fans, a humidifier, a microwave, a vacuum cleaner, some cutlery …etc after moving to my new apartment. But still, the number of items I have is somewhat essential, and not very frivolous.

I am more tired of the small knick-knacks. The hundred micro-USB cables. Old clothes. Small items I thought I would use, but don’t really use very often. I have a small number of souvenirs, and collectables, but again, nothing crazy, and this is stuff I can part with anytime.

I would however like to considerably reduce purchases of things like body washes, cleaning supplies …etc. These take up room, and with the limited bathroom counter space I have , I sometimes forget what I have and end up buying it again. Now, I am once again not crazy when it comes to cleaning supplies and personal effects – I don’t have 10 different body washes lying around. I generally don’t even experiment with them.

I also want to reduce what I stock in the kitchen. This is again, nothing crazy as of today, but I want it to be minimal, and stock only things I use on a weekly basis. The focus should be on getting fresh groceries and cook more regularly rather than storing a bunch of ready to eat and frozen stuff. Now, things like pulses, and grains, you do end up storing, but even that, I want to reduce the quantity I buy at a time. I don’t want my 10 lb rice bag to lay around for months. (well, it is stored in an airtight container – so there is no risk of weevils and such, but still.)

I would like to reduce the number of clothes that I have. I think I should give myself till mid year to get in shape, and then get rid of everything that no longer fits at that point.

I should also get rid of torn footwear. I am used to wearing torn footwear until it completely gives out 🙂 or the sole looses all tread.

I am already in the process of throwing boxes of things. But these generally take up a lot of space, and are quite unnecessary.

I also have a small number of a particular thing that one shouldn’t really need more than one of. I definitely need to sell a whole bunch of these. 😀

Let’s call this spring cleaning – I shall update the status of this effort in a couple of months to see how much I have accomplished.

I used to focus on having storage for all the things, and organizing things in it’s own place- you know, everything looks tidy, and you know exactly where to find stuff. I have changed my opinion on this – if you have too much storage – you know those under the bed boxes, and loads and loads of shelves, then it is very easy to start hoarding things. So, I have come to the conclusion that while you need adequate storage, there is something such as too much storage.

EDIT 1: (April-07)

I just listed a bunch of stuff I have had lying around for sale. I already feel better. I also started throwing away some stuff which I wanted to hold on forever. Once you throw a few things, you realize, oh if I threw x, then I see no reason I can’t throw y.

Next goal is to start going through clothes and start donating stuff.

Another thing is, the next time I consider buying something, I will think really really hard if I need that, and if I have the room to house it.

I guess another thing I want to focus on is using services more often. For instance if I just used the local bike shop to maintain my bikes, I wouldn’t have to stock a whole bunch of tools, and spend as much time as I do fiddling with them. Maybe rent a kayak instead of buying one, maybe rent a tent instead of stocking two at home.