I put baby pack rat. I used to be so much worse, but I've been "reinventing" myself (HA!), and I've really come a long way. Now, when the junk mail comes, I throw it away directly rather than put it on my desk to see if it might be of some use at some future date...like AARP stuff for when you might need it when you turn 65...and you're only 25
My mother was (and still is) the worst pack rat I have ever seen (well, except some lady on TV that had so much junk in her house, she couldn't even walk around...at least my mother is tidy). She just recently brought me a box of stuff that she thought I might need. So now, I am in the possession of things such as my baby teeth, Mother's Day cards that I gave her 20 some odd years ago, junk jewelry from the '80s, my report cards from Junior High...loads of really useful stuff. The garbage men are going to be really happy with me when I finally get all of it out for trash day!
Someday, everything is gonna be diff'rent
When I paint my masterpiece.
Cranberry wrote:
This thread has inspired me to go through my stuff and give more of it away.
Actually your view of yourself as a minimalist surprised me. Collecting books at deep discount prices, pressing flowers, rescuing things from the trash to take home, are activities that I would associate more with pack rats than minimalists.
In my mind, healthy balance is the desired state. In my opinion, being a minimalist can get to the point of being just as ego driven as the pack rat that is driven to acquire more and more stuff.
I said average pack rat, because I am with books, papers, instruments, random little momentos, etc. My eccentric hobbies. But with everything else I'm not so much. I don't eat or drink or sleep much at all. When I'm out on my own, if money says I have three sets of clothing,, a whistle, and a Bible, and that's it, that's fine with me. Years ago I was pretty set towards selling about eveyrthing I ahve, giving away the money, and joining a monastery for the rest of my life. That was a tough time for me emotionally (bah, I hate using that word, it sounds so weak- those were great years outside my mind), but it wasn't out of depression (well, not mostly), it was becuase I found, and find, that lifestyle very beautiful, and very desirable, though I don't think it's what God wants for me.
I said average pack rat, although I would like to say baby. But I looked at my computer desk as I answered, so I had to go with average.
My downfalls are records/CDs, books, my unicorn collection, the scrapbooks I've put together on a certain band, and the Christmas decorations. I'm pretty good as far as clothes go.
I try to weed stuff out, but lots of times my husband will see something in the donate pile and say we need to keep it. I don't dare get rid of anything his mother or his sister has given us. There are still some things from my father's model airplane collection that I need to get listed on e-bay - some control line kits and lots of plans, and I really need to get rid of the old Commodore 64 related computer things. (Anybody want Zork or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for the C-64?)
My mother-in-law is really bad. She has every prescription bottle since she moved to her new apartment 5 years ago. She's always picking up "a nice little box" that she just knows she can use for something. At the apartment complex, if someone has clothing or small appliances to donate, they just leave them in the laundry room. My mother-in-law lives just across the hall from the laundry room. She's always giving us clothes she has picked up there. I dread the day that we will have to clean out her apartment.
When my husband's uncle died a few years ago and my husband helped clean out his trailer, they found paths from the front door to the stove to the bathroom to the bed. Everything else was filled with stacks of stuff about 6 feet tall. I hope I never get to that point.
Ever notice that if people grew up during the Depression, they either are real spendthrifts or real hoarders?
I used to be more of a pack rat, but I have really tried to change my habits, and have been almost successful. I was inspired when I read "An Arrow Pointing to Heaven", which is a devotional biography of Rich Mullins. He certainly would fall into the the superminimalist category, since even though he was a multi-platinum recording artist and songwriter, when he died all of his wordly possessions fit into an 8 X 10 room (with room to spare). His friends all said he never thought about owning things and on at least one occasion literally gave someone the shirt off of his back because they said, "Hey, I like your shirt."
Rich Mullins is an inspiration to me in many parts of my life and this is in one way.
Wash your hands. Cough and sneeze in your sleeve. Stay home if you are sick. Stay informed. http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu for more info.
Avanutria and I have over the last year been reducing. Not huge amounts, but stuff we have that we can honestly say we have no further use for. A perfectly fine squash racket (but I haven't played squash in 20 years), ornaments, old non-matching crockery and cutlery ('cos we got all new stuff), board games we never play, etc.
Clothes are harder. Having paid good money for stuff, I don't want to just chuck it, unless it's worn out, or I don't like it anymore. We've had a few sweeps of the wardrobe, but I still have stuff I don't wear anymore.
I've given away a few books, but I still have a large personal library that I know I could reduce further - but I like being surrounded by books, and I like to focus my eyes on a page and not a screen all the time, so I won't ever replace the library with a hand-held eBook.
Now we're in the digital age, it is more possible to reduce. My entire tape CD collection has been zipped to a hard drive, and I can carry hundreds of CDs in a unit smaller than an old Sony Walkman. I could now dispose of the CDs (charity or eBay), if I was 100% confident I would never lose the digital version. Sadly I'm not yet, and they reside in boxes under the bed, or up in the loft.
The day will hopefully come soon when I can do the same thing with DVDs and video tapes - zip the lot to a hard drive, so I can scroll through a menu and access anything in seconds. When I've done that, the entire DVD collection will be redundant, and the living room will expand.
Computer games are another "set" ripe for reduction, but part of me wants to keep stuff to show my future children and grandchildren what we grew up with, when they'll have stuff far more impressive. I know I could strip out a lot, but quite a lot is valuable (worth more than what I paid) and I'm not so charitable or wealthy that I'm ready to give it away just yet.
This thread will make me focus on reducing stuff again. I'm happy that I buy less new stuff than I used to, and that I have made efforts to reduce in the past year or two.
It's useful to compartmentalise. Clothes, books, DVDs & tapes, computer games, board games, old luggage, unused electronics, musical stuff. Certainly reduction is desireable, as one retirement dream is to sell the house and travel America in an RV - that will be a lot easier if we don't need a second RV to carry our library.
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that schwing
Cranberry wrote:
This thread has inspired me to go through my stuff and give more of it away.
Actually your view of yourself as a minimalist surprised me. Collecting books at deep discount prices, pressing flowers, rescuing things from the trash to take home, are activities that I would associate more with pack rats than minimalists.
I don't keep most of the books, any of the pressed flowers, or anything I find in the trash (like the white rose, I guess you mean, which I gave away to a C&Fer!!).
Interesting. Has anyone reading been inspired to acquire more stuff? Is everyone, including the already proclaimed minimalist, in the less is more mode?
I point out the example in my original post of the person who didn't even own a bed. I think even for minimalists that borders on idiocy after living in a apartment for over a year, with a good steady income.
Another friend used to have his computer on a low shelf in his closet. He would sit cross legged on the floor while typing away. (Yikes for those with back problems.) This friend got married and all those simple times went away. Though he does tend to be a pack rat, just unwilling to buy certain practical things.
There seems to be some romantic notion that less material possessions makes one a better person. The converse would be that more stuff is an obstacle to overcome and that is so obviously not true in my mind. Pack rats can be and often are good noble people. They just like having stuff . One of my pack rat friends is one of the nicest, most generous, sweetest people you will ever meet. Again, I think minimalism can reach a point of idiocy. The person without a bed was not a better person for using a sleeping bag. In my opinion that person was an idiot.
Certainly in my younger days, I too had that romantic notion of owning less being a good thing. At one point in my life, I packed everything I owned into a small car and drove cross country. Anything that did not fit got sold or donated. I would not choose to do that again, and do not see it as a character flaw, rather as maturity. Again, healthy balance is my desired state, not some ego driven goal such as living with less than 500 possessions, or the pack rat opposite, a living space packed to the gills with stuff I rarely use and don't need.
I am in the middle...I lean toward minimalism but I am lazy and I have a hard time giving away gifts from other people. What this means is I accumulate stuff until I move (which is about every 2-3 years) and then I get rid of mass quantities. It's worked for me so far, but I don't know what I'll do if I ever stay in one place for a long time...
Unfortunately my housemates are BIG pack rats (one in particular) and keep useless stuff they find in the trash. They drive me absolutely insane! (Sometimes I secretly go through the closets and the garage and throw it out myself and they never know!!!!)
BillChin wrote:There seems to be some romantic notion that less material possessions makes one a better person. The converse would be that more stuff is an obstacle to overcome and that is so obviously not true in my mind. Pack rats can be and often are good noble people. They just like having stuff . One of my pack rat friends is one of the nicest, most generous, sweetest people you will ever meet. Again, I think minimalism can reach a point of idiocy. The person without a bed was not a better person for using a sleeping bag. In my opinion that person was an idiot.
Certainly in my younger days, I too had that romantic notion of owning less being a good thing. At one point in my life, I packed everything I owned into a small car and drove cross country. Anything that did not fit got sold or donated. I would not choose to do that again, and do not see it as a character flaw, rather as maturity. Again, healthy balance is my desired state, not some ego driven goal such as living with less than 500 possessions, or the pack rat opposite, a living space packed to the gills with stuff I rarely use and don't need.
I'm not getting rid of stuff because of some "ideal minimalist" goal, but just for practicality. The house is only so big.
Inspired by this thread, I took about 50 books in a wheeled suitcase along to a charity shop this morning. Now I have shelf space for books currently stored elsewhere - and I already had a new set of luggage, and haven't used that particular suitcase in two years.
Next task is to restock the shelves and do another strip out.
Martin's comment about the size of his house is one reason non-Americans tend to have less stuff. Their houses and apartments are smaller. (Cars are smaller two, but that is another topic.)
It amazes me how big some of the new houses are. At some point small and efficient may come back into style. There is a hint of it in cars, but even the Toyota Prius is a fairly large car by historical standards. I guess they have to be big because people are so big too (that makes a second new topic).
Earlier this year, I made an effort to clear away some stuff. I gave away or tossed a good amount of clothes, unused tent and sleeping bag, books, old software and manuals, the list goes on. Probably enough stuff to fill an average size closet to the brim. What is distressing is that even after what seems like a major effort, the apartment looks as cluttered as ever. And of course when I go to look for something it often isn't where it used to be. I guess I have to laugh at myself.
. One of my pack rat friends is one of the nicest, most generous, sweetest people you will ever meet. Again, I think minimalism can reach a point of idiocy. The person without a bed was not a better person for using a sleeping bag. In my opinion that person was an idiot.
