
About Not Owning Sh*t - hunvreus
http://teddy.fr/2013/02/10/about-not-owning-shit/
======
spodek
I applaud his lifestyle, but the post reminded me of an insightful joke.

Q: How do you know when someone doesn't own a TV?

A: They tell you.

Again, I like his decisions. I hope I don't sound like other posters putting
him down or defensive things like he must be rich to live poor, which miss the
point. He just seems to be bragging about it. Why not just not have a lot of
stuff and leave it at that? If you want to inspire others, a post of a few
sentences would probably suffice:

"I avoid having things I find useless and I'm aggressive about considering
things useless. Some people might think I'm cheap, but I'm not. I do this on
principle. When you cut out crap, you find yourself."

Did I miss anything important? Whatever those four sentences left out in
content I feel they made up in brevity and punch.

~~~
jrs235
I tend to refrain from telling people how much TV I don't watch until they ask
about a show or commercial they have seen or are following and wonder if I
follow.

Please don't downvote me but what's that saying again?...

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss
people."

I would place discussing TV shows / commercials, unless they spark discussion
about ideas (like "that's an awesome marketing strategy/use of psychology" or
"do you think the world could really be headed towards that scenario?"),
somewhere between average and small minds.

~~~
Nursie
There's no space in your world for small talk and chatter then?

You're missing out.

Not that you're missing out by not watching tv, that's pretty irrelevant, but
your attitude there is pretty judgemental.

------
lukeholder
I agree with the idea around removing clutter, and only buying what you need -
but I think that extreme minimalism would only work if you lived on your own
and were in full control of your environment.

Being married and having a couple of kids, you have to accept your life is not
just yours, it is shared with others who have needs AND wants. They like to
tip a pile of toys out and choose the one they want to play with that day - I
cant just get them ONE high quality toy. My wife could surely survive with
just one high quality lipstick or perfume, but to deprive her of variety in
things like that would be mean.

I suppose what I am saying is, when you live in a shared space, you concede
optimal living and enjoy more variety.

~~~
roc
To say nothing of the goals and activities that come with 'grown-up' life and
having a family, that don't map well to "everything fits in one suitcase."

Does family bonding really happen when everyone is staring at their own
tablet? Cooking and baking are universally recognized for their family
benefits going back to before written history. Parties don't happen without at
least furniture, glassware and music. Play dates and sleep-overs? I guess if
every kid coming over knows to bring _their_ own stuff... What about gear for
hobbies? An easel? A dremel? A drill press? Or what about vacation concerns
like a fishing-pole or snowboard? Pets? Running shoes? A tea kettle?

Minimizing clutter is a great thing. But absolute minimalism is really only
achievable by the young, healthy and single contingent that have seemingly no
ambitions or interests beyond heads-down work and/or meditation.

------
ssharp
I posted something similar a few weeks ago when there was a link to a blog
post talking about how getting rid of your smartphone will free you from the
shackles. Again, I never understand the extremes. I own a fair amount of
stuff. I use a fair amount of stuff. Must I either own nothing or own a ton of
"shit"? I'm 31, married, and am planning on children in the very near future.
Packing up a suitcase and fleeing town isn't something I aspire to.

I have a working room in my house where I have my desk, a computer, two
guitars, and a keyboard. All "shit", but all shit I need to write and record
music, which I find highly fulfilling. I also have some bookcases with books
I've either read and want to keep or use fairly regularly for reference.
They're not fitting in my suitcase but I'm better off with them than without
them. I'm not missing out on life because I own things that I like.

I have a garage full of tools that I use to work on the house, as well as the
cars that get my wife and I to work. Again, it's "shit". It "prevents" me from
packing a suitcase and leaving town, but again, I enjoy the tinkering. I also
have a little corner in my garage where I keep my homebrewing equipment and
kegerator. While these things may shackle my existence in the world, guess
what? I enjoy homebrewing.

The rest of my house is filled with functional devices as well. It's more
comfortable sitting on a couch than it is the floor, so we have a couch. I,
too, eat paleo and find that I need a few things in the kitchen to help
accomodate that diet.

Must every hobby of ours exist within a laptop in order to achieve this weird
bohemian self-actualization? If money is not an issue, is it terrible to own a
few items you can't pack away in a moments notice? If I seriously wanted to
skip town and go live in a foreign country for a year, it wouldn't exactly be
hard to go rent a storage unit for less than $100 a month to house some of the
stuff I can't take with me but wish to keep.

~~~
hobbes
Your desk, computer, guitars, etc, are not "shit" but "stuff", to use the the
terms as definined in the blog.

Stuff is fine. Shit needs to be got rid of.

Some of us can fit our stuff into a suitcase. Others need a 4 bedroom house to
store our stuff. In both scenarious, there should be no "shit". Or so says the
blogger.

------
Lagged2Death
I find the non-materialistic ideal very appealing. I wish I owned less stuff
and spent less time thinking about material possessions.

But every time I read about this sort of thing on-line, I find out that's not
what the writer really means:

 _I just very sincerely don’t give a fuck._

It seems to me that those who really don't care don't bother putting their
non-existent thoughts about the things they don't care about into words and
then posting them to an international information network. Announcing loudly
that one "doesn't care about X" is the way an adolescent shields him or
herself from his own overwhelming feelings about X.

 _I own little, but I try and make sure that this little is reliable and safe.
I buy what I want and need, of the best quality I can afford._

And it seems to me that if you truly didn't care about material possessions,
you wouldn't waste the time and effort evaluating the quality, reliability,
and safety of them before you acquire them, either. On a long enough time-
line, everything is ephemeral. How much thought do you put into buying a paper
cup?

It's easy for a geek, these days, to imagine that he's living a non-
materialistic life, because his television, newspaper, telephone, phonebook,
encyclopedia, almanac, dictionary, bookshelf full of books, music system,
airline schedules, camera, day planner, calorie counter, robot personal
trainer, star charts, robot translator, etc. all fit in one or two pockets.

The fact that those things are all software now doesn't mean you don't own
them, or that they're not consuming a share of your awareness. From a certain
point of view, the fact that you take this carefully curated collection of
stuff with you _everywhere you go_ may make you super-materialistic in a way
that wasn't even possible just a few years ago.

------
radiospiel
Well, while he is not owning _shit_ , as he says, he probably owns enough in
terms of financial backing that he could afford _shit_ if he felt the urge of
doing so.

What a slap in the face of all hardworking people out there that don't own
_shit_ and have no choice in that.

And no, you are not _painfully_ aware of that. You are aware of it, but where
is the pain? Just cry me a river...

------
Nursie
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.

~~~
thoughtcriminal
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.

~~~
Nursie
Can I ask how old you are?

I don't want to be surrounded by clutter, but 'having a nice household
environment', which involves the ownership of a fair amount of stuff, is high
up on my list of things that make my life comfortable.

~~~
thoughtcriminal
Forty.

~~~
Nursie
Fair enough, you have a few years on me, and that was not what I was
expecting!

I don't know anybody beyond their 20s that lives with quite such an extreme
ethos about this whole thing. And most of my friends are hackers in one way or
another.

That said they're also mostly British and not part of startup culture.

~~~
feralmoan
Its interesting you keyed it to startup culture, there's probably a
correlation there in having a producer mindset rather then being a consumer.
I'm 35 and live to build, all my belongings fit in a suitcase and can skip to
new countries or opportunities with a few days notice. Minimal is a fantastic
lifestyle if you have the means and skill to exploit it. The idea of owning a
house and having to fill it with shit just stresses me out.

~~~
neverm0re
> The idea of owning a house and having to fill it with shit just stresses me
> out.

Friend of mine was twenty-three when his parents insisted he buy a home in
Sunnyvale since 'he could afford to'. We got to the point of describing the
place as an 'albatross' repeatedly, since it cost him many interesting
opportunities had he not been nailed into place. He's now very happily in
Japan and free of the burden of home ownership.

I'm in my thirties and I've lived in quite a few places. Yet to live somewhere
and say 'Yep, this is it. Nothing else to see, this is the best culture has to
offer.' and then stay there. Minimalism simply works best to achieve mobility
and it's not like you cannot find partners whom also feel the same way.

I find a lot of the hostility and stereotyping over this lifestyle I see here
fascinating. Buyers remorse most likely.

------
tzury
Steve Job's, at age of 27 did not have much more stuff than this guy, and he
was worthed already 100's of millions of dollars at that time.

    
    
        I was worth about over a million dollars when I was twenty-three
        and over ten million dollars when I was twenty-four,
        and over a hundred million dollars when I was twenty-five and 
        it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.
    
    
        This was a very typical time. I was single.
        All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo,
        you know, and that’s what I had.
    
    

See the amazing photo:

[http://evalinux.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/the-zen-of-steve-
jo...](http://evalinux.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/the-zen-of-steve-jobs/)

~~~
arethuza
Didn't Steve Jobs own that house?

~~~
rdouble
He also drove a Porsche. If that's a real Tiffany lamp in the photo, it would
have cost at least $8000.

~~~
dmm
He also had millions of dollars so if his toilet quit working he could just
pay somebody to come fix it.

------
sorich87
_> I am painfully aware I am a highly privileged educated white male and most
of the world population don’t have the luxury of living like I do._

I have a somewhat similar lifestyle despite being unprivileged (I am black and
from one of the poorest countries in the World). I think it's just a way of
life that one builds over time. I know plenty of people here who worry too
much about things like latest clothes, furnitures, owning a house and other
commodities which clutter their life and make them spend more money than they
can possibly make. I have always tried to live only on the minimum, I started
my programming carrier without even owning a computer and now I make a pretty
decent living (even by western standards). I would have never done it if I
accumulated sh*t. I think things would be so much better around the World (in
the developing as well as the developed World) if people just removed the
clutter.

------
harshaw
Don't you people have any hobbies?

For me it is cycling. My bike is my most important possession along with the
various tools, wheels, spare bikes, etc. I mean, I get the whole zen thing but
life is too short to not have _anything_. If you do anything outdoors you need
equipment (you can rent some equipment but that gets old fast).

~~~
huherto
It is amazing, how you can get attached to your bike. Mine was stolen a couple
of years a go and I still miss it.

~~~
arethuza
I had a bike stripped of parts from just outside our flat years ago - I almost
cried when I saw that all that was left was the very sad looking frame chained
to the wall. :-(

------
wbachnik
Just wait till you get a wife ;-)

~~~
parasight
I don't understand why people think his lifestyle is generally incompatible
with having a girlfriend. Of course it is incompatible with most people in the
western world, but it seems some people think it is more so with women.
Someone care to elaborate?

~~~
hunvreus
Society expect women to own more: beauty products, clothes, shoes... There is
simply a lot more pressure on women to invest and diversify their appearance.

But there are women who live with far less too, even if more than what I
depicted in this post.

------
DanBC
So what about all that other stuff - a home? A chair, a table, a bed? Kitchen
stuff? Stuff to wash the clothes? Ho about books and periodicals and media
(movies, tv, music?)

Maybe it's all rented. Or maybe he goes to a laundrette.

These "look how minimally I live" posts are all frustrating because they all
ignore the huge amounts of support the poster gets from support workers. I'd
have a lot more respect for someone who claimed to live minimally if they
owned 5 acres and a mule and grew their own food. I still wouldn't care much,
but at least the posts wouldn't be annoying.

EDIT: And I agree with the general principle of "buy less".

------
hackerkira
My best friend is an international student from China. His philosophy is he'll
get rid of anything that he can't pack up in 1/2 an hour. I complain that his
walls are bare, but he says the excitement and adventure is to be had outside
of the room. It's incentive to get into those woods or onto that mountain.

------
nicholassmith
I used to be able to live out of a suitcase, then it built up and up so I
tried to declutter again a few times. I do really well, then get locked into a
collectors mentality and start buying things in series (comics, books, TV
series). I've thankfully managed to off a lot of that into digital content
now, so I can start paring things back down. I'd love to live with an iPad, an
iPhone, a laptop and some external drives.

However, my girlfriend is the opposite, and that works for her. Different
strokes for different folks.

------
richo
I'm perpetually amused by all the people acutely aware of their privilege, and
how they rarely mention any of the things they're doing to try to right the
injustice.

It strikes me as the same making racist remarks and then insisting you have
black friends, (the corollary being that my unchecked privilege probably makes
me an unapologetic racist in this analogy but at least that's honest, I guess)

~~~
newbie12
It isn't "injustice" that he's born into privilege. That affluence is the
result of sacrifice and decisions made by his family and his larger
community/nation.

The injustice is that other families and nations are various degrees of
corrupt and ignorant. That's not necessarily his burden. In fact, the main
reason that life is getting better around the globe is because advanced,
"priviledged" societies invented agriculture, science, computers,
refrigeration, vaccines, and so on.

~~~
mbrock
Here's a good picture of sacrifice:
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Slave_Auc...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Slave_Auction_Ad.jpg)

------
bconway
I think it's safe to assume the author does not have a partner or own
property.

------
sakopov
Yeah, this will quickly end when he finds a girlfriend. Enjoy it while it
lasts my friend, because unless you want to live with cats and dog your entire
life, you're going to have to start consuming "shit" at some point in your
life.

~~~
hunvreus
Not sure I actually "have to", it's all a matter of who that person is and how
you define "needs" together.

------
1337biz
What resonates with me extremely well is the way he prioritizes work and
eating quality. The older I get the more I realize the importance of these
things. Having down time, either through technical or health difficulties, is
just not worth it.

I also get his never-eat-at-home idea. It just takes time and effort to buy
and cook stuff which is better spent on things more enjoyable. Fortunately the
health food/organic trend made it a lot easier finding healthy food
alternatives.

~~~
Nursie
_"It just takes time and effort to buy and cook stuff which is better spent on
things more enjoyable."_

Have you really never taken joy in preparing food for friends and family?

Cooking is a leisure activity for me, so I don't consider it a waste of time
either.

~~~
1337biz
I always found it a dreadful experience. It takes a lot of effort, but all the
time and thought-investment is gone within half an hour and you even have to
clean up afterwards. I prefer much more spending the time having stimulating
talks or reading a book while letting the cooking be done by others who find
it more enjoyable.

~~~
Nursie
If you're doing it right you get to be creative, make something people love
and somebody else gets clear-up duty :)

------
iterationx
This post is the third installment of a special Hn series on optimizing your
material possessions.

Optimize for Quality: <http://dcurt.is/the-best>

Optimize for Experience: <http://www.thoughtcrime.org/blog/the-worst/>

Optimize for Utility: <http://teddy.fr/2013/02/10/about-not-owning-shit/>

------
generalpf
What does he cook with?

~~~
AUmrysh
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.

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

~~~
rtpg
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.

~~~
smackfu
In Japan, I think that's a result of people not having proper kitchens in
their very small apartments.

------
chimpinee
Problem is not owning stuff per se but getting attached to it

~~~
mbrock
Yeah, or getting attached to no-stuff, like people who hold on tenaciously to
their precious minimalism -- lack of stuff becomes their most prized
possession.

------
bergie
Having a lot of stuff can slow you down. Here is the set we moved to Berlin
with (two people, both programmers):

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/7662550710/in/set-721576...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/7662550710/in/set-72157630789707298/)

Of course, since then stuff has accumulated a bit, especially when we had to
buy the furniture from the previous tenant when renting a flat. But those we
can again sell onwards when and if we decide to move out...

And it should be noted, it was nice to be able to do a move with just checked
in luggage on a regular flight. No container ships or moving trucks involved:

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/7662558538/in/set-721576...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/7662558538/in/set-72157630789707298/)

------
DocG
I do have similar goal after I traveled around Europe with only clothes and
laptop. I traveled with Interail for 15 days straight. It was pretty life
changing. Before I wanted too much.

I want to travel all around the world. I have goal to work on the go, through
internet and own things only that fit into hand luggage. Probably laptop, some
clothes, sketchbook.

Although, I am going to miss my books, I think I have to store them at my
parents house probably.

What I have found is that people who have traveled without knowing or caring
where they end up and without too much things, only they understand why it is
so freeing.

For normal 8 to 5 person, it is usually very hard to get him to travel(not
meaning vacation) and even harder to get him leave all the "shit" at home.

bad english is bad.

------
deerpig
Every time I see people like this I am reminded of the Einstein quote,
"everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." There is
much to be said for living a simple and even frugal life, but this is not a
simple life, it's a selfish personal indulgence. It is a life that is only
possible if you have money and live in places that have the wasteful
infrastructure that is needed to support a consumer culture and economy. He's
opted out of the consumer-ownership food-chain and lives in the rental-
consumer food chain. If you really want to live with no possessions, move to
Laos or Cambodia and become a Buddhist monk, they don't even need a suitcase
to hold all of their possessions.

------
lmm
Not owning stuff doesn't necessarily mean consuming less, quite the opposite.
If you don't have the tools to fix things that break then you have to hire
other people to, have them travel out to your home etc. Others have mentioned
how he must eat out a lot, which again consumes a lot of resources at least as
commonly implemented (canteen-style food might actually be more efficient than
cooking for yourself, but I've never known anyone to happily live on such for
long).

If you enjoy this kind of lifestyle and can afford it then great, go for it.
But don't pretend it's a more efficient or better way to live.

------
smackfu
>a few devices to get my work done >I don’t fear losing stuff, I don’t even
think about it.

This is the part that seems to be hard for people that try to do this. Yes, in
our modern world, it is amazing what you can do with a smart phone and a
laptop and minimize stuff. But it also makes us very reliant on those same
devices. If you have no stuff, and suddenly can't find your phone, the utopian
"I don't fear losing things" goes right out the window.

(Although I will say iCloud backups certainly help with this on the phone
side. I don't really fear losing anything if I lose my phone, which is nice.)

------
shanelja
I moved countries 9 months ago, I had only £600 in my pocket, nowhere to stay,
no job and no real qualifications. When I moved, I couldn't afford an
expensive flight so I had to cut down to 1 suitcase and 1 backpack and
whatever else I could stuff in my pocket.

I was terrified, I had a very slim chance of actual survival (enough people
die of being homeless, not being able to afford food, etc, to make it a real
cause for concern, I've seen it myself) and I was young, I had only just
turned 19.

My family lived in Spain and I had no choice but to move there when I was 16,
but I had taught myself programming and I had a dream, one which I couldn't
see being achieved in Spain, so I moved back to the UK.

When my plane touched ground, I bought a cheap SIM card and put it in to my
Nokia 3310 (Retro chic, right?) and sent a text to my girlfriend to let her
know I had landed and everything was okay, she lived in the UK (still with her
parents) but I couldn't afford to send a text to my family, it would be weeks
before my mum knew I was safe.

I took a train journey from Manchester airport to Blackburn, it was where I
was born and where my girlfriend lived, it would be a good idea to start
there. As I sat on the train I contemplated the finality of my decision to
move - there was no going back, it was "make it" or perish.

I began searching for a place to stay for a few weeks, I compiled a list of
old friends who had their own place and started ringing through, all but one
of them said no, the other only said "Let me ask my girlfriend." She said no.

The first few days were some of the darkest of my life, I was sheltering
myself underneath a large space heater for the town centre during the night,
it provided enough warmth that I didn't get ill, but the concrete below me
made it difficult to sleep, near impossible, there were times when my moods
hit rock bottom and I contemplated suicide or theft, but i still didn't rent a
hotel room or some other fantasy, I was saving my money, that had to go far.

3 days later, I got a call, it was my friend, letting me know he had convinced
his girlfriend to let me stay for a month and a half, I would be lying now if
I said that he saved my life by doing this.

I started to stay with him, there was no internet at first and the
accommodation was as simple as you can imagine (I had one sofa bed and 2 plug
sockets, the light bulb in the ceiling was broken, so I only had the light of
my old laptop once it started to go dark.)

Sometimes, I see questions on HN, asking how someone could possibly survive
with only $50,000 a year, I was surviving on about £0.25p per day, eating only
tinned beans and packets of noodles, drinking water, my diet was and still is
atrocious.

After a couple of months, I managed to find a job with a small web development
company as an apprentice, the wages was poor but it was enough, around £300
per month, of which £68 was spent on transport (it was 15 miles from my home,
some days, I couldn't afford the Bus and I would walk, i've actually become
very accustomed to walking long distances, some days I can cover 1 or 1 + 1/2
marathons (23 / 35 miles) if I want to, and the pain in my feet only lasts a
couple of days.)

I kept this job for 7 months, during which time I spent a further 2 weeks
homeless, 2 months in a shelter, 2 months with family and 2 months again at
the end with my friend, i loved the job and my boss, he was a lifeline of a
sorts for me and taught me a lot.

Forward to November.

I was comfortable, in a way, I still ate cheap food and could barely afford
travel, but I was able to give my friend money for the rent and to treat my
girlfriend occasionally, but it has been an age since I've actually spent
money on my self except for hair cuts (something I tend to wait a long period
in between) and new shoes (lots of walking wears them out quickly, I average
around 200 miles / pair though, so the cost comes to about £0.03 per mile.)

I was looking for a new job, I felt as though I needed more money, my new
found "luxury" wasn't enough and I happened upon a company 30 miles away who
wanted a junior developer, £15k per year!

I interviewed and got offered the job 30 minutes later over the phone, but it
meant quitting my first job, I don't lie when I say it was one of the hardest
things I've ever had to do, emotionally, to tell him that his only employee
was leaving, but it was a necessary decision, for my own future.

Christmas came fast, but between jobs (I wasn't being hired until January) I
had no money, it was a budget, I only just managed to afford a present for my
girlfriend (An antique cup and saucer to replace one she smashed accidentally
when making a cup of Tea (her favourite drink)) and there wasn't always money
for electricity or gas, so some nights I had to lie under my blanket from 6pm
just to stay warm.

Now I have my own home, 2 months later, I couldn't afford the full deposit and
had to explain that I "didn't have enough money" to my new landlord, something
of a kick to my pride, but he let me have it for cheaper.

Currently I have £5.62 to my name, to last me until March, but I'm happier
than I've ever been, I have everything I've ever wanted (No TV, home internet
or phone, but a living girlfriend and a roof over my head) and from here, I
can only go up.

Poverty is not a choice we make, not directly anyway, when I moved I knew it
would be hard, but not this hard. I don't know how I will get to work when my
bus pass runs out next Monday, I will probably walk.

I don't know why I told my story here (heavily shortened) but all I know is
this: if there is anyone else out there in the positions I've been in this
past year, take heart, you are going to survive.

------
stormen
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.

~~~
drewjoh
You just throw them in the trash? Why not donate them to a library or used
book store?

------
sheri
I own a lot of stuff (TV, couch, wardrobe, carpets, lamps etc), but most of
which I don't care about or am OK to lose. If I move out, or move countries I
can sell/give away all this stuff and just re-buy it if I need to in the other
location. I don't think owning a lot of stuff necessarily correlates to caring
about a lot of stuff (or buying stuff to show off). I buy stuff to make my
life easy or more comfortable, not necessarily to raise my status among
others.

------
rtpg
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.

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anabis
I just think of stuff as investment. The tablet you bought and never use is
just an investment thats not paying out. Selling it second-hand, or keeping it
in hope of discovering a good game on it later are both valid choices.
Contrary to the article, I think rich people should buy wacky stuff and try to
find good uses for it, and then blog about it.

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shad0wfax
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.

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Aardwolf
With all due respect, I think getting a proper bed could be a good idea for
your back.

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joedev
Many of these "I don't need anything" posts should be subtitled, "If I want to
use something, I just mooch it off friends", "I let other people maintain and
store the stuff I use" or "I don't have any hobbies".

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im3w1l
"'I let other people maintain and store the stuff I use'"

Sounds like a business model. I'd pay for it.

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cji
The link to devo.ps on your sidebar is broken (missing the 'p' in 'http')

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hunvreus
Thanks for that. Fixed.

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rdouble
If the apartment really looks like the photo, the poster does not and will
never have a girlfriend. Bed frame and at least a love seat are a must for
dating, even in San Francisco.

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scotty79
That's perfectly fine if you are interested only in software, but if you wan't
to play with robots or some hardware, there's sh*t to bought and kept and not
easily moved.

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marvwhere
i really like the idea of not buying all shit which is available, and keep his
bugs together.

but at least i want some confizone at home, a good bed and stuff like that.
just enough to relax and thats it.

i went from to have to much money to have like nothing, and one is for sure to
have a little bit more money then u need, make things easier...what does not
mean that u have to buy them.

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AUmrysh
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?

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nmunson
Haven't used something in a year? Throw it out. Not sure if you'll regret
throwing away a memento? Take a picture of it, then throw it out.

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thirdtruck
Agreed. This practice helped reduce my sh*t collection by quite a bit.

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Toenex
It's not the things you own, but the things that own you that make life
troublesome.

