Artkansas 

I do. I sleep on a twin sized mattress. I find it more comfortable than the queen sized because the panels are smaller and the bumps less prominent. I got sold during my divorce. I had an inflatable mattress in my apartment. Then I had to go back to where my wife lived for a week to finish packing up my stuff. I slept on the full box spring bed I had before and I couldn't believe how uncomfortable it was.

I just wish I could find one of higher quality so it would last longer.

Roody

Welcome to a fellow Michigander! I grew up in Highland Park, have lived in Lansing since about 1986. I try to get the monthly bills down too. To me, that's the key to living well on less money. In most of Michigan you can get good cheap housing because our population has been going down. Car insurance is among the highest in the country, so we really save a lot by being carfree.

009jim

Me too. I'd like to be there but a ways to go.

iron.wren

I assume since you mention that you are using like a coleman or Ozark Trail mattress? A couple to look at, which would be from backpacking company with the premise that they are higher quality simply because are made to either be able to be transported and still good or the luxury of car camping. The first a more car camping and like mini mattress would be the NeoAir Dream. Granted anything, especially the Neo Air camper/trekker would be good for a more traditional air mattress. Also you could do something as simple like the LuxuryMap/Basecamp. They also have more moveable, light cots that may be a good option that would be easy to move. Another brand to look at would be Big Agnes, which has more traditional ridge mattresses (though made for backpacking), is another choice In the top right you can click to see all the pads they have. Hope these help.

Artkansas 

Yeah, I'm using a Coleman. They tend to last a year or so. I'll check out these out. Thanks.

iron.wren

Another one to look at that I simply stumbled upon because the bed I was using was needed by the original owner so I grabbed my roommates bed which was essentially a mattress on the ground but what I believe is this Geo-Mattress w/Wings. Its made by Span America which seems to supply hospital beds and seems to simply be a hospital bed mattress. It is like a normal mattress but thinner and foam but at the same time very supportive. It could easily be better than simply an air mattress though if I was to go that route I would probably go with the NeoAir Dream. My mother wants me to get a true bed/mattress even with box springs but I almost want to keep this. We will see what happens. Good Luck to all.

eofelis 

I have a regular basic queen size bed right now but I always think that if I decide to go minimal and easily movable on a bed I'd get a Paco Pad. Not cheap, but tough enough to last forever. Less delicate than a backpacking sleeping pad.

Smallwheels

"You never know what you have until it's gone, and I wanted to know what I had so I got rid of everything."

Steven Wright

If a sink hole opened up and swallowed everything you own, and you had an insurance policy that would cover 100% of the loss with money to replace everything, no matter how old or worn out it was, what would you do?

kookaburra1701

1. Find a smaller, cheaper place.
2. I'd replace my computer, about half my dishes, my bikes, clothes, and food. I would probably end up with about half of what I have now, and invest the rest of the money.

wahoonc

Move and buy a new (to me) vintage IGH bike.

I keep hopeing my lottery numbers will hit...

Aaron

Thomas_Agwa

Hello everyone my name is Thomas. I’ve been reading through this thread for a while now and thought I would share my experience.
I first found out about minimalism and simple living from stumbling onto Leo Babuta’s Zen Habits blog. From there I found some other blogs that have also inspired me namely Becoming Minimalist by Joshua Becker and The Minimalists.

I am married with 2 kids and live in a fairly cluttered house, my family aren’t really into the simple living stuff and I respect that but I decided to pare down my own stuff.

I went from having a large triple wardrobe that was overflowing down over the space of a couple of years to a single chest of 6 drawers that comfortably hold everything I could ever need except of course for my bike!

I’m not allowed to drive as I have epilepsy so I commute everywhere by bike on my 29er hybrid. I own some work uniform a couple of changes of clothes, a laptop, a set of books, folder pencil case for my physics degree. I also have a small Buddhist shrine and a meditation mat. I have a kindle but may get rid of it as I’m reading more and more books for the library now, it’s just handy for the slightly more obscure titles you can’t get in the library.

My laptop doesn’t get much use, if it wasn’t for the university course software I have to have installed I figure I could easily manage using a local library or work for computer access. I got rid of my smartphone and am planning to keep a basic cell phone for emergencies.

I’ve never been happier and I really don’t see the need for any more possessions. I’m working to pay off what debt I have and just trying to enjoy life.

It’s great to meet a lot of likeminded people. 

Thomas

Smallwheels

Welcome Thomas. I keep wishing I had so few things. I realize I need more.

One change since moving into a rented room from a two bedroom apartment is my dinnerware. When I had my own apartment I could let dishes build up for a week by putting them into the dish washer and using it when it was full. Now that I don't have that ability I have adapted. I have one huge ceramic bowl and one metal pan to use for eating. If I cook something in a pot it gets dumped into the huge bowl. If I heat something in the oven I use a stainless steel cake pan for the cooking and eating. In the past I used pie pans that I had collected over time. I would heat food and eat out of them. Since I don't want to hog the dish washer I decided to upgrade my pan to a stainless steel one with sides about two inches. high. Since I wash everything as soon as I have used it, the one pan works great. It is much sturdier than the flexible pie pans. It is also probably healthier since it is steel instead of aluminum.

These two items would definitely be replaced if a sink hole swallowed all of my possessions. Not many people have replied to the question of how you might do things differently if you had to replace all of your stuff. Anybody else?

JeanSeb

Welcome indeed Thomas. A few questions: has the space freed up by your paring down been cluttered by someone else's stuff yet ? How does your family react when you talk about simple living and how they could start living like that too ?


Sorry I was letting the question "sink" in, hehe. But seriously, there are very few items I would buy again immediately. I'd rebuild a desktop computer, a do-everything bike, buy a metal bowl to eat everything in, a few utensils and all the personal hygiene stuff. Then I'd buy things I rarely need, as the need rises up. It would surely help to have all the stuff I want to get rid of right now but have been waiting just disappear (because of the time it takes to sell things and to get rid of them properly (not just throw everything in the trash irresponsibly)). But there are a few items that I would be sad to see go, just because I've had them for a long time and they don't make them anymore or I'd have to settle for a lower-quality version.

Anyway, it's a good question for sure. For the insurance money part, I'd buy what I need and save the rest if possible.

Isaiahc72

I definitely beleive in living the simple life. My family thinks I'm a complete nuthead when I say I'm not gonna get a car. I hate how society has made people beleive that a car or motor vehicle is "NEED" in order to survive. Plus the fact that the average cyclist saves about $8,000 a year compared to motorists.(That's what I read)

Thomas_Agwa

In a word yes, although I have asked nicely if people would mind keeping my chest of drawers and small fold up desk clear. My wife thinks I'm a bit wierd but obliges me. I get pretty anxious for some reason if my stuff is cluttered up.

My wife is into simple living in principle but I don't think she is ever going to want to reduce her possessions all that much. That's ok I love her and always will its just I've chosen to release myself from reliance on possesions. We are having a bit of a clear out at the moment as the rest of the house was getting too cluttered so that is good.

In answer to the question I'd mostly replace what I've got if something swallowed all my possesions. The bike is my primary means of transport so I'd need that. As for tools I'd simply as now collect on a basis of need when something goes on the bike. Couple of changes of clothes, some work uniform, meditation mat, university course book, pencilcase and a drawing pad & pencils.

Jared.

My wife cancelled our cable last week. Between the two of us we were watching less than an hour a day (weekdays). A homemade television antenna will receive all the HD channels from Buffalo. Unfortunately many of the Canadian channels will be blocked due to the position of our condo (we do not face the CN Tower where they broadcast from, and we do not have a building northeast of us to bounce a signal off of).

When we do watch TV, it's sports, we're both big soccer fans, so we replaced our $90 a month bill with a subscription to a streaming sports service for $20 a month.

gerv 

I did a similar thing a few years ago. Replaced my cable with a Netlix account. $7.99 and tons of movies you won't want to watch.

technoD

I sleep on a single Intex air mattress, and I sleep quite well on it too!

technoD

Won't want to watch?? Are you not happy with netflix? I've considered a account with netflix for my laptop since I left my 40" lg flatscreen with the ex-gf.

gerv 

Well... it's better than cable television, but you soon reach a point where new, interesting titles are hard to find.

Artkansas 

DVDs from the library are another good source.

I-Like-To-Bike

You should try the mailed DVD Netflix subscription. If you then can't find movies you want to watch you don't want to watch movies, period.

I-Like-To-Bike

That's true, on the days when I don't have a Netflix DVD to watch, my wife and I are watching new BluRay and DVDs of TV series and movies we hadn't seen before. In the past 2 weeks my wife and I watched the first 3 seasons of Justified and the seventh season of Dexter. From Netflix we have just finished the third season of Boardwalk Empire.

gerv 

I used to get Netflix DVDs in the mail. Every once in a while I'd notice we hadn't seen a DVD in a month or so... oops... forgot to update the queue.

Lately I've been watching all the Austin City Limits shows on my computer... maybe I should sell my TV.

I-Like-To-Bike

You are not a movie person.