RT

Admittedly, I am not car free, but thought this was a neat story. I scanned page 1 in here and did a search, but could not find a recent post about it. Hope it is not a dupe.

https://www.lemondrop.com/2010/08/10/.../?sms_ss=email

Roody

That's an inspiring story. One if the links was to the 100 Things Challenge. which is also interesting but less inspiring.

DX-MAN

Being car-free for 6 years now, this article resonated with me; 95% of my personal belongings fit in a 10x18 room. I could comfortably live in something the size of a 2-car garage (400-440 sq ft), and feel perfectly fine.

But I have the obligation of an extended family, one of whom is belligerent to the point of threatening behavior about conspicuous consumption. But the REST of us are supposed to conserve... go figure. Since precious kids are involved, I endure this fool.

Not because of any end-of-the-world malarkey, but 2012 will be a pivotal year in my life; things WILL change. How, depends on what still needs 'fixing'.

gerv 

This is an interesting list, but I am looking at this from a slightly different angle.

My first thought was "Anybody who take so much mental energy to put together a list of personal things... an inventory, really... seems to be really attached to these things."

We need to be concerned more with our personal attachments to our things, not necessarily the quantity of such items. Granted, having a garage full of bicycles (or anything else) is an example of outrageous consumerism (even if we got those bicycles as gifts or from a dumpster...). But what's more outrageous is to glom on to our bicycle collection and begin to associate our happiness/consciousness with that collection.

This is what worries me about adopting a "simplified" lifestyle. We never free ourselves from these things. Instead of putting mental energy into storing junk, we now put mental energy into quantifying our collection, making lists, extolling a collection of a certain size as optimum.

Dahon.Steve

I liked the story and thanks for posting. As you read, the hardest thing for her to give up was the car! Once she learned to replace the car with human powered cycling, letting go became much easier.

One more thing. The writer wasn't making much money to begin with at 42K a year with one cars and a condo is barely getting by. Giving up all that for an apartment and half her salary should have been fairly easy because the majority of her money was for paying back loans!

Newspaperguy

I don't like the idea of conspicuous consumption but neither do I like the idea of a 100 Things Challenge. Both push me towards something resembling a competition to have or have not.

Over the last seven years, I've been in the process of cutting back on things in my life. There are things I no longer need and there are things I don't use as often. The result is I've culled at least half the books on my bookshelf and a lot of things I was no longer using. I'm now working to cut back slowly on other things, as the need for them disappears.

Of course I'm also acquiring things I need along the way, sometimes to replace something that is worn out or obsolete and sometimes to meet a new need. Still, with the focus on simplifying my life, I'm also considering whether something is a need or a want.

RT

To me, this story personified a lifestyle change. To do this, inventory is needed, both physically and mentally. Habits, vices, belongings, everything. I have recently flipped a 180 with regard to social drinking and generally activities that were unhealthy and wasted my time. Cycling is my new vice, and with my daughter getting her license, SHE gets the car with me using it only for grocery runs and road trips to visit my son in college (1,000 mile r/t).

wahoonc

Everyone is going to have different needs. Also if someone doesn't collect/save odd stuff we would never have any museums...

We are downsizing (some more) and getting rid of thing, the hardest thing for me right now is my books. I don't have much problem with fiction but the reference books are the hardest ones to choose amongst. We have agreed that we each get a book case to fill with what we want to keep in terms of books. Then we will start on something else. Our intent is to clear out the clutter and rather than build more space, do away with excess stuff.

Aaron

Roody

As I see it, the key to simple living isn't necessarily having fewer things. It's more about being less attached to the things you do have.

Robert Foster

My sister and my wife have a lot of books. I have a small library that fills maybe one bookcase. I figured we would never get ride of most of the books we have. Then one day a friend of my wife came over with her Kendal and I saw a light. about every book I have would fit on one Ibook or Kendal. But how to get someone like my sister and my wife interested? When we get back from vacation I am thinking I should start saving for a Christmas present for my wife.

ndbiker

I am a book sellers nightmare. I love to read, but live less than 1/2 mile from an excellent public library. I can walk in about 10 min. and ride in less than 5. No need for vast library space although occasionally patience is required. The Kindle/I-pad concept intrigues me not so much for books but rather newspapers and magazines. I love both but do not desire to have them cluttering up my home. Since I can borrow books, I think I'll stick with the feel and smell of the printed page.

Newspaperguy

Yesterday I read a novel on my computer. It was okay, but it's much easier to read words on a printed page.

I've weeded out a lot of books, but there are some I'll keep, especially if I'll need them in the future or if they're difficult to find.

gerv 

Every time you mention this, I stare up a bookcase full of tomes I'll probably never crack again in my lifetime.

Perhaps you can help motivate us. How did you manage to thin out your books?

Newspaperguy

Here's how I thinned out the books.

First, I looked at what I had and considered which ones I had read and which ones I hadn't read. If there was no likelihood I was going to read an unread book or use it for reference, out it went. If a reference guide was no longer useful for me because it was obsolete or because it was on a subject I was no longer studying, it was discarded. If it had no personal value for me, I got rid of it.

A book on a former computer operating system is discarded because I no longer use that system, nor will I return to it in the future. Likewise, an older writing style guide, made obsolete by a more current version, is no longer needed. (Writing style rules tend to change over time.) My dictionary and thesauruses will stay since I continue to use them for reference. Historical works will stay, but only if I will use them for reference or study in the future.

A lot of fiction went out the door if I was not planning to reread it or if I hadn't cracked the cover since buying the book. A rare or out-of-print novel might stay, but if I had no plans to ever read it, then there was no reason to hold on to it.

The key is to be a little ruthless here. Examine everything and consider if there is a reason to keep it.

There is an escape clause in this process. If a book has special sentimental value, it gets a pass. A book given to you by a good friend would stay, especially if that book was the last gift you had received before the friend had died. But keep in mind not everything on your shelf is worthy of the sentimental value escape clause.

Gerv, you seem well-read and books are important in your life. But you also live in a city big enough to have a good public library system and a university library. Do you need to duplicate their services?

enine

I keep a well deatiled inventory of everything I have. I am somewhere in the middle as well, don't want to over consume but don't want to limit myself to some number either. I have my inventory to help determine if I actually need/want something.
For example tools can save me a lot of time and money, no needing to find the time to take a bike to the shop and pay labor when its quicker and easier to just do it myself, but I do need tools for that. So looking in my garage I have well over 100 tools but they are inventoried and organized. I can look at my list when determining weather or not to buy another tool and tell if it will fit in with what I already have, i.e. is it too redundant with others, where will I store it, etc.

gerv 

Good suggestions. Yes I do read a lot of books from the library. But I confess to not buying very many books lately. Most of my books are quite old... some of them paperbacks from the 60s and 70s. Actually some of them are quite brittle, especially the Signet classics paperbacks.

I discussed this problem with a programmer colleague today who got rid of many of his programming books by giving them to the GoodWill stores. I think I might give mine to the local library, since it supports my reading habit so much. I think I'll start with the programming books.

Thanks for the impetus....

Smallwheels

I like the idea of paring ones possessions to only the items that are regularly used. I don't use all of my tools all of the time but they are helpful at times. I've made a list of items I want to keep. The problem I've faced is finding the time to get rid of the things not on my list. I keep telling myself that I should just collect all of the things I want to keep on my list and put them into one place. Then I can easily corral all the things I don't want into a room and just start trashing them, giving away, or selling them.

I'm working on starting a new business while working at a job I don't really like much. Since I'm debt free I'm not working to pay debts. I'm just working to save money. It would be great if for each item I got rid of I got some time added to my day. That would be a great motivator for removing those items. Craigslist or ebay take quite a while to dispose of items. It took two weeks to just give away a beautiful plant on Craigslist. The same thing happens with really low priced items in my small town. Selling my car took more than six months. It was on Craigslist and Cars dot com. The person that bought it actually saw it parked with the sign on it. I wonder how long it will take to sell a good set of Lennox china or kitchen appliances?

gerv 

I found https://www.freecycle.org/ to be a pretty fast and efficient means of getting rid of some things I thought were absolutely useless. It's also a great means to find things you need.

Roody

Actually, I just sold a car on Craigslist in just a few hours. It was totally gone by noon of the day after I posted the ad.

I have used Freecycle also. I got a brand new phone once, still in the box, because the lady won it as a door prize and didn't need it. She even drove it to my house when she found out I didn't have a car.

Smallwheels

I went to freecycle and was put off by the fact that they require people to register and join a group just to give things away. I won't join a group just to list things to give away. If I wanted to I'd package everything into boxes and try to get the Goodwill store to pick them up. There are other thrift stores around too that might be willing to take some things. It would be easier for me to just list the things to be given away and post an image file of them. The image file exists already so it wouldn't be much effort at all.

Roody

It's really no big deal to register with freecycle. The reason for it is probably that when they started a few years ago, Yahoo Groups was one of the only ways to get a group of people together on the Internet. If they were starting up today, they would probably use Facebook (but you would still have to register).

zeppinger

I read the first three chapters of the authors book. Not too impressive. Pretty vague and not a lot of info on the "how too." Maybe that is because its just the first three chapters though. They are free on the website.

gerv 

I once gave away a perfectly functioning gas dryer using Freecycle. GoodWill didn't want to handle large items and it seemed like I would have to bring it up to the landfill. Hooray for Freecycle.