Has Anything In Your Life Changed?
I really don't remember when I decided to become a minimalist. It probably just evolved as I came across articles and videos about it. The first few pages of this thread are inspirational. Occasionally I'll reread them. I've read the whole thread twice. In it there are many people who wanted to pare their possessions to different degrees. That's OK. This isn't the "I only own 100 things" thread.
What has changed in your life since deciding to let go of some things? Did you actually get around to doing it?
There are still a few changes needed for me. For a long time I've said I need to get a good camera to photograph all of my family photos and memorabilia so that the physical objects can be sent to a cousin who collects family memorabilia. It hasn't been done yet. Now that home is a thirteen by nine foot room it really doesn't need to be done, but now the space to do the project is available. It will get done before Christmas. Getting rid of those four or five boxes of the twenty-five owned will be a big space saver; especially when I go back to living in an RV of some type yet to be determined.
Since moving into a room more things have been purchased. A zero gravity reclining chair, a cot, a counter top water filter pitcher, and a toaster oven. Some cubby hole shelves and fabric baskets will probably be bought soon. The twelve hole size should be plenty for holding just about everything that won't fit easily into the closet. It will work well to hold the 44" TV that was accepted as part of the payment for my minivan. It will become my new computer monitor for working on my web site.
A few times I imagined letting go of some of my favorite heirlooms that aren't photographs. At times it seems possible and at other times the attachments seem too strong. There is no immediate need to let go of them, but the idea of being free to let them go is appealing.
Years ago I adopted the idea that everything owned would fit into a van. That came true in 2015. Eventually I gave away 99% of my possessions. Spending the money to keep all of that in storage at the rate of $720 per year didn't seem logical. Thus the decision was made to let it all go. There are no regrets about making that decision.
There is a guy written about on the internet in minimalist blogs who lives out of his backpack and another carry bag. He travels and rents rooms while he lives in each different city. He has some type of internet business that he does. So he's not doing it because he is poor. He just doesn't want attachments to things.
When I left Los Angeles all of my things were transferred from the 2004 Dodge Caravan into a Kia Sportage. The bed was left behind along with a portable jump starter/air pump and some small things that didn't seem needed at the time. It took over an hour and a half to pack the things into that little SUV. Even though it was parked beside the van.
When I got to Helena the rental car needed to be returned but I didn't have a place to stay. So a friend let me unload the Sportage into his backyard so the SUV could be returned. Unloading took just about as long as loading. That day I picked up a 2017 Chevy Cruze from the same rental agency. It was used for two days while searching for a room. My friend let me sleep in his new RV trailer for one night.
Once a room was acquired, all of my stuff needed to be loaded into the Cruze. That took over an hour. Everything didn't fit but almost did. The Cruze has fold flat rear seats with a big trunk opening. The rest was put into my friends truck and we moved it into my new place. Doing that took over an hour too. The point being that I really don't like moving so much stuff. If everything could be moved in twenty minutes it wouldn't seem like so much of a hassle. Maybe that should be my next benchmark in letting go of things; to not need to spend more than twenty minutes moving the possessions into a vehicle to carry them to the next residence. This doesn't include packing time, just removing things from the location into a car. That sounds reasonable to me. Everybody's got to have goals.
So tell us what you have changed since reading this thread and deciding to let go of some things.