The cycle of renewal and the uselessness of “stuff”

I'm in the process right now of going through all my old stuff and getting rid of as much of it as I can to make space for when we get a roommate. Ever since I first moved out of my parents house I've gone through several cycles of getting rid of all my old crap only to build more up again.

I threw away a bunch of silly decorations that looked “cool” but served no purpose and all my collection of old video game stuff. (My old N64, PS2 and a ton of games. I left them by the dumpster and they will hopefully make some kid happy. =) ) Cloths that were taking up space are going to goodwill and we now have a lot more storage space.

It felt good getting rid of all that crap. Some people attach sentimental value to their possessions and to an extent I do it too, but I've had situations in the past where I've had to give up just about everything I owned only to start from scratch so it's easy for me to let go. Stuff does not bring us happiness nor does it make us better people. It just takes up space.

With digital technology now it's even easier to shrink your life down. I still have my DVD collection because I've over 300 monster movies and so there's no way I'm re-buying them digitally, but I keep them in binders instead of their original cases to save space.  All my music is cloud based as are all my video games. Whenever I buy books now I try to get the kindle version.

When you live in a tiny space you are forced to evaluate your life and to take stock as to what's really important to you. My wife’s rule is, “if I haven’t used it in two years then I throw it out”, which I think it a pretty good philosophy.  Living in a small space also forces you to think before making impulse purchases at the store. You are constantly forced to ask yourself, “do I really need this, seeing how I have like no fucking room for it?” This leads to a simpler life less focused on consumerism IMO, which I think is a good thing.

I'm fascinated by people who go to what most of us would consider extremes to simplify their lives. I'm particularly interested in the Tiny House Movement. http://www.thetinylife.com With some good old fashioned ingenuity you can fit everything you need to live comfortably into an extremity small space. Here's some pics of a GREAT example. http://www.thetinylife.com/victorian-tiny-texas-house/

I would rather live there than in a multi million dollar mansion any day.  A lot of those tiny houses are mobile, so it's a easy and inexpensive to move to a new location if you want. So instead of having a huge house with a tiny yard you can have a tiny home with a huge yard, with a nice big garden and happy trees. Sigh. . . some day.  Maybe when I retire. 

At the end of the day it's not stuff that's going to make you happy. It's your peace of mind and the people you choose to call your friends.   As Thoreau said, “. . . simplify, simplify.”