Comments on: Extreme Material Simplicity

By: Not in Portland | Dispatches from Life

Not in Portland | Dispatches from Life — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:51:03 +0000

[...] I originally decided to write about the benefits of stress, I had in mind physical stress as much as psychological. I already mentioned how much I enjoy [...]

By: They end up owning you | Dispatches from Life

They end up owning you | Dispatches from Life — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:47:23 +0000

[...] aspect of my current itinerant lifestyle is my reliance on many fewer physical objects than most people. One caveat is that I am using a lot of other people’s things: food-related [...]

By: Marcus

Marcus — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:17:50 +0000

As someone with A LOT of stuff I can totally see where you’re coming from. A lot of times I feel like I’d be much better off without all of that crap, especially now that I’m starting to move on from college and will have to move all that crap. Gah! I’ll be buried alive!

By: Bre

Bre — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:19:21 +0000

the answer to rampant consumerism is rampant simplicity. this is fascinating! i thought it was just me and a random selection of my friends who are feeling the need to pare down. but, really, when i think about it, it is everywhere, with freecycle, “stores” at the dump, the free box in wendell (an institution by now, i am sure) and books upon books about “decluttering”.

perhaps what we are all looking for behind this movement of “stuff” really is LIBERATION! perhaps its the same thing we were looking for when we acquired the stuff. I don’t know.

my method of de-stuffing?

> move three times in one year
> have your storage shed burn down
> move into a place too small for all the stuff you currently have
> set goals of percentages to “de-stuff” eg. “By the end of 2009, I will get rid of 50% of the stuff I have now.”

Thanks, Alex.

By: Kathie B.

Kathie B. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:08:13 +0000

I agree that simplifying = liberating. It is so easy to get tied down to stuff and all the time the stuff requires or takes up in your life without you even realizing it.

I have been working intentionally on simplifying my life this year with much more focus and am loving the liberating feeling. This year I’ve pared down things at work to make my job easier. Also, as a parent, I am requiring my 8 year old to work to buy “stuff” that he wants. This has minimized the flow of stuff into the house, and allowed him to focus on the process of making the money instead (which he is really getting a kick out of): doing chores or creating his own weed-whacking business in the neighborhood, for example.

I love the challenge of finding more and more ways to simplify. It’s spiritually and intellectually rewarding, and it’s fun!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:15:13 +0000

This is incredibly cool. Every couple months, I look around my bedroom & also think–wow–I really want to cut down on the stuff in here. It’s so much nicer to have a small enough number of possessions that you can just kind of glance over them or encompass them all in your head. I guess, however, that the number of books & kitchen supplies I own make what you’ve done completely impossible. But yeah, when I lived abroad, I could fit everything into two suitcases & a bookbag! Anyway… AWESOME, Alex. Awesome.

By: Comrade

Comrade — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:43:34 +0000

I would love to try this. It is my plan to cut down on junk when I move. Unfortunately, I don’t know when that will be, or where I will be going. The greater the distance, the more junk to be removed from life. Hmm. I should move to Taiwan.