Preventing the Accumulation of Crap

[surfinillini]

About a year ago I embarked on a massive minimalistic phase. I donated practically everything I didn't use everyday and sold the expensive stuff like electronics. Nice stuff like clothes I don't wear and other miscellaneous goods I gave to my younger brother whose in college and other family (flat screen tube TV, speakers, dvd player, dvd's, etc...

Aside from furniture I only own my laptop and clothes (and my guitar and recently purchased golf clubs). I love it that I don't have much crap. Because that's what it is, crap. I don't even own a television which is great.

Having very little material possessions feels great. I do own a new car tho so I guess I'm not a true minimalist, but I could literally pack everything I own and need in that car which is strangely liberating.

[Duke]

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About a year ago I embarked on a massive minimalistic phase. I donated practically everything I didn't use everyday and sold the expensive stuff like electronics. Nice stuff like clothes I don't wear and other miscellaneous goods I gave to my younger brother and other family.

Aside from furniture I only own my laptop and clothes (and my guitar and recently purchased golf clubs and this ashtray. And this paddle game, the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one - I need this. The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. And this. And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair). I love it that I don't have much crap. Because that's what it is, crap. I don't even own a television which is great.

Having very little material possessions feels great.

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[surfinillini]

sorry duke, don't smoke

[Duke]

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sorry duke, don't smoke

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I don't think he did either, but I could be wrong. The inclusion of those 2 extra items in parens just made me think of that quote.

[Quicksilvre]

Squattage,

Your dad is officially off the hook.

I don't know what my favorite part from nc's link was:

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My mom likes to buy old glass crap, and also other old crap that's not made of glass, off of eBay. [...] I'm assured all this stuff in quite valuable, by the way.

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And here's my mom's bedroom. You were probably expecting a bed or something. It's there, somewhere underneath all those boxes. My mom decided storing this stuff is more important that having a place to sleep. So where does my mom sleep? Remember that 2/3rds of a couch back in the living room? Yep, every night.

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That's an old mink hat sticking on the left there, not a random wild animal.

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Into the kitchen. [...] A bunch of the food in here is several years old, and from a dollar store, but my mom still won't throw it away.

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Those buttplug looking things on the monitor are old glass insulators they used to use on telegraph and telephone lines. I'm assured they also are quite valuable.

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You might have noticed a bunch of calendars all around the house. [...] No, she won't throw them away when the year's over. Also notice they're all on different months.

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This is something you might have seen in some other parts of the house but it's most visible here. In addition to closing the curtains, my mom covers the small windows with cardboard to "keep the heat in/out", depending on season. I'm not sure how that's supposed to create any measureable affect on the total temperature, but she got mad whenever I took them down so now I just live with them.

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Time for a bathroom story. One time I ran out of toothpaste or floss or something, so I opened the medicine cabinet looking for more. Instead, I found the bathroom cabinet full of my old prescription bottles. I then realized I'd never thrown a prescription bottle away, I'd get new ones, and the old ones had just disappeared. I'd never thought about it. I confronted my mom, and she told me she was keeping hers too, and was saving them to cut the labels off so the prisoners [who sort the garbage in this town--QS] wouldn't know what medications we were on. I told her that was crazy, and that I was going to throw mine away. A few days later I went to do that, only to find they were all gone. Mom took them all, and hid them in a box somewhere so I couldn't throw them away.

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The master bathroom's shower. Since the door when opened would drip onto carpet, my mom decided not to use this shower. So she did the only natural thing and filled it with boxes.

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[99killed]

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Every time I move I throw out 80% of my stuff. Back around 1998 I moved 4 times over the space of about a year and a half, and by the end of it I had a bed, a dresser, a dog and a drum kit. <font color="red"> </font>

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i do the same thing. i call it the 'life reset'.

[wet work]

jesus. Just scrape off the label on the old med. bottles.

I'm kind of a packrat. I do go thru phases and start throwing stuff away every so often though. It's weird because I'm only attached to very few possessions and don't really mind the idea of losing things. Stuff just seems to accumulate. My gf is the complete opposite and she is constantly taking stuff to Goodwill or just giving things away to family and friends. She probably goes to Goodwill at least 2x a month and drops off a couple bags. Mostly it's clothes and toys that our kids won't miss. She also puts alot of stuff in our friends consignment shop.

The only time I remember getting pissed was when I realized she had given away my PS2 and about 30 games. I was like WTF? She just said "you never play it, so I gave it away." That was true and I don't really miss it.

We'll probably do a major purge before moving back out west.

[Iron Tigran]

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The books in the bookcase seem very well ordered. What is the deal there?

[Blarg]

They're hollowed out and filled with excrement.

[SoloAJ]

I'm pretty sure there is a lot of stuff I just need to get rid of that has no value. The funny thing is that I don't have THAT much junk. What I do have is orderly, so I'm hardly unkempt.

I definitely have some old textbooks I need to get rid of. That said, I have a small stash of stuff from my ex...I, with my chronic bad memory, plan to keep that for a while just to not entirely forget the stuff....I assume that is something that people would think is stupid or do themselves...but whatever.

I need to purge some stuff though.

Note: Biggest thing I need to get out of my life: Console vidoe games. The only game I still play every year is NCAA for PS2. I get hooked on it...then feel like I wasted away the hours. I definitely need to give all of my console systems (I still have every one I've owned) to my 3 little siblings or something. I don't need them anymore at 22.