Well, it’s moving time here soon, so I’ve been swimming in a pile of boxes, and nothing forces you to rethink your life quite like swimming in a pile of boxes.
This whole financial journey I’ve been on was started with an admiration for and an aspiration to some form of minimalism. I’m proud to say that since moving into my current location, I’ve gotten rid of quite a lot of stuff, but then I’ve also acquired quite a lot of stuff to replace it. Overall, I still don’t have a ton of stuff, but the boxes sure make me feel like I do.
Now, I don’t think it’s fair to judge yourself by “moving” standards. Most people might only move a dozen or so times in their life, and it always sucks, as you have to uproot even the small, routine items you use that don’t contribute much to the bulk but are otherwise somewhat requisite for modern life. There’s nothing wrong with having stuff, but then again, I never box my things up and think, “Oh, gee, this is all so much wonderful stuff, I’m so thankful I have all of this!” No, it’s usually like, “You know what? I could live with half of this stuff and be fine”. I’ve also been starkly reminded that the various boxes and miscellaneous items I’ve left out in various place never needed to be left there, and my quality of living would probably have increased if I had either gotten rid of these things or found a proper home for them.
It’s also worth noting that the old adage is true: you really do fill the space allotted to you. Having access to a front room, a dining room (my office), a basement, and a garage, really does encourage you to fill the space up. Granted, I’m quite proud of my design decisions in the front room, but there was definitely some filling in of space so the walls didn’t look so sad and empty.
It’s also not lost on me that developing attachments to furniture and decorations can hold you back. I have several pieces of painted furniture I love, but because I enjoy them so much, I’m unlikely to let go of them, even if they are essentially obstructions to moving.
“But Risky! It’s not a bad thing to have nice furniture!”
No, it’s not, it just comes with a tradeoff: be bound to lugging said furniture around. And that’s maybe a good way to think about possessions: as tradeoffs.
My commitment to being financially free led me to this house, though it meant giving up a sliver of mountain view, my wonderful patio, and the ability to choose my own silverware, etc. Little did I know this would end up being one of the best decisions of my life, as I would find myself switching from saving money to spending it, and having low rent has been a huge blessing as I’ve taken all of this time off work. Does that mean having a mountain view or your own space is bad? No! But if you insist on having these, you give up the opportunity for better things. That’s a good way to think about possessions.
Speaking of, when my parents were forced to downgrade from a house to a townhouse, they put a ton of stuff (basically the whole basement) in storage and it took YEARS to whittle that down. I remember how happy my dad was when the last of the storage unit was gone. He said something along the lines of, “It sure is nice to not be paying that every month!” I was really proud of them, but it’s also a reminder to me: never, ever, acquire that much stuff!
So downsizing is not always a bad thing. It forces you to think about what you really care about and what really matters.
Speaking of, the 80/20 rule definitely applies to my tools. I’ve noticed that I have quite a number of random tool cases all related to pressing things in or out, several of which were purchased for funzies, just to see if I could do things like press a bushing out of a rear control arm (spoiler alert: it’s probably not going to happen). I wouldn’t say I’m ready to get rid of these (“they could still be useful!”), but there was a time I needed to learn what could or couldn’t be rebuilt, and I learned some solid lessons about modern car parts. Do I need these projects today? No, not really.
Now, one thing that I have gotten wrong about minimalism is gaming systems. If you grew up with a game system and actually took care of it, you might as well hold onto it. I say this because if you change your mind, buying a quality vintage gaming system is very expensive, and the weird truth is that if you store them in their original boxes, they really don’t take up very much space, and are extremely easy to move. Although there is something to be said for getting rid of any number of possessions, I’ve found that boxes of my excessive quantity of books were exceptionally easier to move than the vast wasteland of miscellaneous junk. All of this to say…I think that miscellaneous junk has a more detrimental effect than merely the quantity of well-defined collections. Or such is my current theory.
Also, if you have a washer and dryer that suck, don’t keep them rotting in the basement for half a decade. Just don’t.
(I’ll probably have more thoughts on all this later, but for now, I’d better get back to packing!)
(Also, funnily enough, “part 1” was written in 2020. You can see this has been a theme in my life for some time)