Owning 15 things: 7 months in

Hi from Pacific Beach San Diego

It is almost 7 months into my minimalism kick. I own just about 15 things (real number is about 20 now) after selling everything in August to travel and figure some things out.

What is it like?

Beautiful and simple.

I own two shirts. It is shirt 1 or shirt 2. I’ll wash them at night about once a week. I have one pair of shoes. One pair of pants. Life is just simple. I get to focus on other things, quite a blessing.

What have I learned?

1) It is not that hard. Lack of choice helps, not hurts. I still have not had someone point out that yes, indeed, I did wear that shirt yesterday.
2) Stuff controls my life. The TED gift bag double the stuff I own. Giving it away was pretty dang fun.
3) When you have nothing your language turns from ‘I want’ to ‘we should do ___.’ The joy in life is from not the thing, but they actions and community.

I’m sitting in a coffeeshop in Austin with everything I own under the table. What I do in an hour, a day or month is totally undecided. There is an excitement to that. One day I will give it up. For now, not a chance.

Too many things like this to see.

You wake up in Palm Springs at #TEDactive and think 'overrated' :)


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6 responses to “Owning 15 things: 7 months in”

  1. NULL Avatar
    NULL

    Constraints (minimalism) crystalize wants vs. needs. Turns out there aren’t very many true needs in life.

  2. Sunil Doshi Avatar

    Andrew – I just discovered your site and really enjoy what I have read. Perhaps because I’m still obsessed with stuff, I’m curious what your 15 things are. Is there a post or a Flickr photo of those things?

  3. NULL Avatar
    NULL

    I should post one, here is an old picture of the stuff in Colombia.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/bouldair/5122960153/

  4. Jaime Andrés Avatar
    Jaime Andrés

    dude, what yuo’re doing is amazing!!!! my best wishes to you and your seek for…something 🙂

  5. apas Avatar

    Respect!

  6. paulmerrill Avatar

    And may your backpack never get stolen! It would be a pain to replace those carefully chosen items.

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