How about selling everything and NOT buying it back? Because halfway through the article he goes:<p><i>In Victoria, I bought all new furniture — TV, couches, bed, kitchenware, etc — and still had cash left over from the sale of my old stuff. That’s right, I made money.</i><p>This can only work if you're filthy rich. The article ignores 90%+ of the world's population who can't sell everything because they own pretty much nothing. And yeah, these people can be hackers or founders as well. It's hard to think that somebody just learned <i>today</i> what is the default for most of the people and he feels like <i>everyone</i> should <i>profit</i> from this amazing discovery.<p>A better title for this article would be: How to have more fun with your money by selling expensive stuff and buy more expensive stuff
<i>Please, if you are rich, stop explaining the idea of freedom from stuff as if it’s a trick that even you have somehow mastered.<p>The only way to own very little and be safe is to be rich.</i><p><a href="http://vruba.tumblr.com/post/45256059128/wealth-risk-and-stuff" rel="nofollow">http://vruba.tumblr.com/post/45256059128/wealth-risk-and-stu...</a>
I think the point the author is trying to make that having to much emotional attachment to material objects, with side-effects like hoarding these items, or being upset when something happens to them can be potentially toxic for you.<p>Sorry, I just don't have the convenience of time, money and means of transport to afford the kind of leisure the author is advocating.
For one, I bought a house pretty much owning some electronics, couple guitars and amps, a full backpack, a garbage bag of cables and a couple full of clothes.
I pay regular visits to my local thrift store, and they have some really nice mint stuff (or easy to refurbish) for cheap. You can also get a lot of 'sets' of items/furniture if you like your possessions to "match".
People like the author sometimes basically dump their entire living room there.
Also you won't feel as bad for reselling it if you end up hating the stuff, as you didn't have that big money attached to it, which mitigates a good chunk of perceived emotional value.
Great idea. I'd even say to try to avoid buying a tv, as this is the most powerful brainwashing machine you can get.<p>In the same vein, I like to say one's freedom in invert proportional to the number of keys in the pocket.
The title made me assume this post would be about downshifting. But no, it's about "refreshing" your looks and furniture by throwing everything away and buying new stuff. Ehm, OK.
It's easy to get rid of your stuff when you're moving. You're being forced to do either the chore of moving it or selling it.<p>I haven't figured out a way to get myself to go through the pain of sorting things, throwing them away, and selling them when I'm <i>not</i> moving. So, things pile up.<p>It really bothers me too. Someone could profit by helping me with this problem. Maybe a company that comes to your house and takes away everything you don't want for a base small fee, then make a profit by selling your old stuff? Maybe they take 50%?
I accidentally left my suitcase on the Gatwick Express airport train this morning, containing practically everything I now own save for my passport, ukulele and current Macbook Air, which were all on my person... I only realised 10 minutes later when I got to the check-in desk.<p>As I was on the shuttle back to the train, I started laughing. <i>Everything I own? That's everything I own?</i><p>I realised I didn't need any of it. A bit of a cliché, sure, and I'm a comfortably-off 25-year old single white male, apparently.<p>When I got to the platform, I found my suitcase sitting on the train, about to trundle off into the morning. I looked at the case, a full 21kg of junk - the last 21kg - and suddenly felt weighed down, as if all these things were a constant restraint. One suitcase.<p>There is a movement towards casting off our possessions to discover who we are; it's a tired story, as old as the hills. It points to the moon but it's not the moon.<p>The junk we most want to lose, and most deserve to realise our freedom from, is metaphorical, it's spiritual baggage, attachments to stuff.<p>My point here: if <i>one suitcase of stuff</i> is enough to be a mental burden, then when will I be happy? When there's nothing left? What about this body? Why not shed that also?<p>You can have a monk in the Himalayas with more 'stuff' than the executive with a condo full of Ikea furniture. It doesn't matter. Depth and space are created (no, <i>discovered</i>) when we lose the attachments, not when we lose the stuff.<p>Losing the stuff can be helpful and healthy, but it's not the ultimate truth. In truth, it's even a distraction for many.<p>So I read this post and my laughter increased. All this stuff: it's all a joke!<p>Just some thoughts as they come.
I moved many times. My golden rule is - when packing, give/throw away 50%, then by unpacking give/throw away another 50%. And try to move once in 5 years. Keeps you sane and fresh. Oh, and because of all that "training" i really can relaocate to anywhere (like another country) with just a backpack and smile on my face.
I appreciate stories like this more when the author just tells their story. When you like something I guess it's natural to want other people to follow. But writing that uses this mode of "you should" seems to assume too much about the audience. We might be in a totally different situation. For example I'm just settling into my new apartment after living in dorms and collectives all my life -- it's my first time even owning a couch.