10 ms·

Came to a similar epiphany when I had to move out on short notice. Since then I follow what I call the "1 suit case philosophy" - If I can't fit all my stuff in

Came to a similar epiphany when I had to move out on short notice. Since then I follow what I call the "1 suit case philosophy" - If I can't fit all my stuff into one standard size suit case and fly, then I have too much stuff.

dba7dba 9y ago
I wish that's the case for me but can't with kids and wife. Looking around though, most of the stuff I use daily will fit in a suitcase, except for 2 monitors.
vacri 9y ago
That's a philosophy that most musicians can't adhere to.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  They should take up the flute, or singing. ;)
  - analog31 9y ago
    Damn, I played the flute, and switched to double bass. ;) The problem is that my town needs roughly 2 or 3 professional flutists, but every band needs a bassist.
imron 9y ago
That will last until you are married and have children.
- hrktb 9y ago
  You move to a 2 suitcase per person philosophy, but I think it’s still a valuable approach. Even if you keep around some stuff that are not vital but ‘nice to have’, maintaining a restricted set of things that are enough to live your life if the whole family had to move without notice helps for peace of mind.
  - olau 9y ago
    What if your wife does not agree with your philosophy? What if your children don't? Of course, YMMV, but in my experience life is generally less simple once you share it with other people.
    - hueving 9y ago
      If you truly embrace that philosophy you will not be able to marry someone who does not also follow it. It's like a religion and your SO's things will be a daily affront to it.
  - saiya-jin 9y ago
    let's see - hiking with various camping equipment for all seasons, mountaineering/alpinism, climbing + via ferratas, skiing, ski touring with avalanche safety stuff, biking, paragliding, diving, running/gym and so on and on. Do you know for example how big winter sleeping bags are? And you can't store them compressed. Or paraglide wing with harness. And this is just hobbies/passions. Stuff you mostly don't want to rent for many reasons. Good luck fitting a bike or few pairs of skis in some suitcases :) It is true I have more sport stuff than all the rest combined (non-sport clothing, electronics, kitchen, just all the other stuff). I've been through phase in life where I could fit all my stuff into 1 small room and still live&sleep in it. Great times, but I wouldn't go back, for many reasons. What you propose sounds boring/empty life, or very expensive and yet subpar experience on many levels (renting everything all the time).
- prawn 9y ago
  In which case you risk spending as much on storage as you do on the things being stored.
- mixmastamyk 9y ago
  I'm a minimalist, but my wife throws out more stuff than I do!
- richardknop 9y ago
  I agree. But it's useful to adhere to this philosophy while single. It improves your job mobility a lot. If you can tell your potential employer that you can fly to country X any time as you just put all your things into a single suitcase, it makes it much easier to relocate for jobs around the world. Once you settle down and have family / children, obviously you will probably stop moving around and probably stay in a single place for a long time and only move once in a decade or so.
  - pantalaimon 9y ago
    Is your job mobility not 'hampered' by having friends and a social circle that you don't want to leave behind at all?
    - richardknop 9y ago
      Yes it is. But I think it's easier to do that while you are in your 20s. Older you get the more difficult it becomes to leave your social circle and friends behind.
- chris_7 9y ago
  ..."until"? Both of those are entirely optional.
barrkel 9y ago
That's fine if you don't have any interests that involve the physical world. My tool cabinet has about $4000 in tools at this point, many motorcycle-specific ordered from abroad and not easily borrowed or bought at short notice.
- arkades 9y ago
  It's nice to see I'm not the only person in the thread thinking this. I have an unwieldy subset of items that belong in the "do this often enough that renting is cost prohibitive, and you can't digitize Physical Hobby X." Board games my wife and I enjoy sharing; my archery equipment; snorkel and dry bag; guitar, etc. As it is, it's a good thing my dad was a tool junky (and master craftsman), so he didn't mind my storing all my woodworking and hobby electronics gear in his garage. Yeah, if my only occupations were programming and media consumption, it would be a lot easier to live out of a suitcase, but physical activities are kind of amazing.
- nasalgoat 9y ago
  Yes, none of my pinball machines will fit in a carry-on. Perhaps we are dinosaurs who cannot understand this new world where everything is virtual.
y4mi 9y ago
so you're sleeping on the floor, do sports in your work clothing and always eat out? they'd sure as hell wouldn't allow you to back your kitchen knives after all. or any of your cooking utensils for that matter. a tv for gaming/television is also out of the question, they'd never let you take that along in your suitcase. doesn't sound like a life i'd like to be honest. in all seriousness, its perfectly fine to have stuff. just ask yourself before you buy it, wherever you'll still be using it in ~12 month or so. otherwise, its probably just a fad you shouldn't spent money on.
- dagw 9y ago
  I interpret it has fitting everything you want to take with you in a suitcase. Furniture, larger kitchen utensils etc. you can sell/donate/leave behind and get new when you arrive at your next place. And why won't they let you take you kitchen knives on a plane? I fly with kitchen knives all the time.
  - 4c2383f5c88e911 9y ago
    As a carry-on? You'll never get past security with that.
    - dagw 9y ago
      Obviously not as a carry on, but most airlines won't let you carry on a medium sized suitcase no matter what its contents.
- richardknop 9y ago
  I do the same as parent poster. Everything I own fits into a single large suitcase so I can just wake up one day and decide to buy a ticket to country X and fly. I have always rented serviced apartments so the bed sheets, cutlery and other equipment is always in the flat I rent so I use that. My sports clothes and other hobby equipment also fits into the single suitcase. I keep my clothes collection quite small, if I am not wearing something for a year I will throw it away or give to charity. You'd be surprised how useful it is to have all your stuff fit into single big suitcase if you love traveling around the world. It's very easy for me to travel or to move around the world for work. I had to help my sister move apartment recently and I was shocked by the massive amount of stuff she owns. So many suitcases and bags, we had to rent a big van to move it all. I don't get it.
dingaling 9y ago
Ironing board? Mattress? Lawn mower? Kitchen mixer? Washing machine? Laundry basket? I suppose one could rent those sort of items as needed but for most of the nuclear family population it is financially more logical to own them.
- dagw 9y ago
  for most of the nuclear family population it is financially more logical to own them. Depends on how often you move. Are you moving once every other year or once every other decade?
- richardknop 9y ago
  > Ironing board? Mattress? Lawn mower? Kitchen mixer? Washing machine? Laundry basket? Most serviced apartments have all of those (well except lawn mower obviously). So just rent serviced apartment wherever you are living/working at the moment and you can easily have all your stuff fit into one suitcase.
  - ido 9y ago
    Where I am this has a significant price premium.
    - richardknop 9y ago
      There's a premium, yes. But I think it's a good deal as you don't have to buy any of those things yourself (sunken cost) and you can keep a very high job mobility / flexibility. This will help you move after better jobs easily and whatever premium you pay you will make back by having better jobs and higher salary imho. Job mobility is very undervalued these days. I think it's a very strong job negotiation tactic to be so mobile as you have many options to choose from for work as it's so easy for you to move.
      - ido 9y ago
        My job mobility is hampered anyway by having to pull my wife & kids from their own lives, when I was single I didn't own much more than that but still I think after a few years you'd recoup the expense of buying and selling furniture/appliances. Most people don't move all that often after their 20s or early 30s (even without a family).

dba7dba 9y ago

I wish that's the case for me but can't with kids and wife. Looking around though, most of the stuff I use daily will fit in a suitcase, except for 2 monitors.

vacri 9y ago

That's a philosophy that most musicians can't adhere to.

thaumasiotes 9y ago
They should take up the flute, or singing. ;)
- analog31 9y ago
  Damn, I played the flute, and switched to double bass. ;) The problem is that my town needs roughly 2 or 3 professional flutists, but every band needs a bassist.

imron 9y ago

That will last until you are married and have children.

hrktb 9y ago
You move to a 2 suitcase per person philosophy, but I think it’s still a valuable approach. Even if you keep around some stuff that are not vital but ‘nice to have’, maintaining a restricted set of things that are enough to live your life if the whole family had to move without notice helps for peace of mind.
- olau 9y ago
  What if your wife does not agree with your philosophy? What if your children don't? Of course, YMMV, but in my experience life is generally less simple once you share it with other people.
  - hueving 9y ago
    If you truly embrace that philosophy you will not be able to marry someone who does not also follow it. It's like a religion and your SO's things will be a daily affront to it.
- saiya-jin 9y ago
  let's see - hiking with various camping equipment for all seasons, mountaineering/alpinism, climbing + via ferratas, skiing, ski touring with avalanche safety stuff, biking, paragliding, diving, running/gym and so on and on. Do you know for example how big winter sleeping bags are? And you can't store them compressed. Or paraglide wing with harness. And this is just hobbies/passions. Stuff you mostly don't want to rent for many reasons. Good luck fitting a bike or few pairs of skis in some suitcases :) It is true I have more sport stuff than all the rest combined (non-sport clothing, electronics, kitchen, just all the other stuff). I've been through phase in life where I could fit all my stuff into 1 small room and still live&sleep in it. Great times, but I wouldn't go back, for many reasons. What you propose sounds boring/empty life, or very expensive and yet subpar experience on many levels (renting everything all the time).
prawn 9y ago
In which case you risk spending as much on storage as you do on the things being stored.
mixmastamyk 9y ago
I'm a minimalist, but my wife throws out more stuff than I do!
richardknop 9y ago
I agree. But it's useful to adhere to this philosophy while single. It improves your job mobility a lot. If you can tell your potential employer that you can fly to country X any time as you just put all your things into a single suitcase, it makes it much easier to relocate for jobs around the world. Once you settle down and have family / children, obviously you will probably stop moving around and probably stay in a single place for a long time and only move once in a decade or so.
- pantalaimon 9y ago
  Is your job mobility not 'hampered' by having friends and a social circle that you don't want to leave behind at all?
  - richardknop 9y ago
    Yes it is. But I think it's easier to do that while you are in your 20s. Older you get the more difficult it becomes to leave your social circle and friends behind.
chris_7 9y ago
..."until"? Both of those are entirely optional.

barrkel 9y ago

That's fine if you don't have any interests that involve the physical world. My tool cabinet has about $4000 in tools at this point, many motorcycle-specific ordered from abroad and not easily borrowed or bought at short notice.

arkades 9y ago
It's nice to see I'm not the only person in the thread thinking this. I have an unwieldy subset of items that belong in the "do this often enough that renting is cost prohibitive, and you can't digitize Physical Hobby X." Board games my wife and I enjoy sharing; my archery equipment; snorkel and dry bag; guitar, etc. As it is, it's a good thing my dad was a tool junky (and master craftsman), so he didn't mind my storing all my woodworking and hobby electronics gear in his garage. Yeah, if my only occupations were programming and media consumption, it would be a lot easier to live out of a suitcase, but physical activities are kind of amazing.
nasalgoat 9y ago
Yes, none of my pinball machines will fit in a carry-on. Perhaps we are dinosaurs who cannot understand this new world where everything is virtual.

y4mi 9y ago

so you're sleeping on the floor, do sports in your work clothing and always eat out? they'd sure as hell wouldn't allow you to back your kitchen knives after all. or any of your cooking utensils for that matter. a tv for gaming/television is also out of the question, they'd never let you take that along in your suitcase. doesn't sound like a life i'd like to be honest. in all seriousness, its perfectly fine to have stuff. just ask yourself before you buy it, wherever you'll still be using it in ~12 month or so. otherwise, its probably just a fad you shouldn't spent money on.

dagw 9y ago
I interpret it has fitting everything you want to take with you in a suitcase. Furniture, larger kitchen utensils etc. you can sell/donate/leave behind and get new when you arrive at your next place. And why won't they let you take you kitchen knives on a plane? I fly with kitchen knives all the time.
- 4c2383f5c88e911 9y ago
  As a carry-on? You'll never get past security with that.
  - dagw 9y ago
    Obviously not as a carry on, but most airlines won't let you carry on a medium sized suitcase no matter what its contents.
richardknop 9y ago
I do the same as parent poster. Everything I own fits into a single large suitcase so I can just wake up one day and decide to buy a ticket to country X and fly. I have always rented serviced apartments so the bed sheets, cutlery and other equipment is always in the flat I rent so I use that. My sports clothes and other hobby equipment also fits into the single suitcase. I keep my clothes collection quite small, if I am not wearing something for a year I will throw it away or give to charity. You'd be surprised how useful it is to have all your stuff fit into single big suitcase if you love traveling around the world. It's very easy for me to travel or to move around the world for work. I had to help my sister move apartment recently and I was shocked by the massive amount of stuff she owns. So many suitcases and bags, we had to rent a big van to move it all. I don't get it.

dingaling 9y ago

Ironing board? Mattress? Lawn mower? Kitchen mixer? Washing machine? Laundry basket? I suppose one could rent those sort of items as needed but for most of the nuclear family population it is financially more logical to own them.

dagw 9y ago
for most of the nuclear family population it is financially more logical to own them. Depends on how often you move. Are you moving once every other year or once every other decade?
richardknop 9y ago
> Ironing board? Mattress? Lawn mower? Kitchen mixer? Washing machine? Laundry basket? Most serviced apartments have all of those (well except lawn mower obviously). So just rent serviced apartment wherever you are living/working at the moment and you can easily have all your stuff fit into one suitcase.
- ido 9y ago
  Where I am this has a significant price premium.
  - richardknop 9y ago
    There's a premium, yes. But I think it's a good deal as you don't have to buy any of those things yourself (sunken cost) and you can keep a very high job mobility / flexibility. This will help you move after better jobs easily and whatever premium you pay you will make back by having better jobs and higher salary imho. Job mobility is very undervalued these days. I think it's a very strong job negotiation tactic to be so mobile as you have many options to choose from for work as it's so easy for you to move.
    - ido 9y ago
      My job mobility is hampered anyway by having to pull my wife & kids from their own lives, when I was single I didn't own much more than that but still I think after a few years you'd recoup the expense of buying and selling furniture/appliances. Most people don't move all that often after their 20s or early 30s (even without a family).