6 ms·

While the idea of minimalism really appeals to me, its practice does not. After moving at about once a year for the last 10 years, I have had many rounds of cul

While the idea of minimalism really appeals to me, its practice does not. After moving at about once a year for the last 10 years, I have had many rounds of culling needless stuff (although I could do another round). But there are so many things I would not throw away because I need and use them every day: books, cds, musical instruments, cooking gear, all kinds of tools, wires, parts, etc. for tinkering. This adds up to what I own, and yes, it is quite a lot (moving requires the biggest truck I can get with a normal license). For the books and cds I could go to a library, for the tools to a hackerspace, for my food to a restaurant... The instruments, well, that'd be hard. It seems to me that such a life would be more expensive and require more organisation. In short, it would be far less enjoyable for me.

chriseidhof 15y ago
Yes, there is definitely a tension between pleasure and minimalism. I miss my guitar too. I miss cooking a little bit, but the restaurants in Berlin are very good and low prices. However, after this I might consider a furnished apartment, as long as I don't have to own the stuff myself. The point I'm trying to make in my article is that minimalism makes me happier, but I'm not sure whether this will always be true. Too minimalistic and I will probably become less happy. Also, doing it for a long time might also get old. We'll see, so far I like it.
- mhd 15y ago
  From reading the article, I think that you've went beyond minimalism and into straight-forward asceticism. Any opinion about that?
  - chriseidhof 15y ago
    I'm actually trying to have more fun. Traveling, eating out, having more quality time with people. However, I understand why you think his but I can't identify with it (yet?).
- danieldk 15y ago
  Yes, there is definitely a tension between pleasure and minimalism. However paradoxical, minimalism can be also an be attachment. As Buddhists would say, take the middle road. Taking cooking as an example: food touches on the outer world (think of everything involved in a simple crop, from the farmer to the sun) and the inner world (physically and mentally). Preparing food is very good for exercising awareness and appreciating life, why would one sacrifice that? Edit: sorry for accidentally downvoting you :(.
  - mkr-hn 15y ago
    I balanced your accidental downvote with an intentional upvote. :)
  - saraid216 15y ago
    > However paradoxical, minimalism can be also an be attachment. As Buddhists would say, take the middle road. One of my favorite lines in philosophical thought is, "Moderation in all things, including moderation."
- jff 15y ago
  I think you're already less happy, because you've succumbed to minimalism. You miss your guitar, you miss cooking, because a bunch of blog posts and a book convinced you to throw out your pots and pans.
MrKurtHaeusler 15y ago
My wife and I are making steps towards minimalism, mostly motivated by having to move to different cities more often than makes sense given hiring a moving company to move a whole house worth of gear has blown a significant chunk of savings 3 times over the last 6 years now. Family minimalism is a lot harder I think than individual minimalism. Most minimalist blogs paint a picture of a single male hipster with a macbook couch-surfing between RoR consulting gigs. Family minimalism cannot be that extreme. Our books and cds were the easiest to get rid of, we both have kindles, and noticed that we never re-read books anyway, and listened to mp3s or streaming radio rather than cds. The hardest bit was thinking about what it represents in financial terms. I would say keep the musical instruments. A couple of ideas I have seen floating around are the 100 things idea, where each person has 100 things, and if you want to buy something and have 100 things you have to decide what to ditch. I think it is fully acceptable to have a musical instrument as one of your 100 things. The other idea I like is splitting things into the create or consume categories, and feel better about holding onto things that let you create. Anything related to consumption like a TV for example should be on "consider ditching" list. As far as cooking goes, well if that is your thing keep it. We ditched ours as we ate too much anyway. We worried that we would spend more money and eat out more, but basically we ended up eating less and losing weight. For us it has meant outsourcing a lot of stuff. Instead of burning all home movies and photos to blu-ray, we are more selective, and upload stuff to the cloud. We used to have external hard drives and actual servers, now it is just laptops and the cloud. Overall we are spending about the same. What we save on collecting crap, we spend on services. We are saving on power, and go out more. We spend less time at home, and less time cleaning up. EDIT: Plus now we only need a much cheaper and smaller flat. Rent is cheaper, but heating is MUCH cheaper.
- stygianguest 15y ago
  Your situation doesn't seem that different from mine actually. I'm also married, which does make a big difference in lifestyle. But I cannot possibly bring myself to throw away books. It's (almost) religious. Books are the foundation of civilized culture. The nazis burnt books and destroyed cultures (the things parents teach you..).
  - 15y ago

chriseidhof 15y ago

Yes, there is definitely a tension between pleasure and minimalism. I miss my guitar too. I miss cooking a little bit, but the restaurants in Berlin are very good and low prices. However, after this I might consider a furnished apartment, as long as I don't have to own the stuff myself. The point I'm trying to make in my article is that minimalism makes me happier, but I'm not sure whether this will always be true. Too minimalistic and I will probably become less happy. Also, doing it for a long time might also get old. We'll see, so far I like it.

mhd 15y ago
From reading the article, I think that you've went beyond minimalism and into straight-forward asceticism. Any opinion about that?
- chriseidhof 15y ago
  I'm actually trying to have more fun. Traveling, eating out, having more quality time with people. However, I understand why you think his but I can't identify with it (yet?).
danieldk 15y ago
Yes, there is definitely a tension between pleasure and minimalism. However paradoxical, minimalism can be also an be attachment. As Buddhists would say, take the middle road. Taking cooking as an example: food touches on the outer world (think of everything involved in a simple crop, from the farmer to the sun) and the inner world (physically and mentally). Preparing food is very good for exercising awareness and appreciating life, why would one sacrifice that? Edit: sorry for accidentally downvoting you :(.
- mkr-hn 15y ago
  I balanced your accidental downvote with an intentional upvote. :)
- saraid216 15y ago
  > However paradoxical, minimalism can be also an be attachment. As Buddhists would say, take the middle road. One of my favorite lines in philosophical thought is, "Moderation in all things, including moderation."
jff 15y ago
I think you're already less happy, because you've succumbed to minimalism. You miss your guitar, you miss cooking, because a bunch of blog posts and a book convinced you to throw out your pots and pans.

MrKurtHaeusler 15y ago

My wife and I are making steps towards minimalism, mostly motivated by having to move to different cities more often than makes sense given hiring a moving company to move a whole house worth of gear has blown a significant chunk of savings 3 times over the last 6 years now. Family minimalism is a lot harder I think than individual minimalism. Most minimalist blogs paint a picture of a single male hipster with a macbook couch-surfing between RoR consulting gigs. Family minimalism cannot be that extreme. Our books and cds were the easiest to get rid of, we both have kindles, and noticed that we never re-read books anyway, and listened to mp3s or streaming radio rather than cds. The hardest bit was thinking about what it represents in financial terms. I would say keep the musical instruments. A couple of ideas I have seen floating around are the 100 things idea, where each person has 100 things, and if you want to buy something and have 100 things you have to decide what to ditch. I think it is fully acceptable to have a musical instrument as one of your 100 things. The other idea I like is splitting things into the create or consume categories, and feel better about holding onto things that let you create. Anything related to consumption like a TV for example should be on "consider ditching" list. As far as cooking goes, well if that is your thing keep it. We ditched ours as we ate too much anyway. We worried that we would spend more money and eat out more, but basically we ended up eating less and losing weight. For us it has meant outsourcing a lot of stuff. Instead of burning all home movies and photos to blu-ray, we are more selective, and upload stuff to the cloud. We used to have external hard drives and actual servers, now it is just laptops and the cloud. Overall we are spending about the same. What we save on collecting crap, we spend on services. We are saving on power, and go out more. We spend less time at home, and less time cleaning up. EDIT: Plus now we only need a much cheaper and smaller flat. Rent is cheaper, but heating is MUCH cheaper.

stygianguest 15y ago
Your situation doesn't seem that different from mine actually. I'm also married, which does make a big difference in lifestyle. But I cannot possibly bring myself to throw away books. It's (almost) religious. Books are the foundation of civilized culture. The nazis burnt books and destroyed cultures (the things parents teach you..).
- 15y ago