5 ms·
I started to live minimal two years ago. I noticed I wasn't happy at all with my life and decided to go travelling the world, something that I always wanted to
by mvanvoorden 12y ago
I started to live minimal two years ago. I noticed I wasn't happy at all with my life and decided to go travelling the world, something that I always wanted to do, but somehow never did. I gave away almost all my stuff, what I have left is what fits in my backpack.
I have no job, no house and barely any money. I met my girlfriend during my travels and together we've been travelling for 10 months, of which the last 4 we've spent living in a cave on Tenerife and now we're staying for a short while at a friend in The Netherlands to replenish our funds for further travelling.
I own a laptop, 4 pairs of pants (2 long, 2 short), 6 shirts, some underwear, 2 mobile phones, an external hard drive, a dj controller, an e-reader, some cutlery and a bowl, a tent, a sleeping bag and mat, personal hygiene items, one pair of shoes, two warm sweaters, and a guitar.
I never buy things like clothes, as I can find those almost everywhere for free, i.e. free shops or so called freeboxes at (hippie/nomad) communities all over the world. On Tenerife we did a lot of dumpster diving, something that at first required me to overcome some shame, but now I'm amazed to see for example how much perfectly good food supermarkets throw away, just because the date expired, or because there are spots on the banana's, or a whole bag of apples is thrown away because one got crushed during transportation. Two to three times a week we left with a backpack full of tomatoes, sweet pepper, onions, bananas, avocado's, cookies, milk, cheese, etcetera and cooked meals to share with others. In bins around second hand stores or appartment buildings there are often bags full of clothes, and most of the time (in our case) they even smell fresh/washed. For me, going on a 'recycling mission' feels a bit like a lottery :) General tip: don't go through the bags of household garbage, those are disgusting. (Interested? See http://trashwiki.org http://trashwiki.org)
Anyway, this life makes me really happy, as my life is full with experience, adventure, nice people and no worries. My goal for the next years is to become fully self-sustainable, to live without money and to not be dependent on dumpster diving either, as I am aware this would not work if everybody starts doing it. My plan for now is to find a proper place to start an ecovillage, to put my experiences into practice and be completely self-sustainable, not dependent on any other system than the ecosystem.
- zer0rest 12y agoTry tropical countries, easier time finding food on trees in the street.
- martinko 12y agoDo you have a blog by any chance?
- mvanvoorden 12y agoI once started a photo blog on soup.io, but as there are sometimes months where I'm rarely online, I have neglected this big time. It is definitely a wish for me to write down what I do and what happens to me, but I haven't spent too much time yet considering what exactly to write (what do people want to read/know about?), and the transition from full time IT professional to a nomadic lifestyle has taken up a lot of my time. For instance, during my first year I ended up in a very laid back community, where I really indulged in doing basically nothing for a long time except hanging out with people. Of course, I needed this rest, but it started to make me lazy after a while as well. I realized then that this kind of life is not sustainable and wouldn't work if everyone would do this. So now my quest is to find that way of life that anyone could adapt to and is fulfilling, and mold this into a framework that I can write down and publish. Your question reminds me that I should indeed start a blog and as I will be living in a house with internet for a while, I shall set myself up to exploring this possibility :)
- hnhamdani 12y agoHey man, are you by any chance still staying in The Netherlands in the meantime? would love to hear more of your story! FYI, I live in Amsterdam currently.
- mvanvoorden 12y agoHey, I'm staying in Amsterdam, in Bajesdorp :) My username works for Facebook/Gmail as well if you want to find me :) (HN should have PM functionality)
- chrisseaton 12y agoSo for example what would you do if you decided you want to go for a hike one day? You don't own any hiking boots, only a pair of shoes. Does that mean lot of activities aren't possible for you because you want to own as little as possible?
- tonyedgecombe 12y agoIf I only owned one pair of shoes I'd choose a pair I could comfortably walk ten miles in.
- chrisseaton 12y agoGreat - but then those boots are too heavy for walking around in a city - and are those boots suitable for wet or dry conditions? I'd love to have less stuff, but I don't know how that doesn't turn into simply having the wrong stuff.
- holri 12y agoI love my Waldviertler boots: http://w4tler.at/schuhe/jaga-schwarz-herren http://w4tler.at/schuhe/jaga-schwarz-herren Perfect for almost everything all year. This guy [1] walked 15.000 km with them. He needed just 3 pairs of them. [1] http://www.globalchange.at/home/willkommen.php?main=home&sub=willkommen&lang=eng http://www.globalchange.at/home/willkommen.php?main=home&sub...
- dr_zoidberg 12y agoI've effectively used hiking boots for city-life for years. Yes, they are heavier, and the first week you get tired of walking faster than everyone else, but then it becomes natural.
- losvedir 12y agoI've used the same pair of lightweight waterproof Timberland boots for the last 10 years (in the Spring, Fall, and Winter). It's not a problem at all walking around a city (Boston & NYC) in them, or hiking outdoors. In the summer, I go with my barefoot shoes, but that's a luxury and not necessary.
- nmyk 12y agoI'm considering doing exactly this sometime next year, and I have a lot of questions, if you're interested in having an American pen pal! Let me know and I'll give you my email.