![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Going on a bit of journey. I guess I already started it anyway. No friends, it's nothing major. Well, maybe it is? Just something that I started reading about and my mind had a wonderful eureka moment. Have you heard about minimalism?
Not the design style, though I suppose that's a branch off. The lifestyle rather. Two sayings caught my attention sharply. The first: There are two ways of being rich. One is to have all you want, the other is to be satisfied with what you have. The second: I don't buy things with money... I buy them with hours of my life.
Both of these really hit me. I love my stuff. I own the larger portion of stuff in two shared storage units (10x10 and a 10x15). I still have several boxes in my mom's house plus four aquariums (only two of which should be running within a few weeks so I can give her some of her house back, sheesh). I planned on buying a HUGE house for all my stuff and MORE STUFF. There are so many collections I've wanted to build up, so many things to 'save up for'. A luxury car. A 300 gallon tank (or bigger!). Comics! Toys! Games!
With those kinds of wants, I don't think I could ever hit the first half of the former quote. But what if I was happy with all my things? What if I actually used them and appreciated them, and could have them with me instead of in storage? What if I could buy a preowned normal vehicle for cash and not have a car payment? I could certainly learn to enjoy the latter part.
I know it's likely very true for me when I consider this: It is easier for me to remember road trips and off-roading/star gazing/just driving adventures with BFF than it is for me to remember just what I have stashed in storage. Both the gas and the purchase prices are still following me, several years later, via a > $15,000 debt on credit cards. But I can appreciate the 'better' use, so to speak.
Then the second quote got me. I have been working a fourth night every week since about October. I started to feel burnt out. Though that fourth was paid time and a half as overtime, I still lived paycheck to paycheck. I've taken at least 3 boxes to storage since then because stuff doesn't fit in the apartment. I realized that I was working too damn hard to not have anything WORTHWHILE to show for it. I have proof in receipts, but not in true value. So I had started direct depositing a portion of my check into a savings account. I never missed the money, so I think I might add a little more. And look, now I have the beginnings of the promise of a house in exchange for my literal life. Having a home for a goal gives me peace when I go to work, other than not having anything (which is what all the STUFF really amounted to).
Granted, I doubt I could live without books and DVDs galore, without games and collectibles. But how much more time would I have to read, watch, play, and enjoy all these things if I 1) could have them in my apartment/home? And 2) if I could stop wasting time dusting, cleaning, replacing, and organizing those things which aren't appreciated except for the time before they were mine and I forked over hard-earned money (or useless credit) for them? It would certainly be an improvement.
So I started small. Here's what I have gotten done:
3/27 Gave away three lotions from Julep I’ve had for maybe a year despite not using them.
3/31 Got rid of a lipstick that may have looked nice, but tasted like fakey fakeness. Yuck. Had that for at least a year too.
4/2 Went through a large box of paperwork, managed to trash almost half of it. Woo!
Yes, I was keeping a mini list. I have taken a week off work (starting Sunday), and I hope to make the most of it. I doubt I can get to the point where I can bring over boxes from storage to go through to divide into Keep, Donate/Sell, Trash, and Store sections in just that few days, but wouldn't it be awesome to try? I know I'm looking forward just to be able to walk in that one corner where I have a bunch of half-unpacked boxes and the like just taking up space.
So wish me luck on my attempts of change that many have said brought them a truer kind of happiness than base consumerism (I like to buy stuff, really! I just want to buy stuff I truly want or love, and not all the 'meh' crap this time around).
Not the design style, though I suppose that's a branch off. The lifestyle rather. Two sayings caught my attention sharply. The first: There are two ways of being rich. One is to have all you want, the other is to be satisfied with what you have. The second: I don't buy things with money... I buy them with hours of my life.
Both of these really hit me. I love my stuff. I own the larger portion of stuff in two shared storage units (10x10 and a 10x15). I still have several boxes in my mom's house plus four aquariums (only two of which should be running within a few weeks so I can give her some of her house back, sheesh). I planned on buying a HUGE house for all my stuff and MORE STUFF. There are so many collections I've wanted to build up, so many things to 'save up for'. A luxury car. A 300 gallon tank (or bigger!). Comics! Toys! Games!
With those kinds of wants, I don't think I could ever hit the first half of the former quote. But what if I was happy with all my things? What if I actually used them and appreciated them, and could have them with me instead of in storage? What if I could buy a preowned normal vehicle for cash and not have a car payment? I could certainly learn to enjoy the latter part.
I know it's likely very true for me when I consider this: It is easier for me to remember road trips and off-roading/star gazing/just driving adventures with BFF than it is for me to remember just what I have stashed in storage. Both the gas and the purchase prices are still following me, several years later, via a > $15,000 debt on credit cards. But I can appreciate the 'better' use, so to speak.
Then the second quote got me. I have been working a fourth night every week since about October. I started to feel burnt out. Though that fourth was paid time and a half as overtime, I still lived paycheck to paycheck. I've taken at least 3 boxes to storage since then because stuff doesn't fit in the apartment. I realized that I was working too damn hard to not have anything WORTHWHILE to show for it. I have proof in receipts, but not in true value. So I had started direct depositing a portion of my check into a savings account. I never missed the money, so I think I might add a little more. And look, now I have the beginnings of the promise of a house in exchange for my literal life. Having a home for a goal gives me peace when I go to work, other than not having anything (which is what all the STUFF really amounted to).
Granted, I doubt I could live without books and DVDs galore, without games and collectibles. But how much more time would I have to read, watch, play, and enjoy all these things if I 1) could have them in my apartment/home? And 2) if I could stop wasting time dusting, cleaning, replacing, and organizing those things which aren't appreciated except for the time before they were mine and I forked over hard-earned money (or useless credit) for them? It would certainly be an improvement.
So I started small. Here's what I have gotten done:
3/27 Gave away three lotions from Julep I’ve had for maybe a year despite not using them.
3/31 Got rid of a lipstick that may have looked nice, but tasted like fakey fakeness. Yuck. Had that for at least a year too.
4/2 Went through a large box of paperwork, managed to trash almost half of it. Woo!
Yes, I was keeping a mini list. I have taken a week off work (starting Sunday), and I hope to make the most of it. I doubt I can get to the point where I can bring over boxes from storage to go through to divide into Keep, Donate/Sell, Trash, and Store sections in just that few days, but wouldn't it be awesome to try? I know I'm looking forward just to be able to walk in that one corner where I have a bunch of half-unpacked boxes and the like just taking up space.
So wish me luck on my attempts of change that many have said brought them a truer kind of happiness than base consumerism (I like to buy stuff, really! I just want to buy stuff I truly want or love, and not all the 'meh' crap this time around).
