Back in March I finished a two month project to clean out the excess stuff from my condo. This is the latest episode in a long see saw of my life. I’m hoping it’s the final episode of the see saw, but I doubt it.
The See Saw
About twenty years ago I had a minimalist phase, where I got down to owning about 1,000 things. (Yes, I’ve heard about the guy who got down to a 100, but he massively cheated.) But I ended up not liking that, after several instances of rebuying things that I got rid of because I hadn’t used them in a year.
I tried being frugal for a while, but not worrying about how much I owned. This worked well, especially when I moved into a smaller condo. Indeed, it kept my spending low, which helped me save more and retire early.
But then I retired and saving money to enjoy my retirement. But I couldn’t bring myself to spend it because I’d spent so much time being frugal and saving to retire. It became very frustrating to have thousands of dollars to spend on having fun, but being unable to spend the money because of old habits. I eventually started to force myself to spend money on having fun. That worked okay, especially while I was living in a larger apartment. But then I moved back into a small condo, and it got to be too much. So I needed to dial back a bit, hopefully finding the right level.
The New Paradigm
I did some thinking about this, which brought me back to the question minimalism likes to ask: Have you used it in the past year? The idea is that if you haven’t, then you should get rid of it. As I said, this did not work out for me. So I came up with a new set of questions.
The first question is: Am I ever going to use this? If I am, I need to ask how long it will be before I do use it. Then you figure out if it is worth keeping it that long. I like how this is more flexible and less rigid than a one year limit, allowing you to treat different objects in different ways. I also like how it’s a cost-benefit analysis of space and time against utility.
If I come out of that set of questions deciding that I’m never going to use something, or that it isn’t worth keeping, that doesn’t mean I get rid of it. I then ask: does this thing have sentimental or collectible value? I’m very much a function-over-form, utility-loving kind of guy. But life has taught me to value things beyond pure functionality, and my obsessiveness is calmed by collecting. But again, that sentimental or collectible value has to be judged against the space cost of keeping the object.
Getting Rid of Stuff
Next came the categorizing of what stuff was going to go and how it was going to go. At first I had this elaborate plan of trying to selling things on Craig’s list, then trying again at half price, then trying to get rid of it on Free Cycle, and then throwing it out. As I was going through all of the stuff I was going to get rid of, I realized that I was just not interested in putting that much effort into it. Earlier in my life, when money was tight, I would have done it that way. Hell, back then I had a postal scale for calculating postage for all of my Ebay sales. These days I’m retired and doing well, so I decided not to worry about it. So if I thought someone might use it, I’d donate it to charity. Otherwise I’d recycle it if possible, or throw it out if it wasn’t.
I did end up selling some stuff, mainly by narrowing the criteria for having a game in my board game collection. I also sold some of my dice collection. I got rid of a rainbow of seven-die sets for about $2 a piece, nicely arranged in craft organizers. I have over 800 dice from my collection that I’m try to sell for less than a nickel a die. But if I can’t sell those in the next couple of months, I’m just going to throw them out.
I recycled a lot of electronics, including something like six computer keyboards, two old tablets, and several old cell phones. A fair amount of stuff I threw out. Some of it was board games that were incomplete. Some was clothing that was too torn to wear, even for an aging punk rocker.
I viciously culled my library of books and donated most of them to the local library system. They collect them and have semi-annual book sales to raise money. And yes, I went to that sale and spent almost $50 buying other books and DVDs. What can I say, I’m still looking for authors I like as much as Lois McMaster Bujold and Martha Wells. And they had some good mathematics books, and the DVDs were only $1…
I donated my bicycle and assorted gear to a charity that refurbishes them for low income people. I love riding a bicycle, but it’s just too dangerous where I live to do it when I don’t have to.
My plan was to give the rest of it to Goodwill. Some people gave me shit for this, saying that Goodwill is a horrible organization and that I should give it to the Salvation Army. But I was already of the opinion that the Salvation Army was a horrible organization. I’ve thought that way ever since President Bush’s Thousand Points of Light, which prompted the Salvation Army to lobby the government to allow federally funded organizations to discriminate against gays. But I thought, hey, maybe people are right about Goodwill, and maybe the Salvation Army has improved since the Bush era. After researching it I decided that while Goodwill is not a perfect organization, but its poor pay practices are not as bad as the Salvation Army’s continued campaign of hate against gays, and I gave the stuff to Goodwill.
What did I give them?
- Several boxes of dominos. I really enjoyed setting them up and knocking them down, but my hand shakes too much to set up anything very elaborate.
- Several coats I no longer wear. I did keep one motorcycle jacket and helmet in case I ever need to get on a motorcycle again.
- A lot of more mainstream games. I got them for “completeness” in my collection of board games, or cool dice, but I’m no longer worrying about those things.
- A lot of housewares I no longer used, including a lot of stuff from my collection of containers. Yes, I have a collection of containers (including luggage). Yes, I am a bit obsessive/compulsive.
- About 150 Hot Wheels cars and assorted accessories. I started collecting them after I decided I had collected too many dice. While I had some fun with them (ask me about the tournament I ran), I decided they were evidence that my collecting urge was getting a little out of control and I needed to dial it back a bit.
- Probably a bunch more junk that I can’t remember. I took two or three car loads of stuff over there.
I was also going to get rid of some of my furniture and use the space for a nice game table for board games and RPGs. However, moving all of the above stuff around over stressed my bad back. I ended up on the couch with a heat pad while I munched Advil for two weeks straight. Even now, almost two months later, I’m still not fully recovered. And some of the furniture I was going to get rid of was instrumental in my recovery. I still want to try and clear enough space to get a game table, but that has been split off into another project that is on hold for now.