Shall we play the minimalism game?

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:32 am

The game is pretty simple:

Each consecutive day of the month, we will remove the same number of items from the house (donate, throw away, sell, etc.) For example, on the 1st of the month, we remove one item, 2nd, two, 3rd, three, etc, etc, etc.

Anyone care to join me in leading a clutter and crap free life?

Retro

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:04 pm

How long will THIS self-improvement scheme last until you're wallowing in misery again?

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 1:02 pm

My secret is that I am already wallowing in self misery and will continue to do so regardless of anything I try.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 3:02 pm

So by the end of February there's 28 items to get ridda. That seems like a lot. Do you have many, many things you can just part with?

THE
OODLES
AARDVARK

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 3:21 pm

AArdvark wrote:So by the end of February there's 28 items to get ridda. That seems like a lot. Do you have many, many things you can just part with?

Right but the way I'm counting that would be 406 items by the 28th (1 on the first, 2 on the second, 3 on the third, etc). I could do that if we could count, oh, a box of cereal and count all the pieces inside individually I suppose.

I could do one a day pretty easily.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 6:12 pm

Point of the game is to force you to really think about what you need. Believe we could all throw one or two things away per day, but as by the end of the first week you have thrown 28 things away (and likely all the "easy" junk to get rid of) it forces you into a corner.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 6:25 pm

You're a young punk who thinks you know everything and we've all already been through all of this and learned to stop obsessing on "self-improvement" and the "right way to be" and just try to get through the day.

Search all of my old posts from about 13 years ago. I did the same thing. I learned.

Save yourself some time and lighten the fuck up.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:16 pm

Besides the ding that Pinback threw at me, I've removed enough stuff from my house that I am down to a quarter of a book case, four or five shoe boxes and a quarter of a plastic bin of STUFF (this is minus clothes and kitchen stuff, the latter of which I still need to go through.)

Do I feel better for it? No, but it became something to obsess over for a little while, which was actually nice to have.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:46 pm

Essentially down to the following:

1. My main closet - have a few misc. things (rat cage? Ikea coffee table, that quarter full plastic bin and a few items in the very back) that I need to go through. This is the main area I have left that I can downsize.

2. In regards to what I wear, I have donated more than 75% of my wardrobe except my good clothes, which amounts to 13 pairs of wool socks, 20 wool shirts (double as under,) 5 pairs of jeans, 10 dress shirts, two belts and five pairs of shoes (dress, running, boots, sandals and walking.)

3. Book shelve of niche (video game, sword or other hobby related) books. Need to re-arrange as it has overflowed a wee bit, but otherwise content with it.

4. Kitchen is the main non-living space that can be downsized - will end up with one small plastic container for breakfast (yogurt / granola,) one medium for lunch (to dump salad into,) one bowl for random stuff, six mason jars to be used when making food for the week and... Utensils?

Uh... That is about everything.

I'll never be at a point where I am looking to provision an entire room for Star Wars figurines.

Retro

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:47 pm

Oh... And I haven't bought a damn physical thing this month besides food. Will be getting a speed meter for my bike and a heart rate monitor for myself, but that is about it.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 7:37 pm

RetroRomper wrote:I'll never be at a point where I am looking to provision an entire room for Star Wars figurines.

I'm going to say this nicely because we're friends. (We're not really friends.)

You're one of the most neurotic motherfuckers I know. Almost every post of yours relates in some way to one of your mental disorders. It's bad enough I take pot shots from the resident alcoholic; I'm not going to take them from the resident crazy alcoholic too.

So, I have a proposal for you. Take some of that money you're now saving with your minimalistic lifestyle, buy a bucket of lube, get your little plastic tubs of food all nice and slippery and shove 'em up your ass. If you want to double your fun you can follow them with a few pairs of wool socks. If you really want to get your money's worth you can do it live on the Don Rogers show.

You better hope one of those five pairs of jeans you kept were big boy size.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:24 am

RetroRomper wrote:My secret is that I am already wallowing in self misery and will continue to do so regardless of anything I try.

Change the first word to "Your" as a reply to Pinback and I think you have defined his entire existence. It might even apply to me, but...

RetroRomper wrote:Point of the game is to force you to really think about what you need.

You haven't really defined "need." Like with the other thread, if we only ate what we "need," then we could survive on beans and rice, plus water, indefinitely (as in, for decades). But it would probably be boring. I love macaroni and cheese but I wouldn't want to eat it for 3 meals a day or even every day.

So lets look at it this way. You need: a bed, pillows, pillow cases, sheets, a blanket or quilt;a chair; one "pair" each of shoes, socks, pants; one shirt, one spoon, one knife, one fork, one plate, one bowl; food of whatever you eat for however often you shop; and any tools you need to perform your occupation or whatever you do to earn enough to pay your rent/mortgage, heating and cooling, and food.

That is all you "need", but it would be... boring.

Now, add to that the stuff you want to have around to make things easier (like underwear, for example). And that is where you can look for stuff that is not making your life easier or isn't necessary for your comfort or survival. Other things you keep around but don't help you (or your family) are clutter. If you have something, even if you have many of them, and they help you, then they're not clutter. Let me give you an example.

I have a device, about 3 feet long, has a 1" around rod made of solid aluminum, has a rubber-coated magnetized claw on one end and a plastic squeeze handle on the other. Costs 20 bucks at Home Depot, it's called a Nifty Nabber. Actually I don't have one, I have three of them. Much nicer than those cheap folding devices because it will easily pick up 5 pounds and short of rolling over it in a wheelchair you can't bend them.

I use it so I can pick up things, and it is a big improvement when something is beyond arm's reach or is awkward or difficult to pick up by hand when you're in a wheelchair. I recommend them even for people who can walk, because if you ever drop something into a place too small for your arm to reach it, you'll discover it's the best twenty bucks you ever spent.

I have to replace one every year or so because I'm hard on them; if you're not in a wheelchair with a combined 600+ pound weight that can bend or snap aluminum easy, you'll probably get 5 or ten years of use out of one of them.

I don't have 3 of them because I'm a pack rat, I have three of them so I can leave one next to the bed, I can have one in the bathroom, and one in the living room/kitchen (and because occasionally I break one). When I took the four hour pass from the rehabilitation center to come home, it was one of the first things I picked up to take with me. Even my tablet Windows computer, Android tablet and phone charger were second, third and so on.

Now what you have to decide is, are the things you have necessary for survival or convenient and make things easier for you to live.

I have a suggestion on how to decide how to determine that in a separate thread.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:33 am

Flack wrote:It's bad enough I take pot shots from the resident alcoholic; I'm not going to take them from the resident crazy alcoholic too.

We're living whatever life makes us happy. You have a room full of Star Wars figurines? Cool. Robb has a garage full of arcade cabinets? Awesome. They were just being used as contrasts to my own state. Also yes on the neurotic bit: what character are you playing when you log in?

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 9:42 am

It's certainly not the poor victim.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 10:20 am

Where.... Where is all this HATE flowing from?

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:47 am

Flack wrote:It's certainly not the poor victim.

He's back!

He's angrier, but he's back!

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:16 pm

RetroRomper wrote:Where.... Where is all this HATE flowing from?

Look, man. I've chatted with you enough to "get" you. If you're gonna leave a comment like, "I'm getting rid of all my stuff, at least I'll never have a Star Wars room" it ain't gonna come off nicely to the VERY PERSON YOU WERE REFERRING TO.

You have a blind spot when it comes to that sort of thing.

RetroRomper · Post by **RetroRomper** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 3:36 pm

Still working on removing more from my apartment and managed to give away a few excess items:

*Carbonator
*Extra standing mat
*Sous vide machine

Also emptied out the little entry way hall the studio has of a bunch of stuff I have had to donate for the last two weeks.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:06 am

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:
RetroRomper wrote:Where.... Where is all this HATE flowing from?
Look, man. I've chatted with you enough to "get" you. If you're gonna leave a comment like, "I'm getting rid of all my stuff, at least I'll never have a Star Wars room" it ain't gonna come off nicely to the VERY PERSON YOU WERE REFERRING TO.

You have a blind spot when it comes to that sort of thing.

The blind spot is so big that I don't think he saw this post.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:14 am

Does anyone else wonder what items he parted with before he got down to the critical stuff, like a Sous vide machine?