The Minimalistic Life

Subject: The Minimalistic Life Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:52 pm

I have had to come to terms with losing many things I considered important the past decade or so. Things that have been stolen, lost, broke, or confiscated because I could no longer afford storage costs. There are family heirlooms that I will never get back, photo's that you can never go back in time and retake, so many memories lost...and I can't exactly rely on my memory anymore, it's too full and leakage has begun...lol...too many things in my head to keep track or straight. Anyhow I got mad at a friend who kept telling me to stop paying for storage and use the money to pay off debts and to save up for other necessary things, I told her that some of the stuff in storage were heirlooms and pictures and I can't let those go...well I did, lost my job, moved about 1000 miles away and couldn't find another job, so I lost it all anyway. Well, I have a job now, too late to save the stuff in storage, and I do have some items I acquired here in my new home, though I have been keeping things minimal, so when I move again, and I will be moving again, I won't have to put anything in storage and risk losing it again. My mother is going to give me copies of her photo's so that I will have some again, I just wish I could have saved the cedar chest and anniversary clock, from my grandparents and other photo's from being destroyed.

I have been hearing a lot about being minimalistic and reducing what you have and considering what is really important. Many grew up with the I want, I have, I'm keeping type thinking, we were convinced the only way we could make it in this world is if we had stuff, lots and lots of stuff, the more the better, the bigger the better, the more expensive the better. Well take a good look at what all that stuff has gotten people...massive debt, collection agencies constantly phoning and threatening legal action and losing the stuff we have spent so my time, energy and money collecting.

I remember when I was in my late teens and early twenties, I started buying clothes that didn't fit, they were too small as, I was gaining weight. I kept saying I was going to lose the weight and after seven years and everyone ridiculing me about these clothes, I lost all the extra weight and I didn't have to go out and buy new clothes, I already had them. Now that is not something that many can do and I have never been able to repeat it (I gained weight again and have not lost it again).

There are a couple of interesting articles about stuff that may be of interest to you.

http://smallnotebook.org/2011/02/21/loosen-the-grip-of-more-stuff/

http://unclutterer.com/2011/02/16/responsibilities-of-ownership/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+unclutterer+%28Unclutterer%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

http://www.theminimalistmom.com/2011/02/getting-over-the-want-part-1/

Now something else we seem to think we have a lot of and just don't and need to streamline is time. There are only so many hours in the day and if not managed properly, you have no time, it's all eaten up, usually by others or unimportant things. This next article is very good at explaining how to gain back time.

http://zenhabits.net/time/

Money Management is another item of either too much debt or too little spending capital, perhaps this article can shed some light on what you can do.

http://www.theminimalistmom.com/2011/05/debt-update-spending-money-like-water/

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