UKH

After spending the past week clearing out all my old gear I got around to thinking about how much stuff everyone has. 
not just climbing specific stuff but just general things, the kitchen draw filled with random bits and pieces and general house admin.

Ive been trying to thin down my kit to be more mobile and efficient, but I wondered how minimal can you go and maintain a modern way of living? Obviously climbing is quite kit intensive, but I find that most of my kit rarely gets used, particularly the clothing, I have a relatively minimal rack that gets me up most things I do. Interestingly my climbing hardware takes up a lot less space than kit from some of my other activities. 
 

it’s interesting how much other useless stuff accumulates in the house too, items that don’t really do anything, or rarely get used, and that you can quite happily live without. 
 

so how minimal do you think it’s possible to go and live comfortably and maintain your lifestyle? 

A folding toothbrush, an expired passport and a few dollars in cash, apparently.

Just buy cheap clothes, and replace every few days. When the last bad guy is dead, stick your thumb out.

Yeah but he dress's worse in the books than in TV ....

Depends. With or without kids? 

My whole life fits in my vauxhall combo(car derived van). My tools, clothes, climbing gear, bike, minimal kitchen utensils, bedding and general odds and sods! granted i live in a shared house that had a bed and chest of draws but still pretty light

Currently in a rented flat but my setup is similar to when I had a small terraced house and will be what I have when I buy again.  No bed (basically sleep on the floor on tatami mats), one chest of drawers, no fridge, no washing machine (I would have this normally), basic sofa, a small table to eat off, tv.  More outdoor clothes than everyday clothes but these all fit in the chest of drawers.  Very few possessions as don't see the point in them.  If I don't wear or use something I own for a year it goes.  Exception is windsurfing gear but that may go as well.

I could easily move everything I want to take with me in my van.

About the only quote I remember from a film is Robert De Niro in Heat

"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."

blooming ek tj , you been on the rob with the semi automatic again ? I thought you were lieimg low for a bit ?

I think the lesson is to monitor and restrict what comes into the house.

I heard a good rule once, "Chuck out everything you haven't used, or worn, in the last 6 months"

(I suppose books are excluded)

I've "lived" in a car for periods of time, with climbing kit and MTB and could get by with little in the way of clothing and cutlery etc. not too bothered about a tv but do need my music and headphones. Lived on a boat for several years but it was quite big, so didn't restrict us too much.

But to really live life, I like making fixing and building stuff so the garage and workshops full of tools and equipment are a necessity not worth living without. Having a family adds a load of stuff that I don't need, but makes life easier.

It would be an interesting exercise to live like a monk (non religious version) for a while, but were a long time dead, so I'll give it all up then anyway. 

My suit/shoes is only used fore funerals and my winter kit hasnt seen service for a while...

Me and my then girlfriend, now wife lived out of a backpack each in Oz for a year, does that count? Staying in a furnished apartment for two lots of 5 months and hostels for the in between times - so didn’t need to own furniture or kitchen items. Backpacks held harnesses and rock shoes as well as all our ordinary clothes, and a towel each. And some work clothes. 
 

Simpler times!

Now we have two kids and a house full of ****. If we’re talking 90s movies quotes about possessions it’s got to be Fight Club, Tyler Durden: “the things you own end up owning you.”  I didn’t really understand it at the time (when I was 12) but I do now. 

Decathlon in Belgium (I think) are trialling a long-term rental scheme whereby you pay a monthly subscription and can then borrow sports equipment up to a certain value as and when you need it. It works out cheaper for the customers and Decathlon get lots of data about how their equipment is used, areas for improvement, what wears out first etc.

I think we'll see more and more rental schemes like this with people sharing things rather than owning them outright and only using them rarely. Which in turn will hopefully lead to products lasting longer and being more repairable.

Always liked this photography project, 30 statistically average families from around the world photographed in front of their houses with everything they own.

https://www.menzelphoto.com/gallery-collection/Material-World-A-Global-Fami...

OK, it's not quite the same as what's the minimum you can get away with, but highlights how what's 'normal' is down to both culture and wealth.

I have too many hobbies. I don't practice all my hobbies at any given time. I go in and out of them depending on my mood.

It means I have a lot of stuff.

I'm half way through building a car and I'm really worried about moving. The amount of stuff in my garage is scary. We're talking welders, cranes, engine stands, the car, the bits for the car I may or may nor need, generic tools. Ahhhh. The list goes on.

I need to have a serious clearout and stop being a sentimental fool about some things!

I do have a pile of DIY stuff that's just accumulated in the garage - tools, tins of paint, etc, but none of that wears out.

I do need to thin out the bike fleet down to what I actually will use - should have sold the tandem during lockdown, for a start!

Other outdoors stuff I don't use much, but I do like to have as an option.

I've got every game console I ever owned and quite a lot of other crap. I'm not full-bore hoarder standard yet but certainly cling onto some stuff I have no need for, that I've moved around about 5 house moves for no reason whatsoever.

Edit: I haven't played computer games for like 10years+

My wife says I'm a hoarder - I tend to think of a lot of it as souvenirs.

Almost lost everything to a forest fire a decade ago, living abroad.

When you pack the car with only 30mins to get out you learn what you really NEED.

I talk a lot with my kids about needs and wants.

Essentially most of what we feel we NEED, we don't.

But stuff still accumulates even if you have a head knowledge of this fact.

I probably NEED more forest fires in my life.....

Having this year had to clear out the old family home, I can say it's definitely worth while trying to streamline life a bit as you go along. If not only for your own sake, but for the sake's of your children, or whoever will be left to sort through decades-worth of accumulated stuff. It's a sobering, melancholy/depressing task.

It has informed how I want to organise my possessions to a degree. Books are now going to be 'one-in-one-out,' and there will be periodic 'thinnings' of things that are no longer justifying the space they occupy. 

Having two young kids definitely increases the amount of crap you acquire.....and get rid of. It all helps the wheels of the economy turn I suppose, but is a bit depressing when you stand back and think about it. 

A useful thought experiment might be: look are your collection of theatre programmes/penknives/endless boxes of 'maybe one day' widgets/etc etc etc and ask yourself: how depressed would someone be to have to keep/sell/give to charity/take to the tip this stuff. 

I would quite happily live in an empty house if I was allowed.  I have a few things I am attached to, but for the most part I don't care for things.  Even outdoor gear I only like to have one thing that does one job - I don't have more than one stove for example.  I am not sure why but I find 'things' and 'objects' really stress me out.

My partner is the opposite, she emptied her hiking bag the other day and found two fridge magnets, some rocks, a 'cool looking stick', a handful of foreign money,and some form of cake in a plastic packet that expired a year ago - still tasted fine which is worrying. 

We have moved a lot over the last few years and sort of accumulated bits - people seem to like to give us there old furniture!  It was great while renting, but now we have finally bought our own place its almost offensive how nothing matches or even goes well together. 

We (well I am) on a bit of a campaign at the moment of decorating each room in turn.  I am trying to do them to a minimal design, keeping with a rough theme,  but still have enough 'stuff' to keep my partner happy! 

We have agreed whatvever is left at the end will be boxed up and put in the shed.  After a year if we haven't opened the boxes we will just thrown them out / donate them etc. 

Hmm, we've got to clear out my parents' flat which we've been avoiding doing for some months - so many items that have been there for all my life, it's not so much that I want them, it's more not wanting them to just end up chucked in the bin.

Difficult deciding which ones I want, which ones of my mum's paintings are going to end up just thrown away?

And that's apart from all the stuff we've accumulated.

Having moved house last month, I'm sort of in the process of finding this out. 

As boxes and bags get unpacked it's a date case of "do I need this? Did I miss this while it was packed away? When did I last use it? When am I likely to use it again?".

There will be many trips to the recycling centre (when they're not closed due to strikes) charity shops and likely the post office.

That's the depressing and sobering bit. I found there were four stages of sorting:

1. Stuff of emotional or practical value that you want to keep. Could be a painting or your dad's old tools etc. (a depressingly small amount of stuff, see below)

2. Stuff of monetary value that is worth selling  (but is it worth more than my time spent on eBay/going round dealers etc....?)

3. Stuff of value that's too nice to throw away but that you can't be bothered to sell, so give it to charity...Someone might want it.

4. Stuff of no value that no-one wants. Recycling or tip.

In my experience it was heavily weighted towards 3 and 4, despite being a house full of 45 years-worth of nice things and memories. There's so much that even if potentially in 'category 1' you end up thinking: 'well, I'd like this, it's too nice to throw away, but I don't actually need it, and what's it going to do, sit on a shelf until MY kids have to throw it away..... arrrghhhh'.

That's the depressing bit. Then you ask yourself: what am I keeping because I think it's nice, valuable even, that my kids will have neither the inclination nor the space to keep after I'm gone? Better to have less stuff.

I agree with the concept but 'm not sure 6 months make sense as some things are seasonal but kind of essential

I think a lot boils down to 'Do you need to pay to store stuff you don't need, and how will you and society benefit by getting rid of stuff?  I look at a lot of the things I've accumulated over the years and think this. For example, I have some SS jubilee clips in one of my garage drawers that I am unlikely to need in the near future and are 6 years old.  They have little monetary value secondhand, yet would be relatively costly to replace. They won't go off, and take up little space, so I see little point in getting rid of them for the sake of it.  Things that are bulky, yet cheap to replace; or that deteriorate with time (like a winter coat) get passed on because I can pick up another in a charity shop easily.  It's better not to get stuff in the first place.

My wife does a monthly de-cluttering challenge occasionally - get rid of one item on day 1, 2 on day 2 etc. up to 31 on the last day. She enjoys that.

I love that idea - going to challenge my wife 😁

I don’t have a massive amount of stuff and could quite easily and happily move into a small studio flat or a caravan.  
 

My husband however - dear god almighty…..  He accumulates stuff.  He will periodically announce that he’s off to the dump with a car load of junk, but always brings things back as well.

His ultimate is the broken pianola currently resident in our garage.  He has a garage, two sheds and a greenhouse all packed with “stuff”.  I worry that he’ll cark it before me and I’ll be a little old widow-woman left trying to sort it all out.

I could do the same with the exception of the tools, my Citroen Relay van is basically a mobile tool box.

My entire wardrobe would fit in 1 small suitcase and I only buy new clothes when the old are worn out. My definition of worn out is very different to the wife's so we have many heated discussions about what she thinks needs replacing and I think has at least 5 more years wear in it. 

My wife and i moved from Ireland to Scotland when we were about 25. We carried everything with us in 2 rucksacs and a bag or 2. Things like records and books were left behind and never made the move over. 

But 25 years, later moving to france after owning a house and garage with 2 kids it was a completely different story!

That's done for my winter clothes, then. I suppose I'll just buy new ones when the snow comes???

The problem is books. How does one throw them away? And music? Oh and the harpsichord???

I think I *could* de-clutter quite a lot if I had to to, but it would take more than 30 minutes.

The harpsichord could always be burned, in order to keep warm this winter. Or otherwise recycled, in the style of https://www.pianodrome.org/pianodrome-at-the-old-royal-high-1

Thank you for that wonderful link.

And what is the difference between a basson and an oboe? ... you get a better fire from burning a basson.

After a few house moves where huge amounts untouched stuff from the last house were hauled to a new house to be untouched, something had to be done. Vast cd collection now gone in favour of Apple Music, and I’m now listening to way more stuff I hadn’t heard before. Climbing book collection now all gone, except for current guides and a few autobiographies of mates and people I know, A whole library which was four sides of a room, floor to ceiling,  most of which were read, but only once. I kept one shelf, and donate books to charity when new ones come in. Got rid of guitars, amps, climbing gear clothing etc on the 12 month rule.it’s been a really liberating experience, and reveals so much. We were just carting that stuff around for no reason, and it helped in the decision to cash in and downsize the house in the next couple of years. 

All I need is a bouldering kit and a ticket to India. I’m assuming plant based milks will be widely available?

"what is the difference between a basson and an oboe?"

I think bassons have red bums. I imagine they'd be pretty irate about getting set fire to too.

years ago it was not uncommon for hippies to get a cheap flight to India and go bush in goa or manali   , throwing their passport away on arrival . On my first visit in the 80s there were a few on the super cheap Afghan airways flight . Some  of them stuck out like  sore thumbs and would no doubt have to pay a hefty bribe to be allowed into the country. The chap I chatted to in Kabul airport had wised up . He had smartened himself up, cut his hair , shaved his beard and bought some  vaguely outdoorsy looking clothes and his back story was that he was going trekking . His plan was to live for several years in a cave near  manali . I ve been to manali several times since and always hoped to bump into him wandering down the street with a very long beard and a big smile on his face .