Any minimalist or Konmari converts here?

It's funny now, but I'm serious with my comments.  On Sunday, Feb. 8, 1998, at 6:30 am our home burned to the ground.  My wife had woke  up to feed our 6 week old son and smelled smoke.  By the time she woke me up the second time, and I had put my contacts in and brushed my teeth (she just had a baby, she'd been acting crazy for weeks, but sure, I'll check to make sure the forking house is not on fire at 630 on a Sunday morning.....THANKS!!), and walked out into the hallway......I found, to my horror, that the entire attic of our home was fully engulfed.  A neighbor and I made 2 trips back in but only managed to save a box of pictures and 2 armfuls of baby clothes.  We stood in the street and watched everything we owned burn.......down to nothing by the time the volunteer fire department got there.  Very weird feeling.....I recommend it to anyone who thinks all that crap they own means anything.

In a borrowed car, with virtually nothing, we found a hotel for the night and got ahold of our insurance agent the next morning.  We spent the next few weeks basically in shock and mourning for what we had lost.  Exactly 2 weeks later we were watching the Sunday morning news and saw a local story of a house fire where 5 people died.  That was one of those life defining moments for my wife and I.  That day we moved on.....happy that we had a baby who was hungry and woke us up.  I can honestly say I never missed a single thing we lost from that day forward.

I have not read the books you mention, but we save almost nothing.  I guess it would not be fair to say we live a "minimalist" life, we have 3 teenagers......but we don't have a single cluttered closet or drawer.  As an example, my son won literally hundreds and hundreds of medals, plaques, and ribbons in an elite high school running, swimming, and triathlon "career" before he left for college......we have 2 that have not been given away.  There is nothing in our home that we can't walk away from......right now....or burn it all, I don't care.

I hope I didn't hijack your thread too badly....my wife and I were just talking about the profound impact that day had on us (anniversary was just a few weeks ago) and it seemed to fit your post.

That thing you think means so much to you?  Give it or throw it away.......in a few weeks you'll be stunned how much you never needed it.  Either that, or burn it all down......it's good for your soul.  And remember.....if you ever DO have a fire....it's just fuel anyway.

 

Edited by Left Brain 2017-02-22 10:11 PM

LB, you and your wife are very wise people!!! Thank God you all made it out alive. My dad's house burned when he was 12 and he realized how lucky they were (6 people all made it out). They only mourned the loss of the pictures.

My wife and I are on the minimalism and downsizing track. We live in a pretty modest sized house and with the passing of my father and birth of our first child we realized we are surrounded by stuff. We really want to maximize our space and do not want to end up buying a bigger house to simply store more stuff (room for family growth sure, but not things). The process has been a bit slower than we have liked but between our jobs, a five month old, and MN winters you can only do so much. Recently though we were able to recycle a bunch of old electronics, clothing, and assorted college, grad school, and law school items. My wife has been part of an online group focusing on minimalism and I recently picked up The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Currently our plan is to recapture the basement bedroom which has become the miscellaneous storage room. Hopefully we can pickup steam come spring and summer.

We all, eventually, give up 'things'. Some more than others, either way ..ok. Not many give up things that will really change much ie IPads, cell phones, or computers. Things that, you know, occupy us?

Never read a book on the subject, but I have lived pretty much all my adult life in small apartments (one or two bedroom, most in developing countries where the rooms are smaller than the US) with limited storage space, so it has definitely made me a minimalist. My basic technique is, if I get something new, I have to give away something in return. I like fashion and reading, so am a regular contributor to clothes drives and exchanges, our faculty book exchange, Goodwill and the like at home in the US, etc. I repurpose most of my finisher's medals for classroom and sports events. I only keep those for events that were truly memorable and IM brand events (as they tend to be unique; anyway I don't do very many). For travel souvenirs I will generally just get a piece or two of unique fabric that I get made into clothes that I design.

Moving is a great time to take stock of what you have and throw out or give away what you don't need--it's easier to do that than pack it up and then find a "home" for it in the new place.

World politics being what they are, and as an expat for many years, it's also always somewhere in the back of my mind that I might have to leave my current residence, perhaps long-term, on short notice.It has certainly happened to colleagues working elsewhere. So I have a mental (and physical) list of what is absolutely essential to my happiness and well-being and make sure I know where that is at all times in the event the sh... hits the fan. Also useful in the event of fire or natural disaster.