Minimalism

[twiliter]

In general


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am in general, in fact in everything but my MT/SAK collection, but I wasn't always.

My minimalism started with moving also, then I started to enjoy not having stuff to worry about, maintain, store, etc. The head space gained by this is pretty phenomenal, not to mention the cost savings. I still practice it, and eventually the collection won't last either. The 100 things or 30 day programs are pretty rigid, but not a bad starting point. I wouldn't make a very good prepper I suppose, but I do try to keep enough food and water on hand to make it a week without power. Some stuff is just too practical to get rid of, but being able to move in one day with one truckload of stuff is an idea I can live with, it makes the thought of having to relocate tolerable (hopefully never again!). 

[twiliter]

One thing I will add is that I have found minimalism to be a work in progress, a lifestyle more than some destination or magic number to reach, and there are different levels of it. The internet minimalist gurus are extreme IMHO, but whatever works... 

[Ron Who]

I´m an internet maximalist guru.
I´m not extreme but I´m having tons of fun.

[twiliter]

I´m an internet maximalist guru.
I´m not extreme but I´m having tons of fun.

You are extreme, don't kid yourself my friend. 

[magentus]

I´m an internet maximalist guru.
I´m not extreme but I´m having tons of fun.

You are extreme, don't kid yourself my friend. 

+1 

[AimlessWanderer]

I'm a somewhat defective minimalist.

I've strived to achieve optimisation, minimise redundancy, and have possessions which deliver the best performance and versatility, in the most efficient space, weight, and cost....

















.... in a myriad of different forms 

[magentus]

  

[Ron Who]

I´ll be carrying pruning shears and saw tomorrow, and nine SAKs.

Compact, Weekender and Magsmade Bushcrafter in my back pack.
MiniChamp, +B Carver SW, and SwissChamp in leather Vic pouches on the belt.
Pioneer Solo in jeans pocket.
Syph Buccaneer in Cordura pouch in jacket pocket. Not because I need it but because I can.
Fireman in jacket pocket.

I may add a hunting folder.

[sir_mike]

I´ll be carrying pruning shears and saw tomorrow, and nine SAKs.

Compact, Weekender and Magsmade Bushcrafter in my back pack.
MiniChamp, +B Carver SW, and SwissChamp in leather Vic pouches on the belt.
Pioneer Solo in jeans pocket.
Syph Buccaneer in Cordura pouch in jacket pocket. Not because I need it but because I can.
Fireman in jacket pocket.

I may add a hunting folder.

If that is the minimal you can get by on, I will call you a minimalist! 

[gerleatherberman]

What the smurf is minimalism? Does not compute........does not compute! 

[hiraethus]

I like the concept of minimalism, but my execution is patchy.  I own 4 bikes, a garage full of tools, shelves full of books and more knives and multis than I can use.  Worst of all, I have two children, and they have generous grandparents and older cousins whose parents are keen to hand off unwanted things.  Moving house recently has helped us to sort things out - at least now the clutter is concentrated in three places in the house and can be cleared out in an orderly fashion.

I suppose I embrace 5S more than minimalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_(methodology).  Clean out all the stuff you don't need, organise what you do need, keep it clean and tidy, develop your processes and stick to them.

[Gerhard Gerber]

Also due to moving too many times through the years, as well as not having a spot on this earth to call my own, I find the concept very attractive.

The only place I can apply it is in the kitchen.  My bachelor style is to work through all my crockery and cutlery till everything is dirty, then I wash the lot.........drought and water restrictions being my second justification for this.

Clothes.......I hate clothes because I could never buy what I liked, I have to buy what fits.  I could easily wear the same uniform each day.  Not feasible with my j-o-b.

Fishing........unfortunately there is no one rod for all occasions, if I was living next to a river I would dump the lot and keep my T&T 5WT, bare fly tying necessities fits in a tiny box.

Knife making - I feel I'm already operating with the minimum, problem being they're big, noisy and heavy.....

Hiking - the only non-problematic hobby, minimalism is part of the game.....
 
Camping........had to do without 4x4 for many years, at the time when I camped the most that entailed carrying everything to the campsite......that was a great motivator for cutting the unnecessary.   Sad to say as I got more organized the stuff just got more & more, and I'm minor league compared to most here.


I have a friend whose house burnt down bit more than 10 years ago........he has new & necessary stuff......wonderful to behold 

[twiliter]

...I have a friend whose house burnt down bit more than 10 years ago........he has new & necessary stuff......wonderful to behold 

I am envious, so much easier than deciding! 

Other than the house burning down part... 

[tosh]

Ah' minimalism...my Holy Grail 

Having spent 20 odd years hoarding crap things finally came to a head last year, autumn to be precise. Enough was enough and having read huge amounts online about clutter and how it saps one's energy and not only dictates ones existence but has detrimental effect on family living.
I decided to do a MAJOR purge. in the space of just under seven months I have raised just shy of £8K by selling unwanted, unneeded and certainly unloved stuff on ebay. My new found wealth has enabled me to not only get rid of the credit card bill and bank overdraft, but also make a serious dent in the new windows loan we took out last year. with another 2yrs to go, I'm now on target to have it cleared within the next few months. A massive achievement for us.

The house, garage and outbuildings are all looking remarkably svelte these days. its spurned me on to take it further than I had ever thought possible. I'm determined by next Christmas I will have reduced the clutter another 50%.

All this selling has had a major impact on making additional  purchases....simply put, I hardly spend a penny these days. I still buy the occasional  MT's but I'm now concentrating on MT and SAK memorabilia rather than tools and I've pretty much stayed away from all the recent releases by the big 4.

It's my absolute dream to have clear rooms, shelves, drawers, Spartan garage, shed, empty loft etc etc
And I'm absolutely determined to take this minimalist approach as far as I can without affecting day to day family life.

Fact is here in the west we are consumed by consumerism, it simply knows no bounds.

[twiliter]

It does take some work Tosh, fighting the impulse to buy something awesome is almost impossible. I find myself lately questioning everything I have, in a "how would my life be without that?" kind of way. The answer to that question is usually "I need it" or "it gives me joy", and if those two answers don't come up, then the answer is "how liberating it would be to get rid of that!". For me, getting rid of stuff is a joy in itself, however odd that may sound. 

[tosh]

It does take some work Tosh, fighting the impulse to buy something awesome is almost impossible. I find myself lately questioning everything I have, in a "how would my life be without that?" kind of way. The answer to that question is usually "I need it" or "it gives me joy", and if those two answers don't come up, then the answer is "how liberating it would be to get rid of that!". For me, getting rid of stuff is a joy in itself, however odd that may sound. 

I agree except for the spending bit 
Besides Wenger Displays (I've practically given up on coming across a Wenger I don't have at a price I think fair)
I now struggle to spend anything. During the week I spend less than £1, often don't spend that!
I now cycle to work, take packed lunches and flask of tea. I don't drink, smoke, follow fashion......I'm completely stumped on what to spend money on other than bills and food shopping. Both of which we've cut down drastically this last 6 months. It would seem I've gone full circle. At one time I'd buy what I liked, when I liked regardless. But this whole minimalism thing and the sheer determination to have all debts gone before Brexit kicks in has completely changed how I view materialistic objects. I find I question every purchase now...no bad thing I'm sure. But its strange as I haven't lived this way since I was kid budgeting his pocket money.
No ones getting rich out of me these days...maybe I'm just getting old.

[cbl51]

I've done two major downsizings in my life. Had horde guns, knives, tools, vehicles, fishing gar. One day I looked a tit all and thought "What the h--l am I doing with all this smurfe???"

I gave away/sold off tons of stuff. Cut my guns down to just a couple, a few pocket knives, one fishing rod for each of me and the better half. Basic set of hand tools with the rest being sold off. In my early 60's I did another downsize to finish it off. The first downsize got enough money that the wife and I did a one month road trip around the whole U.S. and camped in all the national parks. badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Arches, Bryce, Mesa Verde.

Now the house is so neat that it's easy to find whatever we're looking for in a minute or two. We are making a commitment to not have ANYTHING we don't absolutely need or use on a regular basis. We don 't buy anything unless we really need it.

It was unbelievably liberating to get rid of all that 'stuff.' The possessions had taken over our life, and we got rid of darn near everything to takeout life back. We both have become rabid minimalists!

[twiliter]

Good stories! 

It's not easy to be a collector and a minimalist both, but I feel like if I only collect one type of thing, maybe I am on the right track. I feel like I could at this point start reducing my collection, the gathering phase has faded away. I still have some setbacks/relapses, but hopefully in the next few years I can get rid of most everything I don't really use and need. Some things are really difficult to get rid of, like things that have a set value in your mind, such that taking anything less would feel like giving it away, or things that need some attention before putting them up for sale. It is a work in progress most of the time, and I don't see an end point yet, but from where I was 20 years ago it's a huge difference. Even what I carry is somewhat minimal, and when I'm done with my year challenge with the Spirit, I might go back to just a Climber, put the Spirit in my tool bag, and have the PX in a kitchen drawer. I would also probably want to keep one Leatherman, which one would be difficult to decide, and I don't realistically think I can do any of this, so it's more of a pipe dream, but it would be liberating I'm sure. 

[Old Boy]

I like the concept of minimalism, but my execution is patchy.  I own 4 bikes, a garage full of tools, shelves full of books and more knives and multis than I can use.  Worst of all, I have two children, and they have generous grandparents and older cousins whose parents are keen to hand off unwanted things.  Moving house recently has helped us to sort things out - at least now the clutter is concentrated in three places in the house and can be cleared out in an orderly fashion.

I suppose I embrace 5S more than minimalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_(methodology).  Clean out all the stuff you don't need, organise what you do need, keep it clean and tidy, develop your processes and stick to them.

You a Lean Six Sigma Practitioner? Hello Brother!

[Old Boy]

I have tools or MTs stashed in different places, and I’ve found that enables me to be minimal in carry. I’ve gone back to carrying just a Skeletool and a flashlight as tools. Kills me as I really like my other stuff (Knifeless Fuse, MiniTool, Titan Plus). I try to carry my loved CS American Lawman but it doesn’t really carry well in the office. As it is they frown on blades. So the Skelly is a calculated risk.

If I know what my day would be like I may carry a full-size MT.

I guess my point is that Minimal to me at this point in my life is getting by with true essentials and ensuring it’s enough to get to your destination, where you have more extensive tools or supplies.

[tosh]

I've done two major downsizings in my life. Had horde guns, knives, tools, vehicles, fishing gar. One day I looked a tit all and thought "What the h--l am I doing with all this smurfe???"

I gave away/sold off tons of stuff. Cut my guns down to just a couple, a few pocket knives, one fishing rod for each of me and the better half. Basic set of hand tools with the rest being sold off. In my early 60's I did another downsize to finish it off. The first downsize got enough money that the wife and I did a one month road trip around the whole U.S. and camped in all the national parks. badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Arches, Bryce, Mesa Verde.

Now the house is so neat that it's easy to find whatever we're looking for in a minute or two. We are making a commitment to not have ANYTHING we don't absolutely need or use on a regular basis. We don 't buy anything unless we really need it.

It was unbelievably liberating to get rid of all that 'stuff.' The possessions had taken over our life, and we got rid of darn near everything to takeout life back. We both have become rabid minimalists!

This is where I want to be cb151
I hope I get there before I hit the big Five-0 (next one  )
If I've learn't anything in this life, its that stuff rarely lives up to its marketing spiel.
For me it was not guns or cars, but Optics, camera gear, powertools.
It was all fairly controlled until the Free Ad mags came along followed by ebay. From there on it's just been a steady stream of buying and hoarding.
The bulk of optics and camera gear went last year, whats left is the absolute minimum I need to get by, 2 pairs of binoculars, 1 dslr with 1 zoom and 1 prime lens, 3 compact cameras, superzoom for travel, underwater for....underwater, built in projector for showcasing events.
The powertools have mostly gone, probably another 20 or so to shift.
The rest is books, brick-a-brack and general crap
MT's and SAKs will face the cull too, I'll keep the main players LM, Vic, Sog, Gerber, Schrade, Wenger etc etc...
All the no name cheap crap will go, I'll then begin to whittle down those I mentioned above except maybe for Wenger

The Goal for me is the bare minimum of tools in the garage for general DIY nothing too speSmurfpillsed - Intend on keeping both tablesaw and bandsaw for the time being
All MT/SAK collection able to fit in a wooden crate in the loft, another crate full of Display stuff (LM & Wenger)

CD's and DVD's will be transferred into 100 disc binders and cases chucked, books will be reduced to virtually nothing. Currently have around 300+ dumped 200 last year 

At the minute I'm drowning in empty cardboard boxes and packaging getting ready for another ebay purge...which considering I've just received another "pay only £1 max offer" will begin first thing in the morning.

As I say, I'm hell bent on following cb151 example 

[Syncop8r]

Minimalism should be spelt mnmlsm.... 

[cbl51]

Keep at ti, Tosh! It's soooooooo rewarding the feeling of liberation that comes with being well equipped yet not over loaded. I love having just what I can carry with maybe one spare for a fw things. I figure if something happens to one of my toys, I can just go buy another one.

The biggest thing Ihad to get over is that prepper internet BS about "two is one and one is none." BULL HOCKY!

A quality item will last you for years if you take care of it. Maybe the rest of your life. If you do need another for some reason of breakage or loss, we're living in the 21st century in a modern society. There's big box stores and even internet sales. And there's no hostile comanches coming over the hill or Chinese paratroopers dropping out of the sky in some Red Dawn scenario.

What really helped me was cutting way back on the forums that make you want to buy the stuff. When I stopped running in on the blade forums, I stopped caring about what new GEC of the month wonder knife was out. When I stopped going to the gun forums, I didn't care if I had the latest wonder gun of the month. To a degree, the forums are bad influence.

[Ron Who]

...
To a degree, the forums are bad influence.

Yes. The forums are great advertisement shows. We create them ourselves and the manufacturers are laughing.

[microbe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4bFYJ0JUMk

[tosh]

Keep at ti, Tosh! It's soooooooo rewarding the feeling of liberation that comes with being well equipped yet not over loaded. I love having just what I can carry with maybe one spare for a fw things. I figure if something happens to one of my toys, I can just go buy another one.

The biggest thing Ihad to get over is that prepper internet BS about "two is one and one is none." BULL HOCKY!

A quality item will last you for years if you take care of it. Maybe the rest of your life. If you do need another for some reason of breakage or loss, we're living in the 21st century in a modern society. There's big box stores and even internet sales. And there's no hostile comanches coming over the hill or Chinese paratroopers dropping out of the sky in some Red Dawn scenario.

What really helped me was cutting way back on the forums that make you want to buy the stuff. When I stopped running in on the blade forums, I stopped caring about what new GEC of the month wonder knife was out. When I stopped going to the gun forums, I didn't care if I had the latest wonder gun of the month. To a degree, the forums are bad influence.

I agree on the forums, but it's more a rites of passage we all take until the penny drops.
MT SAKs was my last vice, and when Wenger disappeared much of the attraction I had went with it too.
As previously stated I haven't bought many of the recent releases certainly not NEW. I did grab a Collectors 35th PST ( Cheers Twiliter  )
But other than that I've mainly focused on the Wenger Shop displays, buying those pretty much says it all.....my journeys almost at an end and I'm just adding the final bits.
The strange thing is I now have money to spend but cannot think of anything I want except for a simple home life.

Today we took our son shopping using Gift cards he got for Xmas. All he wanted was a football - maybe it's rubbing off on him too.

I'm going to make it y'know, I'm hell bent on turning my back on consumerism.

Enoughs enough.

[cbl51]

 

[Gerhard Gerber]

 

.....since we're blaming forums......

There's nothing like Youtube and beer to fill my heart with desire.

I'm getting better, made peace, but I still have one niggle......the CS American Lawman. 

I've lost count how many evenings my mind was made up to place the order the next day......then unfortunately sanity prevails in the AM 

Back to the topic......

My big problem is there is no market for the stuff I need to and want to get rid of.......prices I could get amounts to robbery.

I hope to change my life and how I make a living in the near future, and this many millstones around my neck is not part of the plan........