Smallwheels, I'm sorry the plan did not go as well as you had hoped. But whatever you accomplish is an improvement over nothing. Keep up the good work!

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this. With bedding it becomes kind of a personal requirement of what one need. I think the Design looks cool, but at the same time I wonder if this would be a drawback, not getting even support especially over the long haul. I think natural mattresses that are chemical free are a good thing, but it really doesn't say here what the bedding is made of, as far as I could see it only mentions what the external cover is made of.

I think for DIY, that price is kind of high. The FAQ says that there aren't returns basically because it's a consumable product. They also stated there that they cannot make premade ones as they're not a licensed bedding manufacturer. So it's kind of a big risk. I am pretty happy at the moment with my solution. Thanks for the Heads up. =]

I also have heard about the Tiny House Movement. It definitely is interesting and something I am considering in the back of my mind. If you're thinking about going smaller, it definitely requires a lot of defining on what you want in and out of your life. There were a lot of good videos I had seen online, if I find them. I will link you to them.

Yea, I had not looked into those mattresses much. I just remember seeing them and found them and I agree the price does seem very high for a DIY Project. I have definitely been thinking about what I want out of life and other things. When I began college a friend who turned out to be a mentor listened to me talking about how much crap I had and had to deal with. He mentioned the 100 thing challenge and/or see if I could fit all my possessions in to my car which I have a regular cab Toyota Tacoma. Sadly I'm not yet to where I could be car free but I'm working to be car light. This also coincided with the first time I saw Fight Club, but we won't talk about it (The book is currently on my to read list).

I will graduate with a Bachelor's degree in December and as I have gone through out college I have read about the tiny house movement and minimalism. I really like the guys here. They and also those here have challenged me and I have paired away a good amount and have become less of a frivolous and needless spender and found more practical and I have about came to the point to where I look for everything to have a good practical purpose that is being used, which I draw for those "back up" items for here. I really like their idea and we live in a culture and time to where things are so easily accessed, like one of my profs talking about I believe it is Oxford is digitizing a specific group of archives they have for what he studies and says he will be able to research from his bed in his pjs/underwear. I have to admit, though plenty do it way after, I do realize I have somewhat easier way because I'm in a time that I am very mobile to where I do not want to accumulate that much junk or as much that does when you "settle down" in a spot. Therefore I can set the practices and mindset into motion to where I can avoid plenty. I really like the Tumbleweed house designs but not dead set and probably will use that at the beginning to start from whenever, which could easily even be 5-10yrs away, I might decide to build a tiny house or look for one. I will take any info you can send to me and thank you to all on here.

Smallwheels I would also like to say sorry it did not go as planned but I hope that like a snowball down a hill that even with a slight snag that you can keep rolling and where the metaphor breaks down, keep shedding instead of holding on.

Here's one of the Videos, check back as I will be editing this post with more links soon.

Videos:

We The Tiny House People (Documentary): Small Homes, Tiny Flats & Wee Shelters - 1h21m47s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDcVrVA4bSQ

Other Links:

Empty for now, check back later.

Packaging
 

Packaging has come back into my mind. On May 12, 2013 I wrote about my idea to make large trunks to hold my possessions. I really like the idea so I've thought about different ways to do it. One day I was moving things around in my room and I had to move a sports equipment bag that I had bought to help me evacuate New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina came to town. This bag is approximately 30" long with the pouches on the ends full of things. The interior section is about 27" long and 12" high. The width is about 15". It came with a shoulder strap. The floor is made of the same material as the sides which are nylon woven fabric.

This is a tough bag. I bought two of them to haul things over the rear seat and front floor board of my motor scooter. They worked well. They are flexible so they draped over the seat and floor board and were easy to attach. Their floors have thin removable plastic sheets made of two equal length parts riveted together. The floors can twist lengthwise because of the center rivets. The thing about these equipment bags is they are not supported by frames. They hold the shape of the things put in them.

I was thinking that these would make excellent trunks if they were just bigger. It turns out that larger models are available from several manufacturers. Instead of making wooden trunks I have decided to turn some sports equipment bags into trunks. To solve the problem of them not having a sturdy shape I will create an internal frame from skinny PVC pipe using elbows and Ts. If this works well the bags should be able to stand up on the small sides and leave the long opening easily accessible like a door. I will have a mini closet.

The largest size I see for sale is 40" long. More than one brand makes models with wheels on one end for easy portage. Since I want to keep them standing upright I think it would be easy to make shelves by adding a PVC cross bar or just affixing a small plastic or wooden divider into the frame.

My landlord uses many large plastic totes by Rubbermaid for storing things. I like those but under stress they crack. These nylon sports equipment bags aren't as sturdy as wood but they don't crack and they rarely rip unless they get dragged on the ground or something sharp punctures them. Even if that were to happen it doesn't necessarily mean they are ruined. Unlike a plastic tote, a nylon bag could be repaired with a needle and thread. If I just use my bags to keep things in my room and only move them when I actually move from place to place they shouldn't wear out. I'll need to have more of them than the large trunks I wanted to build. The smaller size should be easier to move and will weigh much less than the wooden trunks.

These bags cost $22-$123 depending on the brand and features. Making wooden trunks would cost me plenty of money because I don't own the tools needed to construct them. Right now I do own a hacksaw. That is about all I would need to make the PVC pipe frames to put inside these bags. Making a mistake with the length of a skinny pipe wouldn't be as costly as making a mistake cutting numerous pieces of wood and fastening them together. This seems like a good alternative to wooden trunks.

Ok now I know you're a clone of myself lol! Except ... the Steinway??? Holy crap!! :D But then I digress, since my drums take up the most room of anything I own.

2 Suggestions here, look into getting U.S. Army duffles and a Jeep # 3952 bag. I own one of each and wish I had three more of each since their damn near bullet proof! ;)
Right now I have 3 of the rubbermaid totes and they are gonna go for the reasons you mentioned.
Google the Jeep bags, they are tougher than NAILS! DO NOT tear and are waterproof.

Smallwheels, I would suggest looking at bags from: Mountain Hardware, The North Face, Patagonia, Mammut, Black Diamond, and Osprey. All of these are great brands, even though North Face would be personally my last choice but one everyone will know. All of these manufactures of Backpacking/Backcountry equipment that can be well abused and would be above and beyond what you would need. Each has easily bags that would work beyond what you would need for a solid amount of time. I personally Have one of the Mammut Cargon's ~90L and it is extremely durable and seems to be a black hole at times. I also use an Osprey backpack for backpacking and love their brand and their warranty is amazing! Though these will probably be more expensive than what you are looking at, they are well worth it and will easily hold up. I have picked a number of brands that are similar for you to look at on Backcountry.com

Also a good website to also look at which has their own brand is REI.com

I can give you more if you need it.

Thank you for the suggestions. I have searched for Jeep bags and the specific number. I do not find them anywhere. Do you have a link to them? I looked up some different duffel bags. Some say they are from the military and others are made similar to military bags. The canvas ones seem to have a hit or miss when it comes to quality according to reviewers.

Duffels seem to be cylindrical. Putting a frame in one would work but it wouldn't be as wide as the actual dimensions. There was one I found called the Giant and it measured 48" X 20". If that were made taut by putting a square frame in it such a design might work. I'm considering it. I would still prefer to have something with a rectangular shape made of heavy duty nylon or something similar.

Thank you for these links. They do seem to be quality bags. They are all too small. The minimum length I want is 40". When not being transported these will be standing vertically against a wall acting as miniature closets. Taller is better.

There is one bag that I believe is just too long. It is a duffel style found at Amazon.com and it is 72" long. That is taller than me. It must be designed for two or more people to carry.

Since I own a small luggage hand truck the bags I buy won't need to have wheels. I can't haul more than one at a time so the single hand truck will be sufficient. One benefit to using rectangular equipment bags is that they have a flap type lid that can act like a door to the whole thing. Duffel style bags have a center zipper which must be spread apart to access the interior. For some of these bags I'll be making dividers that will operate as shelves when the bags are stood on end.

I apologize if this sounds offensive, but this seems to be getting way too complicated for a simple living storage solution. I stack my clean clothes on top of my remaining cardboard boxes, doesn't get much simpler really. :o

Maybe you're trying to get ahead of things. Will you need that many bags when you're down to the right amount of possessions (to your liking, that is) ? I realize you didn't actually mention the number of bags you'd have so, sorry again.

But anyway, on my end, things are going really well, except on the selling-bicycles-I-don't-ride-anymore side. I'm a huge procrastinator when it comes to selling things. And even though I don't own much, I'm getting aggravated at how much I still have ! I'll probably end up with a backpack full of clothes and two or three boxes of random useful things, anyway, that's sort of my end goal as of now.

One quote I've enjoyed reflecting upon lately is Friedrich Nietzsche's "Becoming who we are". It seems appropriate for when we decide to shed possessions, we're basically stuck with them until we get rid of them the proper way, even though our mind shifted a while ago. :)

Later ! :innocent:

Ok who sleeps on an inflatable mattress? I've been thinking of dumping mine since i takes up so much room in my room (Full)

JeanSeb I understand what you mean by being a bit complicated. The purpose of having many of these trunk like containers is so I can move often and not need to have to arrange packing over and over with weak boxes. As time and money present themselves I hope to spend a little time in a few different cities as I seek one to live in permanently. In case I rent a room in a really old house without closets I'll have my own with me.

As far as how many I'll need that is yet to be answered. I own a set of bongos and a djembe drum. The djembe is about 15" in diameter and 25" tall. It alone will nearly fill one of my smaller equipment bags. The bongos are too long to fit sideways so they will also take up about 16" of length and 9" in width in another bag. The only other large items I'll have are a Vitamix blender, a water distiller, a Xootr, a fan, air purifier, and a back stretching device called a True Back (those things really work well). I don't intend to keep my printer or my desktop computer and large screens. My large things should take up only three trunks. Clothes, kitchen tools and the rest of my items should take up maybe two more trunks.

My pillows can be used to cushion the djembe inside the bag and blankets can be used that way with the bongos.

This whole package isn't being designed to be unpacked and reloaded daily. If I ever move into an RV or make a customized van these trunks can be fastened to one wall and the rest of the vehicle can be outfitted for living. All of these items could be put into a large or even medium sized closet. All of this when written about does seem like a lot of stuff. Compared to what most normal Americans have this will seem like a really small amount of things.

I'm not there yet. I still rent a storage unit that is nearly full. There is a bicycle part buried in there somewhere and I need it soon. I'll be going through the storage unit and removing one pickup truckload every week or so, weather and work permitting. It will take about five visits to clean it all out. My landlord will lend his truck to me when I need it.

My concept of simple living will be different from other people. We all have our concept of it and what we want in our lives. For now being mobile is something I want to achieve. I won't be as mobile as a guy with just two suitcases but that is OK with me.

I used a backpack mattress for several years. Mine was a Thermarest 3/4 length, it would roll down to about the size of two loaves of bread.

Aaron :)

No car, and I bought my home for $4500 cash. So bills consist of property taxes (@1700 a year/12 months = $142 a month), Edison which is about the same for heat, electricity and cooking fuel, cable/cel phone (my biggest bill @ $160 a month) so my bills are LESS than $500/month. My employer has contracts with Ford Motor Company for multimedia support and almost every Ford facility I work at is LESS than 8 miles from my house. Even in wet and cold the ride is rarely unbearable. I own almost no "hard copies" of anything, instead everything is digital. My partner and I grocery shop almost everyday so there are rarely "perishables" on hand. We have a washing machine but no dryer... In summer we line dry outdoors, most things take a MAX of 12 hours and in the winter we hang things up on a line downstairs under the main duct for the furnace. Monthly payments are the bane of my existence and the taxes I pay are relatively high, BUT I think it's a SMALL price to pay for so much economic freedom... I should add that I buy most things second-hand and even my bike is a 1974 Schwinn Le Tour...

Welcome to BF! Sounds like you should feel right at home here :)

I do. I sleep on a twin sized mattress. I find it more comfortable than the queen sized because the panels are smaller and the bumps less prominent. I got sold during my divorce. I had an inflatable mattress in my apartment. Then I had to go back to where my wife lived for a week to finish packing up my stuff. I slept on the full box spring bed I had before and I couldn't believe how uncomfortable it was.

I just wish I could find one of higher quality so it would last longer.

Welcome to a fellow Michigander! I grew up in Highland Park, have lived in Lansing since about 1986. I try to get the monthly bills down too. To me, that's the key to living well on less money. In most of Michigan you can get good cheap housing because our population has been going down. Car insurance is among the highest in the country, so we really save a lot by being carfree.

Me too. I'd like to be there but a ways to go.

I assume since you mention that you are using like a coleman or Ozark Trail mattress? A couple to look at, which would be from backpacking company with the premise that they are higher quality simply because are made to either be able to be transported and still good or the luxury of car camping. The first a more car camping and like mini mattress would be the NeoAir Dream. Granted anything, especially the Neo Air camper/trekker would be good for a more traditional air mattress. Also you could do something as simple like the LuxuryMap/Basecamp. They also have more moveable, light cots that may be a good option that would be easy to move. Another brand to look at would be Big Agnes, which has more traditional ridge mattresses (though made for backpacking), is another choice In the top right you can click to see all the pads they have. Hope these help.

Yeah, I'm using a Coleman. They tend to last a year or so. I'll check out these out. Thanks.

Another one to look at that I simply stumbled upon because the bed I was using was needed by the original owner so I grabbed my roommates bed which was essentially a mattress on the ground but what I believe is this Geo-Mattress w/Wings. Its made by Span America which seems to supply hospital beds and seems to simply be a hospital bed mattress. It is like a normal mattress but thinner and foam but at the same time very supportive. It could easily be better than simply an air mattress though if I was to go that route I would probably go with the NeoAir Dream. My mother wants me to get a true bed/mattress even with box springs but I almost want to keep this. We will see what happens. Good Luck to all.

I have a regular basic queen size bed right now but I always think that if I decide to go minimal and easily movable on a bed I'd get a Paco Pad. Not cheap, but tough enough to last forever. Less delicate than a backpacking sleeping pad.

"You never know what you have until it's gone, and I wanted to know what I had so I got rid of everything."

Steven Wright

If a sink hole opened up and swallowed everything you own, and you had an insurance policy that would cover 100% of the loss with money to replace everything, no matter how old or worn out it was, what would you do?

1. Find a smaller, cheaper place.
2. I'd replace my computer, about half my dishes, my bikes, clothes, and food. I would probably end up with about half of what I have now, and invest the rest of the money.

Move and buy a new (to me) vintage IGH bike.

I keep hopeing my lottery numbers will hit...

Aaron :)

Hello
 

Hello everyone my name is Thomas. I’ve been reading through this thread for a while now and thought I would share my experience.
I first found out about minimalism and simple living from stumbling onto Leo Babuta’s Zen Habits blog. From there I found some other blogs that have also inspired me namely Becoming Minimalist by Joshua Becker and The Minimalists.

I am married with 2 kids and live in a fairly cluttered house, my family aren’t really into the simple living stuff and I respect that but I decided to pare down my own stuff.

I went from having a large triple wardrobe that was overflowing down over the space of a couple of years to a single chest of 6 drawers that comfortably hold everything I could ever need except of course for my bike!

I’m not allowed to drive as I have epilepsy so I commute everywhere by bike on my 29er hybrid. I own some work uniform a couple of changes of clothes, a laptop, a set of books, folder pencil case for my physics degree. I also have a small Buddhist shrine and a meditation mat. I have a kindle but may get rid of it as I’m reading more and more books for the library now, it’s just handy for the slightly more obscure titles you can’t get in the library.

My laptop doesn’t get much use, if it wasn’t for the university course software I have to have installed I figure I could easily manage using a local library or work for computer access. I got rid of my smartphone and am planning to keep a basic cell phone for emergencies.

I’ve never been happier and I really don’t see the need for any more possessions. I’m working to pay off what debt I have and just trying to enjoy life.

It’s great to meet a lot of likeminded people. 

Thomas

Welcome Thomas. I keep wishing I had so few things. I realize I need more.

One change since moving into a rented room from a two bedroom apartment is my dinnerware. When I had my own apartment I could let dishes build up for a week by putting them into the dish washer and using it when it was full. Now that I don't have that ability I have adapted. I have one huge ceramic bowl and one metal pan to use for eating. If I cook something in a pot it gets dumped into the huge bowl. If I heat something in the oven I use a stainless steel cake pan for the cooking and eating. In the past I used pie pans that I had collected over time. I would heat food and eat out of them. Since I don't want to hog the dish washer I decided to upgrade my pan to a stainless steel one with sides about two inches. high. Since I wash everything as soon as I have used it, the one pan works great. It is much sturdier than the flexible pie pans. It is also probably healthier since it is steel instead of aluminum.

These two items would definitely be replaced if a sink hole swallowed all of my possessions. Not many people have replied to the question of how you might do things differently if you had to replace all of your stuff. Anybody else?

Welcome indeed Thomas. A few questions: has the space freed up by your paring down been cluttered by someone else's stuff yet ? How does your family react when you talk about simple living and how they could start living like that too ?


Sorry I was letting the question "sink" in, hehe. But seriously, there are very few items I would buy again immediately. I'd rebuild a desktop computer, a do-everything bike, buy a metal bowl to eat everything in, a few utensils and all the personal hygiene stuff. Then I'd buy things I rarely need, as the need rises up. It would surely help to have all the stuff I want to get rid of right now but have been waiting just disappear (because of the time it takes to sell things and to get rid of them properly (not just throw everything in the trash irresponsibly)). But there are a few items that I would be sad to see go, just because I've had them for a long time and they don't make them anymore or I'd have to settle for a lower-quality version.

Anyway, it's a good question for sure. For the insurance money part, I'd buy what I need and save the rest if possible.

I definitely beleive in living the simple life. My family thinks I'm a complete nuthead when I say I'm not gonna get a car. I hate how society has made people beleive that a car or motor vehicle is "NEED" in order to survive. Plus the fact that the average cyclist saves about $8,000 a year compared to motorists.(That's what I read)

In a word yes, although I have asked nicely if people would mind keeping my chest of drawers and small fold up desk clear. My wife thinks I'm a bit wierd but obliges me. I get pretty anxious for some reason if my stuff is cluttered up.

My wife is into simple living in principle but I don't think she is ever going to want to reduce her possessions all that much. That's ok I love her and always will its just I've chosen to release myself from reliance on possesions. We are having a bit of a clear out at the moment as the rest of the house was getting too cluttered so that is good.

In answer to the question I'd mostly replace what I've got if something swallowed all my possesions. The bike is my primary means of transport so I'd need that. As for tools I'd simply as now collect on a basis of need when something goes on the bike. Couple of changes of clothes, some work uniform, meditation mat, university course book, pencilcase and a drawing pad & pencils.