Is there no happy medium in your world? I watched an interview with José Mujica, the simple-living president of Uruguay, on Spanish television last night. He gives away most of his salary, lives on a ramshackle farm instead of the presidential palace and drives an old VW Bug.

BBC News - Jose Mujica: The world's 'poorest' president

I don't think our only two choices are living on $2.00 a day or choosing a life of conspicuous consumption.

I absolutely agree. That's a main point of this thread, really, that people can live more happily by reining in their lifestyles.

I also think it's fascinating that Uruguay, of all countries, is leading the world into the 21st century.

I agree. For some reason I keep thinking of Warren Buffett.

No television/internet at home. My taxes pay for the public library---so I utilize the public library.

I sleep on the floor--pets have ruined over priced bedding and I refuse to purchase another mattress.


I use my bicycle and public transportation (purchase a discounted pass).

My 3rd job involves teaching for a state college...I love it but the college is 45 minutes away and public transportation does not travel West so...I have to drive my car.
I have tried in vain to find alternative modes but it would take MUCH longer.

I stopped buying premium dog and cat food. I am certain it is all made in the same factory. Working on debt....it is a struggle.

Sounds crazy all of this, I know, but the idea is to be able to keep all of my belongings (minus the guitar and washboard) in a small duffle bag. I want to be able to(if need be, or the mood strikes me) just get in my car and travel for awhile without having anything holding me back. Also, the feeling of freedom that comes with owning so little is just awesome. My life no longer revolves around the things I wish I had, or the things I own and need to maintain and clean, or spending 10 minutes figuring out what to wear and ironing. I just wake up, put on any combination of the few clothes I have, get on my bike and enjoy the day. If I decide I want to take a little road trip or even if I decide to just move somewhere else, I can just get in the car and go and know there's no packing to do. I use the library alot more(I rarely use the kindle but will never get rid of it, it has free 3g for life), I spend more time outdoors and experiencing new things. I get alot of enjoyment now out of speaking with people and building relationship instead of watching tv or youtube and shopping for the latest and greatest. I feel like a free man. More free than I ever have. No bills except rent/gas/food. Any stress I have isn't related to material things. I wish more people would wake up and realize they don't need all the crap they have.(most people that is, not everyone of course)

One of the most comfortable beds I've ever had was a canvas cot. With just a sheet covering the canvas it wasn't so great. With a thin foam pad from an outdoor lounge chair and a comforter doubled over on top of that, the cot was amazing. I would prefer it to the bed I'm using now. Unfortunately the room I'm renting came with the bed and it can't be removed.

Cots are very light. When you are away from home it could be laid on its side so the pets couldn't jump on it and ruin it. They fold very easily and can be moved from one residence to another. A couple of long bungee cords could be used to wrap around your sheets and pillows to hold everything in place while it is on its side or leaned against a wall vertically.

Later this year I'll be debt free again. I miss that freedom.

Jacoblighter my current signature file shows my goal:
"Take my stuff, please. I have way too much. My current goal is to have all of my possessions fit onto a large bicycle trailer. Really."

I totally get what you're going for. Now that the weather is getting warmer in Montana I'll begin visiting my storage unit to sell more stuff. In June I'll have access to a pickup truck and a lot of stuff will be trucked to Goodwill.

I'm currently sleeping in a hammock, slung diagonally across the cargo area of a van. Never would have believed it, but I'm sleeping better, with less waking up in the middle of the night, less aches and pains, than when I sleep on a traditional mattress. Lighter, weighs less, packs smaller than a cot... just that you need two uprights to support it.

Large bicycle trailer? If that's how I was leaning, I'd definitely give this coroplast shelter construction some thought... (hammock wouldn't work in this, either...)

I have communicated with Paul about this shelter. It looks great. He was featured in a video by Kirsten Dirksen of Faircompanies.com explaining that it isn't very good long term because mold grows inside. There isn't enough ventilation in it. I like his flat folding tipi too. It can be set up in less than two minutes. When I said I wanted all of my stuff to fit into a small trailer I didn't mean I wanted to live in something that small. Although if the weather were good most of the time I would like to try living in a big tent. Unfortunately I'm too worried that any time I left it my stuff would be stolen. There isn't really anything to stop a thief from breaking into a tent.

This is the video of Paul Elkins by Kirsten Dirksen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tV-ovGPyc

Look at some of the shelters he has designed. If anybody could live in one of these they would be the king of simple living. The video also shows other designs for bicycles, motorized bicycles, and tiny boats. His tree house looked interesting in that ancient tree.

I've never been a big spender or accumulator so I have spent most of my 31 years of life fairly simply. I definitely have more possessions than I need, but still less than most others. I make a pretty decent salary, but refuse to have any debt other than hoping to buy a house in the next year or so. One area that I do have trouble with though is thinning out the bike heard and keeping it that way. It seems like I always have an excuse to keep a bike around, where as with other things, I am usually looking for an excuse to get rid of it. They are not expensive or nice bikes, and I probably have way less than $1,000 tied up in them combined. They just take up a lot of space in my living room.

My current "fleet" of bikes is listed below along with my excuse for keeping it around. What is everyone else's bike count, and how do you keep from adding the proverbial n+1?

- Dahon Folder (Stays in the trunk of my car. I call it my "break down on the side of the road plan". Also good for trips out of town.)
- Old school Dyno Air BMX bike (I rode a different Dyno Air as a kid. It is what started all this bike madness for me)
- Vista vintage lugged single speed beater bike. (I live in the hood. It's nice to have a $50 bike that I can lock up at the store, but can still haul a$$)
- 1990s Raleigh mountain bike, turned commuter with drops, fenders, racks, trailer hitch, etc. (This bike gets 90% of my miles both commuting and neighborhood cruises with my son in the trailer)
- Newer Windsor fixed gear (only ridden ~3 times a year, but its my only pretty bike and it is FAST. It will fit up to 50mm tires, and has rack and fender mounts so I have thought about keeping it, gearing it down, and commuting on it)
-Nishiki Modulus vintage road bike (This bike gets the second most miles, and does get commuted on once in a while. It does make for a quick ride when I feel like dodging gravel and every small bump on my 10 mile commute to work.)

All that I have remaining besides my washboard, washtub, and bike, fit into a medium sized suit case(filled to the brim) in the trunk of my car. I havn't used or looked at any of it in awhile and will most likely only use four things in that suitcase. The remainder of the space is filled with old journals and writings. Also maybe one or two important documents(land deed for some crappy land in the middle of the dessert, bike mistake) I really want to just throw it all away except for those 4 or 5 things. All the journals, all the writings, all the pictures, etc. I started keeping my journals and writings thinking that it is good to chronicle my life and look back at who I used to be and what thoughts I used to have, so I could see my own growth as a person. The oldest journal I have is 5 years old. The more I think about it the more I feel like that is just silly, keeping all of those notebooks. Who am I to chronicle my life? I came into this world as just another organism who eats and drinks, just like the rest of the animals on earth. Writing down thoughts and chronicling myself is too suggest that I am somehow above the animals of the earth or above the earth itself. Hording those old notebooks is like keeping little reminders that I am a real person. But the reality is that I'm just one of billions, and even smaller in the sense of the entire universe. Coming from that train of thought, having my little journals of "who I was" seems a bit silly and self-centered. I really want to get rid of them, but I am attached. It is weird how we humans get so attached to inanimate objects! I see it in others and myself and don't think I'll ever fully understand(besides the nostalgia).

I attended my brother's town wide yard sale, and was able to unload a small dresser, end table, car diagnostic scanner, lamps, and a few other odds and ends. At the end of the day we also took a truckload of items to Goodwill. Felt great. I only have 4 or 5 more pieces of furniture to get rid of.

That will leave me with an amount of personal possessions that will easily fit into a small studio.

Scan the journals and photos onto a thumb drive or two. I have done that with several of my wife's collections, then they went into deep storage. She can read the articles, watch the movies, and see the pictures anytime she wants, but they are no longer taking up massive amounts of space in the house. I am still wading through the BetaMax/VHS conversions...

Aaron :)

Good idea. I will do this today or tomorrow. I have the scanner and the computer. I'm going to put them all on "Google Drive" and hope that google never goes bankrupt or has a server crash. I'm pretty wary of putting anything on an online storage site, or even on a USB drive because all of those things can fail. I have made my peace with computers being in my life because of the things I am required to do at university or the few things I do on the internet, but I still feel that its foolish to put my trust in them or become dependent. The good thing about pen and paper is that there is no electricity required, I don't have to recharge my journals, I don't have to have WIFI or "4G" to have them "saved". Just write and it's there like magic. Same thing with real books. I don't have to recharge a book and the best part is the only thing you can do with them is read. You can't press a button and have youtube pop up or press a button and suddenly be watching a movie. No distraction.

I have noticed a change in myself since I stopped watching TV(about 5 years ago) and (as of a bit more recently recently) drastically reduced my computer use. I can focus and give my attention to one thing at a time instead of having to be constantly stimulated by everything around me. When people talk with me, I actually focus and hear about 95% of what they say, versus how before I'd zone in and zone out depending on what device was in front of me. I am MUCH calmer. My leg would always be jumping around or I'd always be in a sort of nervous hyper mood. Now I'm calm and collected and I think before I talk and act.

Every single person in my family, besides me, wakes up in the morning and turns the TV on first thing. Then they go about their business and have the TV on for "backround noise" then they come home from work and get their fast food and eat it on their TV trays while watching tv. Then they go to bed and sleep with the TV on because they can't sleep without it. Sound like an addiction to you? I've noticed that its not even the programs that they are addicted to, they need the little high pitched hum/hiss that TV's produce(even when muted) to make them feel comfortable. It's really weird and whenever I bring it up people get really defensive. Whenever I visit my family members, I turn of the TV when I notice nobody is using it and I can hear and see them getting a bit of anxiety when its off. If we are sitting on the couch just chatting or at the dining room table(my suggestion always) eating, and the TV is off, they start to get ancy and wrestless. I think it's because without that little high pitched noise that tv's make, people feel that it's "too quiet" and it makes them uncomfortable. They need that little backround noise like people need to hear other's talking at a party before they can talk and feel comfortable. It's really sort of odd and sad to see everyone so hooked on it.

Everyone I know who is like this has severe issues with attention and focus. My dad, who usually has his phone on his lap, his Ipad in his hand, and the tv going on "for backround noise" complains daily that he can't pay attention to people or that he gets bored easily. Or that he is so hyper that it is having an adverse affect at his job. He thinks it is ADD but I really doubt it. He never was like that before he started getting into all of the electronics and everything. What happens (atleast in my opinion) is that electronics stimulate our brain, but then, like a drug, our brain gets used to it and now we need the stimulation to be at baseline. When we add another little device to the mix, we get that stimulation again but pretty soon that becomes normal , and so on. Eventually people get so addicted to constant stimulation that normal conversations with other human beings become boring or not exciting enough, or the person cannot focus on anything in the real world because compared to all the flashy lights and sounds of electronic devices, nothing is as stimulating enough. Its sort of like a self induced ADD.

Just the other day I was visiting my sister and her son was sitting on the couch with the TV blasting, an Ipad in his hand playing a video game, and was eating junk food, and he says to me with a sad face "I want something exciting to happen, I'm bored" while he lays down eating his junk food and playing his game. Then I said to him, "exciting things only happen when you actually go out there and do it, go outside and play and discover something about the real world". Then he said it was too much work to get up and play outside(he's 9 years old), not to mention boring. What the hell world are we living in now?

But back to my original point. I will most likely scan all of my journals in the computer and this will allow me to justify getting rid of the hard copies. If google's servers crash or my stuff gets erased somehow one day, its fine; I'll live.

I don't watch much television, in fact I can weeks without turning it on. I could probably do better with less internet surfing. I much prefer a real book or magazine, but they take up a lot of room quickly. I do have a Kindle and a Nexus 7 tablet that I use for reading too. My hearing sucks so listening to someone can be a chore, I compensate a lot by lip reading, but that only works in some situations.

My favorite things to do are almost always outside things.

Aaron :)

I think you should keep the journals intact. Obviously you have a lot of interesting thoughts and ideas. The journals can help you to keep things focused. Also, it will be fascinating to look back years from now and see how your thinking has evolved.

I love to look at my old journals every few years.

A problem with scanning papers and photos is that the digital storage media change so quickly. Some people scanned onto floppy discs only 25 years ago. Already it's hard to find the hardware to read them. The same with VHS tapes, let alone Betamax. Who knows how long hard drives, thumb drives, or even cloud data storage will be around?

I think most of the USB stuff will be around for quite a while. I have a couple of 15 year old hard drives that I mounted in USB boxes that I can still access if necessary. Eventually I will copy them to a newer hard drive. What is funny is most of them are in the 4gig range, a size now easily covered by a single DVD or thumb drive. I use a mirrored NAS (Network Attached Storage) system at home, it is 8TB of storage total, I have it less than 10% full even with everything I have dumped to it. It accessible through wifi or a hard wired connection, by doing the mirror thing I have a back up. I also do a third back up onto a portable drive once a month and put that in my safe deposit box.

Aaron :)

I was very close to just tossing out all of them yesterday. I figured scanning would take too long and there is no point in me keeping these things anymore. But then I came across something I had wrote not too long ago actually, about 7 or 8 months, and it made me want to keep them. It read:

I asked you about your childhood and you started telling me what it was like for you growing up. You told me about your dad and your family, and how
sometimes they irritated you but you still loved them. You were cold so I put my arm around you and pulled you closer. when I held you I could feel that you felt safe in my arms, that you allowed yourself to be you. As we talked the wind blew the hair in your eyes, so I swept your hair over your ear and we stared into each other. Our words stopped making sense and you moved in closer to kiss me, still scared of the outcome, and I moved in closer to you to show that it was alright. We kissed and it was as if the rest of the world stopped existing, the world was just us. we kissed and the wind chill made cold the moisture on our lips. We stared at each other, and knew that we were each other's, nobody else could compare.

While reading that I could feel exactly what was I feeling at the moment of writing. I was transported into another land, another time, just for a moment and to me that is worth taking up space. The problem comes when I evaluate how close I am getting to my goal of having all of my belongings fit into a backpack. I am close, but I still have much too many clothes(four pairs of pants,7 shirts, 7 pairs of socks and knickers, 3 pairs of shoes) a laptop, the journals and important documents , a pair of headphones(big over-ear type), a binder filled with sheet music, and a wooden book stand, a washboard and wash tub, some drumsticks etc that I know for sure I'll be using next semester.

Some things obviously won't fit in a back pack but I use them frequently so as long as they fit into my current lifestyle I'll keep them. I guess what I'm really striving for is a lifestyle filled with travel and experience, a lifestyle far away from the consumer trap we have all fallen into at one point or another. But to simplify, my minimalist goals are to reduce the number of things I own by keeping only the things I use on a daily or weekly basis in my current lifestyle. By doing this I have everything I need, and as a result I don't really want for anything even if I have drastically less than the average person. I think most people focus too much on what they want at the expense of what they need, leading to unhappy lives. Once needs have been met, want goes away and contentment ensues; or atleast that is how I look at it.

That's a great quote. Simple living is great. Good to reduce the waste we cause and more stress free!!!

Here is another quote you might like.

"Security depends not so much upon how much you have, as upon how much you can do without."
Krutch, Joseph Wood

Welcome Ironcycles. Enjoy the forum.

Every year or so I read or hear about a family that lost everything due to some type of disaster. They all seem happy that they survived and don't care too much about the stuff they lost. It would be very interesting if there were a way to contact those people a year or two later and see if they have totally replaced all of their stuff or if they realized that they really didn't want all of it replaced.

We totally replaced it ... and then some.

There was a family that was completely burned out just down the road from us, and I do mean completely, the fire started in the large shop and took out the entire shop and the house. They are rebuilding, the new house is nearly twice as large as the old one...

Aaron :)

How about living in a dumpster?

Living Simply in a Dumpster - The Atlantic

The comments to the article are more interesting and on point than the article, especially the references to "Class-Washing," RV vs. Tiny House vs. The Dumpster home, and the alleged socializing opportunities and advantages of doing laundry in a laundromat.

His experiment has already proven that he cannot live in a dumpster. Look at all of the things he wants to add to it. What he will eventually find is that he can sleep in a space that small but needs a bigger space for doing other life activities. The back of a full size van is ten to thirteen feet long and five feet wide. With an added high top for standing it would be much more comfortable. Minivans are eight and a half feet long behind the rear seats. Even one of those is more square feet than his dumpster. A full size truck bed is about as big as a minivan rear area.

I guess he didn't even try living in a tiny RV trailer because people are already doing that. There are many companies that make trailers that are small. Some of the smallest are called teardrop trailers. There is at least one blog out there about a woman and dog who live in one. She travels around the country and that is her home. If you add the square footage of the Subaru wagon she uses to tow it, her living space might double. I know of two blogs about people living in Toyota Prii. They do it to save money and to travel. Neither of them wants to do it forever.

I really want to live in a van but I think I would get tired of not being able to stand up. So If I do ultimately live in a van I will want one with a high roof. Slide in truck campers are just as portable and give more space. Their downside is miles per gallon go way down with something that big being driven around. They also are clearly places where cops would expect someone to be sleeping. Thus parking one and living in it on the side of a street in a big city might draw cops to hassle you and make you move or even give you a ticket.


Home made teardrop trailer for about $1800: Teardrop Trailer

Expensive custom made teardrop trailers starting at $9000 going to $20,000: Teardrop Travel Trailers by Camp-Inn

This is a slide in truck camper without bathroom facilities for $10,000. It is designed for small trucks. It is luxurious compared to the dumpster house: 690FD

This is a famous brand of small trailers. Their 13' model has a 10' long living area. The extra three feet are for the trailer tongue. Scamp Lightweight Travel Trailers & Small Campers - Scamp Trailers

He might consider attaching an awning to the dumpster. This would give him a shady space to hang out in. In fact, an awning would improve any of the options you mention: camper, van or small trailer.

As pointed out by numerous comments to the article, the prof also should have shown more concern for painting the exterior of the container white, before being surprised about the heat buildup inside an all metal container in the Texas sun. Or that midnight journeys to find an available restroom are not that "simple."

Good points.