'21st-Century minimalist'
Meet Kelly Sutton, a spiky-haired 22-year-old software engineer with thick-rimmed glasses and an empty apartment in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighbourhood - a hotbed for New York's young, early adopters of new technology.
Mr Sutton is the founder of CultofLess.com, a website which has helped him sell or give away his possessions - apart from his laptop, an iPad, an Amazon Kindle, two external hard drives, a "few" articles of clothing and bed sheets for a mattress that was left in his newly rented apartment. (Photo from the BBC article)
I guess I was just slightly ahead of my time when I got rid of 90% of my possessions back in 1999. But RV'ers have been doing this sort of thing... Hell, people in general have been doing it... for ages now. It's just that technology has made it possible to "take it with you" to a greater extent than before.
In that same vein... Getting rid of my books was perhaps THE most painful part of my downsizing. But there's an app for that... I think I'm finally going to buy a Kindle. The newest wi-fi version is selling for a reasonable $139.00, but they're completely sold out at this point. I'll give 'em a month or two to re-stock and then I'll buy. It'll be good to have my library back.Update, 0600 hrs: I ordered the Kindle; estimated ship date is September 10th. (Sigh) Someday I'll get over this instant-gratification thing. Wait! It ain't instant... I waited until the price came down. What am I thinking?
Buck, in 1990, my family of 5 at the time downsized to what would fit in a 5 x 8 U-haul trailer, and the trunk of our car.
ReplyDeleteWe moved almost one thousand miles and set up shop with just those possessions. Four years later we moved back home in a 27' U-haul truck, towing a car, and driving another with an 8 foot trailer behind it full of junk.
We certainly can accumulate a lot of crap in a short amount of time. Just one youngun left, and one of these days Pam and I are going to downsize again.
I hope.
Buck - having made the transition to the Barnes and Noble "nook" a few months ago I can honestly say - you won't regret getting an e-reader.
ReplyDeleteHave you looked at nook? The price is comparable, they have Wi-Fi and you can probably get one now, rather than waiting. Just a thought.
A friend of mine has the Kindle; we have compared ours and they are pretty much the same. I prefer the navigation bar on the nook - that's about the only difference.
Either way - you'll love it. I wasn't sure about it as I love holding a real book in my hands - the feel of turning the pages, the weight of it. Once I read my first e-book, I stopped caring about that.
I've been oggleing the kindle now for some time. I've had the chance to check it out from time to time, and I've always kind of disliked the design. It just felt a little outdated, like an old palm pilot.
ReplyDeleteI'm considering the Barnes and Noble "Nook". I like the design a bit better.
Ya know, Pville does have a library. Not a really good one, but you can probably get alot of things on interlibrary loan.
ReplyDeleteWe certainly can accumulate a lot of crap in a short amount of time.
ReplyDeleteI relate to THAT too, Andy. I need to do another purge exercise as my small space is filling up quite rapidly with "stuff." It never ends.
Have you looked at nook?
Too late, Kris. I ordered a Kindle this morning.
Matt: I've handled a Kindle and thought they were quite nice... just too pricey. But the price issue has gone away. Sorta.
Jenny: The Portales library won't issue me a card. I had a temporary card for a while a few years ago but when I went to get a permanent card they told me I had to be a NM resident... they wouldn't accept my TX driver's license. The base has a nice library, too, and I've been checking out most of my reads there. But the Kindle will take its place over the library, I'm sure.
I truly envy non-packrat people. Pepper and I are both champion packrats. Every time I think about, or start, to clean things out one or another child or friend will call to borrow what I'm thinking about downsizing. Mission aborted.
ReplyDeleteWe have plenty of room right now to house all the stuff, but once we retire and head north, it's going to be a nightmare.
Pepper loves his Kindle. He downloads books that we'll both enjoy (for the most part!), then after he finishes one, he'll start another and I can never get my hands on the equipment! We're thinking about getting one for my father for Christmas. It looks like I should order it now, though! Thanks for the heads-up!
Ordered my Kindle back when this latest version was released, should get it early next month. Almost ashamed at how excited I am to get it.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was in the Army, I was able to make every move I had to make with nothing but my pickup (RIP, old Dodge). No Uhauls, no moving companies, just load up and go. Now? Fugeddabouttit.
Buck, simplicity is the way to go if you can muster the discipline which I don't have. It's a fact that we have too much stuff, especially since we've lived 36 years in the same house. It does acccumulate.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did you see the article on Ray Bradbury today? He had this to say about ebooks, kindle, etc.:
"I was approached three times during the last year by Internet companies wanting to put my books on an electronic reading device, he said.
I said to Yahoo, "Prick up your ears and go to hell."
Let me know what you think of your Kindle. I have been coveting one for a while. As to downsizing. I do that every time we move, but it is amazing how much I collect in just a few years.
ReplyDeleteMy house has been burglarized 4 times in 4 years. I just don't buy stuff anymore. My TV is an old CRT type and weighs 150 pounds.
ReplyDeleteNo other electronics than my computer. My laptop and movie camera got stolen, so the only time I compute now is at home.
It's liberating. My last burglary I had to replace the door from Lowes for $500, but all they stole was my medicine cabinet contents and my cookie jar of about $40 in change.
Liberating. No posessions, it's the next big thing in a collapsing world economy as the Earth hurtles to 2012 and the end of the Mayan calendar...
Yeah, that Mayan Calendar deal has had me shuffling priorities lately, myself!
ReplyDeleteI bought just enough toilet paper & whiskey to make it to the big 1-2!
Nyuk...
We have plenty of room right now to house all the stuff, but once we retire and head north, it's going to be a nightmare.
ReplyDelete...then after he finishes one, he'll start another and I can never get my hands on the equipment!
I'd start working on the move now were I you, Moogie. It sounds like it's gonna be painful and I understand. I had many a stressful moment parting with my stuff... there are memories tied into everything.
As for the Kindle... buy your own!
S-Andy: I seriously thought about buying a Kindle when the product announcement came out. But better late, etc. And I was in the same sorta boat as you in my early 30s... most of what I owned would fit in a small U-Haul trailer and the trunk of my car. Age and affluence changes things, don't it?
Dan: I missed the Bradbury thing, thanks for letting me know. I find it interesting that a sci-fi guy could be such a Luddite. On living in the same house for 36 years: WOW! I just can't imagine that... and I'm just a lil bit envious.
Lou: You'll be in the Kindle loop... it will make for at least ONE blog post.
Anon: Do you have a specific reason for staying in your neighborhood? I think I would have moved after the second burglary...
Hmm, nothing specific. Being on a fixed pension, my options are few, but to tell the truth - I am a big city person. You take the bad with the good. This isn't as bad as when the Teamsters had all the crime organized. Burglary is better than getting whacked.
ReplyDeleteI tried the country and it was just too lonely for me. I guess I need the noise and the violence to let me know I'm still alive.
I once picked strawberries for three months back in the 50's in a place called Orient, Oregon. There wasn't anything within 25 miles except the cannery and farms to the horizons. The Japanese farmers had this big barn where we all slept and could wash up (there must have been 50 pickers). It was pure hell for me. There was no smells of the city, no place to go after picking all day. It was a financial success though, so no really bad memories.
If I can't walk down the street and pick out the Jewish, Catholic, and Muslim families by cooking smells, you might as well kill me...
I saw a movie once with John Belushi in it, where he asks the question "What Stinks!!??" and his love interest says "It's called a forest, this is what nature smells like" or words to that effect.
Same thing for me - Strawberries stink.
I understand your reasoning, Anon. I'm comfortable in either environment... country or city... but the small-town country life appeals to me more these days. That said, there are times when I miss the wonders of the city. A LOT.
ReplyDeleteYes!
ReplyDeleteI just downsized again, MAJORLY, for my move. I got rid of most of my books, which was heart-wrenching in many ways. I also plan on buying a Kindle sometime soon, and my daughter helped me with a spreadsheet that lists all the books I own(ed) and need to replace. I like having less crap.