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recently Symbols brought this up in another thread and I asked about it a bit there, BUT I've been thinking a lot about just OWNING too much stuff. Partly that comes from the fact that my wife and I are planning to sell our home soon so we can move to the town that we used to be in. And probably we'll have a slightly smaller house there.
But it's not just that. I have a tendency to go overboard with my interests. I'm always collecting SOMETHING. And then I get to a point where I'm like "why do I need all this?" and usually I don't.
I've gotten way better, though. For instance I very rarely buy a movie anymore. We have Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Prime and cable TV. So I mean, that's plenty of options right there. I don't like to even rent movies. The exception is going out to movies a few times a year, but that's more about the experience of going out. Not of owning something. I've also come to realize that the local library has a pretty great selection of movies to borrow as well.
Video games are my biggest hobby, but I've dialed it back over the years and currently my only console is an Xbox One. I'm quite happy with it. My main thing is I try to only buy a game if I'll be playing it right away. No hoarding. And I'm trying to get rid of games if I feel I'm done playing them. I'm also considering looking into Game Pass which is basically Netflix of Xbox Games. $10/mo gives access to a bunch of games - which might even encourage me to buy less.
Books, I don't really buy a lot of. There's the library. And kindle sales.
My issue right now is CD's which is stupid mostly. I'll say that part of me kind of feels like "oh this stuff is important to me" and to some degree is like a physical thing on a shelf which I feel like sort of 'defines' me. But again, taht's kind of silly I know. I'd bet that 70% of the CD's I own are streaming on Spotify which - guess what? - we're already paying for.
I've read that some folks collect because of an unrealized existential crisis. As if building up something to leave behind is an unonscious thing. I don't know.
In general I think I want to own less shit, and enjoy the shit I own more. But I do recognize I have problems with both (A) curbing HOW MUCH stuff I buy - like I enable myself. For years I only collecting SY CD's. But once I got to a point of having 'everything' I needed Nirvana CD's, and then okay, just all my favorites from the 90's, and then well, the 2000's too, and then well every band I've seen live, and then....... it's the whole you can't eat just one potato chip thing, and (B) getting rid of stuff. It's so hard to do that. Do I get rid of just the stuff on Spotify? Keep the rare stuff? Keep just SY? Get rid of EVERYTHING? How to I deal?
Please feel free to discuss the concept of minimal living in general, or shoot me some specific ideas.
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