Ah, to own nothing!
2008-07-13
Something's changed. I just can't get myself to buy an iPhone.
I had been planning it for months, when friends would tell me about theirs, I knew I was going to wait for the 3G version. It's even the reason I chose AT&T. The day it was announced I thought, “Yes! Finally! July 9! Can't wait!”
But luckily I had time to think, between announcement-date and availability-date. And as time went on, I wanted it less and less. I realized my existing phone works just fine.
Maybe it was the amazing Story of Stuff video that made me realize that every manufactured thing creates a ton of waste just to make.
Maybe it's the savings: (click this comic:)
Mostly it's that I've been living out of a backpack for much of the year.
Every item is now judged harshly as a major burden that better have a damn good explanation why I should carry it around with me everywhere as I travel.
After my amazing time riding a motorcycle around Vietnam, you might think I'd want to buy a motorcycle, but no - then I'd have to OWN it. (Say the word “own” with your most disgusted po-faced tone.)
Wouldn't it be more fun to never have to OWN anything, but to just have it when you need it?
P.S. Here's my next daydream bike ride.
Oh" this was too true and very funny, great post!!!
Very interesting thoughts, Derek. I had a time in my life when I gave everything away except my guitar, amp and a few cassettes. I was really liberating. It is true that everything you own keeps you busy.
I like the idea of using things when you need them instead of owning them. Elizabeth and I were discussing to buy a van for our gigs. But it wasn't realistic - renting one for the few times a year we play makes much more sense. But the downside - sometimes it is not easy to rent the things you need. Sometimes they are not available, or in the case of the van, the rental station is too far away.
From a spiritual point of view it becomes clear that we never really own anything, not even our bodies. There comes a time when we need to let go of everything.
One little story: We get our yearly publishing royalties on June 30th. We were really looking forward that day, thinking of things we would buy once we had the money. Today it's June 13th, and we haven't bought anything.
We are just happy. Nothing more is needed!
All the best;
Peter
I think that this is an important concept that most musicians should think about. Like a lot of guitar players, I went through a long period where I was continually experimenting with new pieces of gear. Besides the expense, I eventually grew to hate how much time I had to spend learning how to use a new piece of gear. Add to that the anxiety I would feel at a gig hoping that one of my pedals or rack mounted effects wouldn't malfunction and I eventually scaled back in a massive way. These days, I show up at a gig with my acoustic guitar, a simple direct box, and a cable. It may not work for everyone, but the lack of choices has had an extremely positive effect on my music.
Whenever a new piece of gear or software catches my eye, I ask myself a few questions:
1. Is this worth the money?
2. Is this worth the time?
3. Will this help me to make better music, or will it just be a distraction?
Most of the time, after answering these quesions, I decide against purchasing it.
Thanks for the post,
John
So true! However, I'm still getting an iPhone Tuesday.
Cool video.
Consumption is an interesting thing. Don't agree with the video that it's the root cause of unhappiness, but it's certainly part of the equation.
Much like drinking, or watching TV, or eating crap food, we often do it to make ourselves feel better. And it works for a time, but only makes us end up feeling worse, so we continue to do it and the cycle goes on and on.
I remember being with you at SXSW or CMJ, or some other big music conference, several years ago when the whole dot com thing was hitting and every company there was giving out stuff. I was grabbing some t-shirts and you didn't take even one. You said something to me about getting into the habit of not consuming so much after being in NYC and having a small apartment with no room to put anything.
So every time I'm at a place giving away stuff, I always think about that!
Short term doesn't equal long term.
We go for the easy way, but because of it, screw ourselves with something much harder in the end.
Do something a bit harder right now, and the longterm result is much easier.
Eat junk now, feel good now, but get fat in the end and feel bad.
Eat healthy food now, it doesn't taste as good, but you'll feel better in the end.
In the end, in my opinion, this issue boils down to this...
People are lazy and go for the lowest hanging fruit. Too much trouble to bring a bag to the store when you can just grab a disposable one. Too much trouble to separate glass/paper from other trash. You get the idea.
iPhone? Why would I want one of them? So I can check on the amount of spam in my email account every ten minutes? So the boss can email me when I'm on holiday?
Ooo, no thanks.
Derek - If you are into motorcycle tours I highly recommend making time to tour Costa Rica. The country is beautiful, the people are friendly, and the food is great (and cheap!). My wife and I did a 7 day ride on our own and had a blast. I really wanted to ride a BMW R 1200 GS but couldn't find one anywhere. We ended up renting a Kawasaki KLR 650 from Wild Rider in San Jose. They did a really nice job helping us plan our ride, http://www.wild-rider.com/.
I like the discussion going on here. The Story of Stuff video got me thinking about people, government, and happiness. A lot of countries around the world have governments that want the best life and most happiness for their people. In America, we opt for personal freedom, which with fewer and lower taxes gives us more money, but at the expense of our health and happiness.
Not "owning" anything. That's an interesting concept. Actually thinking about what that means really boggles my mind, but I think it's an excellent exercise. I've always thought it would be fun to have an iPhone, but I've never wanted to buy one. There's the high price tag, the monthly fees, and all of the accessories to pick up along the way afterwards. Why buy an iPhone if you won't use it as an iPod? Now I'd have to buy headphones to go with it, and probably some sort of case to protect the screen.
Wow! When I think of actually "owning" something rather than just "having" it, the conversation really changes! Thanks for the insight, Derek!
Totally agree Derek, and I would submit that the less one owns, the more one can think, relax, connect and find contentment.
Besides, why buy an iPhone now when the Android phones are coming out at the end of this year
Whenever I go to India to visit my cousins I am liberated! No internet, no long mobile phone talks, no gimmicks and pretty much no consumerism madness. People have fun the old fashioned way, visiting each other, playing on the streets and eating a small feast every now and then at a festival. It's one of the best feelings in the world.
I think it's pretty amusing how the good web 2.0 marketers are becoming more and more clever at promoting their products, yet web 2.0 consumers are becoming just as clever at living simpler lives and avoiding unnecessary purchases. It's kind of a paradox, don't you think?
Tyler Durden put it best "The things you own end up owning you"
Derek, I can truly relate! I have yet another reason to not have whatever Apple is trying to get me to have: I feel they started the whole relationship out with a lie--the lie was the commercial that Apple ran where the lady with the hammer runs down the aisle and throws her heavy object at the screen, with the image of "Big Brother" on it.
Even by the time I first saw this commercial I realized that neither Apple nor IBM were "Big Brother" or "The Man" or anything like that. They were corporations, to be sure, but then so is your company. . .so are many companies. Each is unique. And very, very few are truly pernicious (e.g. tobacco companies are. . .the Pullman Coach Co. was. . .)
Somehow, though many marketers don't feel ashamed at starting out with a sort-of-lie. This is sometimes called "puffery", but I still call it lying. I think the world's greatest marketers agree with me and they insist upon telling the truth as much as they possibly can. And, by all means, don't start out with falsehood. Not a good beginnning.
Anyway, years ago I bought an IBM PC XT and found that it did not come from a bad place at all. Since then, I've begun to feel similar feelings about getting away from software by Microsoft. So now, I've got Linux and many other Free Software alternatives to the MSFT hedgemony. And I'm happy I have them.
And of course, I just have the basic cell phone. I asked my Verizon sales person if their basic phones can record audio for their ring tone. He explained how I could, indeed, record audio. So my basic phone does what I want it to. It plays my "Call to the Post" with my Trombugling (my name for my Eb alto bugle is "Trombugle") for the ringtone. What more could I ask for? Thanks for all your work!
Hey Derek. Brilliant post about "stuff." A big reason for the trouble we're all in is simply an insatiable desire to posses more stuff. May many millions more see and take your message to heart!
-jp
God I so agree! I've been living without owning for 2 years now and it gives such a level of freedom. And I ended up having the best time of my life, driving a Honda Ridgline (super comfortable truck) all around British Columbia to explore this amazing nature here.
My laptop broke a few days ago, no more personal computer for me, I just ended up having some friends lending me theirs out of nowhere! It's like everything is working out when we let go. Owning is really just an illusion isn't it?
Wow I love how you live Derek. I bet you follow the flow and enjoy every moment aren't you? :D
The real interesting thing is that two weeks ago I wrote a song with a new friend called "What Owns Me". All about how the pursuit of 'stuff' and jobs take us away from the things we really like to do.
So far everyone that has heard the demo, loves the song. Looking for a good home for it right now.
“Great men are they who see that the spiritual is stronger than any material force” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Looking forward to hearing about your ride through Iceland, Derek!
Having spent many days of my youth sitting on the posts which marked
Henry David Thoreau's cabin, I cannot think of a more enlightening topic!
“The question of bread for myself is a material question, but the question of bread for my neighbor is a spiritual question” - Nikolai Bordyaev
The iphone is an instrument, a tool which can benefit an artist if they so believe. Whether they do or they don't so be it. If it inspires, awesome.
If not, it wasn't meant to be. I see so many musicians spend every nickel to buy the latest piece of equipment thinking it will help them write that next hit song. Most of the best stuff as we know it today was written on substandard instruments and we still love it anyway. It's not what we play but how we play it, the heart speaks louder than all.
“Music is the purest form of art... therefore true poets, they who are seers, seek to express the universe in terms of music... The singer has everything within him. The notes come out from his very life. They are not materials gathered from outside.”
Rabindranath Tagore
WOW, in the past I've also stripped my belongings down to a single duffel bag (but I was homeless at the time). There is something to be said for the lifestyle but now that I am an owner of a growing business I couldn't imagine doing it at this point in my life.. damn, I sound like yuppie, ..gross.
...that said, I do not own an iPhone either nor do I care for the latest trend. Even in my chosen profession I use the tried and true. not the latest and greatest.
Not a Thing!
Is same as shunyata in buddhist terms! It has been misunderstood in the west because the term is hard to turn into english... so they came with the word ´ emptiness `...
it rather means `Everything minus... `things.`...Which are limited....Dig?
...And your bird can sing!!...
Madal used to explain, that many of our problems are caused, because we want to be satisfied with a limited portion of reality...
Hindus and Buddhists maintain that next to Man is infinite councsiousness,
for us to realize... Give up all the things that make you unhappy! & it is there. ( you can actually measure it in terms.
... peace, Light & bliss + happiness. )
What you take with you after you leave from this planet,
is your exp, your wisdom, your vision...those who disagree with me, please, step aside... Hey, ...To me F. Z. equals Bodhidharma.... Yes!
I´m an un-orthodox bastard.....OK. But,....It is so.
Vyasa
Amen. For all the moms/heads of household out there, there's a great site, Flylady.net, which I have been following for the past year in order to reduce clutter and streamline my life. I don't own/can't afford an iPhone or even an iPod. I am often tempted by the iPod, since I am a Mac user, but then I think about the fact that I don't like walking around with things in my ears. So I have managed to hold off buying an iPod for years now -- pretty impressive for a musician, no? But I do use iTunes on my laptop all the time. The greatest practice tool ever.
I love things. I cling to everything I possibly can. I love all of the functions they do. One day you need to cut you finger nails to play better guitar and the clipper is a life saver. The 9 volt battery works the mic and the tuner. The enormous reference books let you know just what you need to when it is essential. There is never a bad music book for when you want to play piano and need just that mood. If a CD has just one supreme song on it I want that CD into perpetuam. One day the soy sauce bottle is what makes the rice have zip. Globes, encyclopedias, drills, saws, printers, copiers, brain holders, back scratchers, backgammon, chess, water colors, oils, charcoal, pencils, drums, guitars, pianos, computers, TV, bicycles, weights, amps, bird feeders, dog dishes, clamps, paper cutters and a million more things... give em to me, I love em all. The clutter is maddening. I don't buy much anymore unless I REALLY need it but when I need that special thing like the needle and thread, I must have it! Viva things!
Howdy Derek and blogger friends.
Stuff is an interesting topic. One point I'd like to add to the previous points is that to use debt to get stuff causes much grief, at least it does for me. The idea that I have to work the next X years to pay for some stuff is a form of slavery :-(
Actually we don't own nothing in life ! Everything is borrowed; the more you feel you own, the more you think whom you are going to leave all that stuff (because you know it is borrowed). Nobody owns anything; things are always moving. It's just that strange feeling of being part of the universe and at the same time being part of noting that make us feel and attach to material issues; but after feeling and believing once and again we come to the point that we pass through life building up something that is useful to others.
By the way, that's way this cyber world has such power; it's an extraordinary tool to appear and disappear things and just extract from it what you really need, without the heavy thought of owning it.
Ahhh I love this conversation. I saw the story of stuff a while back and of course had my 8 year old son watch it - last week I was SO frickin proud when we were looking at a teeny video camera my mom had and she wanted the new black version of it (she had white) and my son said "that's perceived obsolescence!!"
Ha.
I am not into the new iPhone either - or stuff. I am actually going um, I guess backward? My family and I are seriously considering ditching our cell phones and getting a land line (hadn't had one of those for four years now.) I don't want to be available all the time. It good to be cut off a bit, to ruminate, to miss people and have to wait.
We ditched the car a year ago and haven't looked back. Guess what - sometimes it is *inconvenient*. Yet miraculously, we survive. Actually - we are thriving. We know our neighborhood and town so much better now from our bikes. We ride the bus and interact with people we normally would not come into contact with. Hello reality.
We have also gotten rid of more than half of our things in the past 2 years. We are getting rid of even more. I finally got down to the things that I thought would hurt a lot to get rid of in the past week. We had a yard sale - I even got rid of paintings I made and had been hanging on to for years. I was kind of scared and kind of brave and you know what... the interactions I had with the people who came to reuse that stuff I was selling - they were amazing. I now have half a dozen more artist friends.
Hooray for living consciously.
Not a hard luck story, just the truth...
I come from a real working class background (not the John Lennon type). My father was an ex-miner due to ill health and my family lived in a council house with not much money to spare. I grew up thinking it was "normal" for our windows to be broken by a crazy neighbour or for my Dad to be hit by my brother.
My wife, Berny, came from an even poorer background and we had to move away from our roots shortly after getting married due to there being no work in our area.
I eventually came to hate where we'd moved to but we stuck it out and got onto the property ladder.
To cut a long story short, we are now back where we came from with a lot more financial security and, much more importantly, plenty of time to spend together. We are far from extravagant (or rich!) but we enjoy owning the things that we thought we would never have - these things help make us happy and we really appreciate them.
It's very easy to say "I don't want to own things" when you know you're in the position to reverse that situation at any time.
If you enjoy having stuff, why A. feel guilty about it? or B. analyse the hell out of it?
I traveled around 5 countries in Central America for 9 months with my wife doing development work (and completing my latest album). I can completely relate to your story, Derek. To own very little is to be free - especially when traveling! But in North America we strive for "financial security" - usually at the expense of the dreams we keep locked up in the deep corners of our hearts.
To get so "worked-up" about the purchase of an iPhone in the first place says something I think...
Great post.
I can't bring myself to buy the iPhone either. I hate to make a purchase for an item that will be outdated before I even get it home.
I keep sticking with my cheap cell phone (that came free with my plan) because it continues to give me fewer problems and better reception than my friends iPhones. Sometimes less is more.
I love the ideal of not owning stuff. I have lived for years on end without stuff and never felt more free.
Freedom is not owning things.
Amen to that.
Love and light to you all, Michelle
I'm going through this right now with the iPod Touch.
They're really affordable, especially on Craigslist, and they're like a little computer, accessing WiFi, and lots of handy little apps… but it's just so unnecessary.
There's a Discover Card commercial that says, "We are a nation of consumers… and there's nothing wrong with that."
Seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKFZjg4eGMk
And some commentary here: http://tinyurl.com/discoverconsumer
That commercial really bakes my beans.
i lived off a bicycle (an xtracycle cargo bike) for four months and rode from north san juan, california to guadalajara, mexico with the pleasant revolution (pleasantrevolution.net)
it was the most amazing journey i have ever been on and stuff was obviously a major component since i was propelling all my stuff with my body. i should probably mention that it was a rock and roll musical bike tour with a pedal powered PA system including two 15 in speakers and that i was toting a cello in a flight case the whole way. also camping gear, clothes, other instruments, food, etc.
my bike probably had 150 - 200 pounds of stuff on it. and let me just say that i really liked having a thermos tea brewing cup. as well as kleen kanteen water bottles. i probably could have got by with less clothes though. all in all i know i have a problem with traveling with too much stuff. reading about flashpackers and reading blogs about travel that have been linked in with this article has made me want to slim down.
i'm currently planning a bike tour from canada to mexico along the west coast for this summer. hopefully i'll figure out how to travel ultralite by then!
bikes may not go as fast as motorbikes, but it sure is a good feeling making it to the top of a mountain under your own power and going down the other side! and with an almost zero carbon footprint to boot. i've never traveled by motor bike myself.
I concur whole-heartedly with this post...even though it took me a year to reply (maybe because I don't own an iPhone....heck I still have the cingular logo on my old phone....tee-hee...you know the saying...if it's not broken.......)!!!!!!!
Completely agree with your thoughts here. There is so much waste in the owning of something - especially a replacement unit like an i-phone for my phone that works just fine as is. I think so much of what drives us to purchase new is that we buy into the hype of the new features which rarely are used beyond the way were using the old stuff. Back to owning, I do have a lot of stuff, but I find myself every few years really scaling back and the stuff I do purchase seems to be less and less every year.
i once cherished a reasonably expensive twelve string acoustic. I had a friend who couldn't afford one, but enjoyed playing it a lot.
We packed after being at a church camp for a week, and for some reason, I left the guitar leaning on the back of our four wheel drive, probably I was meaning to get back to it, to pack it somewhere.
We were all in the car and I started to back out when I heard this terrible crunching sound. I knew straight away it was the guitar.
It was in a hard case, and the case was totally destroyed, but when i pulled it apart, the guitar was amazingly unscathed.
I knew it was a sign from above, so I immediatley located my friend and said, here, it's yours.
I lived without a guitar for about 12 months. Now I have about 10, but I also have 6 children, so they do get used.
I still want more guitars though.....
have i learnt any lessons?????
Although you've probably already seen by now, Paul Graham's essay Stuff: http://paulgraham.com/stuff.html deals with some of the same issues but in more detail. He's also working toward greater minimalism but makes an exception for books, which I like:
"I've now stopped accumulating stuff. Except books—but books are different. Books are more like a fluid than individual objects. It's not especially inconvenient to own several thousand books, whereas if you owned several thousand random possessions you'd be a local celebrity. But except for books, I now actively avoid stuff. If I want to spend money on some kind of treat, I'll take services over goods any day."
The "stuff" issue reminds me of the occasional questions that novice writers will ask about what kind of computer, word processor, or operating system they should use; my answer tends to be, "it doesn't matter." See here: http://jseliger.com/2009/11/11/the-computer-operating-system-or-word-processor-a-writer for more on that topic.
You should really got to Iceland. But wait 'til it's summer, the luminous nights are wonderful !
I went there for a week last summer and already thinking about going back..
Yeah. I love Iceland. See sivers.org/iceland. -- Derek
Another great post, Derek! "I've never seen a u-haul behind a hearse. The only thing you take with you when you're gone is what you leave behind."
- Miles Patrick Yohnke
The iPhone is a gadget. Unless you're a complete tech nerd like myself you probably don't legitimately want something like that. Most people get bitten by the jealousy bug. Then again... I might just hate my phone that much. The buttons have stopped working -.-
The problem is people buy things out of jealousy as opposed to actual interest or want. When you buy a 52" because your neighbor has one, its not very fulfilling unless you can show it off to someone. Same with cars. Same with everything. Unless you actually want it because it would give you joy and entertainment, you don't need it. Don't buy it.
YES!!! You're SOOOO RIGHT ON! Thanks, Derek!!
DEREK, I can't believe there is a WEBSITE about this with this kind of application, passion and practical presence!! I am very passionate about this essential topic!
I'm going to share StoryOfStuff.com with EVERYBODY!! THANK YOU for sharing this!
Well all we really do is hire stuff for the duration we're here isn't it? I am confident that most people I know should be able to be happy with less most have more than we need but we are conditioned to want. We buy the same stuff all the time in different formats for marginal or sometime debatable improvements. Everything so far imagined has been made a reality but the value / worth is variable / questionable.
The pyramids were all found to be full of stuff weren't they? I think that was how we discovered the benefits of honey.......
Sounds Epicurean; "Do I need this 'thing' (whatever you contemplate bying/getting)?" Guess what, most of the time the answer is "no".
Yes I agree, I would say that owning new things often makes me worry about either:
a) breaking it
b) losing it
or
c) someone else breaking it.
The best example for this behavior in people is definitely with cars. The problem is, we get rentals and beat the "you know what" out of them.
Derek,
I enjoyed reading about your lifestyle. I can say to a certain degree I am an adoptor of the ideia of minimalism. As a musician and writer I still need my piano, my Yamaha keyboard, my computer system to write my poetry and an academic work so I can share my art work online. Lately I have decided that a 2 bedroom apartment can be my haven where I still can have my piano, books, and computer system. Best to you.
I partly agree with you about owning.
But there are some things it is better to own then to rent.
Like a house and clothes haha.
But a car? well it depends on your own needs and usage I think.
Ever since 2001 I am not allowed to drive anymore I just go by bike, by public transportation or, by cab, or let someone do the driving for me. Agreed it is not always the easiest way to get around but you'll get there.
Tom
I definitely have the mentality of living a simple life and not owning anything that I dont use now/near term..
ie Business assets are ok, but other than that, i went through a whole phase of just selling everything i didnt use alot.
most clothes, books, car, tv etc.
Now I have very few possessions and find it a very liberating lifestyle-
Mainly because for some reason,
having less seems to make me use my mind more and also be way more creative..
Musically, getting rid of my studio and all the keyboards and instruments was so liberating.
I love just having a laptop and being able to move to different spaces and work with different people around the world.
Thanks for this thread - very
comforting and inspiring!
BTW i do have an Iphone and an Ipad :p
Your writing and life philosophy reminds me so much of my husband Sean Bonner.
- We live in LA but works in Singapore & Tokyo
- He tries to be a minimalist
- I used to work at Topspin Media (we're both friends with the CEO Ian Rogers)
- We travel around a lot
- He is one of the founders of Coffee Common that launch at this year's TED.
Probably share a bunch of friends/ acquaintances
He's @seanbonner on twitter.
Hey Derek
A friend directed me to your site this morning, and I'm glad he did!
I don't normally comment on posts, but I was in the to iphone or not to iphone..
I thought I'd throw in two cents in the 'pro' category..
I'm also quite minimal, and the iphone has helped.
I rarely use my laptop now, my point and click camera died and I won't be replacing it (HD video & 6mp on the iMachine), I gave my ipod touch away (OCD mnmlsm habit), and I use the iMachine for checking the wind, trading stock options and social media stuff.
To be honest, I get a bit inconvenienced when someone calls me on it, and I have to use it as a phone!
I've watched & shared the story of stuff, that vid makes me feel ill about owning most things mass produced.
:/
Hola Derek,
Your observations about owning stuff are so right on.
I’ve been a minimalist for over fifteen years. I own my life and have lived in happiness every day since I made that choice.
Well a minimalist, I would say is pretty close to my situation. Small laptop, gps, camera, flashlight. backpack with sleeping bag. Clothes to change into. I'm a Hitch Hiker.
Follow me on my website. If you want to be a minimalist. Learn from living the life.
I recently just sold my iPhone for a new Android and I find myself swapping electronic items the most, because they're in today gone tomorrow for the most part. I agree, lets switch to a "cloud based" physical item business model.
I'm getting more like this every day. I love to sell stuff on Ebay just for the rush of getting rid of it. It feels like a load is coming off.
Great post. I found you through appsumo.
I've been thinking how wonderful that new iPhone will be when it comes out at the end of this year.
You know what? My current iPhone works just fine.
TY!
~Kate
Apple sell very well. They forced upon you that you feel you really need. I have the iPhone 3G, but I will sell.
.
It is important to stop and think. Discard all feelings. And ask: do you really need it? Usually the answer, not
Did you ever buy one, three years later?
Nope. -- Derek
I actually find that an iPhone and iPad helps me become more of a minimalist. All my documents get scanned and kept on my computer and iPad. The iPhone (I still have the first 3G model. It still works. No need to replace) is my mega Swiss army knife that does much, but disappears when you don't need it. Same with the Kindle (e-ink is great). I used to want to buy books and hem and haw weather I really want another book to bog me down with more clutter, even though the book would be really cool. Now they all just disappear into my kindle. So, I'd say get stuff that helps you from having more stuff.
I entered a competition to win a high end FireWire audio interface recently. I didn't win, but I got an email from the sales manager of the company asking if I wanted to discuss my requirements with him. I immediately thought 'Yeah, yeah, yadda, yadda, yadda...' but then stopped. And looked at this perfectly polite and friendly email again. And replied - that I thought his company's stuff was really cool and I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I had the money, but the budget was not going to stretch currently; nevertheless, this is a link to the CD Baby page for an album I mixed and these are the projects I'm currently juggling.
And I got a really nice email back saying 'Interesting stuff, Tony - financial situation appreciated, but we'd be happy to lend you one of our units for a project!'
And yes, friends can be like that too - you can actually borrow things, with the idea of returning the favour at some point...
Wise words, optimizing belongings to what is needed, when it's needed, is a key to happiness. Comsumer society is not creating much happiness for this very reason.
Good advice Derek, I'm off to spend a year travelling around Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Hawaii next year so i've really had to learn this one - I went out suitcase shopping with my sister a few weeks back and *insisted* on one of the smallest suitcases (one of those ones that are small enough to be hand luggage) and I've packed everything I need.
The Tim Ferriss link was useful too.
Marcus
Hi Derek
I SO agree! Me and my wife try to own as little as possible - saves money (and waste) and lets us work less - and guess what we now can live without insurance on our apartment, because theres not much to steal anyway
By the way thanks for the e-mail you sent back - thumbs up!
Morten from Denmark // Aarhus
Hi Derek just found your site and a kindred spirit. Please to share how I can live out of a backpack while BEING OWNED by 3 cats? And where on the rented motorcycle would all 3 of them sit, comfortably and safely? ;)
Having nothing frees you from the continuous desire for material possessions. http://www.basecandy.com/