Casual Conversation

I loved reading your experience, there's a flip side that I've been experiencing in my life recently.

I have always been a minimalist and an anti-materialist, never really attached to "things" very much.

Late last year I decided to start getting into electronics and to do that, I would buy only broken things for the cheapest dollar, and then deduce and figure, and educate myself on how they work and how to repair them. It's a great way to connect to the memory of my grandfather who grew up in the depression, and taught me how to make things from nothing.

Anyways, a couple of critical things happened... I was out buying a $5 TV and as I was bringing it home, I saw the exact same TV in the dumpster next to my building. I took the one I purchased upstairs, and I couldn't escape the thought that I just bought something that I could have dragged out of a garbage can. So I did something I hadn't done before, and I went and picked it out of there.

That was a very educational moment because it taught me immediately that even two very similar televisions, from the same year, from the same manufacturer, can have different inverter boards and connectors and pinouts and everything's just a giant FU to hobbyists and the whole right to repair concept. It's sort of blew my mind coming from a place where I built PCs for decades and really had the PC mindset not general electronics.

That put me more into a salvage mindset, where I figured if I was going to learn how to cobble things together, I was going to have to get a variety of things, and deepen my understanding.

And this sort of addiction, I can honestly say, started to form for salvaging and scrapping discards. I started to make a point of passing by dumpsters on my way back from grocery. I started to drag all manner of electronics and shit out! Record players, amplifiers, stereos, speakers, fans... What the hell I thought to myself, there's just free junk everywhere?!!

I started to repair and have so much fun, and I guess I succeeded with my plan of just gathering crap to learn the hobby! Most of the things I ended up working on and fixing and playing with weren't even the stuff I planned on, but it expanded my horizons so much.

On I go lol...

Eventually I crossed the mental threshold of going from hard plastic and metal electronics that really couldn't have pests on them, really just dirt...., to other types of materials and things I would never have considered even touching next to a dumpster. All of a sudden I started to realize so many things that I paid money for, were literally just sitting there like dressers, shelves, carpets, lamps, quality cookware, all kinds of stuff!!! And I am not talking about some beaten-to-rat-shit stained piece of garbage, I am talking about new items that you cannot literally understand why anyone would dispose of.

Some items are notably filthy, like the brand new Xbox that had banana peels on it, guess they didn't know you could fix an HDMI output. They live a block or two from me and they pay $4,000 per month rent for the exact same square footage I pay $1,000 so I guess there you go. My point is, not one thing enters my zone before being cleaned within an inch of its life because I'm aware of the potentials. I have other routines as well that are not germane to this comment. It needs to be said though, because if anybody's taking inspiration, you need to be deadly serious about pests.

I just got a $600 Dyson vacuum because they didn't know you could clean the motor filter. $4,000 of solid wood furniture because the posts fell out of the shelving and they couldn't be bothered to just stick them back in or glue the ones that were loose. A boombox that makes the new gen Bose SoundLinks sound like talking greeting cardaf rom Hallmark by comparison - by this point I've learned enough electronics that I added in a Bluetooth board from a salvaged shower speaker, powered by lithium ion batteries salvaged from disposable vapes, and now this thing rocks my block! It's all garbage!!

I found a painting that I've discovered was once "worth" $4,000. My apartment is filled with the most beautiful Italian glass, people pay for it on the local boards upwards of $80 per piece and it's just laying in garbage cans. All the art on my wall is classic record covers and sleeves when people move out they just leave their collections and boxes. Today I got a fire extinguisher new in box and outer wrap, a NIB powered precision screwdriver set with tamper-proof torx bits, a NIB 1 lb camping propane tank full... It's lunacy my friends.

I started to just give things away. I collect things just to take them home, clean them, and give them to the next person so they can give me something cool back.

I don't ever feel the need to go out and buy anything other than food now.

I have realized that literally every single thing that I need in the world can just be picked up by walking over and getting it. It requires a different mindset which means you have to have a continual mental list of things you need, and you just have to know that the lottery machine of life is going to pay off and you just mentally took them off as you grab them.

So it's been a way to have amazing stuff in my life for the first time ever, not feel attached to it and feel like I can throw it all away right now, and just get it all again tomorrow if I want. I never have to put my stuff in boxes and move again, it's just going to go in a heap.

No matter what I pick up and salvage, I find something better a week later. I now have a four 55-in televisions and I do not even watch TV. I literally do not ever turn them on. Unless I need to watch a video on how to fix a TV like the one I just turned on. An Xbox, a PlayStation, a Nintendo handheld, a Harman Kardon complete amplifier system, a complete surround sound set, a complete karaoke set. It's an absolute embarrassment of riches from garbage. That's not even half of it.

I wholly support your goal here. Cutting loose the trappings of a culture you don't agree with and dedicating to a lifestyle that fulfills you is almost the core of the human experience.

Personally I've taken the opposite approach by embracing maximalism. I buy mostly used and practical decor and don’t let the pressure to maximize resale value control how my life looks. I want to make my mark on every part of my life until the boring beige and gray of the world can find no purchase in my hallowed halls.

Minimalism is really the way to go in a world that is obsessed with consumerism. I feel the word and idea of 'Consumer' is dirty because it dehumanizes someone, like capitalism only sees people as cattle with wallets. Only existing to buy, subscribe, buy, subscribe and buy. That's not a life to live.

I've been in homes of friends where they are messy with so much stuff, it's hoarding, they don't know what to do with it all and are isolated between not only mental illness but also attachment. It feels so wrong being in the middle of that.

I've also been disgusted with myself for indulging on just filling my apartment with stuff. Buying things I think I'd like or find use in, but eventually ditching because I'm invalidating myself. I'm buying things for some form of validity, like as if someone is going to burst through the door and asking me questions about what I have so I can talk about them. Who the hell am I trying to impress? I live alone, by myself, no friends in my immediate location. Why am I getting things that ultimately do not matter?

There's an article I read awhile ago and I think this should be read by fellow minimalists It's a practice I've been doing, because simply just cutting things cold turkey, has never worked for me. Because eventually old emotions linger back and old habits try to come back and I'll fall into them again where I'm just spending money for the sake of spending money. It is best for people to take on the dissolving tactic to find some sense of closure before cleansing your surrounding and yourself from consumerism.

made my own solar system

Without Pluto, I'm assuming, to fit the minimalist aesthetic. 🥁🥁🛎️

I've soured a bit on minimalism once it become content for attention capitalism, but it sounds like it's genuinely working for you and not something you "should" do without reflection.

I had the realization last night as I was struggling to do the dishes and fold my laundry that it is evolutionarily unnatural for humans to have so much stuff to take care of. Like, we spent most of our existence as humans living in highly mobile bands with the bare necessities for survival plus ceremonial items.

It’s no wonder that I don’t want to spend time thinking about what I’m going to wear every morning and that I’m happy to wear the same comfortable outfit every day. Most humans in history had like a single outfit with optional modifications for weather and ceremony.

It’s no wonder that I get overwhelmed with a ton of food in my fridge and that most of it ends up going bad because I can’t eat it all. I’m supposed to be cooking what’s immediately available and sharing that food with my band members so there are no leftovers.

It’s no wonder that I don’t want to scrub toilets or vacuum. My brain evolved to have a one or two room tent or wooden structure to maintain.

It’s no wonder that I don't want to sit in a box all day and stare at a box that has shapes and colors on it, looking for meaning. I would rather listen to my friends tell stories and spend my days fixing a few tools as needed and finding food. I want to find meaning in relationships, in other people, not in screens and complex organizations.

I could go on.

I personally lived like this for decades. I had a big backpack 80L. If my stuff didn't fit in I had too much. I lived outside a lot. Sometimes inside. I didn't have furniture or a car. Just a bedroll and a backpack. It was amazing. I'm old now and have the comforts of stuff but that time in my 20's and 30's was some of the best of my life.

Anything you own ends up owning you or something like that.

Btw, why do you care what others think? Aren't you free? Didn't you do this for yourself and not to impress anyone? You should be secure in your rationale for living your lifestyle.

Objects are a connection to the past that I am often unable to maintain without stimulus. I have many things that serve no purpose except to allow me to reexperience past events. I would like to digitize my mementos.