Goodbye stuff, hello world
I’ve been asked many times over the years why it is that I am able to travel and move countries as much as I do, and the answer invariably comes down to one simple fact. I don’t accumulate stuff. Keeping my life free of unnecessary junk – and being happy to dispose of what little there is – provides the mental and physical freedom to drop everything and travel on a whim.
If you would also prefer to spend your life on the road rather than your new leather recliner, here’s a few simple ideas that can help.
Get off the merry go round
Like all good journeys, the path to reducing the junk in your life starts with a single step. In this case, it’s a single word. Stop. Put your credit card back in your pocket, and stop buying stuff you don’t need with money you don’t have. Understanding the difference between needs and wants is a lesson that we are all taught in childhood, and yet most of us seem to have forgotten it under the relentless daily consumerist barrage. Discriminate between the few things that you truly need and the many things that you think you want, and leave the latter on the shelf for someone else. This will both save you a fortune and reduce the amount of stuff that you need to dispose of when you do go travelling. Win win!
Downsize
Once you’ve stopped buying stuff you don’t need, it’s time for phase two. Downsize. Whether you are planning to travel next week, next month or a year from now, it’s never too early to start getting rid of accumulated junk. Imagine if instead of scaling up your house every few years to fit in that 17 piece lounge suite or two hundred inch television, you could dramatically reduce your costs and increase your flexibility instead.
Now stop imagining it, and start doing it. Be ruthless! If you haven’t used something in 12-18 months, you don’t need it. Stop waiting for the rainy day that will never come, and get rid of it. Utilise online auctions, garage sales, friends and family, charities, even a poster on the local community noticeboard. You’ll be amazed at just how liberating it is to dispose of years of crud – and finding out just how little second hand items are worth is a great incentive to not make the same mistake again!
Environmental impact
It’s a pretty fair bet that none of the stuff you own materialised in your living room out of thin air. The environmental cost of manufacturing, transporting and ultimately, disposing of things can easily exceed the price you paid for them – and that’s before taking into account the secondary impact of heating, cooling and running a larger house to store them all in! Treading lightly – both while travelling and when living in one place – helps both you as an individual and the planet as a whole. Take a minute to ask yourself where something came from before you hand over your cash.
Lists. They’re geeky but they work.
Maybe it’s the inner geek in me, but I find that making lists simplifies the process of getting rid of stuff. When it’s time to put the backpack on again, I walk around my house writing down everything that I come across and assign it to one of four categories:
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Things to sell
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Things to give away
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Things to throw out
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Things to take with me
Once you come to terms with the fact that everything in the last category has to fit into your suitcase or backpack (and be able to be carried up and down stairs, through train stations and along city streets), you tend to find it much easer to choose one of the other three options! Sell it, give it or throw it – just don’t keep it.
Stop reading, start doing.
In a society where status is so closely linked with possessions – car, boat, house and everything in it – it’s not always easy to go against the grain and actively reduce the amount of stuff you own. Having children, a partner or elderly parents can make the task seem even more difficult. Once you start, however, the sheer freedom that downsizing brings more than makes up for not having tonnes of unnecessary junk cluttering up your life. With each old kitchen appliance or box of books that gets loaded into the back of somebody else’s car, a travelling lifestyle moves one step closer. Seize the initiative – now. Stop reading this article and start making a list of stuff to get rid of. Good luck, and see you on the road!
Great advice, Dave! I’ve been a De-clutterer for many years. I hate “stuff”. I’d much rather spend my money on travel and experiences than things.
Excellent post. Don’t know why we’re so obsessed with owning things. Too many possessions can be such a burden!
Thanks Gray and Sophie! Yep it’s a funny thing really – a lot of people seem to spend their time trying to acquire new ’stuff’ … I seem to spend my time looking for things to get rid of!
I swear I get more satisfaction from throwing out or giving away something than I did from buying it in the first place!
is a great advice Dave, well done!
I am pretty good at choosing what i am needing, not wanting but I needed a bit lil more time!!!
x
Great article, Dave!
I followed the link from my post over at Vagabondish (the one about getting robbed), and you’re exactly right – the sentiment is very much the same!
I’m glad as can be to see all the opportunities that opened up to you the minute you started dumping stuff by the wayside. I’m hoping to start downsizing even more in the next few months, maybe to squeak under that 100 item limit craziness that’s been making the rounds on the ‘net recently. I can only imagine how liberating that would feel.
Thanks Matt – I really enjoyed your Vagabondish article, and thanks for stopping by to comment
I may be following my own advice on ’stuff’ shortly -the way things are looking there could be a multi-month trip coming up very soon!
So true. We sold all of our stuff and have never felt more liberated. We are now able to live as perpetual nomads with just two small backpacks. We don’t miss anything!
Hey Erin – it’s a great feeling eh? Looking around my apartment at the moment, as little as I have, it still feels too much. Hmm, I think my backpack is calling again…
Id be keen to find out what “stuff” you still carry with you after so many years on the road. If you’ve already written a post about it, can you link me to it?
Im about to start out, and I feel like I’ll be taking too many (flashpacking) gadgets along… just to keep the blog updated and the family back home.
@EagerExistence – probably the only post I’ve written on that topic is http://whatsdavedoing.com/blogs/travel/travelling-light-and-how-i-havent-managed-it/ … it’s more of a ‘here’s a list of what I plan to carry next time’ rather than ‘here’s what I did carry’, tho, as I’ve been guilty of carting around waaaaay too much stuff in the past!
In terms of gadgets, I’m allowing myself a small netbook to keep this site going, a pocket sized camera and a phone/music player. Oh, and a tiny torch, if that counts as a gadget. I don’t really want to take the netbook but it’s totally impossible to maintain a blog from the road properly if you’re just using internet cafes etc. Oh well.
When I did my first big out of country move I threw a huge going away party and gave goodie bags to all my friends who came. The goodies were basically everything that didn’t fit into oversized plastic storage tubs. It was AWESOME to see my friend’s pleasure at their ‘new’ stuff and was hugely rewarding to get rid of so much!
Now that’s a really great idea, Hannah – it makes everybody happy! Thanks for sharing it
Fantastic advice! I’m in the process of purging for my upcoming rtw trip, and it feels so good to downsize and get rid of things. I never thought having fewer things would have such an incredible impact on me mentally and emotionally — but it’s so freeing.
I’m doing the same again, for the same reason! Although I don’t have to be quite as ruthless as usual because I’m actually planning on returning to the same city (for the first time ever!), I’m still taking the opportunity to get rid of anything that I haven’t used in the last 12 months. No point packing it up and moving it into storage when I can donate or throw it instead!
Such a wonderful feeling…