Earlier
this year I reviewed some books on frugality, most of which would fall into the
“Oh, poor me, I overspent and I’m now paying for it boo hoo hoo” category. This
is not one of those books.
In my
last post I mentioned Kanopy, a streaming service offered free from the
library. The first thing I watched after signing up for Kanopy was Minimalism: A Documentary About the
Important Things, which led me to check out the Minimalist’s book, Everything That Remains, from the
library. (The book is available in the Johnson County libraries; the Kansas
City library did not have it.)
The
authors, Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus, grew up in southwestern
Ohio. Milburn’s mother left his abusive father who died when Milburn was young.
His mother was an alcoholic who was eventually able to get sober. (What is it
about that part of Ohio that makes people want to self-medicate?) Milburn got a
good job right out of high school and was on the fast track complete with all
the toys he thought he was supposed to want when his mother died and his wife
left him—both in the same month.
While
he was sorting out his mother’s belongings, which he described as three
apartments stuffed into one, he became overwhelmed. His mother retired to
Florida but had never gotten rid of her winter clothes. He seesawed between
taking her stuff back with him to Ohio or renting a storage unit in Florida. He
finally realized he would never need his mother’s belongings, so he donated
them. This started him on a journey to minimalism. He eliminated 80% of his
stuff, gave up TV, the internet, his cell phone, and finally even his goals. He
decided to go back to having internet and a phone, but by giving them up, he
realized life would be possible without them. He recommended to his employer
that he be laid off and eventually he was. Nicodemus, who worked at the same
company was also eventually laid off, though not at his request.
The
minimalists contacted other like-minded people, formed a publishing company (Asymetrical,
currently located in Montana) and started putting out books. They are having
fun.
They
did a book tour that started small and ended up successful beyond their dreams.
So many people showed up to hear them in Toronto they thought they were
competing with another act. They wound up having to do more presentations to
accommodate everyone. It seems there is a lot of interest in having less stuff
and more life. As one of the people who attended their lecture in Toronto said,
she was living the life she was supposed to want, but it wasn’t her life; she
was living someone else’s dream.
On a
personal note, when I left my job with Company L in 1995, my parents were
flabbergasted. Their reaction was basically how could I give up everything they
ever wanted. My problem was what they wanted was not what I wanted.
On yet
another personal note, my mother died in 2003; my sister has just this fall let
go of our mother’s clothes.
There
is an awful lot to think about in this book, including the astute observation
that hoarding and organizing are pretty much the same thing. Hoarding is out in
the open, but organizing is essentially well-planned hoarding. I’d add that
“organizing” in today’s language usually implies buying containers and other
items to contain our excess, so it may well be more expensive than hoarding
plus we wind up with all the stuff we bought to hold our stuff.
The
book is independently published (the ISBN is 9781938793189), and it could use
some editing, but since I’ve been there, done that, and had my own share of
screwups, I’m in no position to criticize. Just read the book and appreciate
its message.
As
we’re entering the Season this year, perhaps we could pause our spending for a
few minutes and think about the things we buy both for ourselves and as gifts
for others. If it’s something useful or needed, great. If it’s neither, well,
isn’t it a waste of time, money, and the space it will occupy?
And on
one more personal note, don’t buy something simply because it’s on sale. I’m
considering buying an Instant Pot. Walmart has a “Door Buster” ad with a
5-quart Instant Pot for $49. I’m looking for the 8-quart model. I almost fell
into the trap of “$49 is a good deal; maybe I can live with the 5-quart model.”
But I realized (in time) something you don’t want on sale is not a good deal. I
know I’d wind up buying the 8-quart model eventually, so I might as well save
the $49 (plus tax) I’d spend on this model and get what I want the first time.
One
thing you might consider giving, if you still have anyone on your list who has
a landline, is MagicJack, which I reviewed in my second post way back in
December of last year. (Here’s the link: http://www.larryrothsblog.com/2016/12/magic-jack-and-smart-tv.html.) They’re
having a sale. For $29.99 plus tax, you get the MagicJack and a year’s phone
service. Please read my review because MagicJack does have some limitations.
The link to the special is:
https://my.magicjack.com/process/CART/form/CARTLOGIN?language=
© 2017 Larry Roth
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