Author Topic: mustachian and minimalism?  (Read 5541 times)

DeltaBond

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mustachian and minimalism?
« on: November 12, 2015, 02:09:41 PM »
I know these two things don't always go hand in hand, but my mustachianism has led me to becoming more and more of a minimalist.  The past few months, I have taken one room, one closet, on drawer at a time, and filled boxes and bags to take either to the garbage or to goodwill.  Not much of my stuff was worth selling on ebay, but looking at all my old stuff being packed up to be sent elsewhere has really been a great lesson in buying less.  Especially in the grocery store.  Have any of you taken on this type of project?  Did you have yard sales or just dump the stuff?

This guy is really hitting home with me on minimalism - https://twitter.com/joshua_becker  and he's on facebook, too, but I'm not really on there, so I don't have a link.  http://www.becomingminimalist.com/  I think that's his website, too.  I'm sure there are other minimalist websites out there, but he's the one recently who has been motivating me.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2015, 02:18:54 PM »
I know these two things don't always go hand in hand, but my mustachianism has led me to becoming more and more of a minimalist.  The past few months, I have taken one room, one closet, on drawer at a time, and filled boxes and bags to take either to the garbage or to goodwill.  Not much of my stuff was worth selling on ebay, but looking at all my old stuff being packed up to be sent elsewhere has really been a great lesson in buying less.  Especially in the grocery store.  Have any of you taken on this type of project?  Did you have yard sales or just dump the stuff?

This guy is really hitting home with me on minimalism - https://twitter.com/joshua_becker  and he's on facebook, too, but I'm not really on there, so I don't have a link.  http://www.becomingminimalist.com/  I think that's his website, too.  I'm sure there are other minimalist websites out there, but he's the one recently who has been motivating me.

I was actually a minimalist (ish) first, and a mustachian second. We lived in a 500sqft apartment until this summer, so it was a must for my sanity. I love Joshua Becker's stuff, even though I'm not religious. I like Zen Habits http://zenhabits.net/, but he got a little too "vegan-marathoner-preacher" there for me for a while, so I haven't read in a long time. No Sidebar is another good one http://nosidebar.com/.

We mainly just goodwilled the stuff we got rid of, but I think it depends on your personal style. Some items, I will try to list through craigslist, but if they don't sell after dropping the price and re-listing once or twice, I donate. If you get overwhlemed or set things aside though, that's a recipe for a clutter pile IMO.

Trudie

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2015, 03:18:43 PM »
I'm constantly culling my stuff.  Some people have luck with sales, and I do not.  In the past I've sold decent sporting and gardening equipment through a newsletter at work, but now I mostly donate it.  I place value on the time it takes to prepare a garage sale, and the payoff isn't there for me. 

And a word about tax deductions -- because I try to stay in the 15% tax bracket often the tax deduction I get for donating has more marginal value to me than the cash I might receive for it at a garage sale anyway.

DeltaBond

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2015, 05:03:44 AM »
Yeah, I've never had a lot of luck with garage sales, only makes my day crummy, lol  Thinking about taxes also makes my day crummy.

Squirrel away

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2015, 05:38:01 AM »
I love minimalist principles.:) It makes me feel great to remove pointless stuff from my home. I feel so much less stressed having less and if I have to go and find something like sellotape knowing exactly where it is in my house.:P

skeeder

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2015, 09:48:07 AM »
I'm a mutt.

Minimalism collided with mustachian collided with buy it for life person too.

I love saving to buy things that I either A) Need or B) Desire.  I don't have alot of stuff but the stuff I do have will last a long time and was made with great quality.  Unfortunately that normally means it was expensive and required me saving to get it.  Not a bad lifestyle but a little more anti-mustache than some. 

celticmyst08

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2015, 10:24:39 AM »
I've been discovering that minimalism makes me much less stressed. We aren't extreme minimalists by any means, but definitely more so than pretty much anyone else we know. I get a little thrill every time I take a bag of stuff to the Goodwill drop-off bins, lol. When I get stressed I tend to do stupid stuff like buy takeout or clothes, so staying less stressed is a money saver. ;)

Our growing tendencies toward minimalism have also helped us save a lot of money. Also, in the future, when we are ready to buy a house, we don't anticipate wanting anything much bigger than ~1000 sqft. We live in a 700-800 sqft apartment currently and can't imagine needing much more space, although a second bedroom would be nice.

cjottawa

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2015, 11:33:57 AM »
...I was actually a minimalist (ish) first, and a mustachian second...

Ditto.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2015, 12:50:38 PM »

I was actually a minimalist (ish) first, and a mustachian second.

Same here. I had been on a minimalism kick for several years & then stumbled upon MMM, which linked up perfectly w/ what I had already been working towards. I especially love the emphasis that both minimalism and MMM have on intentional living / reducing your ecological footprint / making time for things that are meaningful to you.

Exactly! Probably my strongest "movement" I identify with would actually be the simple/intentional living movement. You can see this take precedence over my mustachianism in areas like work- I'm currently working 24hrs a week because I enjoy the lower stress and more free time lifestyle. If I worked more would we save faster? Absolutely! Is it worth it to me? Not right now.

DeltaBond

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2015, 01:07:57 PM »
One thing I have had a hard time parting with is my book collection.  It represents so many times and changes in my life, all my interests right there for me to go back to... but I needed them to be out of my sight, as looking at the past was triggering depression... so I boxed them all up, and just having them safe somewhere, but not somewhere I'm looking, seemed to be very helpful.

I've found this is a good first step toward actually getting rid of something when part of me isn't really ready yet.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: mustachian and minimalism?
« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2015, 01:21:20 PM »
One thing I have had a hard time parting with is my book collection.  It represents so many times and changes in my life, all my interests right there for me to go back to... but I needed them to be out of my sight, as looking at the past was triggering depression... so I boxed them all up, and just having them safe somewhere, but not somewhere I'm looking, seemed to be very helpful.

I've found this is a good first step toward actually getting rid of something when part of me isn't really ready yet.

I've slimmed down my book collection, but it has not gone anywhere yet. I like the “Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful" concept, and to me, my books are both useful AND beautiful.