Ultralight Lifestyle

[kayak karl]

there comes a point in life where some realize, the things own you!

[colorado_rob]

My wife and I try, we really do to minimize the junk and live a Spartan lifestyle because we prefer the simplicity (just like we hike, not quite "ultralight", but "lightweight" at 9-10 pound base weights). But: we sure do have a lot of outdoor gear, all of which we use.

The thing is, if you eventually have a couple of kids, it really is easy to collect all sorts of kid stuff, and it is painful to get rid of when you get older. So, thank doG for crawl spaces! Our house size is very modest, but we have a large, dry crawl space that we store all the memorabilia in (4 kids worth).

[Kc Fiedler]

Minimalism is like exercise--short-term pain for long-term gain. Self-discipline is required. Ignore the incessant messages that happiness will be secured by buying this toothpaste, a new breakfast cereal, a prescription drug you should ask your doctor about, or a new truck.

A lightening of the material load is not at all uncommon in the long-distance hiking community. If you're pre-retirement age, it's almost required for you to finance a long hike. After a long hike a lot of people are revolted by the excess of crap the surrounds them.

i enjoy many of Joshua Becker's Becoming Minimalist posts.

My husband and I have gone through several cycles of acquisition and purging. In the early 90s we did a huge purge to move our family of five from a farm in Kentucky to a four-room apartment in Russia. Three years later, when we were reunited with the crap we had felt the need to out in storage, our main reaction was Why did we think we'd want to keep this?

We're in a purge phase now--kids grown up and out of the house; getting ready for retirement by lightening the load financially and maintenance-wise; we've relocated to a place that offers hiking, cycling, and XC skiing right out the door. The tiny houses are cute, but I think around here we can buy the land with an existing cabin of around 500 sq' for less than bare land. Since cheap is important, but we don't want to be miserable (I've rejected the very cheapest options, such as living in a trailer park in Hungry Horse, for instance), the property has to have some aesthetic appeal. :-) Resort jobs often come with company housing, but I'm not planning to go that minimalist for the long term.

My three adult offspring are mad minimalists. One can fit all her worldly goods in a smallish U-Haul; one lives with his wife in a one-room cabin; and one is fixing up a 22' classic Airstream to be home for the next few years. (His girlfriend is just starting to tackle the stuff problem.) The kids are all extremely solvent financially, which is not unrelated to their minimalist lifestyles.

It's hard to think of any way in which cutting way, way back on spending and reducing possessions to the A-list items which fit in a smaller space isn't beneficial.

I like your story here, it's inspiring. Not that I have much stuff, I just moved from MI to Utah and fit all of my worldly possessions into the back of an '03 Subaru Outback. Still just seemed like I had a lot of unnecessary things, but that's a personal journey. I'm enjoying hearing others' experiences!

Try this: Go through the stuff in the storage area and put the stuff you THINK you can get rid of in boxes. DO NOT LABEL THE BOXES. Then SEAL THE BOXES. A year from now (or two or three--depending on your comfort level) give the boxes--UNOPENED--to a charity resale store.

It hurts a lot less that way! Good luck!

I've heard this suggestion quite a few times, I like that idea it seems like a great way to break the nostalgic bonds with odds and ends.

[Slo-go'en]

And here I thought my 700 sq ft cottage was small Since it was built in the 50's as a summer camp, it doesn't have a great floor plan and I have to decide if I want to do much hiking this summer or invest that time and money into home repairs. I could use a few more new windows and another layer of insulation, but I degress.

During my serious wanderlust years I paid a lot of money to store stuff, which in the end would have been less expensive to simply replace when I needed to. But there are a few things I'm glad I saved, like my thread bare Teddy Bear which I've had since I was 3, my high end record player and records, lots of books. Okay, I guess it was worth paying to store that stuff, but barely.

The problem is we are by nature horders. We collect stuff whether we need it or not. It is in our genes and we can't help ourselfs. Why else would we end up with so much crap that we don't know where to put it all and have such a hard time letting go of it?

[Dogwood]

'The problem is we are by nature horders. We collect stuff whether we need it or not. It is in our genes and we can't help ourselfs. Why else would we end up with so much crap that we don't know where to put it all and have such a hard time letting go of it?'

Perhaps, to some extent humans are natural horders but ending up with so much crap as U.S. citizens is largely a consequence of our STRONG consumer driven shop shop shop culture. Travel outside the U.S., observe how most cultures/societies live around the world, and you quickly come to the conclusion how wealthy, spoiled, hording, wasteful, and consumer driven we are in the U.S. It is clearly demonstrated in all aspects of life as U.S. citizens - from the automobiles we drive and that so many of us do own automobiles - often each person having their OWN automobile, our consumption of the world's natural resources - petroleum, energy, precious metals, water, etc, the size of our living spaces, the size of our wardrobes, the amt and how often we eat, the physical size we have become, the size our U.S. egos have become, the many off site from our residence personal storage units there are, our cluttered attics, garages, kitchens, basements, closets, backyard storage units/sheds, the amt of energy and time we devote to shopping, etc. What's even more concerning is how arrogant the U.S. has become, both our citizenry(you and me!) and our leadership, in that we demand and expect that we should do this regardless of how it might affect the rest of the world. And, our biased news and information systems are designed to keep us from noticing it. We'll even ignorantly defend our ability to continue doing this when we're undeniably presented with the consequences of our cultural/societal/national beliefs. What's even more concerning than that is that other cultures/societies/nations are adopting/have long adopted the same mentality. This has the potential for growing into large scale conflagrations at some juncture unless it is addressed!

It is anti American counter culture to live a minimalist smaller foot print globally conscious lifestyle - basically an UL long distance hiking philosophy applied to the largely non hiking everyday lifestyle. When one starts questioning personal and national consumerism in the U.S. you can sure expect some heated opposition. It's OK talking about over consumption to some extent but start rocking the boat too much and it is not tolerated. It's difficult getting away from consumerism too as we're constantly bombarded from so many powerfully influential psychologically controlling directions to consume more more more. This is why I believe getting away from or reducing many of these influences, such as what occurs on a thru-hike or time largely spent away from U.S. commercialization/information systems, results in sobering realities and a greater awareness. Don't believe me don't want to take my word for it read trail journals of 100's upon 100's of thru-hikers immediately after their long thru-hikes.

[Dogwood]

This mentality does not just pertain to U.S. citizenry either. It's quite obvious in our gov't.

[Slo-go'en]

Perhaps, to some extent humans are natural horders but ending up with so much crap as U.S. citizens is largely a consequence of our STRONG consumer driven shop shop shop culture.

But our hording instincts are what makes the strong consumer drive to shop possible and is what retailers and manufactures take advantage of in selling us stuff we probably don't need or could live well enough (or better) without.

[lonehiker]

I enjoy all of my stuff.

[ALLEGHENY]

My last remaining uncle died and left me with 70+ years of stuff in a 7 room house to deal with. I don't want to burden anybody with tons of my stuff when I die.

[Dogwood]

The strong consumer drive to shop mentality, to the degree it occurs in the U.S., occurs through the intentionally created and promulgated mental conditioning and habit formation in U.S. culture and that was not inherited in our genes. I'm not buying into the theory instincts are always a genetic expression either. Instincts(that which we find instinctual) can be manufactured and forcefully imposed on us by outside sources seeking to fulfill their self serving agendas. I'm having difficulty believing a hording instinct is an entirely genetic expression. No.

[OCDave]

For many, a minimalist lifestyle includes getting rid of their automobiles and the expenses associated with owning a car. Relief from cost of car ownership can be liberating. However, mass transit and car sharing are more available for some than others. Some cities are more walkable or bikeable. For some, their ideal is more attractive than the reality. Me- car owner but, have considered other options.

[lonehiker]

The strong consumer drive to shop mentality, to the degree it occurs in the U.S., occurs through the intentionally created and promulgated mental conditioning and habit formation in U.S. culture and that was not inherited in our genes. I'm not buying into the theory instincts are always a genetic expression either. Instincts(that which we find instinctual) can be manufactured and forcefully imposed on us by outside sources seeking to fulfill their self serving agendas. I'm having difficulty believing a hording instinct is an entirely genetic expression. No.

DW I hope that this is the only time I agree with you. You are correct, shopping is not genetic. It is hoarding by the way, not hording.

[Dogwood]

Let me make the correction. I meant to write hawding. THX for the correction. Gotta keep you on your grammatical toes in Cheyenne. I make these mistakes intentionally to gain your attention. It worked.

[Slo-go'en]

DW I hope that this is the only time I agree with you. You are correct, shopping is not genetic. It is hoarding by the way, not hording.

Sorry, that was my mistake. I never did get good grades when it came to spelling I'm glad we don't have spelling police on this site!

I don't know if genetics is to blame, but the desire to accumulate things goes back all through history, so there has to be some survial bases to the afliction. It might have its roots in making sure you had enough food stashed away to get through the winter.

It has certinally gotten out of hand in modern times when things can be mass produced cheaply and everyone can have piles of stuff, not just the well to do.

[lonehiker]

Let me make the correction. I meant to write hawding. THX for the correction. Gotta keep you on your grammatical toes in Cheyenne. I make these mistakes intentionally to gain your attention. It worked.

I knew that you had done it intentionally, that is why I brought it up.

[foodbag]

I'm doing the ultralight thing with my own possessions right now and it has been liberating. I've never owned a lot most of the time, but when I met my significant other and I moved into her 4-bedroom house (with only just the 2 of us living there) I began to accumulate a lot of stuff. Then we downsized the dwelling in a move to Florida and I began in earnest to get back to where I was when I was younger. In my twenties and thirties I could fit all of my possessions in and on top of a Ford Ranger pickup with a cap.

My goal now is to be able to fit everything I own into my current vehicle, a Honda Fit and I have succeeded. Unfortunately my other half does not share my view and so we still have too many pieces of heavy, ponderous furniture and way too much stuff in our kitchen. I do not include these in my inventory of possessions because if anything were to happen I could walk away from all of that with no problem.

[left52side]

Many would consider myself A minimalist as I live in A self sustained tiny home here in Florida and have few material possessions as I found myself to eliminate collecting to many clothes and such things. do however keep A good stock of trail shoes in the mix when I find a good sale on my brand(altra superiors) but have eliminated much of everything thing else except the essentials other than my gear storage which is always changing and growing for different scenarios but I do not become attached to such items as they are replaceable and tend not to worry if I am to damage something or etc. and am always trading and changing out my gear for different seasons and etc.
I grew up with A parent that was and still is A horrible hoarder to this day and I never wanted to be as cluttered and physically and mentally as them so I guess before I even began ultralight backpacking that I was always A minimalist at heart,only when I began ultralight backpacking that I really understood that I didnt need fifteen pairs of shorts or thirty tshirts lol.
I do still have things like my laptop and my phone but I do not have A TV or cable or bank accounts other than prepaid visa and paypal. I live very minimally throughout the year in order to afford me to hike in the seasons thus while saving money eliminates the urge to spend excess money on unneeded items throughout the year because I save for long distance hikes and I know that will be far better than that 30.00 DVD or 300.00 dollar watch etc.
It is really benefiting to me to not have alot of the worries associated with off trail life and I think I accomplish that through living minimally ...
Great thread and thank you for posting.

[Dogwood]

I live in a Tiny House of under 250 sq ft in Hawaii. But make up for it in the massive size of my current house in Georgia. Too much stuff...with 95% of it not my own. I hate the big house in GA...so much so I'm moving. My offer on Ted's shack was just accepted.

[rocketsocks]

I've been reading a bit on some minimalist living blogs and websites about what ultimately is the front-country equivalent of ultralight backpacking. The minimalist lifestyle (or ultralight lifestyle). It appeals to my sensibilities to look further into this idea of bringing the ultralight philosophy into my life in the front country.

Basically, it seems, one who follows a minimalist lifestyle tries to eliminate distractions and excess possessions in an effort to de-clutter mentally and physically. To focus on what really matters in life. The more I read the more I start thinking about all the piles of paper I have laying around, the extra band t-shirts in my closet, my laptop and my desktop computer, etc. What could I get rid of and still be comfortable? It's alluring to think about paring down these things.

I move two or three times a year so having less stuff to haul around seems really nice, as well.

Anybody else ever consider taking the ultralight philosophy into their home lives? Maybe some people on here have done so successfully and care to share their experience?

I started this several years ago, getting rid of that which honestly in the big scheme of things...just dosent matter. My books were perhaps the hardest items to let go, so I donated them to our local library and can take em out anytime I want, but they keep the roof over them.

[MuddyWaters]

Id get rid of everything if i could
And im trying
Possesions consume all of your time and money
Went thru phase with offshore boat, rv, hunting camp, etc
Glad most of its gone
Still got travel trailer, two smaller boats , couple of properties, all just trouble. Unless its your only hobby.