Early Retirement Extreme Forums

If I had to leave in a day for an emergency, everything I’d take would fit in my car (not just the trunk, though): dogs (2), their stuff, my clothes and necessities, and certain valuables and sentimental things.

If I were moving out of state for a job or something, it would probably all fit in a van because I’d leave about 90% of my furniture behind. Not worth moving.

For 9 out of the past 12 months : 1
kind of like this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B-thBV_93FM


All our stuff (for 2 people) : 2

And this also includes all our camping gear including a 5 person tent, air mattress, down sleeping bags, pots, pans, utensils, plates, cutting board, wine openers, laptop, tablet, 2 phones each, bose Bluetooth speaker, spices, vitamins/medicines, small backpack of stuffed animals (her), all our important papers and external storage drives, cameras, bag of physical books (I prefer reading this way), toolbox, axe, machete.

Admittedly this also sometimes takes the backseat although all windows are always clear (hate the homeless, stuff piled to the ceiling look

Now we did get a Toyota Highlander to replace my civic at 355k miles so technically we have more space but because I want to avoid the homeless look, usable space is similar. No rooftop box.

1 - Carry-on (plus a Personal Item): Carry-on Backpack (35 L) plus a Messenger Bag

Although I also store my business suits and a small box of personal mementos with a service called DUFL. Besides storage they also provide a shipping service where they will ship my stuff domestically as well as to selected international locations. I have used the service on those occasions when I needed my business suits.

Carry-on plus DUFL has been working great.

I'll probably be going from a 7 to a 4 once my divorce has been completed.

I'm actively trying to reduce some of my belongings.

4 if it is a minivan. That is mostly due to my books, but I have [probably an irrational] fear of not having access to quality information. I should probably try to get over this since there are libraries and universities in every U.S. city. I doubt many people in a crisis will be eager to scavenge books on game theory, biology, and history. Silly fear.

4 for me as well.
If I did not have to work i would bring it down to 3 for sure, as I’m not very far from it already.

I'm gonna say a comfortable 4, and I'd tow a Ford Fiesta behind it. I only say 4 because I recently bought a bed frame after just sleeping with a mattress on the floor for a couple years, and I'd like to keep it unless circumstances disallow.

Stuff I actually care about and would lose sleep if I forgot - probably 2, and it would mainly be the cat and pictures, hard copy and digital. Everything else is replaceable with enough $$

Except for my garden tools chained to the fence of my project, I am down to around maybe 2.6. I could carry everything else I own, but not very far.

ex 1
now 4

Moved to mexico with one carry on, one checked bag, so... 2.5?

2.5 if I can carry my guitar on my back lol. 3 is realistic for me but I also have the luxury of using all of my roommates housewares.

Depending on the cause of wanting to leave in 1 day, the order would be as follows:

• Ninja assassins have been dispatched to kill me: a carry-on
• GW went crazy and my house, and the eastern seaboard, will be under 230ft of water in 1 day and the water is already lapping at my doorstep: suitcase to fit clothes and some hand tools.
• Forecasted Fukishima type disaster with an orderly evacuation: a car trunk will suffice; suitcase + all of my hand tools.
• I won a free house: a cargo-truck to pack my suitcase, furniture, and hand/power tools.

Former 1 now 4 as well. When I was a former 1 I live on/ used other people's furniture (OPF). If I'm aloud to not count my music equipment then an even leaner 1 than before, except for my bike. If I have to count shit I use that my girlfriend owns then 5 (it's all furniture and plates/ kitchenware). I'm also assuming food is excluded.

It seems like this particular minimalist competition should exclude certain things. Your a minimum of 4 if you own a bed or any furniture. It seems like furniture, food and modes of transit should be excluded. I don't think these should be excluded from the traditional item count though, because the point of that exercise is to see how many items you actually have, where this is weirdly based on a how much luggage/ transit area it takes up.

My mom is a hoarder and I am a natural cheapskate/ semi-minimalist so I'm a kind of a weird minimalist hoarder. In the houseless days I used to carry 30-40% shit I could have ditched just because I had the capacity. I have a very hard time getting rid of things. The more consciously and expressly minimalist I've become the better I am at getting rid of things and, perhaps more importantly, the much more selective I am about things I allow in.

2

I arrived to Germany with one suitcase, and I could leave now with that same suitcase...

2 (suitcase)

Ex. a couch, a love seat and now kids toys (which multiply shockingly fast without buying anything) -> 4
With -> 6

Erm, unfortunately mine would be a 7.
Currently I have a four bed house and it's all my stuff.
Lots of computer/music stuff and a willingness to get rid of stuff but a lifetime of habit stopping it happening.

1. I will travel the world with just a carry-on and a purse from the super market, alternatively 3-4 layers of clothes when I travel with airlines that don't allow more than one bag (without extra charge).