Forum challenge: Lets play the minimalists' game

[Saltation]

We had multiple items on marketplace for <$10; kids hiking boots and the related. No offers. Gifted them to a relative for use with their young child. Old swimming gear for children removed from the house. Palms for lent will vanish in the coming week.

Beginning of January sorted through the children's bedrooms. In total removed a loaded 55 gallon trash container with the lid open worth the items. This probably doesn't count toward the challenge but it was significant progress. This removal of items was not about repurposing or limiting landfill impact but about the effective removal of junk accumulation by children. Nearly all items removed (99%) were gifts from others or school "activities" that needlessly come home.

Next challenge is sifting through books in the library we never/will no longer need.

[IlliniDave]

I'm a little behind. So far I've jettisoned 8 pairs of frayed Hanes boxer briefs, and cut up/flattened 4 largish cardboard boxes for recycle. The boxes were hard because I have a hoarder relationship with boxes because for years it seemed like I never had a box when I needed one, and wound up buying them. Once I embraced Amazon and the like, I've got what I call box mountain in the basement. I'll be working more on that. I think I should be at 21 by now, ans so I'm light by 9 items to get caught up this week.

The good news is I've only bought 7 non-consumable items all year so far: I got called for jury duty and bought a couple sweaters and a couple fleece quarter zips so I'd have some attire "appropriate for a courtroom" as required by the summons. I also bought a little set of measuring spoons on sale to take to the cabin. And I bought a pair of black pants, non-jean for a visitation I took my dad to. The thing that sucks about changing one's body in a positive direction means having to piece together a new wardrobe. The 7th item was a foam roller to do some stretches recommended by a chiropractor I've been seeing to help with some issues that have developed in my left shoulder. So I'm a net -5 for the year. I'll be going through a mountain of old sweat pants, most of which are too large for and too ratty to donate, so that should get me caught up pretty soon.

[7Wannabe5]

@IlliniDave:

Your comment made me look at my records. I have actually bought only one non-consumable items so far this year, which was a new coffee maker due to unable to safely fix old one for less than cost of buying new one. However, I also caused the purchase of a number of items by requesting them as birthday presents; 3 pairs fashionable reading glasses, two pairs earrings, four sets of hair accessories varying from fancy to utilitarian. However, these are almost consumable items at the rate I tend to destroy or lose them. I rarely wear any jewelry besides earrings, because anything not firmly attached to my body is likely to go missing. Actually, the fancy hair ornaments will probably stay in my possession much longer than the utilitarian hair accessories, because I use the utilitarian ones at about a 30 to 1 ratio. Very fashion conscious day for me if I consider whether black cotton scrunchy or white cotton scrunchy better matches my outfit, and I actually comb all of the tangles out of my hair before forming into a bun.

[brainstorm]

I'm also a little behind. So far, I've gotten rid of:

- Wallet
- Bike rack + bag
- Floss
- Keyboard
- Boots
- Storage jars (2 sets)
- Joggers
- Exercise bands
- Box grater (gifted to community so I technically still have access)
- Mixing bowls (gifted to community)
- Jeans
- Cast iron skillet

I also posted a handful of other stuff that's yet to sell, so I didn't include it.

The thing I'm far more proud (?) of, though, is deleting around 50-75 old accounts from various websites. That shit is annoying! Putting some music on and taking breaks was helpful, but it's still a slog. Sometimes you get a nice button, sometimes you have to fill out a form, sometimes you need to email support, ... my pipe dream is to have a universal API where I can nuke all my data quickly and easily. Well, I guess after Equifax it's all out there anyways.

[Stasher]

Its Another Week of the Minimalist ERE Game
That means this week we need to find 7 items to clear out of the house.

For this week I found 9 items and now sit at a total of 30 items so far
- Metal Wall art I won years ago at a fundraiser > thrift store
- 2 hats I know longer wear, old bike water bottle and a pair of casual socks > thrift store
- 4 books I have read > local street corner community free library stand

Brainstorm great work on tracking down and closing so many digital accounts, just in old bulletin boards from days gone by I wonder how much digital footprint I have out there. I think I might add deleting some newsletter and email subscriptions or digital waste to this challenge for myself.

I am also carefully watching my spending in alignment with this challenge to get closer back to an ERE foundation. If I do buy something it needs to replace something in the house > a one in one out rule, and it must be of high long lasting quality.

[guitarplayer]

I am playing as well but playing catch up because I was away from our flat the first few weeks. This week I got rid of the first four items, old non working electronics went to the local recycling centre.

There is a grab-a-book sort of library at work so I will take some books there next week.

[jacob]

For week 7:

Mailed my old eTrex GPS unit to some scouts in the family
Scarf and a pair of socks donated (will probably end up as part of a pile on a beach somewhere )
Four books stuffed into the closest LFL.

I have more books to donate for future weeks, so my plan is to find one of those sad "abandoned LFLs" and stock them up nicely. I already have my first candidate.

I've been thinking about weighing everything I get rid of to get an idea of the tonnage I'm getting rid of. I've kinda decided against it since I expect most of that weight to be books. Perhaps a better way would be to count in units of "moving box volumes".

[theanimal]

I rid myself of 7 more things for week 7, bringing my total to 40.

Given to friends
-$50 gift card to local sporting goods store I received from a book signing event

Returned to post office
-2 Unused Flat Rate boxes (counted as 1 unit)

Listed for sale
-ADS-B unit

Donated/thrown away
-2019 FAR/AIM book
-Private pilot oral exam guide
-Knee board
-8 old pens and 6 dried out sharpies (counted as 1 unit)

I also helped Mrs. Animal rid herself of old and outdated paperwork, which stacked maybe 6" high.

[7Wannabe5]

Week 7:

Cleaned out my mother's shelving units full of grooming and medical products. Threw away many more than 7 items.

Dealing with my mother's clutter is going to be a Sisyphean task, so I think I'll take a break starting next week and focus on my own much more minor need for clutter tune up. I want to reduce all my belongings from current level of around 3 Smart Car loads down to 1 Smart Car load inclusive of modularity that would allow for a passenger and camping. IOW, there will be a core camping module and a not-strictly necessary while camping module, maybe I'll call it the Fancy City Stuff Module, and removal of either of these modules would free up the passenger seat.

[sodatrain]

I'm excited for this. I don't exist in one place so I cant really get rid of much stuff in my current location. I'll be back at my house in mid next week and will play a long and share my progress. I'll go as deep as I can because I won't be back for 3-4 weeks.

OK, I'll reconsider and see what I can get rid of from my girlfriends place. I have *some* things there.

[IlliniDave]

I don't know if this counts, but I got rid of a large number of old files on my computer. I tend to think clutter is clutter, regardless of whether it's a physical object or not. That said, I'm not counting it towards my total. I'm still only and -12 gross and -5 net for the year. I think I should be at -28.

[theanimal]

8 more things for Week 8. Bringing my total to 48

Listed for sale
-Stationary bike
-A full roll of cork underlayment

"Donated" to transfer site/Thrown away
-Dog harness, dog cargo bag, dog sweater
-Aviation bag
-16 sq ft tile gifted from our neighbors
-bent aluminum framing square

[Saltation]

Week 8:
Shot glasses - freecycled

Week 9:
Books donated to LFL

Week 10: (this week)
Kitchen utensils

Week 11: out of town
5 cups, (4) 15" steel rims, 1 bottle opener, 1 can koozie

[jacob]

Week 8:

1 DIY phone cover (made out of wood) to the burn pile
7 more books to the LFL

[Stasher]

Hi Jacob are we on week 9 or week 10, looking back at your original post that kicked off our challenge it appears you didn't count the first week as it was only a half and started on a Wednesday. Thus February 10 was the start of week 6 and you led off stating we just completed week 5 and set the goal at 15 items to clear out. I feel silly for asking but I'm feeling like we are on Week 9. (also are we doing work week Mon-Sun or Sun-Sat?)

So for Week 8 on Feb 23-Mar01 I rounded up 9 more
- donated an old no longer needed Garmin Map62st gps handheld unit to the local Scout Troop instead of selling it
- recycled an old mattress we left sitting in the basement taking up space forever (caught the neighbour & he obliged to use his truck & haul for us)
- Thrift Store donation of 2 old unused sets of corded bluetooth headphone sets, one old corded jack style headphones, one USB wall charging block
- Thrift Store donation of 4 house plant ceramic pots

Running total is 39 items now

[jacob]

Hi Jacob are we on week 9 or week 10, looking back at your original post that kicked off our challenge it appears you didn't count the first week as it was only a half and started on a Wednesday. Thus February 10 was the start of week 6 and you led off stating we just completed week 5 and set the goal at 15 items to clear out. I feel silly for asking but I'm feeling like we are on Week 9. (also are we doing work week Mon-Sun or Sun-Sat?)

I'm getting a little confused myself as people seem to be on different weeks or no weeks at all. I didn't count the first half-week, so I consider myself to be on week 8. However, ...

It occurred to me that eventually everybody will run into the hard limit in a very sudden way. If N was almost impossible this week, then N+1 next week will end the game. I figure a better approach than just stopping the game right there would be to restart it and go back to one item, then two, etc. on an individual basis. With this approach it also does matter whether we stay synchronized.

[guitarplayer]

At my work they do this thing where you can have a surplus 4 days worth of hours or a deficit of 1.5 days worth of hours without fuss for anyone, something similar can be applied here.

I am giving myself grace period to catch up but hoping to be roughly in line with schedule by end of month.

[Stasher]

Thanks Jacob, as knowing that it is going to get harder as weeks pass by, I agree it will be a true challenge.
I am thus not tackling things like my garden shed, old boxes of momentous, box of audio/video/computer cables/cords, the infamous junk drawer and also going through paper files that while smaller nowadays because of pdfs, paper free statements and cloud storage etc , it still gets out of control.
So right now its the bigger low hanging fruit, who knows how long I can make it last but it will be fun and beneficial until then.
Cheers

[brainstorm]

Sold:

- Coffee filters
- Some pants that, although nice, were redundant in my current wardrobe

Gave away:

- Bike water bottle
- Extra bike lock
- Tote bag
- Shoes that I had lying around but didn’t like to wear
- Old conditioner
- A few cords & cables
- Thermos
- Pencil holder

Still have another handful of things that are posted for sale but no luck yet. Fingers crossed! I’m not counting them until they leave my apartment for good. I seem to be prone to collecting varieties of bags and backpacks - might need to get more ruthless with which ones I keep around.

[7Wannabe5]

Week 8/9:

Cleaned out my own Level 1 pile-up of mail/paperwork. More than 17 items to trash/recycle. I also have a bit of a Level 2 pileup. Level 3 being my organized file system contained within 1 banker box which I will likely choose to sort/scan through in order to reduce truly needed paper documents back down to fitting in 1 large plastic envelope. At the level of even just occupying a single room, I find the slush afforded by the 1 banker box file system to be most convenient, but at the level of camping out of a Smart Car, keeping the paper documents down to the one envelope through practice of more frequent sorting/scanning is needful.