Early Retirement Extreme Forums

jacob wrote:One issue I've had with the minimal minimalists is how they end up being very limited in what they can do.

Yes, this was my frustration during my most minimal minimalist phase. That was when I started focusing on modularity as a better framework. However, I have now devolved to sort of a worst case scenario of not very much stuff, yet still heavy on the clutter. Like a spare chain link fence with three seasons of weeds grown upon and three seasons of debris blown upon.

WEEKS 10/11

1) 6 pairs shoes to Goodwill. Now I am down to 8 pairs: sturdy black teacher shoes, black dress flats, green converse, white sneakers, gray hiking boots, brown athletic/hiking shoes, pink sandals, snow boots. This is still too many, yet also somehow not enough.

2) 3 math textbooks for tutoring reference that I haven't had to reference.

3) 8 service manuals for power tools I passed along to my kids already.

4) 1 eyebrow pencil that is too orange.

5) 1 stinky jar lilac shea butter.

6) 2 pairs weak/broken reading glasses.

Hey gang! Lost track of weeks but still chugging along:

- Extra comforter
- Shoe trees
- Jeans too small
- Old/duplicated medical records (satisfying!)
- Old book on system design
- Squat shoes (split squats for this guy lately)
- 4 old/stained t-shirts
- Swim trunks
- Coffee table book to local LFL
- Wire shelves

Still doing pretty much the same stuff. Sewing is probably my latest clutter-friendly activity, but easy to mitigate by not having too much scrap fabric and only making things I'll use. Working 40 hours per week (if you're my boss) and renting means that I can probably get by with much less things/tools, since I've limited capacity of time to make use of them. But I'd probably be content with more tools as long as they see daylight.

I'm about to join you all, life going down to 2 suitcases in a couple of months Thinking about how to do this without purchasing big black plastic bags, but I'll defeat you all

guitarplayer wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 26, 2025 3:11 pm

Got another 7 books to a book swap, bringing it to a total of 25. The game still motivates me so I am going to keep playing lest someone kicks me out.

Old shoes went to the bin for a total of 26. Holes in soles were okay to me but not DW.

ertyu wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 29, 2025 3:37 am

I'm about to join you all, life going down to 2 suitcases in a couple of months Thinking about how to do this without purchasing big black plastic bags, but I'll defeat you all

That's how I arrived in the US (this was back when you could still bring two checked bags of up to 32kg each on transatlantic flights w/o surcharge). It's perfectly doable to live like this. In my case, I started getting rid of things---mostly books---6 months in advance. For a traveling academic, books are a curse! The biggest items I had to get rid of were a 22" CRT monitor which I traded for a laptop, and a set of 50lbs dumbbells, which I donated to one of the grad students. About half a year after moving to the US, I moved in with DW. I brought my suitcases and about a shoebox worth of "stuff" I had accumulated in the meantime.

I actually think the "100 items"-challenge (use whatever arbitrary number you want as long as it's low) is perfect for this lifestyle. See above.

Pic because I like visuals.. Sort of joining at I think 23 items I got rid of...Books went to a friend and a coworker, clothes were gifts from my sister and mother that I never wore/weren'tflattering/too large and went to a different coworker, pics are from asking people if they wanted them, haha. *Technically I still have 4-hour-work week 'cause I forgot to give it to friend that claimed it the last time I saw him, but it has a home.

Week 12:

29 items for this week and largest amount of money back in yet.

Sold
Shaved ice machine
20 buckets and lids for ice molds
6 syrup bottles with tops
2 ice tools

YTD total is 107 items out the door and $1,878.34 back in.

Week 12:

4 books
1 polyester shirt
1 pair of socks
6 "uncommonly sized" cardboard boxes that I had reserved for project prototyping

Nice to get stuff off the floor.

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday on the start of a new week, let's look at last weeks efforts to reduce.

A day late putting up my items, adult kids were visiting on Monday so no time to update here.

For Week 12 on March 24-30 I rounded up the following 12 items
1 reading light (thrift store)
1 pair scissors (thrift store)
2 pens (thrift store)
1 Container of Tea (community support kitchen)
2 frying pans (gave to my daughter)
1 insulated lunch box (sold consignment)
2 scrap metal brackets (recycling depot)
1 camping general purpose rope (gave to my son)
1 old under helmet athletic beanie (thrift store)

Great to see so many people tackling this challenge and I'm not sure I could tackle an only own 100 items challenge as Jacob mentioned. I find myself now always being mindful when I'm using items or going through certain parts of the house etc on do I need this or what else can we get rid of.

Sold: 1 car and a car full of tires and gear associated with it. $500 to us

Donated: four boxes of clothing, books, kitchen stuff and misc.

Trash: three bags, one broken plastic sled and part of a car seat.

Number of items: unknown but a lot.

guitarplayer wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 29, 2025 4:49 am

Old shoes went to the bin for a total of 26. Holes in soles were okay to me but not DW.

DW sold a book and a lighter, 28.

Week 13

"Donated" to the transfer site/thrown away
-Kids toy
-Broken compressor hose
-Hose compressor parts
-Dog bed
-Headlamp
-2 copies of The Climbing Zine
-Binder full of old academic papers
-Backpack with destroyed frame
-Car battery
-Glass container
-Broken 5 gal jug

Listed for sale
-Olympus TG-2 Tough Camera

YTD total is 120 items

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday on the start of a new week, let's look at last weeks efforts to reduce.
Kudos to all of you managing to keep up with the weekly challenge, harder as every week passes by.

For Week 13 on March 31- April 6 I rounded up the following 13 items
1 trail runners (thrift store)
1 mismatched pepper shaker (thrift store)
1 mismatched salt shaker (thrift store)
1 decorative basket (thrift store)
2 old quilts (donated to dog shelter)
6 packages of DW's unused beauty products (thrift store)
1 small zip loc of safety pins (thrift store)

Sold: Coffee filter paper holder, iPad + folio + pencil, boots
Donated: Suitcase, some extra bobbins that don't fit my sewing machine
Discard: Old slippers, bedsheet

+1 @Stasher, it's getting hard! I need to spend some dedicated time looking through my stuff - I've mostly already had specific items in mind to let go of but I'm clearly running out of those

Week 14
7 neck ties donated
4 gutter guard pieces scrapped
1 handgun holster (left handed)
2 beverage coasters

Weeks 12/13

25 clothing/textile items to Goodwill or trash (underwear and the weird bunchy removable inserts they put in women's sports bras and bathing suits for super modest humans that always annoy me until I remember to go to the trouble of getting rid of them.) Only one of the clothing items transferred to Goodwill was something I originally bought new/retail (ugly bathing suit top with too bright colors for super pale old lady.) The rest were originally purchased at thrift store or hand-me-down/up or otherwise scavenged for free.

Week 13:

Five books
Boat catalogue
Five shoe polishing cloths
Rusty jar of oil cloth wax
Weed whacker wall charger

How did I miss this challenge!?

I've been decluttering since January when we decided that we would move. And we are moving tomorrow.
I had a two week flea market table set-up, and sold some stuff on an internet platform. I just counted and I sold 144 items total, and I probably donated and threw away enough to call it 200 decluttered total.

I started counting now, and will continue with the challenge until I have not one extra paper clip to get rid of We just moved a year ago and moving is exhausting, even if you don't have that much stuff. Part of the reason I have this much, is that I'm selling my house, and I had a bunch of stuff like canning and storage jars and just more kitchen and household stuff. Our new place is 560 sqft so roughly the same size or a little bigger than our current home. I did also declutter clothing. And I still have twice as much as DD

I geeked out a bit and calculated the volume of boxes and Ikea bags we have for the move. It came to 21 Ikea bags (18,8 gallons each) though some of it is actually boxes in two sizes. I have almost everything packed. I'm taking a car load there today as I pick up the keys, I will put all our clothing in the walk-in-closet and bring back the empty bags, because I think I may need one or two of those still. But everything we have (that is smaller than Ikea bag) will fit in 25 Ikea bags max. But I still feel like I have too much. We are renting the new place, and I don't know how long we will live in it. Even this amount of stuff to pack and move feels exhausting. There definitely has to be a one in-one out rule, and I don't need to replace every piece of clothing that wears out. I have three Ikea bags stuffed full, and those bags fit a lot.

My daughter can keep whatever she wants but she has always been a natural minimalist and not attached to stuff. She hates to keep anything she doesn't really love, or know that she will need in the future for sure. She has less than two bags of clothes and probably also less than two bags of other personal stuff.

Anyway, this is my

WEEK 14 Or wait, was it just week 13? Anyway, 14 items decluttered for the past week

-glass jar
-wrong size mattress topper
-2 tea tins
-3 sets of stretcher bars for small canvases
-2 condiment / soy sauce bowls
-4 bowls
-plastic food container without a lid

ETA: I forgot about the two bags of books I donated as well, at least 30 books.
Also a few weeks ago I threw away from the shed at the house 1 old leaky tent, 2 sets of outdoor lights with many broken bulbs, an old basket (that had been baby bassinet once upon a time that had lain outside for two long..and a piece of jute fabric that mice had made a nest in it and chewn it.. so I will count all of this as 35 items and my total for the year 249 items though in reality it's probably more..

While it is not in line with the actual weeks our family did a large house scale decluttering and we are through week 23 currently. To reduce the number of posts and to track our progress I will outline through week 23. As we were going through areas of the house we just wrote down what we were downsizing.

Week 15
7 pieces of wood used repurposed
5 can coolers
1 dart board
1 broken prescription glasses
1 light fixture

Week 16
1 pair gloves
1 shirt pin
1 pixel 3 smartphone
1 religious item
2 coins
7 material bags
2 pairs of mittens
1 kitchen faucet

Week 17
3 baseball hats
12 material bags
1 religious object
1 pair socks

Week 18
2 paris socks
7 crocheted items
3 jars
3 water bottles
2 bottle lids
1 toy

Week 19
1 damaged hand planer
2 can coolers
1 purse
1 religious pin
1 necklace
1 broken toy
6 bottles gun powder
1 box large rifle primers
2 box pistol primers
3 pkg shooting projectiles

Week 20
5 pkg of small pistol primers
1 bag used shotgun shells for reloading
3 pieces beer making equipment
1 baseball card collection
1 used carburetor repair kit
1 pair work gloves
1 bicycle mounted headlight (no longer worked)
1 damaged handplaner
1 strap
2 bungee chords
3 shop rags

Week 21
20 brewing bottles
1 bag golf balls

Week 22
22 brewing bottles

Week 23
6 board games missing numerous pieces
2 coffee makers
4 miscellaneous canning jars
3 floor tiles
2 corded drills
1 large tarp
5 pieces of clothing


Currently moving through week 24. At this point the challenge is greatly increasing in difficulty. Having sorted through many areas of the house to get through week 23 we are now having to question our values and orientation toward the items we have collected over the years and why it happened. Having front loaded the challenge we now have time to close loops on household projects etc. to make it further into the challenge.

Good Morning and Happy Monday on the start of a new week, let's look at last weeks efforts to reduce.

Made big progress as I got the wife eager to help go through the kitchen, we got rid of a lot of event and destination freebie type mugs etc. I was worried this week would be harder but so many things get hidden and forgotten in this part of the house. We cleared out so much that I already have next weeks 15 items set aside

For Week 14 on April 7 - 13 I rounded up the following 14 items
2 sets of mountain bike elbow pads (donated to local sports club)
1 backyard book shelf style greenhouse (set out for free curbside)
2 mason jar straw lid mugs (thrift store)
5 random water glasses (thrift store)
3 promotional event beer mugs (thrift store)
1 "groomsmen" champagne glass (thrift store)

Great work on your own challenge you were already doing @Saltation and enjoyed discovering your journal as well.