Consumed

Great interview with Benjamin Barber, author of the book "Consumed- How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole".

Here's one quote from Barber:

You know, everyone loves Wal-Mart as a consumer. So do I. Lots of goods, cheap prices. But it has social consequences that, as a consumers, we don't think about. We know it means low wages, it means low wages without pensions. It means wage earners who don't have proper healthcare. But, worse than that, it means the destruction of mom and pop stores. The destruction of retail. The destruction of those very little shops you were talking about that are at the heart of America's villages and towns.

Bill Moyers interviews Barber on his Journal show. Watch it here, you might get a different view of how you consume in the future.

At first, I thought you were weird...

I've heard that from several people lately. They then finish the comment with 'now I think you're onto something'.

I was talking with my Mom tonight and the whole de-materialization thing came up and she took it a step farther. She said "I thought you were nuts". She figured I'd already paid for all that stuff so why get rid of it now? I told her that I had to have a multi-thousands of square foot house to HOLD it all and that made her stop and say "I didn't think of that".

If you have stuff, you have to have a place for all that stuff too. That's a large part of the 'it's owns you' problem. Owning property as an investment is one thing, but owning a home (or homes) that are just stupidly big because you have all this 'stuff' means you have to worry about all the upkeep, the mortgage, the insurance, security, the HOA fees and the difficulty in just moving away if your neighbor is a dickhead (harder if you have to sell it instead of just handing it back to a landlord).

I've also had a few people say there were 'proud' of me. DeAnna, and old friend, told me this over lunch on Friday and my own Dad told me the same thing. When I ask 'are you going to do it?" they back off though. I understand it. It took me a couple of years of thinking about it and about 6 months to actually do (de-materializing is hard work. Seriously).

Now though, it's pretty much done. I have what I need at my fingertips and no more. If I buy something new, I get rid of sometime that it replaces. (bought some new shoes this week, took them home, took a pair of shoes I wear the least and dropped them off in the shoebox the new shoes came in at the Salvation Army).

Some habit's die hard though. My mom asked me if I wanted one of the comforters that she'd 'saved' for me when they took a bunch of my stuff away.

Mom's, it seems, will always want to make sure you're safe and warm.

Less stuff seems to equal more time

I wonder how much time we spend actually buying things.

Most people I know think about what they want. They spend time researching it, comparing it to other competitive products, going to look at it (often multiple times if it's something like a car or furniture or technology) and then spending more time trying to get the best price possible.

I would bet each non basic purchase (food, to a degree clothing) takes at least an hour. Maybe a few hours and in the case of big purchases (like a car or house) it can add up to days or more.

And if you're just 'shopping', not 100% sure what you want, hell, that can be 1/2 a day at a mall on a Saturday.

I think this because I find I now have more time on my hands. Most of what I buy now is the basic and those don't really change much for me. Food is pretty routine. Cloths (does it fit? do I have room for it in the closet? is it black?.. I'll take it) are similar. I don't really have the room for more than what's there already so I just walk past all the other stuff.

I used to spend 2 hours whenever I went to Costco for milk and that damn milk always ended up costing me at least several hundred dollars of 'discovered.. gotta have... been looking for that' stuff. After my last 3 visits to Costco where I looked around for an hour decided I didn't need or have a place for that, say, telescope I've been hankering for and will use maybe twice in a year, and still walked out with just milk (OMG!) I realized I didn't even need that Costco card.

Now I just get 1/2 gallon at the Ideal Market down the street when I'm running low. In and out. Done.

I'm guessing I gain about 6-8 (conservatively) hours a week because of this.

And it's a little odd. I actually find myself, some evenings or weekends, wondering what to do. I think I'll learn how to cartoon, or speak Manderin. :)

A few weeks in...

There's something pure about this process.

At a personal level, I've effectively taken it down to close to almost no material possessions from where I was 60 days ago. I think I can make the list from memory here:

One car
A twin bed
1 sitting chair and 3 stacking chairs.
1 desk and 1 deskchair.
1 desktop computer
1 laptop computer.
3 plants
A Senseo coffee machine
A tea kettle
A blender
Silverware/plates/glasses/cups
Food
Cloths (shoes, shirts, pants, socks, etc.- all fit me, all useful)
Towels/razor/electric toothbruth

I think that's about it. There's other stuff here. (Fridge, W/D) but they're part of the place I'm renting, not mine.

Sparse would be the operative word. Nothing on the walls. Large open swaths of floorspace.

This is very different than how I've tended to live. I'm neat but cluttered by nature. I tended to pile things around me, stick things up on the wall, stuff items in drawers. Stack layers of things on bookshelves and fill rooms with 'stuff' because, hey, I have the room.

No drawers, bookshelves or extra rooms anymore. And the walls: clean, empty and white.

You'd think this would drive me slightly nuts being so different but it's interestingly calming. Peaceful.

I'll start to add things back in as I need them. Little things at first. A few days ago I had to add 'salt and pepper' to the list. I didn't bring any along from the old place. It's an incredibly useful exercise in defining and identifying what's really needed in your day to day life.

I no longer just buy something if I like it (or want it). I really can't. I have no place for it without consciously thinking through what I'll use if for, where it will go when I'm not using it and why, really, I want it.

I'm keeping a list of things I need on the kitchen counter. The first few days it filled up fast (oh yea... dishsoap), but that only lasted a few days. It's been pretty close to empty the last week.

I think I have all the basics nailed down.

Yea. I do.

Now, to slowly, carefully and consciously start to bring back into my life the things I only need to live comfortably and happily, and no more.

I'm smiling as I write all this.

and it's done... sort of

Sold the house. Closed on Friday.

Officially living in my 'shabby sheik' place on the same day. My friend Lizzie dropped by today and said 'wow.. you really are doing the monk thing'.

True indeed.

I've got a bed, 4 chairs, a desk with my mondo home computer system on it, some silverware, plates, a Senseo coffee machine, cloths, shoes and 3 plants. Took me 6 weeks to empty out that house of stuff (and about 20 people I know are quite happy right now, especially the person who snarfed the 40 boxes of books for his personal library).. THAT was hard. Much harder than simply moving.

You have to let it go and that sounds easy, right? Try it sometime. Even the people taking your stuff ask you 'are you sure?' about 10 times, then try to talk you into keeping it (whatever it is) before, finally, carting it off.

We really are geared as a species to acquire.

Walls are white and clean. It's very serene right now.

I'm sure I'll add things as time passes, but for now, I love the simple emptiness of it. When I do add things, it'll be after asking myself 'do I really need that?'.

I suspect, most of the time, the answer will be no.

Junk to the world, but still, my treasure

Ack. Getting down to it now.

I've thrown out dozens of bags of 'packrat' stuff that looks like you should save it, but will never get used again (think: computer stuff from the last 25 years, like SCSI hard disks, serial port keyboards, memory and harddisk components, manuals, software, work records, presentations, business plans, product plans, 8" FLOPPYS.. god.. 8"" floppys....etc. etc.).

This is somewhat painful. Giving away $2000 suites I never wear anymore? Easy. Throwing away the 1GB SCSI hard drive that has all the records I used to run The OneNet Member Network (a global Apple BBS system I ran in the late 80's and early 90's) ... way hard.

There's HISTORY in them thar drives damnit! I just can't, ya know, turn em on cause nothing runs them anymore.

Sigh.

I think part of what makes giving up stuff like this is it's one of the things that ties us to our past. Things that are just junk to everyone else are oddly precious momento's of your life. Each piece of equipment or hardware part or sofware disk of this junk has a story. Much of it you were involved with (i.e. you help build the damn thing).

Being a computer and software guy vs. a car guy, or instance, can kinda sucks if you think much about it too much.

Why? Your work requires pretty hefty intellectual lifting and is very quickly devalued by a product cycle that lasts, at most, months. A 59 Chevy is still cool to pretty much everyone- even almost 50 years later. A 1GB hard drive with the software and a snapshot of all the postings and messages of an early pre-internet global store and forward BBS system? Not so cool. Yea, to a tiny fraction of the population, maybe. But even then 'cool' isn't the right word. more like 'interesting'.

Of course there's the ethereal reality that what you did has been built on by others and you have, for instance, the internet to show for it. But no one knows that really but you and a samll group of your friends and colleagues.

And all the thought stuff. Business plans, presentations, product plans, strategies... just throwing them out.

A sampling:
- Here's Apple's Online Services business plan... Imagine if Apple had gotten behind this in earnest? There would have been something very different than AOL dominating the online world for half a decade or longer.

-Hmmm.. General Magic's long term strategy. Still secret I see. Not only do I throw it out.. I can't even TALK about it.

- Paramounts "The Gateway" plan to build small local servers into every Blockbuster store (both companies owned by Viacom at the time) to create a low cost 'local dial in' alternative to AOL and a way to eventually distribute media (music and movies) as infrastructure built out. -

Trash.

- MCI's strategic plan to build a Global Network Operating System on top of it's massive IP network. Global services that you can just plug your business into to get directories, security, voip, etc. etc.... 3 years of work there.

Here's an Apple Newton with prototype eWorld messaging my group designed and built into it.

Trash.

Lots of good stuff in here to that actually became successful products and services. But all, still, long gone. Replaced by better, faster, cheaper.

In the end: Trash. Trash Trash. All of it trash.

Certainly puts everything in perspective eh?

I think this is one reason people don't de-materialize. This is frakin hard to do. It's litereally taking all of the things that remind you of your past and who you are and tossing them out. The only value they have is to you, but what value, really?

When I think about it, they really are things to simply learn from, build on and move on with that knowledge safely tucked away in your head. The reason for keeping it all is to 'maybe reference it' in the future sometime. Right. That's gonna happen.

So, in the end, all the material representations of all this good thinking, creation, hard work, great people, it really is just stuff.

Stuff I just don't need following me around anymore.

Treasures in my mind; great memories; many good times, but, to the rest of the world: junk to be tossed out.

And now, for me, it's time to take out the trash.

Why I think it's time to rent

I've had several people 'look askance' at me when I say I'm selling my house and renting a small place for awhile. Several have said things like "you're making a big mistake".

I really don't think so.

Part of this is the process of getting rid of all the 'stuff' that's accumulated over the years. To get a sense of lightness and not feel like I'm owned by the things I own.

The other is just marshaling your financial resources wisely. If the timing is right, and other life priorities line up, hell, do a little profit taking.

The guys over at eFinance Directory (a guide to home mortgages, mortgage refinancing, home equity loans, home realty, housing and all personal finance matters) have an article up you should read before saying I'm making a mistake getting out of home ownership right now.

It's called: This is why I rent: Median incomes do no support median home prices.

I bought my house a little under 10 years ago. It was my 'divorce house'. You know, the one you buy after you get divorced; usually smaller and usually low maintenance. Mine's a 'patio home'. Perfect for someone who doesn't want to mow the lawn and have the HOA take care of everything.

It's also more than doubled in value in that time.

I was able to find a buyer who's paying close to my asking price and on a a 5% of the value of the house 10 years ago down payment, I get a return of about 18x my initial investment (plus a lot of nice tax right offs over the years).

Not a bad investment.

And according to pretty much everyone I know that knows this industry (and the link above goes into some detail on), there's going to be a serious correction in home prices over the next 5 years and we're just at the start of it.

I live in Boulder, CO which traditionally is insulated from any decline in valuations of homes.

The general consensus seems to be 20% decline nationally and some say as much as a50% decline in home valuations over the next 5 years is very possible.

Maybe in this downturn Boulder prices will hold, again. Maybe not.

I do know one thing though: if I'm going to de-materialize and simplify my life, there's nothing wrong with a little profit taking at the high end of a market that's got a multi-year correction ahead of it.

And last, having money sitting in reasonably safe investments that are growing without much attention paid to it is much simpler than all the hassles of owning a home and having to worry about the potential of a downward equity spiral in the damn thing's value.

Simplify, simplify, simplify.... and simplify some more.

http://www.inavandownbytheriver.com/

In a van, down by the river.

I love it.

This was inspired (in part) by the 4 Hour Workweek, where Tim Ferris talks about living a totally mobile lifestyle. Well, we love America and before setting out abroad we want to have a base and find the best city to live in that we could make our permanent home.

...

The rough plan as of now is:

1. Sell most of our crap. Store the rest.
2. Find, buy, steal, or otherwise get a van.
3. Pimp out said van with a custom bed, office, LCD tv, etc.
4. Get a high speed internet connection
5. Get laptops, photo, and video gear to document this crazy thing.
6. Figure out what to take along for survival
7. Go!

Norwegian Mothers

Never let your "Norwegian Raised During the War Without Enough Stuff" Mother come over to help you get rid of things.

I love my Mom, but she spent most of the day trying to talk me out of giving things away.

M: "you're going to need that someday"

S: " ma, it's magnifying glass; I think I used to use it to torture insects as a boy'

M: "well, eventually your eye's will go and you'll regret giving that away".

I'm not kidding here. That's an example of the entire day.

Haiku Productivity: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential

I'm no Buddist, but I do find you can learn alot of interesting things from those Zen dudes.

There's a great post on simplifying from ZenHabits called: Haiku Productivity: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential.

The title pretty much sums it up.

The little stuff

Maybe it's my Norwegian genes but as I go through this house I just sold and start to purge all the stuff, I'm finding the little stuff is the hard stuff. "Useful" things like those office supplies that I"ve had for, what, 10 years... "You never know when you'll need a really large paperclip'. Maybe it's because these are things that are harder to get rid of (you can't really sell them on CraigsList and friends and family already have this stuff around).

The big stuff I'm finding is easy. Just sold the entire living room (about 11 pieces of leather, wood, rock and fabric in the form of really big furniture). I also found that if you sell it way below it's value, it'll go fast, and they'll gladly do all the work (take it apart, pack it up, get out quick before I come to my senses).

But the this little stuff, calculators, small tools, phone connectors and cables, magnets you can slick your business cards on (yea.. I know)....etc. etc).. selling it 'cheap' just doesn't work.

But it's good stuff! Do I just throw it out?

I think I'll try putting it out next to the trash (not in it) with a note that says "Free". I'm pretty sure my little HOA community here has it's fair share of stuff hoarders. We'll see.

Some random thoughts

I was having lunch with a friend a couple of weeks ago and we got onto the subject of living life. First we talked about how Boulder seems to have alot of 'studied nonchalance' meaning people that work at looking average and normal. This is mostly due to most of the people he saw hanging around the Boulderado hotel being multi-millionares in Boulder. The LAST thing you want to look like if you're in Boulder is a multimillionare so... you have to spend some serious money on cloths that make you look like you're not a multimillionaire.

So true.

We then got to talking about what would make him happy. He's a very successful guy. Ex-venture capitalist and an investor as well as very active in the non profit world. I told him about my de-materialization quest and he surprised me with what he really wanted: "I'd love to get a small two bedroom house and just live simply". This from a guy who most certainly doesn't have 'just a small two bedroom house' currently and lives a very busy life of consulting, board meetings and family obligations.

The more I owned, the more it owned me. I've owned multiple houses and had too many cars and god knows how much stuff to fill everything up. Since I got divorced I've gotten down to a single house and a couple of cars, but now, even that seems like too much. What does 1 guy need several thousand feet of house for? WHY do I need more than one car? (in Boulder, except on really cold days, you don't really need any car.. seems like there's more bike paths in this town than roads).

They say living in an apartment uses 20% of the resources that living in a house does (the infamous carbon footprint). Why would I not sell the 12 MPG (hwy) Landcruiser and replace it with a 43 MPG Yaris and a good bike?

I get that our possessions tend to define us. We are, after all, the most consumerist society in history, but is this good? Should you really define who you are by the watch you wear, the car you drive or the street you live on?

I'm voting no on that one and I'm about to find out just how that really feels. By the end of the year I should be pretty close to demateralized with very few 'home stuff' things left if I'm successful. I'll let you know how I feel then.

Big change for sure. When I was in my 20's my lawyer once said to me after I showed him my just installed 'car phone' (this was the mid 80's and a mobile phone made up of a big box in your trunk and a full sized handset mounted on your dash with a cost to use of $1.75 a minute was really cutting edge) Scott.... you're Boulder County's leading consumer...

No more.

I'll still have the cellphone, but just the one, and no other phones, anywhere.

The living room and CraigsList

Man, I love CraigsList.

I put up a living room set of furniture on Sunday and by Monday I have 15 inquiries.

The house is gone as of the 9/30.

No clue where I'm going to live. Heh... this is weird but I have to admit I really like it.

Great story

A great story on living life in a way that's fulfilling.

One of the better blog postings I've read this year. And not very far off of how I think life should be lived (the second story, not the first so much).

and next.. the house

Got a reasonable offer on my house today that I'm taking. Soo.. the real process of simplifying and dematerializing begins. I think how I'll start is by inviting family and friends over to go through the place and see what they want and just give it away. Some of the things will require some thought though (what do you do with 4000 books?).

I'm already feeling an odd sense of mild excitement. A sort of 'starting fresh' feeling. I've been here for 10 years (almost exactly) and that's the longest I've lived in one place my entire adult life.

Another great post on why all the "Stuff" you have just doesn't matter

Entire post is here.

Teaser:

What if you currently live a very comfortable lifestyle and you have a lot of assets? How can you justify running off to do what truly makes you happy if it might put all your current assets at risk?

Here’s my take on this….

To abandon a comfortable lifestyle that isn’t deeply fulfilling is to abandon nothing. There’s nothing of real substance there to protect. An income, a car, a house, or a lifestyle are not worth protecting if the cost of such protection is your own fulfillment and happiness. People who achieve some of the external trappings of success without internal fulfillment are only living an illusion when they tell themselves they have something of value to protect. In most cases the feeling that there’s something to protect is just an excuse used to avoid facing the real fear — that maybe all this stuff isn’t really worth anything compared to what’s being lost… that maybe I should be living more boldly and not be so concerned about what happens to all my stuff.

Entire post here.

Goes a little deeper than just stuff, but get's at the reasons WHY getting rid of all the stuff is goodness.

Steve Pavlina's the author and you can get to it at www.stevepavlina.com

It ain't so easy...

Ben Stein talks about what it's like to be rich.

Apparently, it's more work than you think.

SELL that house, damnit....

One guy: 2500 SF. Just seems out of whack.

So, put the house up for sale today.

I was having a hard time leaving rooms empty. We're trained to fill them with stuff if we've got them (rooms, that is).

So, get rid of the rooms.

I'm not sure the realtor got it. Seemed mystified that I'd sell a nice house 'to get a studio apt.. mostly for the shower'. I was telling a friend how amazingly conditioned we are to buy stuff.. .buy buy buy. If you don't, people look at you askance... 'What are you.. some kinda commie??". Just makes me shake my head and smile.

I think I know what much of this is... I think it has to do mostly with reproduction. Seriously. To a lesser degree it's about impressing your friends, but it's mostly about sex.

I have no desire to have more kids. I have no desire to attract a 'mate', or even be in a serious relationship. I'm mostly just interested in getting this startup company to a point where it's really doing some great stuff, making money and having a positive impact on the world.

When you stop worrying about attracting a mate or impressing people in general, you stop worrying about things like BMW logo's and big houses. Weird eh?

s

The over 40 dematerilizer

I talked to a friend last week that's about my age, but married with kids and a house, 4 cars and a exec. level corporate job. We talked about the whole dematerializing thing and I came to the conclusion, this is really a single guy thing. It might apply to women as well, but I don't know, not being one.

It's unrealistic, as a married with children guy, to do it. You can 'sort of' do it (live simply) but society and the demands of spouses and children make it an order of magnitude more difficult.

The social aspects of dematerialization

This is pretty interesting. In a consumer society like America, 'things' define you. Nothing new here. It's been a while since I really experienced the raw reality of it though.

I had a conversation with a couple of women last night, both old friends, both 28. One was a bonafide Boulder Hippie type, the other, what I'd call more traditionally American (i.e. stuff oriented). The BH women completely got the whole dematerialization concept out of the gate. The traditional American was at first, appalled, then intrigued, then judgmental and appalled again.

"You're old Scott, you've already had a chance to have all the stuff". I don't know about old (my Dad, he's 80, HE'S old), but it's true I've had the big houses, expensive cars, etc. etc.

What I learned from it is: having alot of stuff doesn't mean shit. I mean, really, it just doesn't mean anything.

Granted, I learned that it doesn't mean anything by doing it: i.e. owning (and being owned by) alot of stuff. I also suspect that if you've never done it, you just cannot know this through apriori observation (at least, the average person can't), so I get the reaction she had. No Way! Tell me more... No Way!

I would too if I were 28, owned nothing and saw alot of really nice sportscars driven by people my age or little older (or worse... younger.. where does that put me in the social hierarchy! Oh my god I'm behind!!!) in the parking lot where I worked.

I think it's a monkeysphere thing. That monkey over there who I know has it, I HAVE TO HAVE IT TO! I must. I don't know why, but I must.

This is basic stuff, but interesting to me (and I'm sure only me) because it's first hand real world research result type material.

I think I'll go out now and see how I can get rid of 4000 books sitting in my basement library in a way that's useful to someone somewhere.

First big one

OK.. getting started here. Sold the Scion xB (the extra/second car) this week.

Lots of room in the garage. Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of the garage.

The process begins

Interestingly, this isn't as easy as you might think. It's amazing how often you think "hey.. I might need that" as you sort through the junk.

So, I made a list and just started adding things to it. The criteria was: Do I use it. Here's a short list:

• Big expensive round kitchen table. Used once or twice a year, maybe. Giving it to one of my employees.
• 2nd Car (a Scion xB). Keep it to buy THINGS... man I don't need that. Selling it now.
• Living room set. Big, comfy and rarely used. I need one comfortable reading/listening to music chair. Not a set that seats 7 with stone tables. Not sure how to get rid of this just yet, craigs list again maybe? Freecycle.org?
• Cloths. Man, I have alot of cloths. I'm thinking: If I haven't worn it for 1-18 months, it's salvation army material. I have more shoes than a girl. It's embarrassing when I really look at it.

Also looking at realtors to sell the house. This is likely to be the last to go, but it's in my mind.

Cable TV. THIS is hard. Harder than I thought. I don't watch a ton of TV, but I have favorite shows I record and watch later (and one or two must see's like the daily show). Can I do without them? Of course. Do I really want to? ummm.... SHOULD I do without them... I suspect yes.

The journey to de-materialization

Here it is. Half way point in life. I've had a pretty good life and I've been reasonably successful from a 'material' perspective (titles, jobs, houses, cars, investments, stuff). I've come to a realization: All this 'stuff' owns me. I don't own it.

Intellectually, I've known this for awhile. Back in my silicon valley days, I worked with a fellow named Corey who had a grip. He developed software for Apple and lived in a apt. over a 6 car garage as the 'groundskeeper' (free rent) on a 4 house estate in Atherton. His main job? Take care of the private zoo the family kept (I kid you not).

I asked him if it ever made him feel odd, living among so much money and he said no and told me the reason was something the wife told him: "All we do is fly around the world to our houses and our possessions and make sure they're all ok. Some days it feels like we don't own this stuff. It feels a lot more like it owns us".

When I was in my 20's, I was a technology hound. I always had the latest of everything. A friend of mine, walking through my place one day commented: "Man Scott, you must be Boulder County's leading consumer!" In a sense, he was right. Not that it's wrong, but, at this point in life, it's not necessarily right either.

Like I said, intellectually, I get it. Our stuff owns us, and , as the years go on, like most Americans, I accumulate. Here I am now on the North side of my 40's and I hits me how right she was. This stuff owns me.

So... I'm going to try something. I'm going to de-materialize. Get rid of all the extra stuff that's just not needed in my life.

I'm not going native, giving away all my money or turning monk here. I haven't found religion, gotten a guru or read some self help book telling me to do this. It just strikes me as the right thing to do. It's really very simple: I'm going to try to get rid of whats not needed in my life. It doesn't mean life in a tent or out of a van (although who knows.. maybe that's what I'll find I want). It means getting to a point where I don't feel like I'm consuming so much; using up so many more resources (goods, services, STUFF) than I need to.

I expect this starts with the stuff but I also expect it'll move into other areas as well as time progresses and I gain a little wisdom around what I'm trying to do here. And I'm sure many others have done this as well and I'll be checking that out- betcha there's even a movement, association and (many) websites about it. We'll see.

But I do know this: It's the right time and it feels like the right thing to do. De-Materialize.

I'll write about my experiences doing this here in this blog. I doubt many will find it interesting, hell, I may even make it private- this is more of an intellectual exercise for me, and a way of keeping track of progress and recording what I learn more than anything else.

Funny, just thinking of doing this makes me feel a little bit more free.