For the past five weeks, I’ve been traveling. At the end of September, I packed my bag and I’ve been on the road ever since. I’ve had fun, and learned a lot of Spanish, but to be honest I’m looking forward to seeing cold, rainy Portland again next week.<\/p>\n
As always<\/em> happens when I travel, I’ve come to marvel at how little I can live with. I have a hotel room (or a tent) every night, and I buy my food from markets, street vendors, or restaurants. But all I carry with me are my main 42-liter pack and a smaller 18-liter pack. (In other words, a carry-on size bag, and a bag the size of a briefcase.) For six weeks, these bags will have effectively contained all of my possessions.<\/p>\n Usually at the end of a long trip, I rant about the tyranny of Stuff<\/a>. This time, I’ve been trying to direct my thoughts along more productive paths. What if instead of complaining about clutter, I actually tried to set up some ground rules to guide my spending? What would these guidelines look like?<\/p>\n Off the top of my head, they might look something like this:<\/p>\n Actually following these simple guidelines could help me spend less while bringing less clutter into my life. (As for the existing stuff, well, I’ve been working on thinning that out for the past four years!)<\/p>\n I’m not saying you should live like a monk. Hell, I<\/em> don’t want to live like a monk. (After five weeks of living out of a backpack, I’m ready to wear some different clothes!) I’m saying that all of us \u2014 especially me \u2014 could save money and have less clutter in our lives if we were more deliberate about the things we bought and brought into our homes.<\/p>\n Though it makes Kris sigh, I often say I’d like to start our household again from scratch. In this fantasy world, we’d have a new, empty house \u2014 like a blank canvas. We’d move in slowly, little by little. When we found we needed something, we’d retrieve it from the old house. Then, after maybe a year, we’d get rid of all the Stuff that remained at the old house.<\/p>\n For me, the real test will be when it comes to the things I collect, like books and comics. I’m not going to stop buying books and comics. But maybe it’s time to change my buying habits.<\/p>\n Instead of trying to buy whatever interests me, maybe I should try buying new material only<\/em> when I’ve finished reading the old stuff. (That could take decades!) And maybe it’s time to become re-acquainted with my public library.<\/p>\n What’s interesting to me is that despite having increased my income and decreased my spending over the past few years, there’s always room for improvement. I’m no longer fighting a battle against debt; today, I’m fighting against unnecessary spending.<\/p>\n\n