Chucking it 501b: Getting Rid of Your Stuff

We return to our many-part series of questions about whether you are ready to become a meandering minimalist. If the answer is no, or not yet, we offered some options. Then, Part 1 asked if you actually like travel. Part 2 encouraged you to think through your obligations. Part 3 talked about your potential travel companions, and Part 4 talked about your health and health insurance options. Here we are in Part 5, about stuff. The first half of this post was about your stuff and what it means. We hope that post convinced you that you have more than you need, even if only by a little. This post walks you through the process of getting rid of stuff. Not all of it: just the stuff that weighs you down. We bet that once you’ve done that, you will feel the subtle pull your other stuff exerts on you. But remember, the goal is not getting rid of stuff for its own sake: it’s to have around you the things you need or love.

Here are the steps we recommend, in order.

Sell It (or Rent it)

Why not make some money off the stuff you used to want? Lots of people like stuff, and they may want yours! We sold our car back to the dealer. And of course, John sold his books. Between them, these things no-longer-ours will probably fund at least six months of our itinerant lifestyle. Chances are you have more and better stuff than we do, clothes, jewelry, etc. And, with a bit more effort, you could sell things over the internet or, if you are old-school, in a garage sale.

Then there is the category of stuff you might not be ready to sell and others might not be ready to buy. E.g., most notably, property. But also vehicles, boats, luxury sports equipment, and the like. You may be able to rent any or all of this out while you’re not using it.

Give your Stuff to Friends

This is probably our favourite thing to do when we are getting rid of stuff. We once had a bunch of stuff that we didn’t want. We also had friends moving into their first house, and some who had kids starting out. So we asked around and used our noodle, and we managed to give away most of our furniture and kitchen stuff. This was especially fun because we had the time to think about specific people and specific things, e.g. ‘Remember how Annapurna always liked that picture so much? Let’s give it to her!’ Or ‘You know how we hate Ben? Let’s give his son the drum set!’

More recently, before the big move, we even had a Come Take Our Stuff Day, when we invited lots of people to come and, well, take our stuff. We were very persuasive, and cleverly packaged things in other things, so by the end of the day about 75% of what we had was gone. And were very lucky in having a few sets of people who were just starting out, so nearly all of the furniture was gone. We now sometimes imagine our things living their new lives with the people we gave them to. Or other people; we assured people we wouldn’t be offended if they kept our dining room chairs for only six months until they found some they liked better…

Donate your Stuff

We like this option too, especially when we’re short on time. If you have a bunch of stuff, places like Goodwill will even come pick it up. And there are all kinds of other charities, some specialising in specific categories of stuff. They will take nearly anything provided it’s not actually trash: we’ve given away appliances, clothes, furniture, decorations, books, suitcases, you name it!

Throw your Stuff Out

As you are getting rid of stuff, you will inevitably discover that some of it is just trash. Throw this stuff out! You might even take a trip to your local dump, especially if you have a lot of trash and a truck/friends with a truck (thank you Jessica!). We shredded all kinds of papers once we’d scanned them. We kept our bed until the second-to-last day and then realised it was probably not even worth donating. So to the dump it went, along with some broken stuff we’d been keeping, and the perishable food we hadn’t managed to eat up. (As you might expect, there was not much of this.)

This whole process of getting rid of stuff was exhausting, not least because we were also leaving work, the country, our friends and our family at the very same time. We would advise stretching it out a bit longer than we did, gradually getting yourself used to the concept of having less. As a start, you might try one of those ‘throw out one thing a day for a month’ challenges. Or – if you are not good with math, the algorithmic one thing on the first day of the month, two things on the second day… this works out to be a LOT of things. Or take part in a community garage sale. If you have thought about what really matters to you, you will probably discover all kinds of things you no longer need.