Buy Nothing | The Minimalists Ep. 405

How long can you go without buying anything?

I went 2 years without buying a single piece of clothing, shoes,accessories etc. when the 2 years was up I bought new underwear. That’s all I needed. During that 2 years I slowly downsized my wardrobe. I went from 2 overstuffed closets to one understuffed closet. I also have empty drawers in my dresser and the 5 under the bed storage boxes are gone. So much better and actually I’m still removing with the end of every season. I turn my hangers backwards and as I wear things the hanger gets flipped the right was. On October 1st all the items on the backwards ones will go.

I lost my husband to colon cancer, he was only 42. It took me 5 years to let go of his things. Take time to grieve but don't let grief hold you up.

I absolutely loved what T.K. said to the woman who had lost her husband. Thank you, T.K.😊

Just scrolled on IG and saw an ad for boots.. which look amazing but which I do not need... And returned back to this Podcast

TK I really appreciate your compassionate response to Holly. Your making a point of offering your condolences first and foremost and giving her permission to hold onto her husband's possessions to help her through her time of grief.

I love that you are emphasising to adjust minimalist rules to fit your life. It is just stuff, but everyone has to deal with it differently.

TK Coleman where have you been all this time. You always nail it with your words of wisdom. ❤ Thank you!

I can go in a store and buy nothing.

This is so helpful, listing as I declutter. I have helped so many people clear spaces of loved ones who have passed on. It is a wonderful and sacred experience to listen to the stories and special life moments, then allow the release to happen joyfully and completely. One client I had could not go into her husband's closet. I asked her if there were an item or two that she wanted t keep as a memory? She took some socks and a sweater of his. Everything else went to the veterans of which he was a vet so that made her very happy and she said her husband would be happy knowing his person clothing/items went to the vets. Then when she came into the closet she jumped for show as she visualized all of the shoes she could now place in the closet...shoe clutter, that's another story!

To Kathy who wrote in… I disagree with what they said regarding you not owing her respect if she doesn’t respect you. I grew up a family who gave kids and young adults no respect and I was expected to give it. Our kids don’t owe us anything. I know this makes some people mad, but it’s true. We chose to have kids and kids need us all the way into adulthood. When we see things we don’t like in our kids behavior I would encourage anyone to look closer at the relationship you’ve built with your child. Did you teach them how to be respectful by modeling respect to other in front of them and most importantly by respecting them? I think it’s us as the parents job to be the bigger person. I would bet money your child feels disrespected by you in some way and this agreement will probably make things worse. 😢

It's interesting, for the longest time I tried the minimalist thing but just couldn't let go of things, even though, I don't use it. I just liked it. I don't know why I felt the need to hang on to it. Anyway, I just recently tried again and found it surprisingly easy once I shifted my perspective on and took a deeper look into why I was hanging on to things. I came to the conclusion that I was defined by these things. My own doing, of course. I saw through the lense of, what people will think of me as opposed to how I defined myself. I was letting others define me via my things. Once I took that power back of defining myself, I was able to get rid of 75% of things I kept for years and years but never used!! It's really liberating not to hang on to things that no longer serve me. It only has been 3 weeks since I got rid of the stuff but I don't even miss it. I like what a friend of mine said. He has boxes of stuff he hasn't opened since moving to a new place. He said, "if I had a big trash bin near me, I'd throw all those boxes away without going through them. I lived this long without it. I don't need it obviously," I took that to heart. That idea just resonated with me so much. It's amazing how much you don't miss stuff when you are fulfilled in your heart and life.

Another great episode. I did have a thought that may be worthy of consideration. When Josh was discussing the book "Buy Nothing, Get Everything" he noted the author talked about eliminating paper towels and zip-lock bags. Josh's immediate assumption was that this was from a minimalist perspective, that she had proposed eliminating these items for greater peace of mind and simplification. Given what was read about the author, I believe her advocation for this relinquishment was for environmental purposes rather than a test of "deprivation". In this context, she is suggesting giving up the convenience of everyday single-use plastics and papers, in place for more altruistic, sustainable solutions. A bold suggestion: NOT depriving ourselves of items that are exploitative or cause long-term harm is actually selfish. For instance, every day I "deprive" myself of the convenience of littering or the luxury of taking 30-minute showers.

You never rent books from a library. The word rent means that you would pay for it upfront to use it for a specific amount of time. One borrows a book from the library. If the book is returned late, there may be a small fee. Some libraries are doing away with late fees. If a book is never returned, lost, or damaged, the patron would have to pay for the cost of the book and processing fees.

The way you guys responded to Holly’s question was very respectful and a balanced. Everyone deals with grief in their own way and from my experience it is very much a process that takes time

I had a conversation with my then teenaged son. That, in the event that I am not longer here. That he should have no regrets or feel guilt about keeping stuff that made me happy. He can distribute my stuff however he sees fit.

This guys go to the extreme with minimalism. On top of that, their videos are quite long for being a ´´minimalist´´.

In my city we have Habit for Humanity stores. You can donate construction items and also buy them.

11:02 Dave Ramsey talks about the importance of reading. I’ve really stepped-up my reading. I’m currently reading “A Clockwork Orange”.

When I go into a store, I try to just enjoy things while I am there. Inflation is most important to deal with for now.