Interesting article - what do you actually need?

I live in my bedroom, I could move house and carry everything in my little VW polo, easy!
 
i once gave all my stuff to friends and ran away with just a rucksack, happiest i've been in my life...........when i came back to live ' normally' in a house for years i had 1 spoon 1 knife 1 fork 1 bowl etc............my girlfriend at the time moved in and we had to take turns with the 1 breakfast bowl for a few weeks, till i bought more stuff....i wasn't skint....i just liked simple..............would like to go back to less stuff...........too many personel things creates anxiety......consciously and more importantly sub-consciously making us stressed.
 
Lived in a truck for 15 years, no electricity or running water just candles and filling up butts in churchyards and garages. My daughter was born in a converted Bedford horsebox on a hop farm in Kent. I'd go back to it tomorrow.
The more possesions the more you have to work to sustain them. Most of it is greed pure and simple, tbh no one 'needs' a 4000 quid bike or 25 grand car, yes they're nice to have but there is actually very little justification for having one other than 'I can afford it (or not as is so often the case) so I will have it.
I've been around europe, India and bits of Africa and it seems the people who have least are the happiest, until they're told that they need to have Ipods and other consumer goodies (usually by the consumer goods companies), then they start to feel they're missing out and that's when the trouble starts.
It makes me a bit sick when I see 'what shall I buy' next threads because the poster generally doesn't need that Titanium stem or colour coded bolt kit or new phone bit just wnats it to make his bike 1oz lighter, be a bit flash or able to pose around with their new phone model because the last one that came out 3 weeks ago is obsolete..

What you want and what you need and what's the difference.


Disclaimer: yes I know this is post is supremely hypocritical because I have 4 bikes, we all fall into the trap at times
 
One of the reasons i joined the site is i believe in using old bikes instead of letting them go to pot..........with this training homeless people thing i was gonna see if we can turn it into a recycle type thing, where doner bikes get turned into working bikes.......if i had the money i'd by bling i have to say , but 2nd hand bling as a lot of new stuff is sh**:D
 
when we made a big move at the end of last year we got rid of a huge amount of stuff, gave away a bunch of bikes and gear, a small house load of stuff, down to 25 boxes. It was in storage and we moved into a furnished apartment.
It was actually really nice to live with jsut what we had (I onlt had 2 pairs of sneakers, down from my normal 100 pairs!) Not pile of junk... very relaxing
then 2 months later all our stuff turned up, OK so much less stuff than we use to have. It was less good :(
 
i admit i have more than i need, i do however feel so much better when i have a clear out and loose some of the clutter i surround myself with. the world is changing again, thin k its time we went back to basics ;)
 
I would keep my Tivoli, Ipod, laptop, Swiss army knife and a few odds & sods bar the normal clothes - if I could.

But I am more like:

Trebuswithjunk.jpg
 
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