Note: This is a guest post by Charlie Brown of Simple and Straightforward.
The average American household owns 300,000 possessions.
I own 0.05% of that number. In other words, 134 items.
It was never my intention to live with so little. But back in 2020 my husband and I had the opportunity to sell our wine business, house and most of what we own in order to travel the world indefinitely, working online as we go.
All I had room for was what would fit in my suitcase, plus a box or two to be stored in my family home.
People will tell you it’s unrealistic to live with so little, that it’s deprivation under the guise of “minimalism”.
After nearly two years of this lifestyle, I can say with absolute conviction that it’s neither of those things. In fact, more and more people are choosing to live like this, and finding freedom like they’ve never experienced before.
Here’s what it’s really like to live with fewer than 150 possessions.
You miss less than you expect
It’s the number one question I get asked – don’t you miss all your stuff?
I went into this new traveling phase of my life with very little expectation as to whether I would miss anything or not. I figured that if I did, I could always stop traveling and settle again. (Hey, it’s always an option).
As it turns out, I miss very little indeed. The only two I can think of are the guarantee of a good mattress and bedding, (not a given when you live out of short term accommodation,) and a choice few pieces of cooking equipment.
But even these I miss less than I thought I would. I used to sleep terribly at home – despite an exceptionally comfortable bed – because I was stressed and burnt out. When I started to travel, I worked hard to eliminate many of the big stresses in my life and to recover from the burnout. The result is I’m sleeping much better, despite the occasional bad bed.
And the kitchen equipment? As a self-confessed foodie, I’ve made it my mission to become super flexible with my cooking, getting creative with what my short term accommodation provides me. It’s been a real education, one that I might not have had if I had the opportunity to keep my prefered kitchen setup.
We’re taught that possessions are of the utmost importance in life, that they should be prioritized above everything else, including travel, sustainable living and even our mental health.
It’s only once you shed the excess that you realize how we’ve been duped. Because like me, you’ll probably find you miss many, many fewer items than you expect.
It’s not about the number of items
The question isn’t how many possessions should you live with, rather how does what you live with make you feel?
Life is about balance. Deprivation has no place at the minimalist table and is just as unwelcome as too much clutter. And in order to find that balance, you need to discover how many possessions is the optimum for you and you only.
In my case, I wasn’t trying to live with an arbitrary number. It was simply about what would fit into my desired lifestyle. Or indeed, my suitcase.
My number happened to be 134. Yours might be much more and that’s cool.
Minimalism is all about living with intentionality which can be found in thousands of items just as much as 100.
You can always rent what you don’t own
You don’t have to own everything in order to make use of it. In fact, almost everything in life is available to rent, from accommodation filled with kitchen equipment, bedding and furniture, to cars to bicycles to, well, pretty much anything.
Unless you’re happy sleeping on the floor and eating out everyday, the only way one can live with so few possessions is to make full use of this sharing economy.
I really enjoy renting what I need. It gives me full flexibility and is often a cheaper and more sustainable way of living.
And you don’t have to be a permanent traveler in order to make use of the sharing economy. In fact, if you’ve ever taken an Uber, ordered from Just Eat, even looked something up on Wikipedia, then you have already utilized it.
Renting is underrated. Sometimes it’s the best option in life.
This isn’t an unrealistic lifestyle
After “what do you miss?” the next question I get asked is “when are you coming home and settling down again?”
Traveling with just over 100 items is not thought of as a realistic, sustainable lifestyle. Most people assume it’s just a phase, one you’ll grow out of.
But the longer I spend on the road, the more people I see making this lifestyle work long term.
In many countries, renting a fully furnished apartment, complete with bedding, furniture and a fully equipped kitchen, is pretty standard. I even have friends in their 50s – with a couple of kids in tow – who have rented like this for years, sometimes staying still, sometimes traveling.
Predictions say there will be up to a billion nomads in the world by 2035. That’s 13% of the world who will be, by design, living with fewer possessions.
There will likely come a time where I will own more possessions than I currently do.
But now I know how little I can happily live with, I will probably never own much more. And just because I might live with more stuff in the future doesn’t make what I live with now “unrealistic.” This has been my life for the last 20 months, and is going to continue to be so.
Minimalism isn’t an unfeasible lifestyle. It’s gaining popularity across the world as more and more people realize they’re overburdening themselves – and the world – with excess stuff. That’s not unrealistic – it’s just different.
So, do you want to know what the 134 items are?
Here’s my latest inventory:
- Clothes and accessories – 61 items
- Electronics – 7 items
- Kitchen equipment – 12 items
- Toiletries – 16 items
- Books and stationery – 12 items
- Home furnishings (kept at my parent’s house as I travel) – 26 items
I won’t go as far as the old cliché: the best things in life are free, but I will say that not everything good in the world has to be a physical possession. Far from it.
People. Sleep. Tranquility. Nature. Free time.
All good things. The best, in fact.
Possessions are essential, but as every minimalist in the world will tell you, garnering too many of them can stop us from finding meaning and purpose. Thinking that possessions will make us content and whole is like trying to find the happiness crab under the wrong rock.
For now, I’ll stick with my 134 possessions. They give me what I want – nay, need – in life right now. Freedom. The opportunity to travel, make connections and engage in experiences.
Life.
I’ll take that over the occasional inconvenience of running out of socks, any day of the week.
***
Charlie Brown is a British writer and full-time traveler. She is founder of Simple and Straightforward, a weekly mail-out focusing on simple living, minimalism, and living life on your own terms.
Charlie, ty so much for sharing your story with us. I’m so glad to hear how you made your journey work. I enjoy following your story and I keep wondering if this could work for me.
I lived in a tiny space with my last partner and I kept trying to get rid of.. but I’m a creator… so as soon as I would donate one type of medium I would be finding another.. I’m like to thrift my supplies and I donate to great causes but I never seem to be able to get rid of almost everything. Maybe I should just be thankful for the gift of creating.. I’m currently making dish cloths/ cleaning rags from cotton for the shelter I’m staying at.
Charlie, I think it’s wise that you’ve kept some things incase you decide to settle again. It’s hard to start over.. all I have to do is ask every person who is living with me at the moment. Most of us have nothing. What a blessing it is that your parents are allowing you to store a few things. I’m sure if they wanted to downsize that you would find an alternative solution.
Charlie, great article! You’ve found a way to work and travel full-time! I dreamed of that when younger. Do you ever feel homesick or become so enamoured with a new place you think of settling down there? It’s nice to see that your parents are able to keep a few things for you and that you are open (and, I imagine, able) to settling down at some point. You mention suitcase. Does everything fit there, or do you have a combination like a backpack, bag, suitcase, etc? Do you only have what you can easily carry with you? I only travel with carry-ons, but my longest trips are 2 months.
It does say ‘furnishings’ but it also says ‘a box or two’ so realistically not a great fallback cushion or something to obsess about.
The point wasn’t 134, how that 134 was counted, or whether it would actually fit in the size unspecified suitcase
Nor was it how they could afford to travel
I question the 300,000
Even for America that seems … extreme
But, maybe because I have traveled for extended periods with a very small inventory, I have no problem with the rest of her story.
Hi! I think 300,000 is probably about right. I removed 500 items from my home the past three weeks, mostly kitchen, clothes, books throw pillows and there is no discernible difference. I counted over 200 items in cutlery – that’s 2 sets of eating implements – knives, forks, soup spoons, teaspoons, plus chopsticks, ceramic spoons, long tea spoons, small tea spoons (for use with small tea cups), and two-tined forks for use when eating lobster. Now, this all fits in two drawers, and that’s only half of what is in there. Additionally, there are candles(24) coasters(8), cooking knives(6), steak knives (6), serving utensils(8), skewers (12), can opener, peeler, etc. etc. – about 120 more items in those two drawers. Imagine counting each item in a home. Pencils, pens, rubber bands, erasers, paper clips, paper, notepads, note cards, envelopes, cleaners, beauty products, decorative items, seasonal-use items, magazines, books, pictures, jewelry and 300,000 doesnt seem that far fetched. Just these past three weeks of decluttering have shown me that I have way more than I thought I did.
Kind of late to the game here, but….wow! So many of you are TOTALLY missing the whole point of the article. I commend the author on writing an article on something that has caused us to think. Writers don’t write just so everyone agrees with them, good writers make us sit back after a sentence or two and ponder a statement, before moving on. If it sparks something in us either positively or negatively, than that’s a good thing because it inspires change. Stagnant water grows nasty, slimy stuff….so do stagnant people.
I plan to sell my house soon move to 1bd 1 bath apt. My son decided he’s leaving me with 4 containers of childhood toys. These are highly collectible but still why should I be burdened with them forever? Sadly, this is starting to be a hot topic between us. This weekend I donated 99% of my Christmas decorations. At first I felt anxiety however after dropping everything off at the donation center the relief I felt was amazing. No pressure and no guilt over decorating! Isn’t this wonderful? I did order two Christmas items that I wanted which will take the place of hours and hours of tree decorating and packing it all back up. For once I’m excited about the Holidays. These two items are all I need.
Very interesting article, I thought it was very cool except for the dumping of her stuff on her parents. Now they are burdened with her “stuff”.
Yes I agree when I read the part about leaving the stuff at the parents the article lost credibility with me but it gave me a good chuckle.
I wonder if this would be possible if you and your husband didn’t own the wine business or a home that you could sell and have the capability to travel while telecommuting? I would love to hear the perspective of a low-income couple managing to do something like this and enjoying it. I enjoyed the article nonetheless, don’t get me wrong, it just got me thinking…
Check out Little House Living. They are settled now, but are a low income family that lived on the road a few times.
I‘ve read a book by Raynor Winn „the salt path“, it’s said to be a true story. Here you can find a description of what it can mean for poor people to travel.
And there are more differences:
It’s in England, one of them is ill, they may be older than Charlie (I don’t know Charlies age).
Very interesting to read. And sometimes sad.
I loved the article and appreciated what works for them. Living simply and letting go of the things we don’t need looks different for everyone. It’s not a one size fits all! The concept is something to build on, a model or example as it were. My husband and I are both retired now we own a 4bedroom 3bath home and walked away from it (planned of course) and everything it it. The old family china, crystal, large flat screens and a huge family room we turned into what most of our friends said looked like an Applebees. I love to cook and feed the world. We passed it on to our daughter and her family who needed it more than we did. This is the family home that my mom passed on to me and my husband.
We always knew we wanted to simplify because we really truly love it and the outdoors. Both of us came from very modest backgrounds growing up and didn’t raise our family with emphasis on material things purposely. We now live in our 41ft 1 1/2bath fifth wheel in a beautiful rv park. We downsized from nearly 2000 sq ft to just under 500 sq ft. We often unhook and go traveling for weeks at a time while maintaining our spot at the rv park, our anchor to come back to because we love being near our grands and great grands. So this is as simple as “we” want to get while having only what we need to live the kind of life “we” want. As far as the amount of things or the count, for us that’s irrelevant because after 50 yrs of marriage we need so little but enjoy doing so much together!
Lauren – those are pleasant thoughts, and doable. Would you be able to keep up with the cost of maintenance or renting?
I am 44 year old and wish to retire early – just don’t know how I will be able to afford this so early …
esp. recently, having found a plastic stored container (that I bought at Wallmart because it was on sale) is filled to the top with books. i already know how I will be fulfilling my bucket !
Tina, it’s mostly in the planning. We tried retiring when my husband was 55 and because of the high cost of medical (we didn’t factor that in so well) we decided he needed to go back to work. So with careful planning we made sure our Rv, truck, car was paid in full so that all we would pay for is our spot, insurances and maintenance, with a good healthcare package of course.
Laureen, your retirement plan sounds amazing. And 50 years of marriage congratulations!!
I love your story Laureen!
I am working harder towards my early retirement and welcome and hope to read some and any ideas ? with joy . Smile ?
Twenty-six items at her parents’ is not a hardship on her parents, unless they are, say, 10 sofas, 8 cars, 6 water heaters, a washer, and a dryer. Twenty-six items is negligible in her parents’ lives unless they too are living as she does and now have 160 items instead of 134.
RE: books and stationary, I’m guessing she probably rents books at the library and would only keep possibly a dictionary, a Bible, an Audubon guide, or some such — and pens, pencil, eraser, blank notebook(s), tape.
I would love to know what 16 toiletries make the cut. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, nail clippers, tweezers, Q-Tips, deodorant, razor, blades, adhesive bandages, antibiotic cream, cortisone cream, bug repellent, and… sunscreen?
To everyone who claims this is not a sustainable lifestyle, well, you don’t know ’til you try. This is her choice and she’s not judgmental of you for choosing differently; please afford her the same courtesy. “And in order to find that balance, you need to discover how many possessions is the optimum for you and you only….
My number happened to be 134. Yours might be much more and that’s cool. Minimalism is all about living with intentionality which can be found in thousands of items just as much as 100.”
Peace.
1. Renting important items and owning very little sounds EXACTLY like the Great Reset – in which our access to necessities will be controlled according to our compliance with… well, we don’t even know yet.
2. Storing things at her parents’ home tells us a lot. Her parents are alive and functional, they have a large enough home, and she is on good terms with them. In short, they and their home are a great safety net: if things get gnarly, there’s somewhere solid to go. This cannot be seen as a permanent situation.
I’m not going to nitpick over what you have at your parents or not. I’m just going to congratulate you on the fact that you realize a life of travel and limited possessions is to be congratulated. The world is drowning in stuff and I can state for a fact that most of the stuff is a burden. Thank you for posting .
Interesting read but as I read I realized how many things bothered me about it. Not that they are dealbreakers but they are things that “feel” exclusionary to many–or at least to me.
They sold a winery, a home and most of everything else (which, I assume was plenty) so that means they were fortunate enough to start from a very comfortable position, financially speaking. They have parents who will store what are probably large items. The parents may be happy to do this but in my view, letting things go to embrace a minimalist lifestyle should not include either a storage unit or, especially, other people’s willingness to act as storage. If. you. want to hang onto things and store them, no. problem. But don’t claim to have a minimalist, nomadic lifestyle while keeping a base foundation of items with someone else.
I find their choice interesting but not particularly admirable.
I got stuck at “my husband and I had a chance to sell our wine business and house…” But I am excited for her anyway…
This all implies that you have enough money to travel, rent airbnb., cars, and whatever you want. It seems you work online and make some money but enough to live this way? You probably have big bucks in the bank. This is the ideal life. Soon I will sell everything and live that life.
Whilst I appreciate the point about renting not necessarily being a bad thing, it frustrates me that the writer is missing the point about the real luxury they have I.e. choosing to own or to rent.
Many people in the world have no option but to rent a house/room as they cannot afford to buy one. When you have to pay a (potentially) expensive rent and have the instability that entails (eviction or having to move on with little notice) then suddenly renting isn’t quite so idyllic.
I’m sure it’s wonderful to choose to rent and travel the world when you have the option to later decide to settle back down and buy a home.
If only everyone had a wine business to sell…
Exactly what I was thinking.
I am also curious as to the count method. For example, in the 12 kitchen items…is each pan and lid one item, or is ‘pans’ one item? What about silverware? Dishes?
As someone who once was down to ten boxes (that I could put in my car), having very little is very freeing. I’m back up now (although relatively sparse compared to 300k items! lol!), and always looking for ways to trim back down…
Everything is rented on a long enough time horizon!
I would be more impressed with this article if she wasn’t storing 26 items at her parents’ home! She says furnishings. That implies large. How are parents able to downsize when their place is burdened with the stuff owned by their kids? That is not being fair to them. If she is so fond of renting, she should get and pay for her own storage unit. I’m not impressed.
Perhaps like some parents, they may not ever downsize. Her parents may be content to store their items for them.
I would be interested to know what the books are. As I downsize, I read and pass on so many books.
Kathy – out of this whole article and the message it is sending – you are choosing to fixate on the 26 items stored at her parents?? Really? That blows my mind!! Who cares what the 26 items are? That’s not the main point of this article. They could be high school yearbooks, diplomas, an urn of ashes, her favorite stuffed animal as a child.
This is always a disappointing detail. Let go if the stuff isn’t important, don’t burden others with it.
That’s exactly what I was thinking … it feels comfortable & safe having the security of having things stored in the family home.
My nightmare was having to sort through the family home when my parents moved into care.
i agree with Kathy. Good thing Parents are minimalist. We, too, have children’s things “stored” and now we have that burden they dont want. Totally agree that we all have too much stuff but continually renting for housing etc not a great long term financial decision, to be practical :)
Books and stationery – 12 items? Wonder what those would be …