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.
Ruth F says
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.
Betsy says
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 .
Lauren says
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.
Sally says
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…
Marilyn Tully says
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.
Russell says
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.
1%er says
If only everyone had a wine business to sell…
Janis McBroom says
Exactly what I was thinking.
Susan says
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…
Jen says
Everything is rented on a long enough time horizon!
Kathy says
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.
Thegraysonway says
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.
Maria says
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.
Edward says
This is always a disappointing detail. Let go if the stuff isn’t important, don’t burden others with it.
Suzanna says
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.
Julie a Honeycutt says
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 :)
Pirkko says
Books and stationery – 12 items? Wonder what those would be …