Free State Wyoming Forum
Free State Wyoming (FSW) Promotional => Making the Case for Moving Toward Freedom (and Wyoming!) => Topic started by: MANUMIT on August 10, 2010, 04:46:01 AM
-
...why don't you do it in Wyoming??
If this trend is hitting the lamestream press...it must be getting some traction...
But Will It Make You Happy?
by Stephanie Rosenbloom
Monday, August 9, 2010
provided by
The New York Times
Tammy Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, in their pared-down, 400-square-foot apartment in Portland, Ore. (Leah Nash for The New York Times)
She had so much.
A two-bedroom apartment. Two cars. Enough wedding china to serve two dozen people.
Yet Tammy Strobel wasn't happy. Working as a project manager with an investment management firm in Davis, Calif., and making about $40,000 a year, she was, as she put it, caught in the "work-spend treadmill."
So one day she stepped off.
Inspired by books and blog entries about living simply, Ms. Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, both 31, began donating some of their belongings to charity. As the months passed, out went stacks of sweaters, shoes, books, pots and pans, even the television after a trial separation during which it was relegated to a closet. Eventually, they got rid of their cars, too. Emboldened by a Web site that challenges consumers to live with just 100 personal items, Ms. Strobel winnowed down her wardrobe and toiletries to precisely that number.
Her mother called her crazy.
Today, three years after Ms. Strobel and Mr. Smith began downsizing, they live in Portland, Ore., in a spare, 400-square-foot studio with a nice-sized kitchen. Mr. Smith is completing a doctorate in physiology; Ms. Strobel happily works from home as a Web designer and freelance writer. She owns four plates, three pairs of shoes and two pots. With Mr. Smith in his final weeks of school, Ms. Strobel's income of about $24,000 a year covers their bills. They are still car-free but have bikes. One other thing they no longer have: $30,000 of debt.
Excerpted from: http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110275/but-will-it-make-you-happy
-
Funny that this article came out. The Mrs and I were just talking about how much junk we have. Enough clothes to wear a different set of pants and shirts for over a month, electronic junk all over the place. She thought I was crazy to want to get rid of most of it. But after going over how many boxes and how big of a move it would be if we were to pack up today she's starting to agree that a lot of it is stuff we don't need.
-
We're doing the downsizing thing as I type this, almost everything will have to fit in a 10x20 storage unit, I fail to see the wisdom of only having 100 things though, does all stored food count as one thing, tools, guns, ammo, camping gear etc.?, but we are pairing down to what we call essentials. The largest amount of stuff we have gotten rid of is furniture. As we load up the wagon (uhaul), just like the pioneers moving to Wyoming before us, "throw off the furniture".
We had furniture in every room of our house, 2 bedroom sets, an office, living room, dining room,basement with couches, entertainment center, and this was for 2 people. Pretty amazing the amount of stuff we HAD.
-
Yep, we're doing the downsizing thing too. Planning a yard sale for later this month & probably another for next month. Goodness at the junk we have! :o
-
I did this before I moved - literally sold or gave away everything non-essential or non-sentimental. Only what fit in the back of my Jeep came with me; the remainder needs to follow if/when I get a place of my own.
It's amazing what you can live without (and sickening when you think of how much $$ was wasted acquiring crap you don't need). Never again!
-
I've always attempted to live light, and that helps one stay out of debt. I go camping to the Mts. with the bare necessities.