Big “Fat” Lie

I lied. Well sort of.

I told you my next post was going to be about boots and luggage. It isn’t, but it’s coming in a couple of days. This post is just as important however, because it explains why I’m gritting my teeth – at myself. My flaking enamel may be your gain.

I own two complete sets of golf clubs. Wilson Fat Shafts and Pings. I’ve had the Wilsons for a while and bought the Pings during vacation just over a year ago. I shipped them back from California (at an extra fee) then decided I needed a new driver which I also bought.

To my credit I decided to sell the extra set but a few months passed and none of it sold. I then decide (pay very careful attention here) to put them in the trunk of my car in case a) I decided to go to the driving range or play, or; b) in case someone visits me who does not have a set, then I’d have a set to loan them.

Really? (Said as though your girlfriend caught you putting the milk bottle back in the refer with 1/16” of an inch of milk left). Let’s drive a set of golf clubs around or keep a set for a visitor. Say it slowly…I’m shaking my head.

Are you guilty of that kind of thinking?

I played golf approximately six times in the past two years and I have never, in the twenty years I’ve been playing, had someone visit who needed to borrow a set of freaking golf clubs!

Perhaps you’ll gain by the benefit of my conversion:

Benefit A: Take my advice and stop thinking you will use it, if you have another set/pair/item. You won’t. You. Just. Wont. Okay?

Benefit B: I have a set of Wilson Fat Shafts (1 – 9 and P/W).  I also have a 9.5 degree Taylor Made driver and two fairly pedestrian Spalding woods. If you need a set of clubs, they are yours. Want to pay me? Fine. Don’t want to pay me? Fine. Maybe you’ll trade me for a decent fairway wood? No, I don’t have one.

My only condition is that they do not fall into the “one day” I’m (xyz) category. If you take them, you or someone you know will use them. Otherwise I’ll donate them to a youth league or a Goodwill.

And by the way, here’s Benefit C: You know which stores, like Goodwill and Value Village, are actually non-profits and which are not, right? Know this before you donate!

Up next, as promised: boots and luggage.

Minimal Me

min·i·mal·ism

/ˈminəməˌlizəm/

    Noun

      1.   A 1950s trend in art that used simple,  typically massive, forms.

      2. An avant-garde movement in music,  characterized by the repetition of very short phrases that change  gradually, producing a hypnotic effect.

I have too much stuff.

Last summer I began the task of de-cluttering my world by getting rid of massive amounts of paperwork I’d been carrying around – some of it for over fifteen years.   What began as project to lighten my load for a move ended with the shredding of almost two hundred pounds of paper and a deep disappointment with myself.

And not just because of the cost: transporting then shredding, time taken to sort it, space taken (for years), and lost value of space.  No, what it really meant was that I had commited thought (time) and space (a resource) to stuff for no return.  I had been wasting time and resources.

More disappointing is that this realization isn’t new to me. I’d somehow albeit quietly, fallen into the “perhaps I’ll use it one day” trap. That misguided thinking caused me to keep. store, move, account for, and think about  things well beyond a point that I should have.

The “maybe one day” thing rarely, if ever comes.

Here’s an example: I have two laptops and two personal computers in storage.  And I have an IPad, IPhone, and laptop that aren’t in storage.  That means I have seven computing devices (pause) for one person, (pause) four of which are not being used (stop).  My mistake was not in keeping them for strategic use. My mistake was that I had no strategic plan for them – such as getting rid of them as I replaced them with newer devices. And that was primarily because they were in storage!

Over the next several weeks and months, I’m going to downsize even further.  I’m serious. I’m going minimal.  A concept I was afraid to even share with you, considering the business I’m in.  After all, I want you buying, right?! Yes, but in a different way.

Here are the principles I’ve come to embrace as I think strategically and wisely about how I consume.  They are:

1)      Minimal does not necessarily mean stark.

2)      Use caution when using sentimentality as a deciding factor.

3)      Better to have few and have quality.

4)      Have a plan to discard or rotate (or storage is synonymous to lying).

In my next post, I’ll tell you the story of how a pair of fireman’s boots and a piece of luggage caused me to step even further into the minimalist lifestyle.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you! Have you considered or adapted to this way of living? What’s it been like? Where have the struggles been?  What about the benefits?