Posted by Dave on November 6, 2012
This is a guest post by Dave, who is also looking to retire no later than 45, but unlike Tim has no kids and doesn’t want any. Dave is from Ontario and is working towards his CGA certification.
Over the Thanksgiving long weekend, I went on a road trip with my wife, dad and stepmother to Virginia. There was no real point to the trip, other than going somewhere we’d never been. After a couple thousand kilometers of driving, we saw some amazing views along the Skyline Drive at Shenandoah National Park (I felt like I was rally car racing). Thanks to the GPS directions, we also got to see a lot of the Apalachian foothills, where we saw some really interesting small towns on the way home. Along the way, we had some interesting conversations (20 hours in the car does that) – one of these conversations focused on my distaste of my waffle maker.
My wife and I bought a waffle maker a few years ago, for the 2 or 3 times per year that we had waffles (and real maple syrup which is the only way to go). In our haste to buy a waffle maker, we went with the cheapest one we could find. The problem with purchases like this is that my buyer’s remorse is going to last forever because the waffle maker won’t break and it doesn’t make sense to buy a new one….so we’re stuck with a waffle maker that just makes “okay” waffles (if that isn’t a real problem, I just don’t know what is).
Similarly, a few months ago I was looking for a circular saw. I was talking over two saws with the sales guy and he said that I could save 40% buying the cheaper one, but I would probably regret my purchase every time I used it because it definitely feels like it cost 40% less.
In retirement, the benefit of having bought higher quality goods along the way, whether it’s tools or furniture or other stuff I’ve collected means less need for buying these kind of things. Additionally, a quick (non-scientific) review of Kijiji shows the stuff that I’ve bought so far, has a fairly good resale value, if people pay anywhere near what the stuff is listed at.
My savings rate is fairly high, meaning I don’t have a ton of money to spend and still stay on course to meet my retirement goals. I have tried to make sure I am spending it more efficiently, and buying less crappy waffle makers and more good saws.
Have you ever bought a “waffle maker” item and regretted it? Would you just trade it in, give it away, or throw it out to replace it (one of these would probably be smarter than scowling at an unwanted waffle maker when I find it buried in the back of a cupboard).
Posted by Dave on October 31, 2012
This is a guest post by Dave, who is also looking to retire no later than 45, but unlike Tim has no kids and doesn’t want any. Dave is from Ontario and is working towards his CGA certification.
I don’t know if it’s becoming popular again, but I’ve read a few articles online in the past week or so which involved people committing to the 100 thing challenge. In taking part in this, people have cut their belongings down to 100 things (in some cases less). I really enjoy reading about how people do this, and would really like to get close to that point as well, but I think it would be pretty difficult to maintain a 100 thing inventory.
I’ve read quite a few of the stories of people involved in getting down to owning 100 things, and I have to admit, I’m jealous of how freeing it would be to do this. There wouldn’t be much to clean up, to fix, or really to buy, because anytime you purchased anything, you’d have to get rid of something. I can understand the attraction to this movement but for me, I don’t know how I would get to this point.
In order to get to the point of 100 things I would have to stop the vast majority of hobbies or interests. Tools take up a lot of the allotment, but not having tools would seem to cost more money. I like to make my own beer – this takes up a considerable amount of space, but (so far) has saved me some money on something I consume fairly regularly.
By limiting the amount of stuff I would have, it would definitely focus the hobbies I was involved in because I would only be able to manage one at a time, rather than several that I have going on right now. This sort of focus would be good, but may be boring at the same time.
My wife and I are constantly trying to get rid of stuff. This seems to be a modern day problem, being able to accumulate enough stuff that some people need to move into larger houses. When my wife and I were looking at houses, we were amazed how full the number of people who had closets which were just rammed full of things. We, along with many people are continually fighting a battle against stuff.
Ideally, I could get down to 100 things, enough stuff that I would be easily able to live in a Tiny House. As it stands now, my 1,000 square foot home is relatively clutter-free, but there is still some room for improvement. I just don’t really see the point in getting rid of stuff only to need a tool, some sort of sporting equipment, or something else that I have stored in my basement. Additionally, things such as seasonal decorations (especially Christmas) just seem wasteful to throw out.
This topic seems quite similar though to an Early Retirement plan. I am not going to tell someone who has achieved this sort of achievement that they’re wrong, I just realize that it doesn’t really work for me.
Do you think you could get down to 100 things? If no, what do you think would hold you back?
Posted by Tim Stobbs on January 4, 2012
I’m at the bloody finish line of this challenge and guess what…I tripped. *%^#$ (insert swear of choice here), I messed up on a $1.94 item: LED outdoor lights which were 75% off on Dec 30. I got too damn comfortable shopping at the grocery store that I forgot to pay attention to that one item.
Other than that I did managed to keep to my rules for the entire three months. So as much as I did fail in the end, I did still change my buying habits which was the main goal.
For example, after being completely unable to buy stuff for the last three months you might expect me to be itching to go buy a few things. While this is true, the list is actually really short: hooks to hang bikes in the garage and a plant stand. Yep, that’s my list as it stands right now.
I found the absence of buying stuff strangely liberating. My life got a lot simpler for the last three months as I had to focus on everything else in my life which was great. I finally have a plan on what I want to get done in 2012 and how I will get there.
I also got rid of a pile of crap out of my house. My basement is actually almost clean for the first time in the five years I’ve been living at my house. I even found some things I forgot I had. For example, when I finally purged my half of our bedroom closet. I found a pair of black dress pants that were tossed into the corner. Brand new and never been worn since I still needed to get them hemmed. But given I had recently lost a pair of pants to a broken zipper this was a perfect solution for new pants for a $10 hem job.
I also realized ‘stuff’ is a damn poor word for what I was getting rid of or not buying. Instead I will borrow a word from another language: chindogu from Japanese which means all that useless crap we buy or have. It’s all those late night kitchen gadgets that really don’t do anything more than you already have. For example, a slapchop, which basically does the same thing as a knife. I like my useful stuff, I detest my chindogu.
Most of all I’ve managed to deconstruct an important thought in my head: I am not my stuff. I like some of my stuff, but I’m not defined by it or limited by it. Also when I no longer need that stuff I feel no guilt about selling or giving away things I never use. For example, we gave away two beautiful serving trays we no longer us, even if they were wedding gifts. Instead I’m now using ones I inherited from my grandparents, which mean more to me and are better size.
To help you with your war on chindogu, might I suggest the following:
- Do Not Buy Storage. You don’t need more shelves or containers, you likely need to get rid of things first then buy storage after the purge.
- Start with Garbage. Empty boxes, recycling cans, empty paint cans all need to get out of your house. Your first job is to get rid of that crap so you can see what is left.
- Create a Rule of Thumb. Mine was if I haven’t used this in 12 months why do I have it? Most items that failed that test and were tossed. If you really want to downsize drop down to six months.
- Get Over Getting Rid of Good Things. I tried to give away some things that were in perfect shape and sell some things like DVD’s. You might be able to also donate it, but if all of those methods fail in a week: trash the item. It’s ok to toss new things you don’t need, I even did that with some Christmas gifts I got that I can’t return and I won’t use.
- Keep up with New Stuff. As we unloaded all the new stuff into our house from Christmas my wife and I went around with garbage bags and tossed an equal volume of stuff.
Good luck on your war. Any questions on how my war went?
