"This is how the terminally ill and suicidal behave!"

[thomm225]

Looks like no matter whether you have chosen "the cruising life" or you are at home or work, you are still sitting at a computer someplace on an internet forum.

Something to think about..........

We are all terminal btw.

[sailon46]

Unlike you guys I have converted into buying stuff for the boat. So what's up with that.
LOL
Ernie on the Mary Jane

[Oldhippiesailer]

As a practicing Buddhist and a future live-aboard cruiser (rebuilding 37' Endeavor ketch), I find the downsizing and letting go of "things" a perfect part of both life styles.

[FollowingCs]

We are going thru the same thing. Downsizing the items in the house to put it on the market. Just had a showing today. It is liberating and feels great. I don't know where it all came from. Crazy.

The only 'guilty' part that bothers me a bit, we are giving most of the usable stuff to our 25, 22 and 18 year old children. I feel a built 'guilty' tying them down like we were. But, none of them are headed for the big promotions that led to our too big house with too much storage, so they can only handle so much stuff.

Note the boat name refers to life following our three kids, all names beginning with C.

~ s/v Following Cs ~

[donradcliffe]

Every time I took a key off my key ring (car, house, etc.) I felt lighter and free. No regrets.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Every time I took a key off my key ring (car, house, etc.) I felt lighter and free. No regrets.

I recognize this "Key Index" of freedom! My last keys were for all the doors and cabinets at work and a post office box. Since I have not owned a car since 2002 or had a job since that same year, the ONLY key I have is the ignition switch for my Yanmar. .... well, there is the ignition key for my diesel generator and I guess the kill switch on my dinghy outboard is a "key". OK, the freedom is not carrying any keys. I never have a key in my pocket unless I've taken a rental car for a while!

[sailorboy1]

I trying to decide whether I want to terminally insane or suicidal

[RaymondR]

My epiphany came when I discovered someone had stolen an old computer I had fetched to retrieve a file from, from my home office after I had moved aboard the boat. As I walked away I felt myself tensing up and realized that unless I changed the way I perceived the incident I would lose a couple of days of mental time over it.


I pondered on the matter a bit then was inspired to consider that the thief had not really stolen the computer from me but had "disencumbered" me of it. Al I wanted from it was a spreadsheet I could reproduce in half an hour and I would not have to return the computer to my office, have it take up shelf space and make a nuisance of itself, and eventually I would decide the trash can it anyway.


I have been disencumbering myself of things ever since and felt really good last year when I finally got around to donating my last business suit to charity.

[Pelagic]

It is an interesting evolution.... BOTH WAYS...

From my early 20‘s to 50 I lived and worked on global traveling super yachts and doing many sailing deliveries (Pelagic).....I accumulated nothing but a healthy lifestyle and bank account.

At 50... I retired to an idyllic dive resort island to live on land and try to have "normal relationships" with others.

That's when the "grubby ness" began. Acquiring whatever I wanted for short term satisfaction and the indulgence in long term indolence.

Immune to any form of discipline, I slowly gestated into a narrow band of self serving existence that became boring and bland.

To try and stimulate me more i got caught up in interesting shore side projects... But my occasional cruises underlined how much I missed the dynamics of living and cruising....the oceans

So Stargazer became my lifeboat to get ready to become my off grid home.

Now, almost ready, the house and cars with an amazing amount of stuff are being sold/given away and I feel like I am crawling out of a 15 year cocoon to spread my wings again....

My loving partner of 11 years is excited and enthusiastic as we simply our lives, but for me, it is more like a transcendence back into the familiar but with a difference of deja vu and older age.

It is an exciting time again.:thumbup:

[ol1970]

Well I have had 13 showings in the first two weeks of my home being on the market...hopefully very soon I will have to kick the downsizing and de-stuffing into super high gear! Very exciting and liberating!

[Gadagirl]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Looks like no matter whether you have chosen "the cruising life" or you are at home or work, you are still sitting at a computer someplace on an internet forum.

Something to think about..........

We are all terminal btw.

Yes, I do think about it, often. I'll have 5 more years looking at computers (work). Can't afford to cruise just yet, but I'll be a live aboard.
Should allow me to gain practice and knowledge until I can retire.

Originally Posted by FollowingCs

We are going thru the same thing. Downsizing the items in the house to put it on the market. Just had a showing today. It is liberating and feels great. I don't know where it all came from. Crazy.

The only 'guilty' part that bothers me a bit, we are giving most of the usable stuff to our 25, 22 and 18 year old children. I feel a built 'guilty' tying them down like we were. But, none of them are headed for the big promotions that led to our too big house with too much storage, so they can only handle so much stuff.

Note the boat name refers to life following our three kids, all names beginning with C.

~ s/v Following Cs ~

LOL My grown oldest children won't take anything! They decided to be minimalist. All they own can fit in their vehicles and/or in 1 room. They move just about every 2 years so minimizing makes that easy. My youngest will take some.

I own nothing of great value. All furniture could be replaced if need be in the future. I have some artwork that i'd like to hang onto, but again, for a price i'd rid myself of it. The photos and vinyl albums will be digitized over the next couple years. Everything contained on a hard drive or two. I'm trying to be as ruthless as possible. Not an easy process but enjoying it.

[SeeLevel]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

My epiphany came . . . (snip)

I have been disencumbering myself of things ever since and felt really good last year when I finally got around to donating my last business suit to charity.

There once was a retired guy near Nelson BC whose family tied each of his dress ties onto every fourth power pole along the highway, about 20 feet up, and the show went on for about fifteen miles. Very colourful! He had good taste . . . presuming he bought his own ties.

[Dr. Sea]

Originally Posted by zeehag

not so much a suicide or death, but a rebirth, . . .

"Rebirth" is the perfect word, Zee.

[CaptTom]

You've heard theories of "peak oil" and such. I have a theory of "peak stuff."

Many of us start our adult lives with very few material things. We always seem to need one tool, one piece of furniture or clothing, one convenience appliance we don't have. We tend to hoard anything that might come in handy some day.

Then comes the day we realize we won't live forever, and everything we have is replaceable. What we really need is not more "stuff", but the time to enjoy whatever life we have left.

At that point, we stop collecting and start de-cluttering. It may be one big sell-off, as some above have done, or it may be a more gradual process. That inflection point is your lifetime "peak stuff."

Even most lubbers go through a phase of downsizing. Sure, there are exceptions like hoarders, or people who never accumulated much "stuff" to begin with. But the urge to collect early in life, and unburden later in life, seems pretty common.

[sailorjed3]

My wife and I are currently going through the same process. What a chore. I just hope my children understand what a gift we are giving to them: THEY will not have to go through this incredible weaning of the tit of consumerism, at least in regard to our unneeded "stuff".......(the american disease of buy, buy, buy).