The old adage “The more you know, the less you carry” is almost universally agreed on by prep minded people.

But what about your daily life?

In the past two and a half years, my family moved from the Midwest, to the West Coast, and recently to the East Coast.

This process made me realize how much STUFF we have!

I’m working on getting down to what’s really important to me, and it’s a process.

Besides what we have in our apartment (looking to buy a house soon) we have a storage unit here and two storage units in another state chocked full.

Some of it is sentimental, some antique furniture from my parents, including some pieces my grandfather made with hand tools. My wife and I love books, so we have lots of those, but most of the stuff is just that...stuff.

I’m curious about the philosophy of others in this forum.

Are you loaded with stuff like me, or have you stripped down to mostly essentials?

I may be somewhere between loaded and stripped down to essentials.
I go through my stuff twice a year and decide what has to go. I discovered that I still own a book about Windows 3.1 APIs and some manuals for devices I don´t own anymore. That stuff may have to go in the next wave.

More minimalist then loaded with stuff. Not super minimalist like some people, but certainly have a lot less than the average joe. I believe in less is more. I not only want to travel light, but also travel through life light. You just feel more free, when you are not tight down with stuff.

This is why I posted a similar thread in "Natural Disasters & Large-Scale Emergencies." I need to know how to strip down to mostly essentials.


As Mom studies genealogy, I'm learning why it is important to save items that meant so much to our ancestors. I have one ancestor in particular who fought in the Civil War. He gave his daughter a nickel. That nickel was her prized possession and it remains in our family. Mom has it.

I can only imagine how my ancestor would feel if I spent, traded or just left her prized possession behind.

For something so meaningful and yet so small, there is no question. It needs to be passed down to the last living family member.

Jeanette Isabelle

Interesting question - with possessions in general, i tend to hang on to stuff, although I have begun to give away books in my library. I turn more and more to sources on the internet. If I have not cracked a volume in twenty years, out it goes.

in my hiking and outdoor gear, I am definitely a minimalist - I a always looking for something a bit more versatile or significantly lighter, especially if it is on my back.

I have heard that moving twice is the same as having a fire.

I certainly got rid of a lot of stuff on the second move in 3 years. Just enough time after the first move to get everything out of boxes and then turn around and have to pack again? No thanks. We had some huge yard sales. And give aways.

I sadly am not a minimalist at all!

Not a minimalist and not sad at all. That said, if I were to pare down to just what would fit in my truck... like I said, not a minimalist.

minimalist. makes life simple and easy. less is more!

I keep moving between redundancy and minimalism. But since I enjoy building and rebuilding kits and modules, it doesn't bother me.