I can't believe I grew up in the suburbs.

Below is my humble assembly of things, shown in my shell of a former bedroom.


Why in a little heap? We're moving! (sister Elaine, brother-in-law Doug, little nephew Ian, and me)

From the dull and soul-less suburbs to the urban setting of Durham. Today, we packed all of the big stuff into the U-HAUL, and tomorrow at 7:00 AM we shall drive it to the new and trendy Trinity Loft Apartments (shown below), Elaine and Doug's chosen living spot for the next year or two. Upon arrival, we could be as trendy as this:



But probably will be less so, as we don't (yet) have a large urn to stand beside our couch. Nonetheless, I am very sure that each one of us is very excited for this event. So excited that we just decided two days ago to make the move this weekend.

In general, this gated community (Harrington Grove) has been a bore. But it has become exponentially more boring once Elaine and Doug actually signed a lease on an urban pad, and we're just waiting waiting waiting for the moving day to arrive. Each day I have pondered over how difficult it is to entertain myself and Ian with nowhere to go but upstairs, downstairs, or the backyard (southern homes don't even have basements) - I often found my mind setting aside reality and clinging to dreams of being in Durham with the ability to walk to the park, the store, a museum, the Tobacco Trail, the ballpark, a cafe, an art show, or a strip joint.

Tomorrow, the dream is no longer just that. What a Christmas gift, and what a great time for me to pick living with my sister.

It's important to note the real goal of Elaine and Doug's sudden urge for movement. Simplicity. This is a large-scale exercise in purging, simplifying, and improving quality of life. Less stuff; keeping only things that have proven to be highly functional and often-used, or are considered beautiful by the inhabitants (ideally both). The waffle iron is on the chopping block.

The sad part of the process is that everything we don't take won't just disappear. Sure, it will go through a filter of pack-rat parents, craiglist/ebay, and giving away to friends and acquaintances, but how much of it will really improve the lives of the people who collect it? My experience tells me that most of these things will continue to be seldom-used space-fillers for these people as much as they were for Elaine and Doug.

In terms of my own life, and how much of a stuff-magnet it might be, I really want to become disciplined about not collecting things I don't need or love. At one point this past summer, I got really excited about the prospect of experimentally living for a year without money at all. This, although still appealing, is certainly unpractical. I've decided to set some less-extreme goals in preparation for simplicity. Following is a first shred of thought (and it is very much based on the teachings of my summer instructor in Oregon, Ianto Evans, and almost completely unoriginal). This is what Ianto Evans would look like if he were explaining it to you.


5-point checklist of questions to go through before deciding to buy anything:

*1. Do I really need it? (or know it will be used/adored frequently enough to justify ownership?)
*2. Do I already have one?
*3. Is there someone close (friend/neighbor) who has one that I could borrow?
*4. Do I have something else that can perform the same function?
*5. Can I make something with things I have that will perform the same function?

The green light to buy something is then a "yes, no, no, no, no" answer series.

I can't do anything about the stuff I've already acquired other than purge my way through it. What is most important is to not allow myself to pile up more as my life continues. Not hoarding crap needs to become a habit, much like brushing teeth. So I intend to make these questions a habit for my head, whenever I put thoughts of buying something into it.

If I can stick with it, it will undoubtedly save money and a tiny portion of our Earth's finite resources. Ideally, it would also improve my creativity through habitual practice, and maybe create a fragile web of community through occasional sharing of property. The really good thing is that the questions are yes/no, and are in a specific order. If you answer 'no' to the first, you don't even have to remember the next four.