My Whole Life is Worth $561 [Minimalism]

I recently wrote about how I threw out everything I owned two years ago as I embarked on my journey into minimalism.

Divorce was the inspiration for my first book and a perfect opportunity to re-evaluate my life and my relationship with objects.

Decluttering my life allowed me to really focus on my priorities – my kids, family, friends, making memories.

Did I get really get rid of everything?

Almost. I no longer have 99% of my possessions.

If I sold my remaining stuff…

Furniture – $140. Bed $100, dresser $30, one end table $10.

Electronics – $236. Laptop $100, iPhone 6 $91, Kindle $15, accessories $30.

Travel stuff – $60. Suitcase $25, laptop bag $25, backpack $10.

Clothes – $75

Miscellaneous stuff – $50

Car – $0. I have a car that could sell for $7k, but that’s just enough to pay off the loan.

Total – $561

$561 is not good or bad. It just is. I don’t have a goal for what that number should be. Every day I try to remove things I don’t need in my life. And if I want something, I’ll get it.

Part of me feels like I have life figured out. The other part wonders if any of this even matters. The truth is normally somewhere in the middle.

Why am I doing this?

I’m after two freedoms.

1) Freedom of location: I don’t want to be restricted to one place. That’s why I threw out my stuff. The less I have, the less I’m tied down to one location.

Last week I was in Los Angeles. This week I’ve been in Dallas-Fort Worth. Today I’m in Houston with my brother and sister-in-law. We’re actually sitting at a park in downtown Houston as I write this.

This past year I’ve flown about 15 times between Los Angeles and Dallas.

My goal for next year is two trips per month – 24 trips for the year.

I haven’t reached my goal of location freedom, but I’m making progress.

2) Freedom of time: Having a full-time job makes this difficult, but as my writing improves, the less I’ll have to depend on a job.

I still need a job. One day I won’t.

Even with a job, some freedom of time is possible. The full-time job and commute add up to about 50 hours per week. Sleeping takes up another 56 hours in a week. That still leaves about 62 hours. Since I don’t have a complicated life to maintain, things like mowing the grass, maintaining extra vehicles and toys, or fixing a broken TV don’t exist in my life.

I can use this time to do anything I want.

I can be an average person who spends 20+ hours watching television and another 6 hours browsing Facebook per week or I can choose to create a different life.

I choose a different life.

Here’s A Story

There was a fisherman who wakes up early, fishes all day, cooks the fish, eats with his family, plays the guitar with his friends, and goes to sleep.

A Harvard MBA comes up to him and says, “you can have a great business here. We can expand and sell fish into all the different markets, franchise, and manage a huge business.”

The fisherman says, “Why would I want to do that?”

The Harvard MBA says, “In 20 years you can have an IPO.”

The fisherman says, “Why would I want to do that?”

The Harvard MBA says, “Then you would have millions of dollars. Imagine the things you could do with that money!”

The fisherman did imagine…

He imagined waking up early, he would fish all day, he would cook the fish for his family, and then he would play the guitar with his friends.

I imagine waking up (not too early), enjoy the outdoors, experience new adventures, eat with my loved ones, and play with my kids.

If you enjoyed reading this and want to show your support, you can check out my non-fiction and children’s books at edgarescoto.com.

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I Threw Out Everything I Owned

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