I would like to consider myself a minimalistic person, (well compared to the average American). To the rest of the world, my lifestyle is probably seen as luxerious. Of course, living in the consumeristic society, it is hard to only have things that you essentially need. This world has made me think that I need everything on every television ad.
So, I decided to get away. Get away from the ads. Get away from people. Get away from society and technology. Get away from STUFF.
This past weekend I traveled to Asheville, North Carolina in hopes to submerge myself in nature and only live with the necessities. My best friend and I stayed in a tiny house in the middle of the woods bringing with us only a few items. This tiny house was a 12×12 foot box, with a compostable toilet, tiniest shower I have ever seen, a bed made for an infant, and a kitchen that was also attached to the bathroom. This put in me in a shock. Despite all these amenities, I absolutely loved it! It was so cute and little, and surprisingly had a bunch of open space. Surprisingly this tiny house meant for 1, fit both my friend and I plus the items we brought. This really made me realize that I, in all honesty, do not need 90% of the stuff that I own and that I am just feeding into the consumerist and capitalist culture.
This mini vacation sparked a personal change in my life. My lifestyle has made a drastic change. I am buying less stuff and trying to live successfully zero waste. I do not need all this stuff. Most of the clothes I do not even wear, so I am donating it. Coconut oil is the cure and the beauty product for literally everything, so I gave my facial creams, body oils, hair conditioner away. Dr.Bonners 18-in-1 soap can be used to clean everything, so I gave away all my specialty soaps, cleaning detergents, laundry detergents, and other cleaning aids. So far, giving away these things has not deteriorated my life in all, in fact it actually improved my quality of living. Instead of spending my whole day worrying about how I am going to get more stuff, I am now spending my day realizing how beautiful everything truly is. If everyone followed in my new sustainable footsteps, the waste problem will be almost obsolete.
So far there has been no disappointments from this change. I have enjoyed every minute of it. So far there has not been any challenges, but I fear that in the future when the weather changes, I would not have the appropriate clothing since I gave a lot away. This is a change that I will definitely get used to because it is helping the earth. Not only is it helping the earth, but it also improving my awareness and perspective on nature. I challenge everyone to undertake this new way of living with me! 
I really enjoyed reading your post and I would love to have an experience like yours in Asheville. I agree, we all get caught up in this materialistic society and believe that the more we own, the happier we’ll be; that is not the case though. I am also moving to a more simple and sustainable life. The changes I have made have made me feel so much better as a person. Im sure you do as well!
What a trip! I love Asheville. I didn’t know you could rent such a small house. As a Navy veteran, I know what it’s like to have very little living space (my “bedroom” was basically a locker room with 50 other guys living in it), but this is on another level. While onboard, I pretty much had to fit my whole life into a locker that was built into my single sized bed. I only had uniforms and a couple pairs of gym clothes with very minimal toiletry items. It was great not having to worry about what to wear or how to look because we all are supposed to look alike. So long as you were clean shaven and had a decent haircut, you were okay!
I’ve never been one to “rough” it outdoors though. The most camping I’ve ever done is at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN. That’s basically like camping at a theme park though (they have showers woo!). It is nice to not worry about your phone during that time. I’ve been scolded by my wife for not talking to her every day during one of my Roo trips a few years back. I had to explain to her how the experience is all about being “in here” as in the festival state of mind. She knew what I meant, when she was finally able to join in on the festivities during the following year. It’s nice to not feel vibrations or hear notifications while I’m at work too. I keep my phone off and far away from me because I don’t need it (I work in food & bev). As soon as I get off and turn my phone back on, the messages, emails, missed calls, notifications, etc just start adding up and I start to feel real anxious.
Keep up the good work with minimizing your footprint!
I really enjoyed reading your post! I have also been thinking about how much stuff I own, and don’t even utilize. Especially being girls, we definitely keep a lot of clothes we don’t wear and buy an item of clothing, let’s say a dress, for that one night! Thats amazing when you go on a trip and have a self realization. This makes me think of families who maybe have one child but built homes that could house a small village! Using all those resources such as timber and steel, all to show their wealth. Necessities has definitely been largely diminished in our country and other first world countries because of how fast we were able to produce! Now we only know how to live luxuriously.
I found this post very interesting. I always find myself wanting more. I’m a girly girl and I love my makeup, clothes, food and anything that makes me spend money, unfortunately. However, I believe this is due to this mythical perfect person that society has created. A perfect person who is always buying the newest and most expensive things. I think that while this affects the environment by using up natural resources and polluting ecosystems with non-biodegradable materials, it also affects us. We are constantly spending more than we are working for, putting us in a cycle where we are working more than we are resting. I find myself never caught up to my expenses and its solely due to my spending habits, and not because I am unable to work. I think that I would love to approach this kind of change in the future in order to minimize my ecological footprint and its affects it has on my own health.
Thank you for sharing your experience! This is super inspiring to me because I have recently wanted to create a similar dramatic change in the way I consume things. Since living on my own, I have realized how much stuff I actually own that I may have completely forgotten about until going home to my parents’ house. Luckily, I have two little sisters that are able to use my belongings after myself so it is not all going to waste. My apartment has relatively small storage space but I still feel like most of the things I have are not really necessary or are not being used as frequently as they should. I will definitely be taking some time in the future to look through my belongings to determine what is actually needed and what I can do without as well as changing my actual consumer habits to be simpler and more sustainable. Thank you!
This post was really interesting! I definitely partake in the consumerist culture, fortunately I rarely have much money to invest in it. Since taking environmental studies, I’ve tried to think of ways that I can lower the amount of products I consume and the amount of waste I produce in doing so. It’s good to know that there is a way to live more sustainably and still be comfortable.
That sounds like such a great experience! I love the fact that you decided to start giving away your stuff instead of just throwing it out. I think we are taught that we need all these hygiene products and cleaning materials when we could just use a couple. I think if more people knew about them they would be willing to follow in your footsteps. As you said advertisements always tell us we need more and more. Its great to see you striving towards making a difference. Keep up the hard work!