I have literally TWO days left for the Minimalist Game. Its been a great journey, here’s a link to the first week. I’ve still got a lot more crap I can get rid of, which honestly is not too shocking. I haven’t even touched my garage. So who knows, there might be a sequel to this game.
One of the interesting aspects of this game is how to effectively get rid of this stuff. We have bins in our front room full of stuff we’re going to be giving to various charities and recyclers. But here’s an unexpected tale
The Spirit of the Free Plant Stand
My partner Paola had an interesting experience this week where she put a number of her plants and pots up at a free plant stand. A free plant stand is our neighborhood exchange for people to give and take plants. As we were getting ready for bed, she was on Facebook Marketplace and lo & behold, what does she see? Someone had grabbed all her potted plants from the plant stand and was trying to sell them to make a buck!! This person had photographed each potted plant and put up individual listings (from $15 to $27). 🙄
Its an interesting philosophical question: we had given them away for free, and don’t really control what people do with them once their gone. But as a society we build social contracts and have expectations. The ‘spirit’ of the free plant stand is that we take a plant or two to personally enjoy it. We don’t consider this as an opportunity to make money. But individuals might feel that their personal right to do whatever is legally allowed, coupled with the desire to make more money, is more important than the social contract.
But this pissed us off pretty bad. Paola has a strong sense of fairness and justice and immediately texted her, and to our surprise someone else texted her as well. The person was obviously defensive and gave some huffy excuses but agreed to take the listings down and put the plants back. When it comes to plants, she was messing with the wrong person. My wife is rather well-connected in this space and everyone now knows who this person is and what they did. Was it worth it to try to make a quick buck to alienate a large group of your neighbors?
The Last Full Week
Anyway, here are the last big week before the final big days.
Day 22
Clothes
Day 23
More clothes
Day 24
- More clothes.
- An old bag from BlizzCon
- A broken laptop cooling pad (someday i’ll fix it!)
- The remote and plug to the TV I was getting rid of.
Day 25
- Random papers and promo pics.
- An Xbox One Kinect
- A Keychron K3
- A DasKeyboard
- Some random bike stuff.
- An old overwatch keychain thing from Blizzcon
Day 26
Bike Parts!
Day 27
- More Bike Parts.
- A bunch of 1/4″ bit holders which I don’t really use (and i’d 3d print if i needed more)
- Locline nozzles i don’t really have a use for.
Theme of the Week
I frequently hold on to higher-priced items that I don’t need but I can’t easily sell. This week involved trying to get rid of some of these items even though it feels financially like the wrong thing to do. I’ve put some of these items up on Craigslist and eBay with zero interest so far. How much time and effort should I put into these items to get the value I perceive out of them? Maybe I should call the free plant freeloader and see if she wants them. 🤣
I feel more confident in getting rid of higher-priced stuff that’s just been collecting dust now after I’ve ‘made amends’ that the money’s been spent, and can’t easily get back. But if anyone want’s a high quality Zojirushi water boiler, I’ve got one hanging out in my garage. 😀
Decluttering In Bigger Chunks
This week was mainly done in large chunks where I spent hours in my closet, then with the bike parts. This turned out to be more efficient than doing an hour here or there. Behold all my random bike parts:
And after:
I will be following up in a couple days with the final items! Catch you then. Thanks for reading!