Minimalism

I've been all about simplifying my life these days. It came to mind when I cycled to work yesterday and saw an apartment building completely gone from a fire.. 24 units destroyed with most people escaping only with the clothes on their backs. http://www.khou.com/news/Raging-4-alarm-apartment-fire-displaces-dozens-in-Houston-81130807.html It reminded me that STUFF can disappear in seconds, so I despise how media and marketing places it on a pedestal and convinces us to value it so highly. Since I've moved back from Australia, I've gotten rid of:

• An extensive cigar collection and my oversized humidor. This was liberating, and I made a good buck off of it.
• My need to eat out all the time. I do simple meals at home which leads to eating healthier and saving some dough. That said, I need to reduce my alcohol consumption this year. I looked at my 2009 spend on all alcohol vs. eating out… it was almost 3x the amount!
• Lots of books. I used to have the hoarding mentality of wanting to supplement my knowledge with books I'd heard were good or topics that interested me just a little bit.. to Half Price Books these went.
• Clothes. All the clothes that I told myself I'd wear one day went straight to Goodwill… 3 full garbage bags worth.
• Papers. Lot of old paperwork, schoolwork, receipts… when would I ever look at these again? Straight to the bin.. recycling bin.
• Cable TV. There's nothing more unsatisfying to me at home than sitting on the couch letting the cable TV wash over you.. it becomes background noise your mind gets so used to, it feels foreign to have it turned off. I'm happy with the local news at night so I built my own rabbit ears antenna from leftover wood my parents used to redo their floors and metal coat hangers… works like a charm.. the 3 channels it actually picks up.
• Data plan. Do we really need to see the weather, get directions and browse the internet from our phones?

There's still some more things I need to unload… anyone interested in surround speakers, SLR gear and fishing gear ??