Minimalism/anti-consumption in daily life

I know that in many instances the most /cyb/ thing is to be surrounded by tech, wires, and soykaf we haven't used in several months, but I am wanting to have a discussion about how minimalism fits into your daily life, to what extent of extremity, and how does it benefit you? I have been recently selling a ton of stuff I haven't used, minimizing the amount of purchases I make on a weekly basis, and generally minimizing my output and intake as a whole. Clearly, this comes with sacrifices. My T420 that I kept around collecting dust just out of pure nostalgia for the keyboard design, is fully replaced now by my X260 and I will be selling it. My other devices I kept laying around with the idea they'd once be used, are sold if not selling, and I am moving towards having only hard drives, desktop, and my laptop. My ideal is not to have a desktop at all, but I can't get over a mild addiction to gaming. I've been committed to some of these practices for years now, strictly out of frugality due to poverty, but also to feel healthier, clear mind space, and feel as if I am doing myself and others a favor by not contributing to the endless amount of soykaf we're all surrounded by and consume on a daily basis. Are there things you have changed and done that have impacted you in a positive way? Negative? Just general discussion.

>the most /cyb/ thing is... why do people have to categorise everything?

>>8449 Why would I categorize something as /cyb/? Because we are on a board which often glorifies and romanticizes the idea of something being "cyberpunk", as stated, most typically, surrounded by tech, wires, and old forms of hardware.

I've started using the KonMari method for getting rid of soykaf I don't need and organizing. Marie Kondo, The Joy of Tidying Up. Definitely worth checking out. I've recently taken to keeping a set of metal flatware at work so that I won't be tempted to be wasteful and use the plastic stuff they always have. I might even look into getting cloth napkins/handkerchiefs.... I need to get some reusable straws, too. Our office has a Keurig. Getting a reusable cup to put your own grounds in so much nicer than the stupid single use cups.

>>8451 How is being a literally clean cultist? My family keeps gifting me things I "need" and I have had to convince them I really don't need a bunch of as seen on TV junk (I feel like that offended them) My old office had a Keurig, until someone got so mad at it breaking he just got a 20 euro coffee maker that we all enjoy.

>>8451 >reusable straws inform me on this. i recently had a long conversation with one of my friends, trying to figure out why anyone would go through the hassle of buying these, keeping track of them, and cleaning them rather than just not using a straw at all. the only situation i can think of where a straw would actually be necessary is if you're drinking a smoothie or milkshake. since i don't drink those, the idea of carrying a reusable straw around seems pants-on-head crazy.

>>8453 Lipstick and sensitive teeth are a reason to use straws for many people, and there is a large media push to stop using plastic straws because they don't biodegrade and critters try to eat them or choke on them. Just use paper straws instead of having an autistic drinking apparatus... Imagine going to a 4 star restaurant and pulling out your boyscout switchblade work

I meant *SPORK (Spoon fork combo)

>americans discover the way things used to be 70 years ago a sign of economic stagnation, innit? >>8455 >Lipstick Uhm sweetpoot, you're trying to be minimalist and lower your consumption, but still use a lipstick? Guh! If it's a balm for cold weather, no need to worry though. >sensitive teeth Only if you drink acidic fizzy overcooled drinks which is not healthy, and probably feeds some large corporation which contributes to slave labor in Cambodia and planet pollution too. Go spend those money on dentist and fluoridation instead. >going to a 4 star restaurant What are you, a bourgeois? I bet you don't even carry your own groceries bag to a store and still avoid eye contact with cashiers.

I have an X260 too (love it) and recently gave my T420 to my grandmother :) Sometimes I try to get rid of one thing that I don't need every day for a couple of weeks Over time you become more ok with having stuff though; as long as you have the storage space it's often more efficient to keep some of the eyesores you're tempted to get rid of. The trick is to not freak out and start getting rid of everything stupidly (like every pair of shoes except for one, or your winter clothes during the summer)

>>8459 Even water hurts teeth sometimes. I had a wisdom tooth pulled not too long ago and afterwards another tooth chipped since it was under too much pressure which was relieved as my jaw realigned. Now I got a partially exposed nerve and even lukewarm water or air running over it hurts so I need a straw to not have it hurts. Dentistry work is expensive too so its not exactly something you can save up on by not buying the odd soda or a reusable straw.

I used to be a PC collector but now I realize how bloat is bad. I still have two useless ten year old mobos, a broken laptop and recently 15 year old mobo. I have however a custom build and another laptop (though the display is dying) and a netbook that I made headless because its single screen hinge broke. My idea was to grab the netbook and run as a headless server because of low power consumption, have my laptop be my main station and use the desktop as a games machine sometimes since it's got UEFI. Although, I wish instead of my decapitated netbook, it were an UCFF (or an NUC) for even lower power consumption. (And also an X230 instead of my laptop)

>>8459 ...Lain didn't say she personally was wearing lipstick. Read a little slower.

>>8447 I need to do this eventually. Got a lot of useless soykaf that just gets in the way. It not even like I'm a hoarder, most of my stuff is tools from past projects or old-school hardware that I bought broken just for the challenge of fixing it. Owning many things makes me feel like I'm tied down, even though I have space for my stuff it feels like a mental burden, relative to when all I had to my name was a laptop, backpack and some clothes.

>>8447 At the extreme end, I've found that minimalism and anti consumption oppose each other. I'm thinking specifically about keeping a lot of spare parts and tools around. I'm often able to fix my things when they break, or even build new things to fill needs that I have, but the cost of this is the need to e.g. have 4 non-working copies of my laptop that I use for parts and a closet full of tools. I've started learning how to fix my car, and that has added a floor jack, socket sets, oil pan... the list goes on. Point being that I could reach my ideal of anti consumerism if I had a barn full of tools and scrap or my ideal of minimalism if I paid for someone else to fix my things whenever they break (or god forbid throw them out) but not both. Practically speaking though, I think its worth making sure that everything you have is actually useful, especially when it comes to hobbies. I had a good job in college and bought a soykaf ton of music gear to support my hobby, but now I've been trying to go through it all and sell what I don't need. Its amazing the amount of bullsoykaf you'll accumulate if you have the means to do so and allow yourself.

>>10173 Exactly right. I am all for minimalism but it's definitely fetishized right now. It's bourgeois. Having no stuff means having no spare stuff you keep around 'just in case.' If you need it, you buy it at that point. Contrast this with poor folks who have tons of broken-down sh!t just in case they/somebody they know needs it, and it would not be within their means to re-purchase it. That said, it's definitely good to pare it down. I've really love renting tools. Need a tile saw/power washer/utility trailer/etc? Just rent it for the weekend. Regarding old tech, I say if you have the space to store it, hang onto it and do something with it. I've watched some scary sh!t recently about where that stuff goes when you throw it out, and it's ugly. The best thing you can do is keep that old T420 from ending up in a waste dump in fsking Uganda or something, with children burning the wires to get at the copper.

>>10173 If you have a lot of things you want to hang on to, the best you can do is store, label and organise, just to get them out of the way but accessible for when you need them. Sealable plastic tubs that stack are a good investment.

I have exactly one dish. I use it to drink water/other beverages, and make soylent as needed. I have exactly one set of good work boots. I have no silverware or other dining utensils. I have exactly one of every tool required to repair the objects that are worth repairing in my life, exactly the wrenches, hammers, levers, and odd specialty tools to repair my bicycle, and van/home. I have no tooth brush as I use my fingers and baking soda. I have no smart phone, as I have a map and compass, and slide rule. I have a nokia dumbphone and use public internet for access via library terminals, or from my CLI only laptop. I have exactly 3 pairs of jeans, 3 shirts for summer, three for winter. I have exactly one light/medium jacket and one heavy overcoat. I have exactly seven pairs of wool socks, and seven pieces of wool underwear. I have exactly one warm tabogan I have exactly one bicycle. I have exactly one gun. I have exactly one fire axe. I have exactly one crowbar. I have a spare tire and wheel. I have exactly one book I am reading. When finished I redonate/return the book and get another one. I like to think I am pretty minimal. But i hate the idea of fetishizing my lifestyle. I live this way because of the simplicity and efficiency of it. It empowers my to be the best person I can be by eliminating irrelevancies that would take time and mental resources to sort through.

>>10180 > I have exactly one set of good work boots. It's bad for your feet to wear the same shoes everyday.

>>10180 I wouldn't say you're efficient at life at all. Maybe efficient at not being homeless and not taking up much resources and space, but not efficient at life. You live by the grace of more efficient people in an efficient society that is able to produce your soylent, gun, laptop, van, library, and so on. Those people do things you wouldn't be able to do with a similar setup.

to be honest lains, I’m just in it for the aesthetics. I think minimalism in technology is the right way to go as well, my aim is to be more reliant on my phone for “personal” computing and only use a desktop/laptop for work at either a workplace or library. The “Traditional” /cyb/ thing is just because cyberpunk came from a time when computers were still largely made or at least only used for single purposes, I don’t think they really had the same idea about general purpose computers as they exist now. I think repairing your own stuff is great, but I I’d consider having your stuff repaired more of a service than it is a commodity that is consumed. Repairing your own stuff is more of an exercise in self-sufficiency than it is anti-consumption. Whether you keep your own stock of spare parts or rely on the manufacturers using their own spare parts you haven’t really gotten the repair done without a cost to the environment in terms of parts. Parts still needed to be manufactured and while certainly delaying it, it’s still inevitably going to end in a recycling facility. The only ecological benefit is probably from it not being sent to a repair centre, but then again if you keep 5 broken laptops you’ve probably had them sent from all over the country just for a part it might not even have.

>>10186 What is your definition of "efficient at life?" Him taking up less resources and space is efficient. I think you mean self-sufficient (which rhymes and that's about all). None of us has true self-sufficiency, not me, you or him.

>>10182 Source ?

>>10189 More accurately, it's bad for the boots. You should have at least 2 pairs of shoes in regular rotation, so they can fully dry out after each wearing. Barring that, I'd put cedar shoe trees or newspaper or something in them at night, to try and absorb the sweat.

>>10189 You need a source for something like that? If your mom or phys ed teacher or someone never told you that, you can at least look it up.

>>10188 His ability to produce those resources is also capped at the moment. It's not a low cap, some people who live in an apartment do less, but he is still capped. He is also severely limited in the lifestyle elements he has access to at the moment. He can obviously remedy those by moving into an environment that allows those again, but that is potential, not efficiency.

>>10188 >What is your definition of "efficient at life?" i think a good metric would be some function of how often you have to buy things and how many thing you own. in other words, peak efficiency would look something like owning the fewest things that allow you to live without purchasing anything else (obviously you're not going to reach this ideal, but the idea is to strive for it). i'm >>10173 and i haven't bought anything besides food and gasoline in about 4 months. i consider myself to be living fairly efficiently, but i'm interested to see how i compare to other anons. >>10186 if society can manufacture a van more efficiently than that anon, wouldn't the more efficient option be to take advantage of that? this is what i meant earlier when i said that extreme anticonsumerism (often manifested in self-sufficiency) and extreme minimalism tend to contradict eachother.

>>10180 >>10187 Can't tell whether legit posts or elaborate trolling.

>>10194 Well the second post is legit, why do you think it's trolling?

>>8449 I don't get the /cyb/ obsession in general. cyberpunk is literally meant to be dystopic

>>10285 Naw. It's not a dystopia but a heterotopia. You can look it up but in brief, that's a patchwork quilt of many societies and economic classes existing in a single universe.

>>10292 except in /cyb/ settings, the vast majority of people are downtrodden poor.

>>10293 >SOUNDS AWFULLY FAMILIAR Arguably, the downtrodden poor have the most satisfying life. Certainly however, they are necessary to maintaining our /cyb/ aesthetic. HOORAY ABJECT POVERTY! what makes real life even better, is that it does not have to make narrative sense!

>>8451 This book is great, recommend it for anyone trying to downsize/minimize.

>>10294 >Arguably, the downtrodden poor have the most satisfying life. ...yeah, I don't think so. Stability and freedom are the main contributors to happiness, and the downtrodden poor have neither.

poverty is nothing but hurt without spirituality. poverty frees and removes distractions but if there is nothing to be distracted from what is the point. to be born into poverty is greater than to give up possesions for someone who gives up possessions does so with the intention of obtaining.

>>10294 >>10299 >>10300 There is a HUGE difference between choosing a low income yet uncluttered life vs. being born into destitution and not having a choice. The proverbial idea that some people have that poor people are happier, mostly applies to children who do not realize that they are poor yet because they have nothing to compare it to. The number of people with nothing to compare it to is smaller and smaller now since if there's even one single screen in your village to see the outside world on, you've seen how people in the industrialized nations are living. (Also poor is one thing; poor and hungry, quite another. My mother grew up literally walking to school barefoot sometimes because they couldn't afford shoes and yet they had milk cows, chickens, fish from the ocean and a large garden. Hunger is one thing she never knew).

>>10301 i didnt say anything about happier in the second part of my post. just that to be born into poverty is of greater spiritual significance.

>>10187 >Repairing your own stuff is more of an exercise in self-sufficiency than it is anti-consumption From a global perspective maybe. I think most people who do a lot of their own repairs, including myself, are more motivated by saving money than they are by saving the environment or living out some ideal of self-sufficiency. Its a hell of a lot more efficient for me to watch a 10 minute video on how to replace an alternator and spend 30 minutes doing it myself than it is to make an appointment with a mechanic, leave my car with him all day, and then pay him 3x the cost of the part. Anticonsumerism comes into the picture when you take into account that for most things that aren't cars its cheaper to replace them than to have them repaired by someone else.