Comments on: The Suitcase Test: The Things You Really Need

By: harm

harm — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:28:06 +0000

Why do people worry so much about laundry? If you
are REALLY into minimalism, undies are easily
good for 2 days, shirts and pants, 3 days….
and if you work at home, or are a student, more
than that, wink. I have plenty of undies myself,
but they are getting kind of old and frayed, so if
I had to suitcase out of my current abode, I’d
just throw out a lot….(I know, if you are living
in close quarters with a lot of people, you have
to be more ’spruce’, but us Americans worry FAR
too much about being spotless and antiseptic. I
also know there are people who carry that
attitude to extremes, and truly smell bad)

By: marcus

marcus — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:15:43 +0000

surely eating from the school’s food service would be A LOT more expensive (and unhealthier?) than preparing at least SOME of your own meals. And where do you fit a bed (and other furniture) into this suitcase? And what is the advantage of moving from a console to a DS apart from it being able to fit it in a suitcase? This doesn’t make any sense. All seems a bit pointless…

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:04:36 +0000

Trent,
I like your list of things to take and think it’s manageable. However, I am interested to know what type of pants, shirts and the one pair of shoes you would bring.

By: Slinky

Slinky — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:33:47 +0000

I like asking, if your house was burning down (and size/weight didn’t matter for getting it out), what would you grab (excluding people and pets)?

My top 3:
Piano (A hand carved 1907 antique)
Computer hard drive – which is why I have a drive drawer to just pull it out
Future wedding ring

By: Zed

Zed — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:09:40 +0000

1. why are we chewing he out for not packing enough underwear?

2. has anyone here been backpacking? packing list is bout the same for 2 days or a week, sleeping bag, water filter, stove, 2 shirts, the pants I’m wearing, 3-6 socks, 2-3 underwear. if you start the hike with any more than that it wont be in your pack by mile 10. trust me.

3. when I moved I boxed most everything up and put it in the basement of the new home. then i went back to do some work on the old one. it was over a year before i unpacked some of the stuff and at that point i gave most of it to the DI

By: Steve Munson

Steve Munson — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:56:35 +0000

I had the same type of conversation with my mother a couple of years ago, only I used a footlocker in my example instead of a suitcase.

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:50:50 +0000

While I think your example is a little extreme, I do know that living out of a suitcase can be done for extended periods of time.

Three years ago I went to Romania to work as a missionary. I did ship a crate, but it wasn’t due to arrive for several months…so I had to pack smart when I flew out.

I had a rolling duffle bag packed with most of the clothes I’d need, a blanket, an air mattress, a pump, and a set of sheets.

My smaller bag was actually carry-on size when not extended…but I extended it and put toiletries, shoes, portable speakers for my discman, and other heavier stuff in it. Those were my checked bags.

I tied my coat on around my waist (as it was June) so as to not take up baggage space.

I folded a small fleece throw around my small pillow before stuffing it into its case (then tucked a couple of books in there).

My carry-on was my rolling laptop case (in which was also stuffed flip-flops, a towel, an external hard drive, pj’s, and a complete change of clothes).

I used a huge ugly purse as my purse (which held all the usual contents as well as a discman, a small cd case, and a few other small “necessities”).

Granted, all of this was a bit more than your one suitcase ideal…but I lived for five months covering three seasons with all of that and never felt deprived of home comforts. I even managed to take little trinkets and bandannas for my campers for that summer!!

Now, though (married, owner of a spoiled cat, and with a little one on the way) it’d be a little harder to be QUITE that minimalistic. Though we certainly do our best to keep things simple, it may take several trips in the back of our Ranger (plus one load of furniture on a bigger truck) when we move from our 721 sq ft apartment to our 1607 sq ft house(where we plan on raising however many kids God blesses us with)!! A lot of that is books though, so I don’t consider that clutter.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:00:46 +0000

Tracy…I was glad to read your comment at the end about your model railroad. I was reading through all the comments thinking about how I could totally do this if it weren’t for my model railroad. There is too much time and effort invested to even think about leaving it behind.

By: required

required — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:45:20 +0000

5 pairs of underwear and socks? That means doing laundry every 4 days!!!

I don’t use underwear, and I only own 2pairs of Socks, one in use the other spare, the in use pair get washed in the shower at the end of the day :)

By: Tracy

Tracy — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:02:25 +0000

There’s simply no way that I could fit my model railroad into a suitcase. It currently occupies one room in our basement, and if there’s one thing I would miss, this is it. If my house caught fire, wife/kids/dog are on their own, I’ll probably die in the fire trying to save the railroad.

By: AndyW

AndyW — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:45:58 +0000

I’ve lived out of a suitcase for 5 of the past 7 years. I work as a computer consultant and I’ve lived in Egypt, Romania, Greece, Turkey and France. My permanent residence is in California.

I was forced to do this (it was not my choice) however, I have found that it was a valuable lesson in priorities. You can buy “things” anywhere, so there is no real worry about underware, for example.

My priorities became, doing my job, communicating with my family/friends, maintaining sanity. My laptop and a couple of USB hard drives and a cheap pair of speakers took care of almost all of my three requirements.

One thing that I always take with me is a musical instrument. I converted from guitar to ukulele because they fit in the overhead. I’ve also dabbled in the flute.

By: Michele

Michele — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:44:26 +0000

My honeymoon was my best teacher for “living lean”. We lived out of our car for a month while traveling the country. We fit everything we needed into a two-door coupe, and by the end we found that we could have left a third of that behind.

On our next month-long trip, we got everything into the coupe’s trunk. No one can call me high maintenance! :p

By: Matt Caldwell

Matt Caldwell — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:01:44 +0000

This is a great post. To add to this, one of the ways I save money (and extra hassle) is to never check baggage when I fly. I find that, no matter where I go, I can manage to get by with a carry-on and a backpack. I’m not saying this will work for everybody, but I don’t need more than 2-3 days worth of clothes, toiletries, my laptop, and a couple of books for recreation. To me, the extra amount of time required to wash clothes every couple days is worth it, when I don’t have to worry about the hassle of checking bags.

By: Jo

Jo — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:47:33 +0000

Trent–love the spirit of your post, and concur with you wholeheartedly (pooh pooh to all the negative posters!) Congrats to you for working WITH your wife on decluttering and streamlining your stuff to bring more peace and even money to your home.

I feel this post, and all the comments both critical and supportive, would be very worthy of dinnertable conversations with children. Our family makes it a point to talk about “coming-up-soon” situations with our 10 year old while he still is open to learning and being influenced by his parents.

Thanks again, Trent. Keep up the great work.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:59:39 +0000

I like this post. I actually did something similar when I went away to college. I flew in, so I had to pack everything on the plane. It all fit in two medium sized boxes, and a small suitcase. That included clothes, bedding (really bulky), a lamp, some favorite books, and a few personal items. When I got there, I got a computer, school supplies, and books.

Moving out, of course, was another matter. I moved out right before getting married and my husband and I had managed more stuff in those four years than we realized. We were dirt poor, of course, so some of those things were things we knew we would need for our house (college kids are so wasteful at the end of the semester – made off with a lot of appliances!), and as we have been married longer, I can see the wisdom in that. Some of the best household items we have are from college (space savers from the dorm work great in an apartment that we live in while we save for a down payment!).

By: Cha-Cha

Cha-Cha — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:43:19 +0000

I developed a similar but more liberal program. Instead of a suitcase I used a ‘71 Chevy Impala. When I moved, if “it” didn’t fit in the Impala, “it” was left. Kinda inconsiderate of me toward the landlord, but what is a college student if not self-absorbed?

Eastern Illinois University
Class of ‘79

By: Ethan Bloch

Ethan Bloch — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Well put Trent. When I moved out to San Francisco after college I trashed or sold over 60% of my belongings. Wish I accumulated and brought less to College to begin with :)

Currently, I don’t have a TV and avoid unnecessary purchases as much as I can while still trying to sell unneeded items.

I think more people would live healthier and happier lives if they did this, as ’stuff’ just gives you a surgar high and doesn’t really lead to happiness.

Rather, doing something you love and are good at is the path to happiness.

That is all.

Cheers.

Ethan

By: threadbndr(Karla)

threadbndr(Karla) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:08:37 +0000

When my son went to his first permanant duty station, he had a sea bag (duffle) and body bag (garment bag) full of uniforms and issued equipment, a seabag (full of civilian clothes, linens and books and his laptop case) and a backpack. That was it.

With his car, he has a little bit more now, and as an NCO, his quarters are bigger (he doesn’t have a roommate any more, for one). But he can still get everything home in the back of his ‘86 Corvette (which is not the biggest space).

By: tim

tim — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:05:19 +0000

A laptop can be a games console, so too can a cell-phone.
Always eating out is expensive and unhealthy, even if you are only eating out at subsidised canteens.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:03:35 +0000

I’ve actually had this mental state for many years now. When I go shopping, I always keep in mind that something will have to go if I decide to get something new!

And it works just fine…