Argentina and The Quest for Minimalistic Lifestyle – Part One

I started preparing for my trip to Argentina, as well as cleaning house post-graduation, pre-real life. This means getting rid of excess baggage (emotionally, physically, literally, figuratively, and other superfluous Lee’s.) The next series of posts will relate to my attempts to minimize my life, as well as furthering my writing career.

Step 1 – During college, I’d come home to a couch, zero drawers, and little closet space. I got used to living out of these two bags, which proved to hold way more clothes than I needed:

You can fit a lot of clothes in these bags

Step 2 – While in LA for the past six weeks, I packed the following belongings into a knock-off North Face backpacker’s bag:

1. 10 t-shirts
2. 3 pairs of shorts
3. 4 beaters
4. 1 pair of jeans
5. 1 long-sleeve
6. 7 pairs of boxers
7. 1 pair of sneakers, 1 pair of Crocs, 1 pair of Sperry’s
8. toiletries
9. basic electronics

The North Face bag itself is barely holding up – one shoulder strap broke in Shanghai, and I had someone sew it back together in Hong Kong. I took a lighter to it before leaving Albany, in order to keep the tightening straps from slipping out while I walked around. And as I packed to leave LA, I tugged on a tightening strap and snapped off a clip. I think it’s time for a new bag – I’m thinking about this one: L.L. Bean’s Bigelow Day Pack, Top Load.

Step 3 – I returned home, determined to eliminate as much as possible, and live solely out of one bag for the remainder of the summer. I choose to use my favorite Roots bag:

My favorite bag - Roots. Yeah, Canadia!

Here’s what I managed to fit into it:

1. 9 t-shirts
2. 2 athletic shorts
3. 1 khaki shorts
4. 1 long-sleeve
5. 4 socks
6. 1 pair of jeans
7. 3 beaters

It’s not overstuffed, either.

Step 4 – What happened to all the other clothes I own? I let my brothers get first pick at them – if they wanted it, they kept it. Unfortunately, I loved collecting T-shirts, and had a lot of clothes I couldn’t just get rid of for sentimental reasons – for example, I still have my t-shirt from the fourth grade play, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was Willy Wonka, by the way, and I was awesome.

The sentimental t-shirts my brothers didn’t take, eight in total, I put in a box, along with all the winter clothes I decided to keep. Everything else (three garbage bags worth of t-shirts, pants, and sweaters) I will donate to Salvation Army:

Three garbage bags of clothes, going to Salvation Army

Where I cheated:

1. A lot of the sentimental stuff needs to eventually go. I love it, but I don’t need it – when I return from Argentina, I’ll give it another try.
2. I still have too much winter clothes. Once the temperature starts dropping, I’ll reevaluate how many sweaters I really need, and donate the rest.
3. I still keep some dress shirts and my suits in a closet. Some of these dress shirts definitely can go, though I’ll keep both my suits. I’ll get to those probably during the second round of cleaning house.

All in all, it was a good start to The Quest for Minimalistic Lifestyle.

Also, I decided to give CrossFit a try. Check out the new page for details, notes, and workout results.