CBC News Sunday is right about getting rid of your possessions being a spiritual thing and definitely not a religion gig is how my comment on the story goes. The spiritual part comes automatically as it becomes very clear quickly that your possessions own you and not the other way around. Still have some stuff, just not very much of it and nothing that is critically needed and my wants are few.
Think I have less than Issa (aka Jane Siberry) in my storage room now, having disposed in one way or another just about everything too. Also like her, a laptop is essential as a connection to the world not immediately around me. I think she wants to get to the Buddhist way from the sounds of it, for me I have just found that the less that one has the less one needs. Having moved so many times over the years, one gets tired of schlepping all that stuff around and you come to realize that most of it doesn’t even get used.
For an actual count, I may have fewer things but I do have one big item and that is a 1985 Mazda GLC that is used to sleep in when not house sitting, camping or travelling. When not sleeping, there are lots of places to go and things to do – the hardest part is finding good places to park as the car sits and I walk or use public transit for the most part.
Nice that no one feels sorry for those of us that are homeless and not quite possession free and have managed to make life work well. I do have a three day a week job, that means two weekends a week the way the schedule is, which is more than enough work/money when you aren’t paying off a mortgage to some banker.
House sitting gets me out of the car a lot. Right now I am at the top of a cliff on Bowen Island, looking over Vancouver and watching the sunrise having just fed the dogs and cats that are my charges for another week. The dichotomy of it all is rather odd being someone that has averaged less than 10k in income since the turn of the century, and is living in the bedroom community of the richest neighbourhood of Canada quite comfortably.