Living with less. A lot less.

I'm borrowing Graham Hill's title from his last article on New York Times. When I flicked my eyes through each of the article's letters, it was like an echo of my thoughts as I washed my dirt-laden fingers. I've been hauling boxes all weekend and have moved into a new home. But unlike Graham's 3,600 sq. ft. loft, I was living in a four-bedroom apartment, had househelp, had breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared for everyday and never had to worry about my bills.

In my head, I live in a modest BUT pink house =P

Like him though, I recently moved into a much smaller space --- but one that afforded me the nearness of everything, from my work place to my meeting places, to my church. I no longer needed a household help --- besides, I loved cleaning. It was the shock of how much unnecessary stuff I had that baffled me for days.

We live in a world of surfeit stuff, of big-box stores and 24-hour online shopping opportunities. Members of every socioeconomic bracket can and do deluge themselves with products. There isn’t any indication that any of these things makes anyone any happier; in fact it seems the reverse may be true.

During the two weeks that I'd packed, I came across so many shoes I haven't worn in months, books I never got to read and don't plan on reading, letters which don't matter to me anymore, boarding passes of trips from long, long ago, mementos and knick knacks I wasn't even sure why I kept and all sorts of pens, crayons, souvenirs I couldn't care less about. "What a hoarder," I thought to myself.

Prior to those weeks, I have moved in to my place with two boxes of necessities in tow. I brought in some clothes, a number of plates, utensils, toiletries, vitamins and food and coffee. There was a bit of fear as I thought I might've forgotten some stuff back home but as the week ended, I knew one thing: I could live with less.

And so that's what I did. I gave away half {maybe even two thirds} of what I own. I am proud to have just hauled less than 10 boxes to where I am now, all of which are varying needs such as clothes, books, shoes, appliances and some artwork. I still haven't unpacked everything because I still didn't need all of it {or I am too lazy ha ha}. But my friend Graham Hill summed it up best:

 Like the 420-square-foot space I live in, the houses I design contain less stuff and make it easier for owners to live within their means and to limit their environmental footprint. My apartment sleeps four people comfortably; I frequently have dinner parties for 12. My space is well-built, affordable and as functional as living spaces twice the size. As the guy who started TreeHugger.com, I sleep better knowing I’m not using more resources than I need. I have less — and enjoy more.  My space is small. My life is big. 

I'm lucky to be sleeping under the stars every night only to be woken up, ever so quietly by the morning sunshine every day. I'm fine with that.

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xx