This is a mini-series on the topic, “How little do you need?”.

This is the 4th article, about “How Little do you NEED? (Your possessions).

Having been in Thailand for 3 years I’ve found that I need SO little to be happy. And actually, as I had less and less I realized more and more happiness. I’ll try to explain in this series as I reveal how little I need here in Thailand, but also how you can make changes for yourself wherever you are, the USA? Canada? Europe?

If you missed the first in the series you will find it here,

“How LITTLE do you Need?”
Second was, “How little do you NEED? (Your Home)”
Third was, “How little do you NEED? (Your Vehicle)”

This post is about possessions.

You probably have too many. Jack Kerouac once said, “‘As soon as you own a rug you know you own too much’”.

While I own much more than just a rug I like the idea quite a bit. There are monks here in Thailand that I’ve seen, talked to and asked questions about their lifestyle that don’t even own a rug or it’s equivalent. As a Buddhist monk one isn’t to own anything. I’ve seen monks with begging bowls (alms bowls) and orange robes - and that was all they had. The wat (temple) they stayed at gave them a small “kuti” for sleeping and that anything else they used on a daily basis was something donated to the wat and used as needed.

But you’re not a monk. Nor am I. I’m guessing you’re someone that lives in a country that judges your ‘worth’ at least in part, on your monetary possessions. In other articles in this series I talked about owning your home, your vehicle… those are two of the biggest possessions and the ones that others in society will judge you on - whether you like it or not. I hope you took a second look at the silliness of the idea of owning a huge home or an expensive vehicle but if you couldn’t get yourself to come to the realization that you needed to downsize, perhaps you could do it after having read this article.

I MUST make a difference in someone’s life
that’s reading this post, might as well be YOU!

In America I’ve owned all sorts of toys over the years. I’ve had a nice home. A couple of them over time. I’ve had really nice cars, though not extravagant, they were FAR above what I needed. At times I’ve owned two cars at once. For just myself. The same kind of cars - two door sports cars. Why? I’m not sure, just because I liked them both I guess.

I’ve had five professional film cameras when I could have survived with just three. I’ve had 2 digital camcorders when I really only needed 1. I liked to buy brand new toys so I could be the one that uses them for the longest and get the most ‘worth’ out of them, or so I thought. I bought a brand-new plastic “Perception” kayak because I wanted a new one. I could have bought a used one and saved a couple hundred dollars. But in my mind, an old one wasn’t acceptable. People would see me on the water with a used kayak and I’d have to tell them the truth - that it was 2nd hand. I’d lose some face there. Maybe some would think that I couldn’t afford a new one. With my American mindset back then, that just wouldn’t do. So I bought everything new.

I had 7 salt-water fishing rods when I could really have been OK with just 2. Even one? I had two bicycles a lot of times. One was for mountain biking and one was for the road. How often did I get into the mountains in Florida? Not much. How much did I get into the mountains in Hawaii? Just a few times. Did I need 2 bikes? Nah, not at all, but I liked to know I have the other one for those special times I DID go mountain biking in some real mountainous terrain.

The list goes on and on… I didn’t even get into household items yet. And I won’t.

Take a look at your own life and see what you have too much of. You might not have any of the things I listed, but you might have something else that you bought for the sheer joy and rush of buying it and using it a few times… and now you’re not using it everyday. That’s a pretty good test of what you need. It doesn’t fit in all instances, but it gives you a perspective on things that you don’t have right now.

Are you using it EVERY day?

I’m living pretty close to an ideal here in Thailand with what I own being just what I need. Here is a total list of my possessions:

Motorcycle - not really mine as I gave it to my girlfriend 2 years ago to give her something safe. Before I did so she was using her 60 year old aunt’s Yamaha motorcycle that was 20+ years old and that had horrible brakes and a chain that would fly off the chainwheel with the possibility of ripping open her legs. If we were ever to break up it’s hers, not mine. We use it many times each day though.

Compaq notebook computer. I bought it for $1000 USD almost 2 years ago. Today it’s worth about $400 USD. I need it because everything I do to make money is on the internet. I want to have a secure way of signing in to PayPal, Ebay, my blogs and FTP’ing data to my sites. I need to know that my computer is bug, spyware, virus, and hack proof since I have never seen a clean computer at the internet cafes here. Using anything but my own computer is not an option here.

Three external USB hard drives. Saving video and photos taken over 3 years. Most of the space is taken by Nikon format digital images that are 6 MB per photo and that we have listed with stock agencies. About $140 USD.

Motorola L6 phone and an LG phone. One cost just over $100 USD and the other about $45 USD. These are reasonable (good) prices here in Thailand for two lower-end phones.

A digital camcorder (video recorder) we found in the ‘dented & scratched’ section of an electronics store for $175 USD.A digltal camera, 4 MP and the one I use to take the photos for this site and all my sites. Also from the dent & scratch - $100 USD. I don’t need this anymore and we’d sell it except it doesn’t work 100% of the time and I’d feel bad selling to someone, even if they knew the problem and still chose to buy it.

Subtotal = $1000 USD (value of what it’s worth)

The rest of my possessions are small. I’ll list them briefly.

• 2 foldable beds (cushions) about 3 inches thick and just big enough to sleep on
• 2 helmets
• Mosquito zapper racquet - why we don’t have these in the USA I’m not sure, but pure bliss.
• One pair running shoes.
• One pair sports sandals
• 1 pillow
• One pair jeans. 4 pair shorts. 9 underwear. 6 short sleeved shirts and 2 long sleeved. 4 pair socks. (don’t need socks much in Thailand)
• 2 PENN saltwater fishing reels that I’ve not used in 3 yrs.
• Thai-English dictionary
• Gerber folding knife made in Portland, OR
• 3 plates, 2 bowls, 2 sets of stainless steel silverware, 2 cups from 7-11 that you get when you buy a large drink.
• Some incense
• A jar of coffee
• A jar of SKIPPY peanut butter, made in China. (no joke).
• 25 cent flashlight
• 25 cent lighter
• raincoat
• DaKine backpack I bought in Hawaii 4 years ago.
• Rice cooker

Subtotal = 11,000 Thai baht (about $360 USD).

Adding the two subtotals you’ll see I exist quite happily on possessions totaling under $1400 USD.

Inside our unit we have none of the following that you probably have:

• Kitchen Sink
• Refrigerator
• Dishwasher
• Microwave, oven, toaster, blender, mixer, stove top (burners)
• Washer & Dryer
• Stereo, CD player, Television, DVD player
• Air conditioning or fan
• Carpet ;)
• Lamps, tables, couch, chair, loveseat, shelves
• Bed, dressers, cupboards, alarm clock (we set our mobile phones)

There is no garage or shed so we don’t have anything like lawn equipment.

For three years I’ve existed on basically what I have right now, $1400 USD in possessions. Yes, Thailand is a place with a cheaper cost of living than anywhere in America. That is true. What is also true is that today you are living a lifestyle MORE extravagant… with more things that you don’t need than you ever considered before. I know that. I know that every single person reading this post is living FAR beyond what their basic needs are.

Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, came up with what is referred to as “Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs”. These are generally agreed to be the basic needs that human beings need - regardless of culture and geographical location. These are needs that must be satisfied for the normal functioning of the individual. We were born with these, they are not learned.

Notice what is absent? Jewelry, cameras, computers, furniture…

NOTHING like that is a real physical or emotional need.
Now, look around wherever you are right now and look at the things that you have. Think about how much they cost. Think about how you could do without them if you had to.

For instance… If you had to do without a printer for your computer - what would you do? You’d go to Kinko’s or some other printing shop by giving them either your memory card or a USB flash memory stick and having them print your files. Probably you don’t need all the stuff you print anyway. I used to print something almost daily and thought I needed to have that capability. I had literally over 1000 pages of paper lying around whatever home I lived in ever since graduate school started in 1994.

It’s been 3 years since I printed something out and I haven’t missed it until recently when I thought I should see a copy of my manuscript in print so I could more easily edit it. Is it easier though to edit an entire book on paper and then need to use the computer to make the changes anyway? Not sure. Probably I don’t need to print it out and it’s just my old USA mindset trying to intrude on present day reality.

Something as simple as a printer is not really a NEED for most people. What else?

Take a look at your bed. Once I slept on a very expensive bed. I was amazed at the level of comfort that it gave. I immediately went out and bought a similar bed for $1100 USD if my memory serves me, though not as expensive, it was outrageously expensive compared to what I now know I need. The cushion I use now that folds into 3 sections and doubles as a chair, was $21.00 USD. This is one of those instances where what I’m doing in Thailand versus what you’re doing in the USA, England, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, or elsewhere is comparable. You could easily go out and buy a $21 cushion in Target or Walmart and sleep very comfortably, even MORE comfortably than in your $1000+ dollar bed.

I say more comfortably because something happens when you force yourself to sleep on a very firm bed after 10 days or so. For me it was 10-14 days before I realized, WOW, my back has never felt better in my life. It’s strange and I don’t understand what happened, but there was a definite change in my level of back pain and discomfort. It’s virtually gone now. I have a soccer injury that happened in 1983 that has given me back pain in some way since. Today I’m not aware of any pain in my back at all. That is a miracle I attribute not to god, but to my $21 cushion on the floor that I call my ‘bed’.

So, if you switch to sleeping on a $20 cushion… no wait, splurge, make it $30. You’ll save about $1000, perhaps quite a bit more if you’re a frequent bed-buyer. Put the $1000 into a Certificate of Deposit at the bank and make 4% interest on it AND sleep better.

You could do this scenario with nearly everything you own. I wrote about your home and vehicle first because those are the two areas you could make the biggest changes immediately. BUT, the possessions you buy over the course of your life easily add up to the value of your vehicle and probably your home.

If you could be smart about what you buy and buy only needs - you might retire rich on a $30,000 per year salary. No joke. You could choose where in the world you wanted to retire. You’d live well anywhere. By the way, if you came to Thailand you’d live well on as little as $1000 per month! If you did that you could still be saving even during retirement!

There are many other areas I’m going to write specifically about within this general topic of needs. This article and series wasn’t meant to be a complete look at the topics I introduced. The topics themselves are HUGE and deserve a more in-depth look. Over time I’ll go into more specific details about needs and what we really need. There are many areas that we can downsize what we have and replace them with what we really need.

There are mamy good reasons for doing so…

For myself the reason I have downsized everything is because I feel like I’m living smarter. I’ve always hated to watch commercials on TV, see an ad in my magazine, or hear a radio ad because I realized that my time is being TAKEN… it’s being hijacked by someone that want’s to trick me out of my money by planting a desire to get something that didn’t exist before. When I was little I used to run away from the TV at commercial time or I’d close my eyes because I knew I was smarter than the advertisers that wanted to sell me something I didn’t need.

I HATED the idea that someone was taking my personal time to push their agenda. I hate it today too.

I’m hoping that with this blog I can get some of you to start living the smart that I know you are.

You don’t NEED more than a $50,000 home.
You don’t NEED more than a $15,000 vehicle.
You don’t NEED $20,000 in possessions.

Or $100,000.

 

Or MORE.

What you NEED while living in your tricky society is to act as smart as you possibly can about every time you throw money at something. Your purchases do define you in society - but not like you think. In my eyes, your purchases define your level of smartness. This is at odds with how society will define you.

Do what society wants and you’ll appear to be someone of monetary worth. You probably won’t be, but you’ll appear that way. You will owe thousands on your credit cards, a mortgage over the course of most of your life - or all of it, you’ll constantly buy cars that pull dollars away from your savings… and you’ll end up like most people that worked for 30+ years of their lives doing something they were not excited about, they just thought it was the normal way of life… you’ll live on your $1500 per month retirement check and social security.

It could be much better than that. It starts with acting as smart as you know you are. It starts with a change in attitude. You’ll need to choose to be anti-societal expectation. You’ll need to buy what you need, not what society tells you you need. You’ll need to find your worth inside you, not based on the clothes you’re wearing, the home you have, the vehicle(s) you drive…

 

Your worth will be based on the person you are, not your buying power.

If you could make that one change in your mindset - to buy what you NEED… your quality of life will improve beyond much else you could do. It starts with the smallest realization that you see as the truth. If you suddenly realized you could live without hot water do you realize how much money you could save over the course of your LIFETIME? There are many places in the world that you don’t NEED hot water… Florida is one. Hawaii another. Southern California is one. Nevada. Texas? I haven’t had hot water for over a year here in Thailand, yes it’s hot but at times it’s cool.

 

If you can’t do it for the whole year, do it just for the hot season. If there are times you absolutely NEED hot water - heat some on the stove and mix it in a big bowl to pour on yourself.

 

This one change could not only save you a LOT of money, but it could be the catalyst that starts you questioning HUNDREDS of things you own or might purchase…

There are so many things you can do to improve the quality of your life, most of it has to do with buying less, not more. Living more, and buying less. Buying needs… not what society wants you to buy…

Less competition among your peers, not more. Let the rest of them compete about the clothes they wear, the cars they buy, the watches and other jewelry they wear… You can twist the competition so it’s a competition about who is smarter… those that buy what they don’t need or you, that buys only what you need.

Life is a game. It’s a game where some of the rules were given and some can be chosen. What you buy, believe it or not, is a CHOICE you have. NOBODY is making you buy a $100,000 home. Just you. Nobody is making you buy a POLO shirt for $70 USD, only you. Nobody is going to notice your POLO shirt more than about 5 times before they realize, “he’s had that shirt a while now…” So, until you buy a new $70 POLO shirt they won’t notice or care. And, when they ARE noticing and caring - it means that they are playing a different game. The game of societal expectation.

Create your own game. Live your life according to what you NEED. Make your life a game of needs and of not conforming to societal expectation.

What do you NEED to live a great life? What do you NEED to buy that will help your family achieve good values and understand what life is about? A TV? If you could live without a TV, what would life look like for you? You’d need to spend more time doing something. Maybe you’d spend more time with your family. Going to the park? Walking? Riding bikes? Rollerblading?

What do you NEED and cannot live without?

I showed you what I own. I could live like other expats here and have a car, a house, a maid, a full house of furniture… They sell expensive furniture here. Thai people are getting caught up in the game that America and the rest of the ‘advanced’ nations are playing… where society starts to believe that those with more are the better people. They are the ones that we should be like… and you know, when the Thais’ see me living as base-level as I am, they question the game and a lot of them feel better about not taking part.

You could do that in America too. Set an example by playing your own game. The smart game. Buy what you absolutely need and can’t do without. Let everyone else compete over the unwinnable contests like…

• I’m the best dresser
• I have the biggest house,
• I have the fastest car.
• I have the most expensive SUV
• I have the most expensive camera
• I have the biggest flat screen high definition TV
• I have the latest notebook computer
• My credit card has a higher limit than yours. I have the American Express Gold Platinum Diamond Honey Sweet edition card

Once you realize the futility of the game and the reality of it all - nobody cares that much about the home you have or the car you drive or the clothes you wear or the other possessions you amass. And, even if they really, really cared, is it worth the THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of dollars that you will spend EXTRA to keep up the appearance that you can afford the best things in life… when, after you retire you’ll have nothing more than anyone else…?

Before you buy anything more than $5.00 USD ask yourself 3 questions….

Is this something I NEED and cannot live without? Literally LIVE without.

How SMART am I being to purchase it?

 

How will this help me and/or my family have a GREAT LIFE?

 

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If you missed the first in the series you will find it here,

“How LITTLE do you Need?”
Second was, “How little do you NEED? (Your Home)” (this one)
Third was, “How little do you NEED? (Your Vehicle)”
Fourth was, “How little do you NEED (Your Possessions)”

Article I found that also relates to finding happiness with things other than money,

How to live a life of contentment, from Zenhabits.net >
Best of Life! (small life)

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