Like there are oh so many gas station everywhere in remote off-roading areas. Your point is kinda blah. Electronic vehicles have a larger potential range of renewable energy source. Unlike gas engines where you have to buy extra fuel for it, there could be a potential of third party solar chargers or a kinetic…

Inflation means $395 is $2700 today

VW Electric Concept #839. I like it. I liked most of the others, too. Build one already.

Wasn’t the allure of using the Beetle chassis for a starting point that you were able to pick up old (and therefore cheap) Bugs to start your modifications on?  I mean, grabbing an old Beetle for a couple hundred bucks and throwing a fiberglass tub on it is one thing, paying (what I’m guessing would be) $40,000 for…

Also no shame in keeping many, many books. I’ll get rid of “junk” books every once in awhile, because yep, out-of-date textbooks, and trade paperbacks that just didn’t do it, aren’t sacred. But I’ve got well over a thousand books (maybe two?), and some of them I’ve had for twenty or more years—I ain’t getting rid of…

The housewares one especially because people don’t often think of it.  My friend runs a shelter and they get so much clothing that they’ve stopped accepting it but really need stuff to furnish apartments when they transition those women out of the shelter.

It’s sad. I had a bunch of old law books and texts books from law school. I can’t figure out why I didn’t sell them back, but between my husband and I, we had a ton. I called the law library at the school and the one downtown. No go. The regular local library sure as shit didn’t want them. I asked multiple sources…

If you have clothing and housewares to donate, please consider finding a domestic violence shelter in your area.  They are chronically short of supplies to support victims.

Someone the other day on another article suggested donating books to your local prison, which I think is a great idea.

there are two distinct camps on this - digitize the world or a book in hand. Books in my bookcase are only ones I reread and are read to pieces, many times. They are reference materials I want in paper form, because I hate reading on a screen for more than a page at a time. They are treasured parts of my life, and…

Maybe it’s just me, but I just didn’t find this book to be useful. Her stories about her obsessive tidying up as a child kinda creeped me out a little. In fact, I returned both the audio version and the kindle version, in the ongoing effort to accumulate less stuff.

That’s why I stopped reading Gawker.

I wonder if she addresses what I think is my best de-cluttering rule: Don’t acquire stuff to begin with. I aggressively enforce a “please, please no gifts” rule for every occasion (especially things like knick-knacks from my mother), avoid buying anything new on impulse, and when I do buy something new, get rid of an…

I think anything that helps you understand why you keep things is good.

Definitely harder when you have a family. My husband’s massive collection of movie DVDs bothers me sometimes, but perhaps my massive collection of books bothers him, so it balances it. I find with my daughter (who is taking after me in the book collecting part) it’s helpful to sit down with her and go through the…

She doesn’t talk about tools well, IMHO. You might not feel joyous at the thought of cleaning, but some brooms are much better than others. If you’re using a broom that’s not the right size for you, or that isn’t meant to sweep whatever it is you’re sweeping (outdoor broom in an indoor kitchen, for example) you’ll be…

A word of caution from someone who has been there: don’t attempt her method while you’re sick. There are very few things that spark joy when one has a head cold, and you’ll end up with a pair of slippers, a set of pjs, and a completely empty house.

Absolutely. It can even be more expensive in the long run, because you may end up getting rid of something you’ll need later, so you end up buying it twice.

Reading this book was one of the best things I did this year, and it’s completely changed my approach to Stuff — living in a present moment vs. “Acquisitional mode,” accurately assessing how I use (or don’t use) the things I own, etc.

I think the dark side of a minimalist life is that you can become even more of a consumer because your turnover of “stuff” is higher.