View Full Version : What I can't live without
Since the "most interesting" thread was so... well... interesting I thought about starting this one. What is the one thing (not person) you can't live without even though it is NOT helping with the goals of simple living? What is the one thing others have told you to get rid of but you are like "NO WAY!". Does it cost money that doesn't really need to be spent? Does it take up valuable space in your home that could be used for something else? I am really curious.
My one thing is my nutritional supplement Thrive. Costs about $200 a month for the three steps (four if you include the stuff that helps with not being a fruits and vegetables kind of person but need those added vitamins and minerals). I go back and forth literally every month when it's time to reorder. Why am I spending this money when it's not necessary. But a few days after I run out, I realize... it is necessary!! It helps with my gut health, my skin, my general mood, my tiredness, my energy level, etc. I get up at 2:30am and have over an hour commute to and from work. Without my Thrive, I am sluggish all day and just don't feeling my best. Plus it is helping me maintain my 60 lbs weight loss even though my last daily walk was in May. :( It helps me snack less during the day which has always been an issue with me when I get home from work.
So, what is your one thing that you can't live without???
There is no one thing. I love, love, love my house, my dog and garden. Flying out of my house due to a fire, I would grab my cellphone with the photos, contact list, and needed information.
There is no one thing. I love, love, love my house, my dog and garden. Flying out of my house due to a fire, I would grab my cellphone with the photos, contact list, and needed information.
Well, in that perspective of life or death, I would pick my cats but only because I could never live with myself leaving them behind. I actually did set fire to my kitchen in 2000 and the only thing I could think of was to get my dog, cat, and ferrets out of the house ASAP. I am sure my husband would have rather me think to help extinguish the fire. HaHa!!
Because of my recent Purge, I can remember as if I were a trauma victim the details of almost every decision about things I battled with myself about--whether I could or couldn't live without them. The one unnecessary thing I can't live without, but it takes up too much space in my small house, is my beloved great-aunt's Governor Winthrop secretary. She had it in her home at least for as long as I can remember--and since I was 70 years younger than she was, I'm assuming she had it for a pretty long time. When she knew she was going to the hospital for the last time and wasn't returning, she took out her drivers license and social security card from one of the little drawers and placed them neatly on the writing surface of the secretary so we would have no trouble finding them.
I've kept it ever since she died in 1973. It's not my decorating style, it's big and cumbersome, my husband put up a weak fight for me to get rid of it, but I can't. I use those pigeon holes and little drawers, and I use the big drawers for important papers, gift wrap and cards, and some memorabilia.
DH lost the fight. The family knows it as "Aunt Florence's desk" and it's staying.
happystuff
1-11-20, 9:11am
I'm looking around the room and imagining the stuff around the house and nothing if "jumping" out at me. LOL. I know I have some things that mean a lot -sentimental - but nothing is saying "You can't live without me!". I'll have to think on this a bit.
Aunt Florence's desk sounds like a wonderful piece!
Hmmm, this is a second thread I really can't participate in (the other being most interesting things about you- I don't have anything, I'm not particularly interesting which is why in conversation I'm always asking the other person questions). I don't have any physical objects that I can't live without, but when I saw the title to this thread, my immediate thought was COFFEE. ;)
I don't have any physical objects that I can't live without, but when I saw the title to this thread, my immediate thought was COFFEE. ;)
To be honest, herbgeek, the first thing I thought of was my coffee pot! But that was such an obvious answer, I didn't go with it. :).
Hmm. It's a tie for me.
One is a Plycraft replica of the famous Eames Lounge Chair. I love Mid-Century Modern (loved it before it blew up and will love it now that it has been declared passé once again) and most of the furniture I have in the house is MCM. I found this chair at a Goodwill store and yoinked the price tag from the ottoman as soon as I saw the staffer bring out the chair. It's an inexact replica, of course, but it was in great shape and it cost about 1/15 of what new Herman Miller versions cost. Sold!
Unfortunately, it's kind of big, so it really doesn’t fit in the living room with the other furniture we have there. So it's been relegated to the one room in the house that is still "mine"; a room in which I don't really like to spend much time because it's way off the beaten track. I should sell it to someone who'll sit in it more than a couple of times a year. But I just can't bring myself to do it. Maybe when we remodel the living room there will be room for it.
The other item is my cabinet (Danish teak, of course) that contains a bunch of cookbooks I rarely look at. I should cull the cookbooks but I'd find a place for the cabinet. It's probably as old as I am and bears the marks of a life that long, but it doesn't deserve to get turned out early just because it's not as busy as it once was!
Hmmm, this is a second thread I really can't participate in (the other being most interesting things about you- I don't have anything, I'm not particularly interesting which is why in conversation I'm always asking the other person questions). I don't have any physical objects that I can't live without, but when I saw the title to this thread, my immediate thought was COFFEE. ;)
I am sure if you ask people what they find interesting about you, they will have lots of stuff. I personally don't find it interesting that I married a guy three months after meeting him but everyone else does! That was just the way it happened and just seemed like the thing to do for some unknown reason. But it worked out.
Life is too short to drink cheap scotch.
Hubster! Our 1st date was 1977 and we're about to turn 59. Dude's a keeper.
I'm not particularly attached to stuff although I love Mom's wood handmade/handpainted sewing box that came with us from The Netherlands. It has been part of my life always and I learned to sew out of that box. She gifted it to me 3w before she died-she knew it was her 1 item that I treasured. Would I cry if it was gone? No, I'd be sad. But oh I have those memories.
I am attached to enjoying each day I'm given. If we lost both our homes and everything in them? Well, I would acquire less no doubt-I think we all would.
Sounds like asking a "simple living forum" about stuff they can't live without was pointless. :laff: Defeats the whole purpose of minimalism, doesn't it?? Nice to see that I'm not the only one who isn't attached to stuff but more so the people in my life and the memories I shared with them.
Teacher Terry
1-11-20, 10:45am
About 15 years ago I saw a beautiful buffet in a consignment shop for 450. It’s very ornate and it was painted except for the top. I paid someone 1100 to refinish it and it’s in my living room. Probably from the 30’s and everyone comments how beautiful it is. Of course my dogs are more important than anything:))
rosarugosa
1-11-20, 12:22pm
As far as stuff goes, I have some nice pieces of art I wouldn't want to give up, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I couldn't live without them. I am also willing to spend a bit for high-quality bedding and delicious things to eat and drink.
ApatheticNoMore
1-11-20, 12:37pm
Well I like living in Cali and certainly people would tell me to move (I don't tell anyone else to live here, and I may move someday maybe years hence, just no immediate plans). There was a time I swore by psychotherapy and spent a lot of money on it, but I'm not sure it was really all that helpful, and so it's been years since I have (and I'd rather have the money, I don't actually recommend it). I like buying and actually owning used books. I swear by organic and pasture raised and grass fed food when I can get it. I mean if the question is do you have any nice things? Yea a few, but "not live without", I don't even think in those terms, of course I could live without them.
Ha maybe I should try that Thrive if it's all that, I do tend to have somewhat low energy (but I can't actually take serious caffeine like coffee)
I have half a house full of mid century danish modern furniture. my mother brought this stuff over from Denmark when she moved here in 1960. It's in excellent condition and shockingly valuable. Unfortunately it is also the furniture I grew up with and it has a lot of sentimental value. I have very little space for this stuff, if I put it out it would be ruined in short order, and a lot of it doesn't really go with my life - furniture for storing dishes, a piano, a large dining table ... but it would be like selling a part of myself to consign it. So it's more like "can't live with it, can't live without it."
What else would I be miserable to live without for any length of time ... a bathtub.
And, assuming I wasn't changing my entire way of living, my phone. I am constantly amazed, even now. It's a calendar. it's an address book. It's a camera. It's a photo album. It's a notepad and a pen. it's a flashlight. It's a mirror. It's a calculator. it's a checkbook register/ accounting spread sheet. it's a tv and a music player. It's news, it's a thermometer. It's a navigating device and a dictionary and an ecyclopedia. It's a cookbook, it's a letter-writing device. It tells me where to buy gas, it tracks my steps. It's my bank. It's my library - both personal collection of music, books and movies, and access to public collections. It's games. It's shopping. And of course, it's a phone.
I'm old enough to be nervous about the idea of it all crashing and not working, and not having the physical backups, but every year I get a little more comfortable, and marvel all the more that three rooms of Stuff plus every connection to other human beings beyond being in sight of them now fits in my pocket.
Well I like living in Cali and certainly people would tell me to move (I don't tell anyone else to live here, and I may move someday maybe years hence, just no immediate plans). There was a time I swore by psychotherapy and spent a lot of money on it, but I'm not sure it was really all that helpful, and so it's been years since I have (and I'd rather have the money, I don't actually recommend it). I like buying and actually owning used books. I swear by organic and pasture raised and grass fed food when I can get it. I mean if the question is do you have any nice things? Yea a few, but "not live without", I don't even think in those terms, of course I could live without them.
Ha maybe I should try that Thrive if it's all that, I do tend to have somewhat low energy (but I can't actually take serious caffeine like coffee)
I have never had coffee and I am 48 years old. Not really a soda drinker either. Maybe 2 a week. I needed something to help with energy as I was literally falling asleep on my commutes. Or at least zone out and not remember how I got so far down the road. Very scary. The capsules contain caffeine but you could do one capsule instead of two and probably not have issues. I know people who only do one because of caffeine sensitivity and are fine.
Well, my Bloodhound certainly does not help with the goals of simple living, but he's about the only thing I'd worry about in the "fire burning down the house" situation. (I mean, there's the cat, but there's no way I could catch her, she hates the carrier box).
And he's so big and full of character that he's more of a person than an object, so I suspect the Bloodhound might not count for this poll.
iris lilies
1-11-20, 2:04pm
I suppose for my current lifestyle the important thing is my Ipad(s)
Hmmm, this is a second thread I really can't participate in (the other being most interesting things about you- I don't have anything, I'm not particularly interesting which is why in conversation I'm always asking the other person questions). I don't have any physical objects that I can't live without, but when I saw the title to this thread, my immediate thought was COFFEE. ;)
+1. I guess mine would be my pets, but they will die much too soon and then I will be without them until the next ones come into my life.
Simplemind
1-11-20, 2:22pm
We were talking about this the other day. There really isn't anything in the house that I care about that couldn't be replaced with the exception of memorabilia almost all in the form of pictures which can be scanned. Our TV's are older as are the laptops. My only jewelry is what I wear daily. We pretty much purged much of our stuff right along with our parents when we sold their stuff. We travel often and have house sitters not really for the house but for the dogs and to some extent the koi and additional wildlife (attracting and repelling them). We are minimalists on the inside but the yard is anything but. Love it, but it is a lot of work that some day we won't be able to do and I don't see longevity in paying somebody else to do it. I love sitting out in the spa every night before bed looking at the stars and watching the deer bed down for the night. I can't imagine a backyard where I would see or hear signs of other people. It will be a sad day when we have to give that up.
ToomuchStuff
1-11-20, 3:50pm
The one optional bill, that gets used for entertainment, how to lessons, point of contact, etc. The internet.
I could get it for free, by using the library computers, but that limits time on, the available times, and I don't know what else, because the around $70 a month I pay for it seems worthwhile.
Some would probably say cell phone, because many people do use that for the internet, but the above price, is around what I pay a YEAR for my dumb phone, and in a lot of respects, I would still rather have the home phone.
rosarugosa
1-11-20, 4:34pm
The one optional bill, that gets used for entertainment, how to lessons, point of contact, etc. The internet.
I could get it for free, by using the library computers, but that limits time on, the available times, and I don't know what else, because the around $70 a month I pay for it seems worthwhile.
Some would probably say cell phone, because many people do use that for the internet, but the above price, is around what I pay a YEAR for my dumb phone, and in a lot of respects, I would still rather have the home phone.
The internet and my laptop - I agree!
Sounds like asking a "simple living forum" about stuff they can't live without was pointless. :laff: Defeats the whole purpose of minimalism, doesn't it??
Well, your OP did list several options:
What is the one thing (not person) you can't live without even though it is NOT helping with the goals of simple living? What is the one thing others have told you to get rid of but you are like "NO WAY!". Does it cost money that doesn't really need to be spent? Does it take up valuable space in your home that could be used for something else?
My chair and my cookbooks take up space I'm sure we'd use otherwise. As furniture it's worth more than a few bucks so I've kind of got money tied up in some things from which I'm getting very little use.
I wouldn't say I couldn't live without these pieces -- I wouldn't spend one extra second in a burning house to save them -- but they're items I appreciate having even though they really don't fit into a simple lifestyle (n.b., simple living isn't necessarily minimalist living). I can live without this stuff -- but, regardless of lots of reasons to have this stuff out of my life, I don't want that to happen now.
I wouldn't spend one extra second in a burning house to save them
I went back into a burning house once to save the One Thing that mattered. It was a little kid's favorite toy, and it was clear we weren't going to be able to save his home, and this is what the parents said would make a difference.
3085
ToomuchStuff
1-11-20, 6:24pm
I went back into a burning house once to save the One Thing that mattered. It was a little kid's favorite toy, and it was clear we weren't going to be able to save his home, and this is what the parents said would make a difference.
3085
Special needs kid, Autistic spectrum, or was the kid young enough that they were thinking about normalcy, until they got back on their feet?
Ugh! Getting up at 2:30!!!!!
For me - my one thing is my iPhone. While I argue that I need it for work, which is true, I’d still not give it up if that wasn’t the case.
Special needs kid, Autistic spectrum, or was the kid young enough that they were thinking about normalcy, until they got back on their feet?
All of the above. These poor folks lost everything that night, the night before a major holiday.
It was heartwarming to see the whole community pull together to help them re-equip over the next week.
SteveinMN
1-12-20, 10:19am
I went back into a burning house once to save the One Thing that mattered.
I'm glad you were able to do that (and successfully on all counts)! You were dressed far more appropriately for the task than I would be. :)
catherine
1-12-20, 10:34am
All of the above. These poor folks lost everything that night, the night before a major holiday.
It was heartwarming to see the whole community pull together to help them re-equip over the next week.
Wonderful story... reminds me of a time decades ago when DH and I were in the crapper and so DH had second job as a bartender in Greenwich, Ct which was about an hour south of where we were living. On one late night drive home through the northern Westchester towns, he passed a fire up on a hill, and he noticed the house was on fire! So he drove up the driveway and there were no emergency vehicles there yet and the family was frantically trying to get as many belongings out of the house as they could. He asked the owner how he could help and the the owner said, "Please grab the paintings!!" So DH ran in and made several trips rescuing artwork from the home.
At that point, the firetrucks finally arrived, and then the police. When DH saw the police car he freaked out--we didn't have money for car insurance. He was afraid the police would for some reason ask for his insurance and registration so he silently slipped away and came home.
To this day we laugh because we can imagine the owner looking around for the "angel" that arrived out of nowhere to save some of their precious possessions and seeing that he had "flown away." It must have made for a good family story.
I went back into a burning house once to save the One Thing that mattered. It was a little kid's favorite toy, and it was clear we weren't going to be able to save his home, and this is what the parents said would make a difference.
3085
I accidentally set our kitchen on fire in 2000. Tried to fondue and was heating up the oil. Next thing I know, everything above the stove was engulfed. Husband and I grabbed fire extinguishers and put it out. Called the Fire Department (volunteers) and they wouldn't come out because it was already put out. We just wanted them to make sure it wasn't still burning behind the walls. We had to get a new stove, new stove hood, new cabinets above the stove, and a couple new appliances like microwave and coffee maker that got ruined from the extinguishers. Never tried to fondue again!
1. Computer/Internet
2. Smart Phone
3. My Bicycle
4. Diet Coke
5. Comfortable shoes (my Nikes)
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