In 2011, I took early retirement, sold everything I owned and began traveling the world. Up until then, my life had been on a relatively standard western, or American, track. I was living well, comfortably indeed, but I felt like I was living an off the shelf,...
Before I began my minimalist retirement travel adventures, like many people in the “developed world,” I had so many possessions that I couldn’t remember where my stuff was, or in many cases even remember that I had it. My junk drawers were expanding....
I really didn’t know what to expect when our road trip from Toronto to Texas took us to the place where one of my favorite authors, Henry David Thoreau, wrote his most famous work – Walden. I didn’t expect Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond to be pristine...
At first I was dying to grow up and go to high school Then I was dying to finish high school and go to college Then I was dying to finish college and start working Then I was dying to get married and have children Then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so...
Just before I retired in 2011 I sold almost everything I owned. It wasn’t because money was tight, but because I wanted to spend my life as an adventure, traveling the world, pursuing my passions of writing and photography and most of the things I owned weren’t going...
From the moment we are born, humans are encouraged to take on an ever-increasing amount of responsibility. As children, we learn to be responsible for our toys, to clean our room and to help with a few chores. As we mature, society demands that we retain our...
What it is Like to Begin Living a Minimalist Lifestyle For some people, the notion of a retired person to begin living a minimalist lifestyle may seem counter-intuitive. You have spent your most productive years accumulating possessions — saving “stuff”...
[pullquote]”A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” – Henry David Thoreau[/pullquote] There are all kinds of minimalism and minimalist philosophies. Some people believe that in order to be a minimalist...
