(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)
Financial Death Cleaning
A neighbor recently received a large portion of her financial inheritance from her mother even though she’s still alive and well. I’ve often thought the idea of leaving our wealth to our children when we die is an inefficient system now that people live so much longer than they did a century ago. Typically when older people die nowadays, they pass their wealth on to their children who themselves are already “old,” well-established in life, and who oftentimes have no practical use for the money. I think of how much more practical it would be if we gave our children some of their financial inheritance now, in the form of paying down their mortgage or something similar. That’s what my neighbor’s mother did. She and her daughter and son-in-law had a memorable mortgage-burning party in the backyard. She got to enjoy the experience of her daughter’s overwhelming thanks and gratitude and the tears of joy which she never could have otherwise. I’m sure it was a great bonding experience as well. Paying off a mortgage is in a class of happiness all its own.
Our Stuff Owns Us
There’s an old saying that we don’t own our stuff, it owns us. Being a minimalist for the past 20+ years has allowed me to feel much freer than I did back when a lot of stuff owned me. While I was working in a large city, minimalism allowed me to be more mobile. Since I had so few possessions to move, I was able to move once a year. I took advantage of the rent discounts apartments offered to new move-ins if they’d sign a one-year lease. It never took more than two trips in my SUV to get it all moved. Being a minimalist to that extreme isn’t practical for most people but more useful for college students and those who change location frequently.
While living in a big city so far out of my hick-town element, there was the subconscious psychological benefit of knowing I could easily leave at any time with so few possessions to move. I knew I didn’t want to be there long enough to settle down and buy a home so minimalism was a big help. I also didn’t throw too many lavish dinner parties so living with sparse furnishings was not an issue.
I eventually settled down for good and bought 20 acres of land to pursue my lifelong dream of living a self-reliant lifestyle which, of course, requires buying lots of “stuff.”
Fast forward from my first Swedish death cleaning to the present day.
My Shop
During the busy times of the year when I’m doing lots of projects requiring tools and lumber, my workshop gets to be a huge cluttery mess. There’s no time to properly put everything in its place when I’m running back and forth for various tools and supplies. So a few times a year I have to…