Gyroscopic Investing

On an earlier thread, I made a brief comment about selling everything I own except what will fit in a small day bag.  CraigR mentioned that the how’s and why’s behind that might be an interesting discussion.  So here is a start.

I’m not into minimalism for the sake of simplicity or global awareness, or actually, any sort of altruistic reason.  I’m into free options.

About 2 years ago, I realized that I was on a path to where my living expenses would not be dependent on my location.  So, I spent a lot of time mulling that over.

I started running numbers in my spreadsheet - and even with a fully paid off mortgage, my house in Portland, OR was running about $1.5K per month in total cost of ownership.  Plus tying up a huge amount of capital.

I had become debt free, but I still had a lot of recurring expenses.  Most of them tied to my residence.  Utilities.  Cell phone plans.  Car insurance.

I started playing with the ideas of:

1) Eliminating as many recurring expenses as I could, so that I could change my cost of living literally overnight.  “Pay as you go”? becomes a watchword.

2) If I make my physical location a free floating variable, what life opportunities now have a “lower cost”?.  A free option, if you will.

3) How does the cost of nomadic living compare with fixed living?  (Assuming that you don’t need to be in one spot to earn your money).

Before I was really ready to cut the cord, I spent a year practicing living out of my travel bag.  I setup my house as a “furnished apartment”?.

I only used clothes in my bag.  Washed them in the shower every morning, etc…  After a few months I couldn’t see anything wrong with it.  It actually seemed much simpler and easier than “normal”? living.  I moved all of my data to cloud storage.  I moved all of my library to Kindle.  I scanned all of my papers and finances.

Even though still physically living in Oregon, I moved my permanent residence to a mail forwarding service in South Dakota.  I flew in for a day and got a driver’s license, bank account, voter registration, vehicle registration, auto insurance, etc.

So, when I was financially in the position to make the move - about May 2013 - I sold or gave away a whole household full of things and sold the house and the jeep.  I had already been practicing for nearly a year, so it was no effort at all to pick up my bag, walk to the MAX, catch a train to the airport and head to Guadalajara for a month.  I picked up a nice apartment via AirBnB for $1000 in a very cool part of town - and spent most of that month wrapping my head around the changes.

I still have to be in PDX every quarter for business reasons, but other than that, I just go where it is most opportunistic for me.  Either to control expenses, hook up with friends and family, check out investment opportunities or just look for good weather.  I use a mix of hotels and AirBnB furnished apartments.  Even though I live very well, my housing and transportation costs are much lower than the home and jeep I was maintaining in OR. 

I keep waiting to wake up in the middle of the night with a panicky “What have I done?”?, but so far it hasn’t happened.  It has been very easy to stay connected and engaged, I almost never feel “boxed in”? and my expenses are easily and quickly adjusted between luxury and economy.

So that’s a start.  Obviously not applicable to everyone’s situation - but the details may be useful for some.

To make this a little more concrete.  Here’s what I carry:

Small Mac Air and iPhone 5s.  (I have an unlocked phone and buy pay as you go data plans in whatever country I am in.)
1 pair of black 501 jeans and 1 pair of linen dress pants.
2 dress shirts that dry quickly and be made to look casual or dressy.
1 under armor compression T
1 pair of black leather moccasins
3 pair of Thai silk black boxers that double as swim shorts
3 pair of black, quick drying running socks
1 miniature bathroom scale
1 miniature food scale
1 tape measure
A combo thermometer, hydrometer and compass
A pot and a canteen and an immersion heater
A sarong.
2 bandanas
Random currencies, some spare paper checks and a few ounces of gold.
A small bag of toiletries and a small bag of odds and ends

Sounds similar to the Reacher character in the Lee Child novels.  Do you happen to be 6' 6" and an ex Army MP?

That's inspiring!

I've also been actively cutting back, minimizing expenses while maximizing freedom.  But I'm nowhere near your Jedi level. 

Regarding your day bag, ditch the bathroom scale.    Just curious -- what is your bag of choice for storing all of your worldly possessions?

Great story, Marc.

I recently moved and wish I had only about 5% of my stuff before I did it. I lived for a couple months with just a laptop and basic clothes and honestly didn't miss most of the things I had in storage. I thought that if it all burned to the ground I probably wouldn't miss any of it.

That sounds pretty amazing, for certain personalities, assuming you can find a job that allows you that level of freedom.  Or are independently wealthy enough that it doesn't matter.

I enjoy periodic travel, but I'm definitely a "nester" (more accurately a homesteader).  I couldn't live a nomadic existence, but I'm glad that someone who enjoys that has managed to find a way to make it work.

rickb wrote: Sounds similar to the Reacher character in the Lee Child novels.  Do you happen to be 6' 6" and an ex Army MP?

Good question!  When my sister heard about what I was up to, she pointed out the Lee Child  series to me (and also the Travis McGee series).  I devoured them.  Quite aspirational.  I'm not quite down to just a folding toothbrush, but I can dream...

Tyler wrote: Regarding your day bag, ditch the bathroom scale.    Just curious -- what is your bag of choice for storing all of your worldly possessions?

Yea - I've been trying to figure out how to ditch the scale - but... I'm pretty compulsive about taking hard measurements on everything that I experiment with.  And much of my experiments involve me

As for the bag.  Don't get me started...  When I first headed out, I just used my regular travel bag - which was a pretty good sized over the shoulder thing that I got from The Outdoor store in Portland.  Horse people have the best stuff.  Leather straps, heavy canvass, brass zippers.  Amazing.

Well, during a month in the tropics I just left the bag on the floor in a hotel room and never paid any attention to it.  After a month it had been consumed by mildew.

By that time, I had realized that I didn't need half of what I had started with so any old school kid's backpack would be fine.  I've had nothing but trouble with them.  Zippers bursting open.  Seems splitting.  Etc.  A new pack every month.

I'll be back in Portland in a month, so I think I'll swing by the Outdoor store again and buy the smaller, backpack version of the bag I had before.  Leather straps, canvas cloth and big, thick brass zippers are the way to go.  But this time I won't leave it laying on the floor anywhere.

If you want a solid pack, I recommend Cactus Equipment in Christchurch, New Zealand. Their stuff is pricey, but basically indestructable. I have the Patrol and Foray packs and they are solid. Probably the last packs I'll ever need to buy. Their Miklat pack is well loved for lightweight travellers as well:

www.cactusequipment.co.nz

craigr wrote: If you want a solid pack, I recommend Cactus Equipment in Christchurch, New Zealand. Their stuff is pricey, but basically indestructable. I have the Patrol and Foray packs and they are solid. Probably the last packs I'll ever need to buy. Their Miklat pack is well loved for lightweight travellers as well:

www.cactusequipment.co.nz

Thanks Craig.  That Portal bag looks about perfect for me.

NZ is on my list of places to temporarily reside - primarily for much of the reasons you've outlined in your book and blog.  Definitely worth checking out.

[quote=rickb]Sounds similar to the Reacher character in the Lee Child novels.  Do you happen to be 6' 6" and an ex Army MP?[/quote]

That was the first thing I thought of too!  The nomadic-style definitely has an appeal for me on some level, the same sort of appeal as doing an around-the-world cruise in a small trawler which I have also seriously thought about.

But I like "stuff" too much to pursue this kind of goal.  Among the usual kinds of stuff I do have a fairly good collection of what I like to think of as "the means of production" -- woodworking and metalworking tools.  Hard to tote around a band saw, lathe, table saw, welder, etc.

A quick follow up here.

Another member of this forum "Jake" runs a podcast called "The Voluntary Life" - which is just outstanding.  I had been listening to him for some time and then I noticed that he seemed to be following me.  Not true, but just the odd way that it appeared to me.

I would put all of my data in the cloud - and then Jake did a podcast on it.

I would sell off all of my stuff - and then Jake did a podcast on it.

Very erie, but kind of cool.

And... just to put a plug in for him (since he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would do it himself).  Jake just published a Kindle book "Becoming an Entrepreneur - How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner"

I've followed pretty much the same path that Jake has - and his book is dead on.  Although he is much more articulate and thoughtful than I am.  His recent podcasts from Sayulita MX, have convinced me to make that my May home.

Mark Leavy wrote:Another member of this forum "Jake" runs a podcast called "The Voluntary Life"

I listen to Jake fairly frequently and really enjoy his point of view.  Very thoughtful and thought provoking.

I'm very envious of both you, Mark, and people with sprawling ranch homes housing an array of tools, swimming pools, books and art. I suppose it's an eat-your-cake-and-have-it-too situation.

We did a temporary move to an apartment in early March and will be moving back when the renovation on our small home is done. The house was gutted so we had to do an entire cleanout. After the professional moving and storage was done, I still had a basement and many cabinets full of things that were not worth storing. I gave away furniture via freecycle, took books to the library, salvaged a few things to sell online.

Giving stuff away is perhaps even more gratifying than selling it. The difficult part was putting stacks of books in the street for the garbageman, and watching the rain ruin them. (I simply ran out of time).

As painful as this purge was, I miss neither the stuff I got rid of nor the items we put in storage. I cannot believe I held onto things like cassette tapes for so many years, believing that one day I would actually digitize them or even listen to them. I suppose I kept them because I could. I had the space.

The real trick will be not letting clutter take over again when we move back.

[quote=dualstow] I cannot believe I held onto things like cassette tapes for so many years, believing that one day I would actually digitize them or even listen to them. [/quote]

I kept college notes/text books from the 1970s for several decades.  Why?  I do not know.

dualstow wrote: I'm very envious of both you, Mark, and people with sprawling ranch homes housing an array of tools, swimming pools, books and art. I suppose it's an eat-your-cake-and-have-it-too situation.

Totally. I too lust after minimalism, but love my cozy ranch house filled with the means of production and destruction.

I had the opportunity to do a major purge last year when my wife and son and I moved across the country and committed to bringing only what we could fit in our family sedan. It was eye-opening to see how much crap we had accumulated and gratifying to get rid of almost all of it. Of the things we sold, donated, or threw away, here's what we haven't missed at all:
* All DVDs
* Most books
* Most clothes (how did we accumulate so many clothes?)
* Wife and my wedding outfits
* Bedroom storage furniture holding the enormous amount of clothes
* Gigantic pile of mismatched socks
* Low-quality Ikea furniture
* Low-quality kitchenware
* Random tchotchkes accumulated through the years
* Boxes of holiday cards and assorted similar junk
* Gaming PC/entertainment system
* 42" TV
* Non-crib dedicated baby furniture (man, what a waste of money)
* Huge and heavy car parts and tools I never got around to using (just not a car guy)
* Boxes full of empty brass cases I was planning to reload eventually but never did

Here's what we've missed and had to replace:
* Tea kettle
* Mattress
* Couches
* Dining room table & chairs
* Slow cooker
* Pots & pans
* Tableware
* Misc. high-quality kitchenware (d'oh, threw out the baby with the bathwater)
* All the small hand tools I tossed like an idiot (metal shears, center punches, stuff like that)
* Bomb-proof decade-old laser printer (getting hard to find on eBay, gotta keep this one)
* Scanner
* Paper shredder
* Lamps

It was an interesting experience to be sure, and helped me kick out some utopic minimalism that was hanging around in my head. I like stuff, especially stuff that helps me build and accomplish things.

My take...

A tad extreme for me, but to each their own. I am happy for anyone who finds and embraces the lifestyle most suited to their needs and desires. Most people are IMHO way too materialistic. It's sad but true, that most of the people I know are to varying degrees owned by their stuff, rather than the other way around. Personally I think most people should rent their domicile (I concede there are exceptions), live on a zero debt cash and carry basis, have no more than 1 car, and limit their possessions to what can comfortably fit in a 1 (if single) or 2 (if married with kids) bedroom apartment. After spending ten years in the Navy and moving more times than I care to count, I have learned not to accumulate things I can't conveniently move with a car and a small U-Haul trailer or be comfortable abandoning.

That said, I also know I'm not called to the life of a wondering monk.

WildAboutHarry wrote: [quote-dualstow] I cannot believe I held onto things like cassette tapes for so many years, believing that one day I would actually digitize them or even listen to them.

I kept college notes/text books from the 1970s for several decades.  Why?  I do not know.
[/quote]


Ha!  I still have my college notes from the 1970s as well.  I don't know why I've kept them either but probably because I worked and studied hard and thought that I might need them some day -- and that "some day" may still be in the future.  As a side note, I still have my DOS 2.1, 5 1/4" floppies, "just in case..."

Bob wrote: Ha!  I still have my college notes from the 1970s as well.  I don't know why I've kept them either but probably because I worked and studied hard and thought that I might need them some day -- and that "some day" may still be in the future.

My brutal solution to this type of conundrum is to scan 'em then shred 'em. You get the best of both worlds: the content is preserved, but the physical stuff is gone.

That is, unless you like having content connected to physical stuff, which I admit seems very popular among the over-40 crowd.

WildAboutHarry wrote: I kept college notes/text books from the 1970s for several decades.  Why?  I do not know.

I do! At least, I reviewed some of my old papers every few years right up until I got rid of them.
----

Pointedstick wrote:

dualstow wrote: I'm very envious of both you, Mark, and people with sprawling ranch homes housing an array of tools, swimming pools, books and art. I suppose it's an eat-your-cake-and-have-it-too situation.

Totally. I too lust after minimalism, but love my cozy ranch house filled with the means of production and destruction.

I had the opportunity to do a major purge last year when my wife and son and I moved across the country and committed to bringing only what we could fit in our family sedan. It was eye-opening to see how much crap we had accumulated and gratifying to get rid of almost all of it. Of the things we sold, donated, or threw away, here's what we haven't missed at all:
...
* Gigantic pile of mismatched socks
...

Here's what we've missed and had to replace:
* Tea kettle
...
* Misc. high-quality kitchenware (d'oh, threw out the baby with the bathwater)
...
* Paper shredder
...

It was an interesting experience to be sure, and helped me kick out some utopic minimalism that was hanging around in my head. I like stuff, especially stuff that helps me build and accomplish things.

I have to laugh about the mismatched socks. I started out long before the move, trying to sort and match mine. Approaching moving day, if this were the worst Michael Crichton novel ever written, you would see a timeline to the left, including fractions of a second:
... sort socks
... ok, just throw out the maroon ones without looking
... I think these might be Japan Airlines slipper-socks
... running out of time, get picky
... (panic)
In the end, I finished up in the wee hours and threw out a few items like silverware in an attempt to get to my new apartment without getting mugged. A lot of socks went to the trash and a similar-sized bag now sits in my new closet...awaiting sorting. I really should get to that soon. ;-)

My shredder and printer had the decency to break and die shortly before I moved. The building has its own communal printer which is a godsend, even if a pushy young lady from Guadalajara thinks she can run the scanner while I print my precious Book of Mormon tickets.

I don't know how you can get rid of a shredder. It's a Tool of Deletion!

I don't know if you ran into this, but the tea kettle falls under a large category of things (inluding my kitchen counters!) my wife wanted to trash and I did not. I deferred to her on most things with the agreement that we would replace it with a new one.

Unlike most people, I had the luxury of tucking a few things in the basement, the hardest room to clean out by sheer volume. What's down there will face dust and possible breakage by contractors, but I could not put things like fine crystal on the street.

As I type all this, I'm beginning to realize just how smart OP Mark and podcaster Jake are.

I'm now in the beginning of another purge. I got rid of about 1/2 my stuff last year. I'll try for another 1/2 this year. The basic rule I have is if I haven't touched it in a year, it is on the priority list to leave.

I'd love to get to one backpack, but I enjoy shooting too much and won't get rid of my competition rifles, ammo, etc. Also I enjoy hiking too much so have a bunch of hiking gear. But I'll get rid of most of it and just keep what I actually use.

I got rid of about 20-30 boxes of books from my library last year. That was a little painful, but I haven't missed them at all. I own almost no DVDs now and all my CDs are gone.

I look at the stuff I got rid of and just think of how I could have used that money better to travel, for income, etc. It's amazing what you can talk yourself into buying...

Pointedstick wrote: It was an interesting experience to be sure, and helped me kick out some utopic minimalism that was hanging around in my head. I like stuff, especially stuff that helps me build and accomplish things.

Wow, PS!  Did you Escape from San Francisco?  Where are you living now, a sandbag house in the boonies?

Pointedstick wrote: My brutal solution to this type of conundrum is to scan 'em then shred 'em. You get the best of both worlds: the content is preserved, but the physical stuff is gone.

I did that a couple of weeks ago, but I have yet to shred the pile of originals.  I admit I'm a little worried about losing the scans since I would lose literally everything, even though its copied to a USB drive and backed up to the cloud weekly, as well as a manually burned DVD copy.  Any suggestion?  I just don't trust technology that much as reliability has gone downhill over the decades.  And what about an EMP attack?  Oh boy.

MachineGhost wrote:

Pointedstick wrote: My brutal solution to this type of conundrum is to scan 'em then shred 'em. You get the best of both worlds: the content is preserved, but the physical stuff is gone.

I did that a couple of weeks ago, but I have yet to shred the pile of originals.  I admit I'm a little worried about losing the scans since I would lose literally everything, even though its copied to a USB drive and backed up to the cloud weekly, as well as a manually burned DVD copy.  Any suggestion?  I just don't trust technology that much as reliability has gone downhill over the decades.  And what about an EMP attack?  Oh boy.

Scan to pdf to dropbox.  Use boxcryptor for the sensitive stuff.  (or your preferred solution).
Setup your mac and iPhone to keep local copies on the device.
backup your mac to a flash drive daily via time machine.
Keep the small number of items that you are super worried about in a safe deposit box somewhere.

That won't solve all of your worries, but it solved enough of mine to allow me throw my paper in the fireplace.

If you aren't planning on giving up your home soon - then don't sweat it.  Keep paper copies.

MachineGhost wrote:

Pointedstick wrote: My brutal solution to this type of conundrum is to scan 'em then shred 'em. You get the best of both worlds: the content is preserved, but the physical stuff is gone.

I did that a couple of weeks ago, but I have yet to shred the pile of originals.  I admit I'm a little worried about losing the scans...

When 3D printers get better and more popular, I'll have my most important documents "engraved" into robust materials.
Of course at that point, the printer will be almost the only thing left in the house!

[quote=Pointedstick]That is, unless you like having content connected to physical stuff, which I admit seems very popular among the over-40 crowd.[/quote]

So is that why I have a vinyl, an 8-track, a cassette, a CD, and an MP3 version of The White Album?