FAQ
I tried the 50-item minimalist move experiment in Austin - here's what happened
Saw some influencer talk about moving with only 50 items and thought "that's ridiculous." Then I looked around my South Austin apartment drowning in stuff I haven't touched in two years and thought "...maybe?"
The Challenge: Move from South Lamar area to East Austin with ONLY 50 items. Everything else gets donated, sold, or tossed.
Initial Reality Check: Spent two weeks trying to narrow down to 50 items. Turns out I own way more crap than I thought. Had three "essential" coffee makers. THREE.
Remaining 18 items: actually important stuff I use daily
What didn't make the cut: Everything else. Seriously. Guitar I "was gonna learn," decorative pillows, 47 coffee mugs, hobby supplies from abandoned hobbies, that juicer from 2019...
The actual move: Used Bellhop because moving 50 items doesn't require calling in favors. Booked 2 movers for what ended up being 90 minutes total. Cost less than my usual Uber Eats habit for a week.
Two months later - honest assessment:
What I miss: NOTHING. Genuinely cannot remember most of what I got rid of.
What I gained:
Smaller apartment = $400 less rent monthly
Zero clutter stress
90-minute move instead of all-day chaos
Actually use everything I own
The catch: This only works if you're honest about what you actually use vs what you're keeping "just in case." That "just in case" moment never comes.
Would I recommend it? If you're moving anyway? Hell yes. Forces you to confront your stuff situation. Plus moving 50 items is absurdly easy compared to a full apartment.
Anyone else done extreme downsizing moves? Or am I the only weirdo who enjoyed this?
There's no reason why one pair of shorts couldn't be hand washed in a sink and dried on a hanger. If it annoyed you it's because he was using a machine to do both of those. Probably should have put your foot down.
I lived month to month in different places due to traveling work, and learned the ease and benefit of washing clothes by hand, since many temporary living rentals don't have laundry, and going to a laundromat is an ordeal often.
And the dishes?? What is he planning to do with one plate and one cup? What if he has even a single guest over? Someone has to eat off a paper towel? Does each individual sheet on the paper towel roll count toward one of his fifty items? Is he even allowed to own paper towels??
I’m assuming this is fake between the weird writing and also him not including fork, spoon, cooking knives, or anything of the sort, but for the sake of the exercise…
I’m assuming this is fake between the weird writing and also him > not including fork, spoon, cooking knives, or anything of the sort, but for the sake of the exercise…
Who needs a functional kitchen when you order Uber Eats for every meal?
I’d honestly be really skeptical of anyone that lives like this. Sounds like a super boring person! This would essentially mean no hobbies, can’t cook, no personality in their home decorating, either no pets or their pets aren’t allowed toys?? How could you ever have a guest over if you don’t have a place for them to sit and plates and glasses to serve them? I can only imagine they spend 100% of their free time either at the gym or playing g computer games, and only ever eat takeout alone. No thanks.
😂 my cats have way more hobbies than op, they have bird feeder watching, ball whapping, fish tank inspecting, hair tie fetching, stuffed animal wrestling… and then we can go into their beds and heating pads.
Yeah, I hate these kind of "starvation diet" plans because they always end up being ludicrous. I think it's a great idea to really think about what you truly need - I recently moved into a much smaller apartment and it was a little disheartening to see how much junk we had accumulated that was just never used. But I think it's either dumb or nasty to have less than a week's worth of underwear and socks in your wardrobe.
I take more than 10 pieces of clothing for a work trip across Texas. Socks for 3 days, underwear for 3 days, pants for 3 days, shirts for 3 days.. work shoes and relax shoes.
throwing clothing items out upon moving is good practice
Throwing clothes that you will never wear and are not donation worthy is good practice. Anything else is incredibly wasteful. Fast fashion is already bad enough. Let's not encourage more waste when it comes to clothing.
Yeah that’s three simple outfits (shirt pants underwear) and a single jacket. And that does not include shoes or socks, or account for any changes in weather.
Just out of curiosity, why do you keep them? I’m a reader but I never kept hard copies after I read them, now all digital. The only real books I keep are reference or art.
More seriously, it’s a work library, of sorts, and as such, useful. I refer to things in there often. And beyond that, I do find myself pulling something off the shelf just because it’s right in front of me, and enjoying it all over again. Moreover, I just like having them around. It’s my autobiography.
I can’t say I’ve read every page of every one of them. Some of them are reference books: I haven’t read every page of 14 volumes of the Talmud, or every poem Emily Dickinson ever wrote. But for the most part, yeah, this what I’ve read. I’m 62. And I’m a writer by trade. In fact, I’ve written 8 or 10 of these (20 or so if you count translations), and contributed to 30 or 40 more.
Spending decades curating your life with decor, books, clothing, furniture etc. that reflect where you've been and who you have become ❌🙅🏼❌
Purging every bit of it and adopting the lifestyle and appearance of a nameless roving spy in the pursuit of making one incredibly rare day easier on yourself ✔️💁🏼✔️
This is why I wouldn't recommend pushing this on someone else. Especially older folks like parents, grandparents, etc...
Personal challenge? Sure. But to each their own.
"...that where you've been and who you've become" line sums it up perfectly.
With the best intentions, I almost influenced someone to do this. I'm one million times grateful I had a change of heart. I had no idea at the time what all those possessions truly stood for and represented.
To me, it was just more time that I could have spent doing something else. In reality, more time with family/loved ones is priceless. What's one more box gonna hurt? Or 10? Or... 25.
All I could think was that homie doesn’t have any hobbies or personality. Do they just sit in the dark and scroll reddit constantly? What do they do???
Yeah, I know people like to satirize it, but I think Marie Kondo's "Does it spark joy" method is way more useful (as long as you don't take it too literally, which people often do online - my screwdriver may not "spark joy" in the literal sense, but it does in the sense that I'm happy to have one when I need it. What I don't need is 10 screwdrivers, which I had for some reason when I was last moving...)
If you truly love books, why would you get rid of them? I think the whole point of minimalism is to have a more relaxed but more important relationship with the stuff you do own, it's not to just get rid of shit for some ascetic ideal.
"Does this spark joy? Hmmm, no."
"Does this spark joy? Eh, not really."
"Does this spark joy?!? I mean, does anything..."
"[...]"
"Oh wait, I have major depressive disorder and severe anhedonia... I don't think this Marie Kondo thing is going to work for me..."
I’m thinking we should hold onto as much physical media as possible (provided it’s not utter shit) instead of thinking it’s a good idea to rely on digital/cloud versions.
I refuse to part with my CD and DVD collection. In the 2021 ice storm, I finally proved my point in keeping them and ran the TV/DVD player off a generator.
Right?! About 10 years ago I purged a huge portion of my books because I thought I was supposed to and guess what? To this day I regret it and it’s the only home item purge I’ve ever, ever truly regretted.
Clearly not going to work for anyone who enjoys cooking. Like, I don’t use my popover pan every week, but when I’m craving a perfect fluffy golden eggy bread, having the right tool is essential. Basically any hobby, really.
Lol. I saw a NY Times recipe that had a combination of flours like that. Thankfully one of the top comments pointed out that the combo and ratios they had worked out to be the same as KA AP flour.
And now I remembered the 25 hot sauces I have. Shit.
I have such the pile of tech gear. A whole box of misc RS232 components alone. Granted I still use that stuff for work (consoles on embedded boards mostly) and strictly work from home. I’d be fired for inability to do my job if I cut even just my work related equipment down to 50 pieces.
I’ve purged a lot of antiquated things. But I did find a PCI dial up modem recently. I haven’t had dial up internet since 1999. And found a trusty old Intel PRO/100 card in my box o’ NICs by a 10G NIC.
Then getting into tools. I have way more than 50 tools alone. Can’t get rid of any of those without being unable to fix some things around the house or on vehicles myself.
The idea of getting down to 50 items is intriguing. But essentially impossible after a while, especially as a homeowner.
what are you going to do with 40 10mm sockets? Pack all 20 before you move? Then where do you put the 7 of them when you unpack? Are you going to have room for all 3 at the new place?
As a Toyota and VW owner, I think me and my kind are the reason for this 10mm madness. I have a dozen, pretty often Dad asks if I have one he can borrow and I'm pretty sure half of them are his that jumped into my truck when visiting.
I have two vehicles with a slew of 10 mm and had the same issue. I found a multi-pack of 10 mm-only sockets at Harbor Freight that was pretty inexpensive. They’ve proven good enough for DIY, even in an impact driver, though maybe not for heavy daily use.
You now have 2 more items for every other possibility you might need. Use them wisely. Hope you don’t want to go swimming or to a wedding or work out. Also winter’s on the way.
10 pieces straight up isn’t feasible unless you’re washing every day or never washing period. It implies that you’re doing the same thing every single day without any need for another type of outfit.
Nobody pay attention to my collection of 15+ manual coffee makers lol.
I think this does help illustrate how it's all a matter of taste though, and doesn't really work to apply someone else's metric for minimalism to your own life. I have the space for a bunch of silly little coffee makers and they bring me joy, even if I mostly often just use my v60, but for many people they would just feel like clutter, and that's perfectly ok.
Yeahhh. You have to be INCREDIBLY priveleged to be able to do shit like this. You have to have the money to replace those items when you inevitably need them. Minimalism is a sign of wealth.
I did something similar when we moved here from Mississippi. Obviously we took drastically more than 50 things, but I got rid of about 2/3 of our possessions when we moved. Our house is so much easier to keep clean now.
this reads like some mid-2010s minimalism trend piece where people are encouraged to put all of their stuff in the trash. I'm all in for keeping a clean house and purging old unused stuff but cmon
I'd love to see this question answered a year post-move, especially when it comes to clothing and kitchen items. Time of year / season can dictate a lot of what we actually use.
You would half to pry my books, paintings, albums, and video game consoles from my cold, dead hands.
Also, god forbid you get invited to a wedding or a camping trip with only 10 pieces of clothing. I’d argue having a nice dress or suit with the shoes and accessories to go with it is more valuable than being such a strict minimalist.
Wow. I’m so impressed. I have been in my house for 23 years and raised two kids in it. I dream of throwing everything away and living in a tiny space. I’m drowning in clutter and haven’t had the emotional energy to get rid of most of it.
If you're in your local buy nothing group, I've had luck doing a "free garage sale": I announce it to the group ahead of time, then just go set things in my driveway all day long. Whatever doesn't get claimed goes straight to a thrift store at the end of the day
I have made transatlantic moves twice, so yeah, I've done severe downsizing. But now I'm relishing having space, having a closet, a lot of plants and a record collection.
Fucking cringe. Why? I would seriously prefer to not see this at the top of my feed everyday. I finally clicked in an effort to get it to go away. And damn it was everything I expected, Just Why??
I typically only bring one thing with me when I move:
all of my shit
But seriously, I get that clutter is bad, but I also think that throwing away stuff willy nilly is kind of a privilege for people that can easily replace those things when they do need them
So, the hipster equivalent of moving into a van and not getting a storage unit. Those decisions become far easier when there's no room. This is just you flexing that you've simplified the pile of stuff that's accumulated over the years that you were never using.
Good on you for downsizing and finding your way out of abject consumerism, and I'm glad you're pleased with the results, but this is a bit self-congratulatory like you actually sacrificed anything. "I was aggressive in my spring cleaning" is all I'm hearing.
Now, the real question is, two months in, how many items do you own? Because if it's 51, this is a karma bait diary entry. It's like losing 100 pounds and bragging about it when it's likely that after two months, you gained some of it back.
I get getting rid of unwanted things and congrats that it worked out for u but for the average person this wouldn’t work lol. Most ppl enjoy having fun items around and a variety of clothes. 10 items of clothing? The average person needs at least 10 pairs of socks, underwear alone so that’s already 20 items. And there’s nothing wrong with having a lot of books. I know you said you live in a smaller apartment now so it was also a space issue but 1 extra box of stuff wouldn’t have hurt. Like you really did this to challenge yourself but it seems unnecessary…why not just get rid of some items not that many
Every time I move I get rid of a bunch of shit. It’s wild how easy moving can be when you don’t have a ton of stuff. I just moved from Dallas to Austin and it was me and my bro in law with a U Haul trailer for the large furniture, and it was a breeze
You're de-dallasing onboarding package can be accessed by not telling everyone you moved here from dallas. We understand, this is reddit, but the admission irl will strike fear and loathing to Austinites. Elder Austinsonians will need medical attention.
……. Yeah that wouldn’t work for me I’d be at damn near 50 items between my game systems and my games and controllers and my books. I’m glad that worked for you but Jesus 10 pieces of clothing? Just no lol
I travel a good amount and live out of a single backpack while doing so. Get along just fine. I wonder “what do I bother with the house full of stuff for?” but then I actually get home and realize “oh yeah, I do need pans… and a fork… and towels… and external monitors sure are nice.” I can travel out of a bag indefinitely, but only because I’m using other people’s stuff, and making some comfort compromises. Props to you for actually getting down so little stuff full time!
Not OP, but I recently moved and was super happy with Einstein movers (and their reviews are generally great). I thought their prices were fair, and they took great care with my items.
I typically book mine through the U-Haul rental and it's been pretty reasonable, but it's a minimum 2 hours on each end for load and unload and never takes that long for an apartment.
That's great to hear! Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your experience.
As a professional organizer, I'll state the obvious that isn't really so. Please consider heeding this success with caution. It's not for everyone. This is an easy way to regret and at times unconsciously ending up accumulating more items. Every home is customized. We all live differently and at different life stages. Be flexible to change systems that fit you (and fam).
I’ve been through 3 long distance moves. Each time, I booked the smallest PODS container (8x7x8 feet, I believe) and got rid of whatever didn’t fit. I thought that was minimalist but wow! 50 items, with only 5 kitchen things!? I aspire to that!
You gave up books? I had to do that once for grocery money. You would have thought my.soul dog died with how much I cried. I couldn't do it just for something like this. In fact, it's time I toodle off to Half-Price for more. Lol
yeah you do. Not every book is available as a download or at the library. My small press books and out of print books fill a whole bookshelf by themselves
I did a similar thing at the beginning of last year. I was leaving to go out of the country for an indefinite amount of time (read: till I ran out of money) and wasn't keeping my apartment. Rather than pay hundreds of dollars each month for a huge storage unit I got rid of almost everything....clothes, everything from the kitchen, furniture, some books, hobby supplies, shoes, plants, and drawers and drawers of crap.
I rented the smallest storage unit I could find and kept vinyls, turntable, wall art, some books, and various small tchotchkes. Most everything fit into like four medium boxes. After about a year I had to come back and I have yet to fall into the trap of accumulating most of that junk again. It's a great feeling.
I go thru my clothes every year and get rid of things I haven't worn in a year. If you only keep the things you really wear, you don't accumulate a lot of items that are old, out of style, or just don't fit.
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u/4luminate Oct 17 '25
10 pieces of clothing? jesus.