rosipov-com-qbdcgh.txt (7694B)
1 [1]Ruslan Osipov [2][ ] 2 [3]About [4]Categories [5]Archive [6] RSS feed icon for RSS 3 4 Home is where my stuff is 5 6 š Dec 29, 2025 š·ļø [7]Philosophy 7 8 When I was in my 20s, decluttering was easy. I didnāt have a lot of stuff. I 9 came to the US with a single suitcase, and I mostly kept my stuff contained to 10 that suitcase for years. It was nice - every time Iād move when renting rooms 11 (which was often), Iād go through all my stuff, put it back in the suitcase, 12 and be back on the move. 13 14 My mom lived through the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which instilled a 15 scarcity mindset - something I naturally inherited. You donāt own too many 16 things, you take care of what you own, you donāt throw stuff away. Stuff was 17 hard to come by, so you respected it. 18 19 The irony is that this mindset both prevents accumulation and makes 20 decluttering harder. You donāt buy frivolously, but you also donāt discard 21 easily. Every object earned its place. 22 23 I slowly started accumulating stuff. First, it was the computer. My love of 24 both tech and games is no secret, so I upgraded from a tiny netbook into a 25 full-blown gaming PC. It wasnāt anything to write home about, but it was big 26 enough that it would no longer fit in my suitcase. There was a monitor too, so 27 two things that I had to have. It was the first time I needed help moving - and 28 my last landlord was nice enough to help - a suitcase, a PC tower, and a 29 monitor. 30 31 I still didnāt have too much stuff, and a dedicated PC really was a great 32 investment for a gaming enthusiast like me. I got a bicycle too, but that was 33 really a transportation method, and while it was yet another thing - it made me 34 healthier and opened up the city around me. 35 36 Clutter escalated once I rented an entire place to myself. All of a sudden I 37 needed furniture, moving up from prefurnished rooms. At first I lived in a tiny 38 studio which didnāt even have a functional kitchen. A bed, a clothes rack, and 39 a desk for my computer. 40 41 The studio was cramped and utilitarian, but I remember a specific kind of 42 peace. Everything I owned was visible from the bed. No hidden boxes, no āI 43 should really go through thatā guilt. I could see all my stuff. I didnāt 44 realize at the time that this was a temporary state - not a lifestyle Iād 45 chosen, but a constraint Iād graduate out of. Minimalism is easy when the life 46 is not yet complicated. 47 48 I wonāt bore you with every place I lived in throughout my life, so letās fast 49 forward a decade. My wife, child, and I live in our house in San Diego, and 50 have a lot more stuff now. Naturally, all the furniture, clothes for three, 51 kitchen stuff (I love to cook), so many different things. Thereās all the home 52 improvement stuff - hey, gotta keep the paints, the brushes, the hammers and 53 the drills. Need all of that to take care of the house we own. I have many more 54 interests these days too - from miniature painting to, as of recently, [8]3D 55 printing. All of the hobbies take up valuable space. 56 57 I had a director, Luke, who was complaining about business travel - and me, 58 being a young tech professional, could not relate. He would say āHome is where 59 my stuff is. I like my stuff.ā And now that I have more stuff - ugh, I get it. 60 61 I go through annual decluttering, Konmari exercises (ādoes this bring me joy? 62 ā). But itās hard, because buying stuff is really easy. A few clicks and 63 tomorrow (or sometimes even today) thereās a box on your porch. Look, just last 64 week I talked about [9]a phone keyboard I bought. The friction is gone. The 65 decision to acquire takes seconds; the decision to discard takes emotional 66 labor. 67 68 Hereās what Iāve realized: every object I own is a fossil. A little sediment 69 left by a past version of myself. 70 71 The gaming PC wasnāt clutter - it was proof that Iād made it, that I could 72 afford something nice for once, that I wasnāt just surviving anymore. The drill 73 isnāt clutter - itās homeowner-me, a version of myself that 74 20-something-year-old me with his suitcase couldnāt have imagined. The 3D 75 printer is current-meās curiosity, an exploration of a hobby. The miniature 76 paints are the version of me that finally has time for hobbies just for the 77 sake of having hobbies. 78 79 This is why decluttering is so hard. Itās not really about tidiness. Itās about 80 deciding which past selves get to stay. 81 82 That drawer with random cables? Thatās āI might need this somedayā me - the 83 Soviet scarcity mindset my mom handed down. The programming books Iāll never 84 open again? Thatās a young programmer me from a decade ago. The fancy kitchen 85 gadgets I used twice? Thatās āIām going to become someone who makes pasta from 86 scratchā me. Aspirational me. He didnāt pan out, but he tried. 87 88 Some of these versions of myself are still relevant. Some arenāt. The hard part 89 isnāt identifying which is which - itās accepting that letting go of the object 90 means letting go of that version of me. Admitting that Iām not that person 91 anymore. Or that I never became the person I bought that thing for. 92 93 I donāt think the goal is to minimize anymore. Iāve read the minimalism blogs, 94 Iāve seen the photos of people with one bag and a laptop living their best life 95 in Lisbon. Good for them, I lived that life before - hell, [10]I lived out of 96 my car for a year. But I have a partner, a kid, a house, and more varied 97 interests. All of which come with stuff. 98 99 I want to be intentional about which identities Iām holding onto and why. Some 100 sediment is just dirt - clear it out, make space, breathe easier. But some 101 sediment is bedrock (Iām not a geologist, I donāt know rocks). The one suitcase 102 life isnāt coming back, and thatās okay. Iām in a different stage of my life: I 103 look back at my āsimple lifeā with longing, but I enjoy my life today even more 104 - or maybe just differently. I certainly enjoy it in the way important to me 105 today. 106 107 So now when I declutter, I try to ask a different question. Not ādoes this 108 bring me joy?ā but āwhich version of me needed this, and do I still want to 109 carry him forward?ā Sometimes the answer is yes. The drill stays. The 3D 110 printer stays. The gaming PC - upgraded many times now - stays. And sometimes 111 the answer is: that guy did his best, but Iām someone else now. Thanks for 112 getting me here. Into the donate pile you go. 113 114 It doesnāt make decluttering easy. But it helps me make peace with the mess. 115 The suitcase me is not coming back, and thatās probably for the best - he 116 didnāt really have much of a life yet. Iāve got more stuff now. Iāve got more 117 me now. Iāll figure out what stays. 118 119 Itās been 10 years since I first wrote about [11]my experience with minimalism. 120 Reading through it now - many of the story beats are similar, but the 121 perspective changed. Funny how that worksā¦ 122 123 [12]āļø Reply by email 124 [13] 125 126 Ruslan Osipov 127 128 Notes on technology, travel, productivity, finance, and everything in between. 129 130 [14]ā [15]IndieWeb webring šøš [16]ā 131 132 References: 133 134 [1] https://rosipov.com/ 135 [3] https://rosipov.com/blog/about/ 136 [4] https://rosipov.com/blog/categories/ 137 [5] https://rosipov.com/blog/archive/ 138 [6] https://rosipov.com/atom.xml 139 [7] https://rosipov.com/blog/categories/philosophy 140 [8] https://rosipov.com/blog/thoughts-on-3d-printing/ 141 [9] https://rosipov.com/blog/i-bought-a-keyboard-for-my-phone/ 142 [10] https://rosipov.com/blog/living-in-a-car-for-5000-miles/ 143 [11] https://rosipov.com/blog/my-experience-with-minimalism/ 144 [12] mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re:%20Home%20is%20where%20my%20stuff%20is 145 [13] https://rosipov.com/blog/home-is-where-my-stuff-is/ 146 [14] https://xn--sr8hvo.ws/previous 147 [15] https://xn--sr8hvo.ws/ 148 [16] https://xn--sr8hvo.ws/next