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+[1]Ruslan Osipov [2][ ]
+[3]About [4]Categories [5]Archive [6] RSS feed icon for RSS
+
+Home is where my stuff is
+
+📅 Dec 29, 2025 🏷️ [7]Philosophy
+
+When I was in my 20s, decluttering was easy. I didn’t have a lot of stuff. I
+came to the US with a single suitcase, and I mostly kept my stuff contained to
+that suitcase for years. It was nice - every time I’d move when renting rooms
+(which was often), I’d go through all my stuff, put it back in the suitcase,
+and be back on the move.
+
+My mom lived through the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which instilled a
+scarcity mindset - something I naturally inherited. You don’t own too many
+things, you take care of what you own, you don’t throw stuff away. Stuff was
+hard to come by, so you respected it.
+
+The irony is that this mindset both prevents accumulation and makes
+decluttering harder. You don’t buy frivolously, but you also don’t discard
+easily. Every object earned its place.
+
+I slowly started accumulating stuff. First, it was the computer. My love of
+both tech and games is no secret, so I upgraded from a tiny netbook into a
+full-blown gaming PC. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was big
+enough that it would no longer fit in my suitcase. There was a monitor too, so
+two things that I had to have. It was the first time I needed help moving - and
+my last landlord was nice enough to help - a suitcase, a PC tower, and a
+monitor.
+
+I still didn’t have too much stuff, and a dedicated PC really was a great
+investment for a gaming enthusiast like me. I got a bicycle too, but that was
+really a transportation method, and while it was yet another thing - it made me
+healthier and opened up the city around me.
+
+Clutter escalated once I rented an entire place to myself. All of a sudden I
+needed furniture, moving up from prefurnished rooms. At first I lived in a tiny
+studio which didn’t even have a functional kitchen. A bed, a clothes rack, and
+a desk for my computer.
+
+The studio was cramped and utilitarian, but I remember a specific kind of
+peace. Everything I owned was visible from the bed. No hidden boxes, no “I
+should really go through that” guilt. I could see all my stuff. I didn’t
+realize at the time that this was a temporary state - not a lifestyle I’d
+chosen, but a constraint I’d graduate out of. Minimalism is easy when the life
+is not yet complicated.
+
+I won’t bore you with every place I lived in throughout my life, so let’s fast
+forward a decade. My wife, child, and I live in our house in San Diego, and
+have a lot more stuff now. Naturally, all the furniture, clothes for three,
+kitchen stuff (I love to cook), so many different things. There’s all the home
+improvement stuff - hey, gotta keep the paints, the brushes, the hammers and
+the drills. Need all of that to take care of the house we own. I have many more
+interests these days too - from miniature painting to, as of recently, [8]3D
+printing. All of the hobbies take up valuable space.
+
+I had a director, Luke, who was complaining about business travel - and me,
+being a young tech professional, could not relate. He would say “Home is where
+my stuff is. I like my stuff.” And now that I have more stuff - ugh, I get it.
+
+I go through annual decluttering, Konmari exercises (“does this bring me joy?
+”). But it’s hard, because buying stuff is really easy. A few clicks and
+tomorrow (or sometimes even today) there’s a box on your porch. Look, just last
+week I talked about [9]a phone keyboard I bought. The friction is gone. The
+decision to acquire takes seconds; the decision to discard takes emotional
+labor.
+
+Here’s what I’ve realized: every object I own is a fossil. A little sediment
+left by a past version of myself.
+
+The gaming PC wasn’t clutter - it was proof that I’d made it, that I could
+afford something nice for once, that I wasn’t just surviving anymore. The drill
+isn’t clutter - it’s homeowner-me, a version of myself that
+20-something-year-old me with his suitcase couldn’t have imagined. The 3D
+printer is current-me’s curiosity, an exploration of a hobby. The miniature
+paints are the version of me that finally has time for hobbies just for the
+sake of having hobbies.
+
+This is why decluttering is so hard. It’s not really about tidiness. It’s about
+deciding which past selves get to stay.
+
+That drawer with random cables? That’s “I might need this someday” me - the
+Soviet scarcity mindset my mom handed down. The programming books I’ll never
+open again? That’s a young programmer me from a decade ago. The fancy kitchen
+gadgets I used twice? That’s “I’m going to become someone who makes pasta from
+scratch” me. Aspirational me. He didn’t pan out, but he tried.
+
+Some of these versions of myself are still relevant. Some aren’t. The hard part
+isn’t identifying which is which - it’s accepting that letting go of the object
+means letting go of that version of me. Admitting that I’m not that person
+anymore. Or that I never became the person I bought that thing for.
+
+I don’t think the goal is to minimize anymore. I’ve read the minimalism blogs,
+I’ve seen the photos of people with one bag and a laptop living their best life
+in Lisbon. Good for them, I lived that life before - hell, [10]I lived out of
+my car for a year. But I have a partner, a kid, a house, and more varied
+interests. All of which come with stuff.
+
+I want to be intentional about which identities I’m holding onto and why. Some
+sediment is just dirt - clear it out, make space, breathe easier. But some
+sediment is bedrock (I’m not a geologist, I don’t know rocks). The one suitcase
+life isn’t coming back, and that’s okay. I’m in a different stage of my life: I
+look back at my “simple life” with longing, but I enjoy my life today even more
+- or maybe just differently. I certainly enjoy it in the way important to me
+today.
+
+So now when I declutter, I try to ask a different question. Not “does this
+bring me joy?” but “which version of me needed this, and do I still want to
+carry him forward?” Sometimes the answer is yes. The drill stays. The 3D
+printer stays. The gaming PC - upgraded many times now - stays. And sometimes
+the answer is: that guy did his best, but I’m someone else now. Thanks for
+getting me here. Into the donate pile you go.
+
+It doesn’t make decluttering easy. But it helps me make peace with the mess.
+The suitcase me is not coming back, and that’s probably for the best - he
+didn’t really have much of a life yet. I’ve got more stuff now. I’ve got more
+me now. I’ll figure out what stays.
+
+It’s been 10 years since I first wrote about [11]my experience with minimalism.
+Reading through it now - many of the story beats are similar, but the
+perspective changed. Funny how that works…
+
+[12]✍️ Reply by email
+[13]
+
+Ruslan Osipov
+
+Notes on technology, travel, productivity, finance, and everything in between.
+
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+[8] https://rosipov.com/blog/thoughts-on-3d-printing/
+[9] https://rosipov.com/blog/i-bought-a-keyboard-for-my-phone/
+[10] https://rosipov.com/blog/living-in-a-car-for-5000-miles/
+[11] https://rosipov.com/blog/my-experience-with-minimalism/
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