Wednesday, March 26, 2008

the ten things game

the longer i live in my van, the more i realize how little of my stuff i actually use, and it pisses me off that it's there doing nothing. why do i hang on? so i came up with a way to channel that energy into getting rid of the dead weight. it's called the ten things game, and it's a survival game where time is running out and the only way to survive is to get rid of ten things on the ship. the mood is tense, and choices must be made and made quickly. i get a bag and begin to fill it-- not everything counts as "one" thing, like underwear and socks, it takes 4 of them to count as 1, and silverware takes 3 for 1. there will be more rules, i haven't figured it all out yet, but i played this morning and now my clothing drawers close more easily. i got rid of mostly clothes, they seem to be my weakness, though books might be a close second. it's much easier to get rid of the clothes first since i'm not sentimental about most of them. i the light of the ten things game, things just don't seem that important, i mean do i really need 5 pairs of leggings? when it's between them and my french press, the answer is obvious.
fellow van dwellers with a clutter problem, feel free to play along and let me know how it goes!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

With book you should go get a libray card. That way you CAN'T keep the books you want to read. With clothing you should get like 10 - 20 things that all go together. That way you can wear lots different outfits with very little clothing. And really you only need like 5 pair of underwhere and socks you can was them in a sink.

stranger in a strange van said...

you are right, but i'm not quite there yet. this process of letting go takes time. ugh. i'm getting close to the point where that will happen though. thanks for reading, i'm glad you are here! :)

Pixy Stoneskipper said...

I have one mug that is also a bowl, and one spoon that is also a fork. I have one pot to cook in, and one small colander to drain pasta. Three spices. Got a one burner coleman propane stove. I do the dishes using one paper towel to wipe stuff out. If it's not very clean with one paper towel - it'll just have some dry food caked to it. I had ants once, and it didn't look like they were interested in that obvious stuff. I was told about some good ant traps, but I just let it be since they didn't wander around near my bed. Simplicity is easier to organize, and probably the sanest aspect of van life. When you boil your next water, the dry caked food joins the mix and it's all clean again until the paper towel doesn't quite get the new stuff. Easy dishes. Hooray!