Do you remember when you were a child and everyone would always ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up?

For me the answer was always different. It seemed to change from week to week based on what I was learning about in school or saw on TV. I was always getting these ideas on how cool it would be do be a fireman or a fishing guide. The list could go on for days!

I’ve been changing my life over the past year or so and decided to become a minimalist and work toward my ultimate goal of traveling the world as a vagabond for the foreseeable future. Thinking back to when I was kid, I was being asked the wrong question. What we should be asking kids is…

What do you want to do? What do you want to do after when you get old? What are you hobbies?

Things like that should be common questions in place of: What do you want to be?

That question implies you need to choose one job and work there for the rest of your best years. I don’t like this, not one bit. That is why I made a real bucket list. I’ve always had ideas floating around in my head but never wrote them down. Which turns out is the MOST important part!

You need to start thinking about your dreams and goals. I heard somewhere that…

A dream is only a dream unless you’re losing sleep over it.

Your bucket list doesn’t need include world travel or something crazy. It can include smalled goals. Things like paying off your debt, see your family more often, start saving money for your child’s college. The point is to make you start thinking about your happiness. Life is short and you should take advantage of every second.

I’ve posted my bucket list which can be found here:

Adam’s Bucket List

Every time I see something looks fun and I might enjoy I add it to the list. I’ve the list public and once I complete a task, I can cross it off. This will hopefully give me a little more motivation.

A while back I injured my shoulder pretty bad and life has kind of gotten in the way of writing but hopefully I’m back.

I just recently finished reading a fictional book about mass consumerism set in a different time. A time where corporations ruled and war is waged between them.

The writing style is fairly simple and it’s an easy read. The book jumps around bit and the author could have been a bit more descriptive. Nevertheless it was a good read.

The world is run by American corporations; there are no taxes; employees take the last names of the companies they work for; the Police and the NRA are publicly-traded security firms; the government can only investigate crimes it can bill for.

Hack Nike is a Merchandising Officer who discovers an all-new way to sell sneakers. Buy Mitsui is a stockbroker with a death-wish. Billy NRA is finding out that life in a private army isn’t all snappy uniforms and code names. And Jennifer Government, a legendary agent with a barcode tattoo, is a consumer watchdog with a gun.

The book doesn’t deal with minimalism but it does deal with consumerism and how people feel almost powerless to advertising and sales. Rewards programs rule  and people are forced to choose sides. Nike is selling sneakers for $2500 retail with a cost of $0.89.

After reading through this book, I’m happy to say that I’m not a mass consumer. Advertising has very little effect on me and I’m able to make my own choices. I also feel fortunate that I’m able to deal with not having the best of the best. Not more than a few years ago I was a gadget freak who needed to have the newest toy and the best of everything. I’ve since learned to be happy with what I have and make sure everything I have, I use.

Even with a bum arm I’m still able to see the bright side of things. I’m not up my eyes in debt or weighed down by a house full of useless stuff. The doctor says I can be back on my bicycle in 2-3 weeks and by that time the weather should be nice.

When I was a young boy and heading into kindergarten I didn’t get along with a lot of the other students. I felt it unnecessary to follow the rules of the classroom. At the time I wasn’t sure why but as I am getting older now, I can look back and really see what has going on.

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I’ve always known who Chef Gordon Ramsay was. I knew he was a world famous chef and I knew he did a few TV shows. I also knew he was a bit harsh on people who had horrible food.

Then I got my hands on season 1 of Kitchen Nightmares. As of the past week I’ve burned through ¾ of the season and I’m enjoying the hell out of it. Ramsay is in your face, down your throat, and kicking you in the ass. He has zero tolerance for people who don’t try or even make any effort.

So what can we learn from Chef Ramsay?

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To me, a contract is like an ex-girlfriend that just won’t go away. They follow you around every where and just won’t leave you alone. You can end the contract with causing a huge problem and digging into your wallet. A contract is an evil thing disguised as a sweet little innocent piece of paper telling little lies into your ear.

Below you will find a typical conversation you might have with a contract. I envision the contract having a sweet seductive voice mixed with the voice from the computer in 2001 Space Odyssey.

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• Sell my old TV (takes up a ton of space)
• Go through at least 2-3 boxes of stuff
• Organize the storage unit
• Donate at least one box of stuff that can’t be sold
• Sell LCD monitor

Out of those 5 goals I completed 3.5 of them.

I was able to sell my unused LCD monitor on craigslist and get enough grocery money for the rest of the month and a little extra. I was also able to make it to my storage unit and dig into 4 boxes and clean them out; that’s one more than my goal mind you! Finally I dropped off half a truck load of random stuff that wasn’t needed anymore.

Ohh…what is the half a completed goal for? That is for my old TV. I listed it on craigslist but haven’t been able to sell it yet. I listed my old modded Xbox on craigslist also but haven’t had any luck there yet either.

My plan is to do this once a week and hopefully either totally eliminate the storage unit all together or at least move what ever is left into a 5′x5′ unit. I’d really like to get rid of the $40 a month bill that comes with my current unit.

The two pictures below include…

The current state of the storage unit and the bed of my truck. The cooler and the few items inside are to be sold online and the 3 boxes in the corner have some food and spices as well as items to to be sold and donated. The rest is going to be dropped off at the Good Will.

[View with PicLens]

About a year and a half ago I started having a lot tooth aches and pains. These problems were stemming from the fact that I didn’t take care of my teeth for a number of years due to financial problems. I couldn’t afford it and wasn’t able to shell out the money for my dental needs.

Eventually the pain got so bad that I was forced to go to the dentist. Having a job at the time but no insurance I called around and had gotten a few referrals to some really good dentists. Finally, I picked one that was going to allow me to make payments but with no interest. I thought I had struck pay dirt. Read the rest of this entry

The 80/20 rule is a fantastic rule to apply to many aspects of your life. Living a minimalist lifestyle this rule can come into play in even more areas. This post is aimed toward the things you use on a regular basis.

The thing to keep in mind when picking up a new item that you just have to asking yourself one question…

Can I use this object in more than one situation?

or

Is this object able to serve a dual purpose?
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When faced with disaster, most people would be glad to offer a helping hand. Such is the case in Haiti after this earthquake. Many via hard work and self sacrifice or though a charitable donation of funds to a helping organization.

There are those out there however that aim to take advantage of people in times of need. Some do this through fake organizations pretending to be a charity.

I caution all of you to be sure that charities you are giving your hard earned money to are legit.

I suggest places such as…

American Red Cross

or

Mercy Corps

If you have a specific charity you’d like to donate to, please be sure to check the BBB site to make sure they are legit.

http://www.bbb.org/us/charity/

My thanks to all that are able to help in the face of disaster!

Let me first start off by saying this…

I am a hypocrite.

Yup, that’s right.

I’m an I.T. guy and have been for years and years. I’ve had the “you should think about a backup solution” talk with countless clients. Some as a preventive measure and some as an afterthought.

Up until about 6 months ago I had always had a desktop computer with massive storage space. I also always had either a server or an external hard drive in my house to make a second copy of my important files. While I was employed I also paid for an online backup service for my off site backup. Read the rest of this entry