Throw Away 1 Thing A Day!

Throw Away Thing 6 : National Championship Ticket Stub

Author: admin

Here is a ticket stub from the NCAA Lacrosse Championship game. An absolutely amazing day, game and experience.
I made this video with a recap and wrote this article on why you must attend!
So why did I just throw away this ticket stub then?

We had crazy seats! I even captured the GWG in OT on my cell phone! We tailgated in the parking lot and had an all around unreal day. However, this ticket stub (which cost me 2.50 to print, ticketmaster ripoff story for another day) has been sitting in my desk drawer since!

I have already attended the game, soaked in the expereience and created a memory I will never forget. Yet, somehow by hanging onto this stub, I feel a connection?

GONE! It is a piece of paper with no value, the value is what I draw from it and the way it makes me think back to that epic day and game.

Memory I will Never Forget: The Egg Sandwiches for breakfast, the cold beer in the parking lot, the steak, heading into the game and sitting next to this crazy syracuse fan who was very attractive.

With 3:50 left, Cuse was down 9-6 to Cornell!

Then with Cuse down a goal with 20 seconds left, they get the steal! A behind the back pass, another crazy pass to tie the game with 1 second left. Overtime was sudden death and the goal was scored right in front of us. I will never forget the celebration and raw emotion of young athletes winning a national title, but I don’t need a ticket stub to remind me!

January 6th, 2011  |  Posted in Throw Away  |  No Comments »

Throw Away Item 5: Harry Potter Book Jacket

Author: admin

Any bigger ripoff than buying books new?

This was a book jacket I had lying around saying, “I’ll find this book and put it back on to rest on my shelf.”

Why we read books: The content in between the pages and the experience of sitting back and enjoying the story. This is one reason I feel a kindle will never FULLY take over. Yes they are dominant and you can have instant access to years of content, but there is something about bringing a crumpled paperback to a beach.

The Harry Potter series was an interesting read for me, my brother owned the first 4 books, but then I still needed to read the next 3. I set out to the library to read them for free and keep my possessions down, rather than heading to Barnes and Noble and dropping 30 bucks.  I still have to finish 6 and start on 7 which get extremely long. I didn’t love the 5th book, but feel like I’ve committed this much, I might as well finish.

The sleeve is just an example of something you have lying around and never put to action. Then all the sudden you find the book and say, oh were is that sleeve I have seen lying around for 5 months? So I said enough, I don’t need the piece of paper just the content on the inside of the book and threw it away. Room is now 1% cleaner!

Minimalist Lesson: Its usually 95% easier to just throw something out, you can get books for FREE at the library and it helps keep your possessions down.

Is Dobby the worst character of all-time?

December 28th, 2010  |  Posted in Throw Away  |  No Comments »

Thing To Keep – Item 1 – My Car

Author: admin

What is the my most important material possession? That is tough to say, would it be the item with the most monetary value? Would it be what means the most from a sentimental standpoint?

I will start out with my car, I feel its a key minimalist item. I consider it to be the hinge point between full on minimalism and just paying attention to your items. However, going to college in a fairly rural area it was vital to my survival (sanity) I love being able to visit friends at other schools, head to the grocery store or go home to work for the weekend. I feel more independent and active when I have the ability to drive.

Reasons I am keeping my car:

I love the ability to hop in the car go for a drive and clear my head.
I live around 5 miles from work and it gets mighty cold and snowy in the winter. No shower at my office if considered biking.
It is paid off and not extravagant (2003 saturn)

Things to monitor:
If I move in with someone and they have a car.
If I move to the city and insurance or parking rises.
If I work at or close to home.
If this car breaks down and I do not have cash to pay for repair or buy a new vehicle.

At this point, I don’t have plans to ditch my car. In fact, I really can’t see myself without it.

December 15th, 2010  |  Posted in Kept Item  |  No Comments »

Thing 4 – College Orientation Nametag

Author: admin

The Good Ole Days

College was an incredible experience, I made tons of new friends and proved to myself that I could achieve. I was extremely nervous heading into school, but orientation turned out to be tons of fun. Besides the corny ice breaking activities, I realized all the freedom I would soon have and decided to make the best of it.  The pin that I had lying around for 8 years represented that experience, but I had no place to keep the item. It sat awkwardly on my dresser and would always get moved when I cleaned my room.

In my quest to get rid of all the clutter and items, this pin did not fit into my life. I remember orientation well and will never forget my college experience, so why did I need to keep this pin around? In throwing it away, I took a second to think of the good moments and not reflect on the actually piece of plastic nametag.

Moment I will never forget: During icebreaking games, one kid going “my name is Bob and I like … Buns?” So he was forever called Buns for the next 4 years. The same thing happened to my friend “donut dave” I remember meeting a cool kid who never made it to the first day of college. Crazy that nearly everyone can remember who was in their group even though it was long ago. Orientation was the first college experience and it turned out to be great. I know a few kids who ended up hating it, but if you can be yourself and not act too cool, then you set yourself up for a good 4 years.

December 13th, 2010  |  Posted in Throw Away  |  1 Comment »

Thing 3 – Tiki Barber Bobblehead

Author: admin

Growing up as a New York Giants fan in Massachusetts has not been easy. New England is Patriots country, well ever since they started winning superbowls (been 6 years now if you forgot)

This bobblehead was a simple Shell Gas station promo that I can’t remember getting. We have season tickets and drive to almost every home game. I’m sure I probably picked it up along the way somewhere.  Did I have a bobblehead phase like everyone teenager? Yup.

Now, Tiki Barber as a human instills rage inside of me. He was a fantastic RB for the Giants. He could catch passes and block often leading the league in yards from scrimmage. However, off the field he seems like a real doosh. Barber was always questioning coaching, teammates and looked to build a rep for his future broadcasting career.

Now Tiki left the game a little early, a decision I understand and respect. However, he drew tons of attention to himself announcing it with the season still going on. After retirement, he took to the airwaves criticizing his QB and coach.

Moment I will never forget: The Giants winning the superbowl the year after Tiki Barber (one of their best players) retired. With QB Eli Manning winning the MVP. Tiki had to report on the game and his old team on NBC and it looked very painful for him. Tiki never won the big game.

Recently, Tiki has left his pregnant wife for his 20 something year old babysitter mistress. Tiki also can’t crack any higer than a glorified sideline reporter on NBC and get booed at Giants stadium. I guess there is justice in this world.

I should tape myself smashing it, but that doesn’t feel very minimalist?

December 9th, 2010  |  Posted in General, Throw Away  |  1 Comment »

Thing 2 – Soccer Trophy

Author: admin

Trophies today don’t have the same meaning as they did a few years back. Now, everyone gets a trophy no matter if the stared at butterflies and lost every game or went undefeated and were the MVP.

I had collected quite a few trophies over the years and they all seemed to take up too much space on my dresser. Did I really need to keep 15 of them around? I figured that only keeping 2 was plenty to remind me of my childhood dreams.

-Kept Little League WS Trophy
- Kept HS Lacrosse “Sportsmanship” Trophy (You were a captain but not the MVP but you need a trophy so here is an award)

This led me to throwing out all my flag football and intramural soccer trophies but the key is the memories left behind.

Memory to never be forgotten: My tallest throphy was from 1996 in a soccer tournament. After being CUT from the B team and placed on the C team, we ended up playing our own town and the B team. I was the goalie and ended up getting a shutout in a 0-0 tie and they realized their mistake. We got 2nd place in our division and a huge trophy. I got back on the team the next season and had a pretty solid HS career.

I will always have the memories from playing soccer and flag football, but I don’t need to hang onto the pieces of plastic to remember that it happened.

December 8th, 2010  |  Posted in Throw Away  |  No Comments »

Thing 1! Bouncy Ball

Author: admin

BYE BYE Bouncy

So, I was cleaning up my room and had no idea where to put this thing. I have a plethora of Tennis Balls  (No Dog) Baseballs (Haven’t played since 6th grade) and other items. Rather than stack them in my garage and never use them, I said enough and made this my first casualty.

Now, If you know me and my slight ADD, you would realize I carried a bouncy ball with me often in college kind of like Rocky and just bounced it as I walked. As a kid, who didn’t want a bouncy ball to mess around with? This was a jumbo blue bad boy yet, I don’t miss it now that its gone. It didn’t have a home and although it feels like a fun part of me has died, IT HAD TO GO!

Memory to never be forgotten – Playing illegal “hall sports” in college with this and seeing how far we could throw it down the hall. I love that on the second bounce these things take off like crazy, good times!

December 7th, 2010  |  Posted in Throw Away  |  No Comments »

Welcome To Throw Away 1 Thing A Day!

Author: admin

Welcome to my quest to rid myself of clutter and ultimately minimize my life. Each day, I will select an item and remove it from my personal junk pile. Now, I’m not a hoarder by any means, but I feel that ridding myself of possessions will take some stress off. It will allow me to remain mobile, live inexpensive and ultimately pursue a life path that I am interested in!

November 30th, 2010  |  Posted in General  |  No Comments »