You can become a minimalist overnight, by not only changing your mindset but renouncing all possessions.

Of course, that’s not a realistic approach for most of us. We have families, jobs, lives, and unless we’re willing to give up those lives, our approach won’t be so drastic.

Slow change is best for most people.

And so I recommend you do it in steps, as I’ve done. Here’s what these steps might look like:

1. Stop buying unnecessary things. This step was important for me as I was trying to get out of a mountain of debt (achieved, btw). Only buy the necessities, and always ask yourself: is this truly necessary? Stop the bleeding first.

2. Get rid of the obvious things. Stuff that’s getting in your way, that you rarely ever use. You can often fill up a few boxes immediately, put them in your car, and donate them to a thrift shop or to friends and family the next day.

3. Get rid of more obvious things. Now that you’ve cleared up some of the clutter, you can take a look around and start seeing other things you rarely use. Box these up as well.

4. Clear the clutter on your floors. If your floors are barely visible because you have clothes and boxes and different items all over the place, start clearing your floors.
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Yes, books. I know for many of us, getting rid of possessions is an attractive prospect … but not books! Books are sacred.

Right?

Well, maybe. I love books as much as anyone. I love them in a physical way, with certain pleasure-inducing parts of my brain being activated by the smell, feel, look of books, new and used. I love browsing through bookstores for hours, discovering new worlds at every turn. I love cuddling up with them in the morning, or right before bed, escaping from reality for a little while. I love talking about books, reading about them, surrounding myself with them.

But I’m learning to let go of the need to possess them for any substantial length of time. This has been a slow process. At first, I’d cull my fairly large collection of books by taking 10 or 20 here and there, and donating them or selling them to used bookstores. Then I got more aggressive and got rid of a lot, limiting myself to one (long) bookshelf. (Admittedly, the bookshelf extended itself as I stacked books below the shelf and then double stacked books, but it was progress, for me.)

Recently, I’ve decided to go even further. I’m rounding up all the books I’ve been keeping “just in case” — in case I want to read them again, or refer to them, or if I decide to get back into triathlons or marathons or whatever I used to be obsessed with. I’m planning to have a reader give-away of many of these books soon.

My new rule is pretty minimalist: If I don’t plan on reading the book in the next 6 months, it’s out. And I’m going to be realistic about how much I’ll actually read — one every two weeks at most.

If we learn to let go of this need to hold onto books, here’s a better approach, a more minimalist and saner way to live with books:

• Massively purge yourself of your books. It’ll be difficult at first, but trust me: it’s also massively liberating.
• Check books out from the library. My library isn’t great (here on Guam) but when I move to S.F. this summer, I plan to make the S.F. public library my biggest bookshelf ever.
• When you’re done with a book you own, let it go. Give it to a friend to enjoy. Donate it to charity. Sell it to a used bookstore so you can read another book.
• Start a book-sharing group with your friends. Swap books you really enjoyed. You’ll save money and shelf space.
• Only keep on your shelf the books you’re going to read in the next 6 months. No more.

Edit: Of course, there’s always the option of getting an ebook reader such as the Kindle or Apple’s long-rumored tablet computer. Then you’ll only have one device with possibly thousands of books. It’s an option I’ll probably move towards soon, as I decide what ebook reader I want. Maybe by the end of this year.

While minimalism strives to own little — not much more than you need — what if we followed this to an extreme, just for fun.

What if we owned nothing at all?

I don’t mean we have no clothing or shelter or tools, but rather that we abandon the idea of private property. It’s a radical idea (though not a new one), but something to think about.

What if we had things we used, but didn’t own? What if we used clothing when we needed it, but then when we didn’t we gave it to a place that holds them (maybe a clothing library). And the same would apply to any possessions, from computers to tools to televisions to dishes and so on.

What about housing and cars? Car sharing is already being done in some places, and the same could be done with bicycles — bike libraries all over the place. Mass transit, of course, is another shared solution.

Shared homes are also nothing new, though it’s a pretty foreign idea for most of us who are used to the privacy of our own homes. There are many possibilities in this field, however, including but not limited to:

• Housing libraries, where small and medium units could be given to people as needed, and then returned to the pool when people move.
• Housing co-ops, where people share large homes and the responsibilities of managing and maintaining them.

When you abandon the idea of private ownership, a lot of possibilities arise — limited only by our imaginations.
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A couple days ago I wrote about alternatives to buying new things, and someone replied on Twitter:

“I want to have the money to buy new things!”

Or something like that (I’m too lazy to go back and find the tweet). This echoes a pretty common sentiment: many people don’t want to be frugal, to conserve, to be minimalist … they want to buy new things.

Even those of us who try to be minimalists have these urges — when Apple announced its new products yesterday, for example, I spent most of the day drooling, lusting after the large-screened iMac and the new wireless mouse. My pulse actually rises and I get a rush of adrenaline when I think about these new Apple products (even now, as I reflect on it, it’s happening).

This lust is not unique to Apple fanbois like me — we all feel it. We’re all susceptible to advertising — some people lust over new shoes, new clothes, new gadgets, new power tools, new cars, new homes, new bikes, new gourmet food, and so on. We all have our weaknesses, our lust triggers.

The key is to be aware of it. Notice the excitement, the raised heartbeat, the shallow breathing, the adrenaline rush that comes with the lust over a product. Notice the symptoms are very much like sexual arousal? It’s practically the same — and just like when we’re sexually aroused, the rational part of our brains shut down. This shutting down is why we make stupid sexual decisions (why I have six kids, for example) even though we know better when we’re not aroused.

So if we can’t think rationally when we’re aroused for new stuff, what should we do?

A few things:
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As we talked about in the True Cost of Stuff, buying something new requires the extraction and destruction of a lot of resources, not to mention the destruction of our environment in extracting, hauling, manufacturing, packaging and shipping the item.

So if we want to avoid buying new things, what should we do if we need something? After all, there are always times when we feel we need something — not just want or desire, but need it for a real purpose. We might need new clothes, or books, or a bike so we can cut back on using a car.

One woman decided to buy nothing new, which is an interesting solution, but probably not for most people. But while you might not want to put such a drastic moratorium on yourself, here are 7 things you can do before even considering buying a new item.

1. Reconsider your need. Do you really really need it? Or is it a want? Or can you change things so you don’t need it? This should always be the first thing you do.
2. Borrow. You might only need it temporarily. Borrow books from friends or the library. Borrow a dress for a special occasion. Borrow a tool for a short-term project. Be sure to lend things in return, when you can.
3. Ask friends and family. Sometimes people you know might have the item you need, but not need it any longer. Instead of loaning it to you, they might be glad to give it to you. You only need to ask. I’ll often send out an email (or tweet) if I need something that others might have.
4. Freecycle. Same idea, but using a wider network. There are Freecycle networks in many areas — people who want to give something away, or who need something, post to the list and very often exchanges are made — for free.
5. Buy used. It’s infinitely better than buying new, because when you buy used you’re not having new resources taken from the earth and manufactured, but rather extending the life of resources that have already been used. Try thrift shops, charity stores, yard or garage sales, Craigslist or Ebay.
6. Make your own. This won’t work in every case (if I had to make my own clothes people would laugh at me more than they already do), but sometimes you can make something that’s just as good as buying, with inexpensive materials or materials you already have. This works if you’re good with crafts or carpentry especially. It can also be fun to get the family involved.
7. Go without. I know this seems the same as the first item on the list, but actually it’s a bit different: say you decide you really do need something, but can’t find it anywhere or make it. Should you buy new? Well, maybe you can go without it for awhile, until you do find a used version. Maybe you need it but don’t need it right now. Often things will turn up when you keep your eyes open — someone will happen to mention they have the item, or you’ll see it on Freecycle or Craigslist after a week or two. And sometimes, the need for the item will go away, and you’ll be glad you waited.

Sometimes you might have to buy a new item, even after exhausting all these options. But if you can run through this list first, often you’ll find you didn’t need it new.