Depending on how you look at it, I either own 20,000 plus five things, or just two plus five things.
I'm exaggerating, but I've got a core point:
There are two things that I spend a LOT of time on and get a lot of enjoyment from:
* cooking
* wood and metalworking
I've got two meticulously organized sets of things that reflect that:
* a great kitchen with all sorts of implements, frozen stocks, a hundred spices, etc.
* a great workshop with all sorts of tools and supplies
I keep those two areas perfectly organized, because this increases my enjoyment of them on a daily basis. ...and I have no desire to prune them. My workshop has a long tail: I may not need the #3 dental pick every month, but when I want it, I really really want it. So it's in a drawer with a label. I may use it just three times a year, but I use SOME long-tail item every day or two.
Outside of my kitchen and shop, though, I abjure clutter. I own one coat, one sweater, five shirts, etc.
I entirely agree with Paul that one of the biggest expenses is the mental expense of keeping things cataloged.
My advice: if there's something you really enjoy that requires tools, get them and use them. ...but aside from that, yes, be a minimalist.
That is a great distinction. Sadly I've got a bunch of robotics stuff that realize I'll never make into robots.
I gave away all of my 68HC11 gear, the boards, the chip programmers, the data books, the spare chips, everything because I realized I was never going to build another robot with a Motorola 68HC11 at its core.
Now of course, I don't miss it, but at the time, shipping it out to the silly silly folks who offered to take it off my hands it felt like giving up some precious treasure. And I realized the 'treasure' was the memories of what I had done with this stuff, not the stuff itself. I've been slowly reconstructing my robotics site to honor those memories.
I also find that I have a hard time with stuff that "could" be useful to "someone" but I can't just throw it away. I put a box of stuff like that on the table at Hacker Dojo with an exhortation to use it to hack cool things, but there was no one there to "accept" it so I don't know if it was useful or not. It was sufficient for me though to create the possibility that it "might" be useful.
The "long tail" on tools is very true, and something that took me a while to learn. I used to think I could get away with a smaller toolset of more general tools, and to just 'wing it' by using them creatively to solve the problem. But tools are a bit like OO classes: its better to do one job completely right than a dozen jobs not quite right.
I agree. Compartmentalizing things is key. I'm ok with having a toolbox with 50 tools in it. I'm not ok with having 50 tools scattered around my apartment.
I think it's fair to think of a toolbox, or a kit, or a kitchen as one thing just as you can think of a bookcase as one thing. The only time it's ten thousand things is when you move, and maybe not even then. Ever since college I've had a "fix it" crate filled with cables, toolboxes, a sewing kit, etc. and whenever I move, I just move the crate.
I'm exaggerating, but I've got a core point:
There are two things that I spend a LOT of time on and get a lot of enjoyment from:
* cooking
* wood and metalworking
I've got two meticulously organized sets of things that reflect that:
* a great kitchen with all sorts of implements, frozen stocks, a hundred spices, etc.
* a great workshop with all sorts of tools and supplies
I keep those two areas perfectly organized, because this increases my enjoyment of them on a daily basis. ...and I have no desire to prune them. My workshop has a long tail: I may not need the #3 dental pick every month, but when I want it, I really really want it. So it's in a drawer with a label. I may use it just three times a year, but I use SOME long-tail item every day or two.
Outside of my kitchen and shop, though, I abjure clutter. I own one coat, one sweater, five shirts, etc.
I entirely agree with Paul that one of the biggest expenses is the mental expense of keeping things cataloged.
My advice: if there's something you really enjoy that requires tools, get them and use them. ...but aside from that, yes, be a minimalist.
My two cents.