<\/span><\/h2>\nWhen he passed away from cancer at the age of 65, it was up to me and my two sisters to take care of all of the administrative work. We had to fill many papers, inform many people, and finally empty out the many things in his old apartment.<\/p>\n
Emptying out my dad\u2019s apartment was a pivotal moment in my life. I cannot fully describe how difficult it was moving out my father\u2019s things, both physically and emotionally. There were mountains of clothing, furniture, utensils, nick-nacks, photos, books, electronics that we got rid of, and there was still a good 10-15 boxes that we kept.<\/p>\n
The worse part was that much of it went to the dump.<\/p>\n
My dad was an average consumer. Even still, there was just so much waste produced during his short lifetime.<\/p>\n
It struck me that the way that we are built to consume in industrialized societies was a form of extremism.<\/p>\n
I decided that instead of fueling the machine, I was going to try to live off of its waste.<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019d been going to thrift stores for clothing for years, but I\u2019d never tried to supply my needs exclusively through pre-owned sources.<\/p>\nAnd I was successful. For 200 days, I was able to get everything I needed pre-owned, except for groceries, basic toiletries, and a pair of new rock climbing shoes (I added a day at the end making up for it). I also got rid of a lot of stuff, including my wedding dress, bags of photographs, clothing, jewelry, kitchen items, old trophies and more.<\/p>\n
I went without things like new underwear, new gifts for others, face cream, new clothes and the various other things you\u2019d typically have the impulse or need to buy over 200 days (more than half a year).<\/p>\n