The burden of stuff: seeking the simple life in the Rockies

Anda and Brad Lincoln left their jobs, home, and much of their belongings to start a simpler life in Fort Collins, CO without the burden of too many things. This video was inspired by an email response on Hacker News to "What makes you happy? What is your American Dream?" Original story here: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/the-burden-stuff-seeking-simple-life-in-...

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• stuff
• consumption
• shopping
• things
• material goods
• phoenix
• fort collins
• arizona
• colorado
• organic brewery
• downshifting
• declutter
• simply living

[juanitarn76]

Is the sound "funny" because they are filming in a large, totally empty room? LOL

[kirstendirksen]

@juanitarn76 Probably part of it. But I also recorded their conversation via an online video chat so it wasn't the best quality.

[dr1345]

they had good jobs, lived in a nice neat house, had a fancy car and no kids. nothing wrong or very stressful there. no need to get away from that. minimalism means living with less, but it's not necessarily means you have to downgrade your lifestyle by living in the shitty conditions in the middle of nowhere. if they're both educated and prosperous they didn't have to elevate their stress level by keeping up with the Johnses. here you have a typical example of a throwing baby with the water.

[kirstendirksen]

@dr1345 I don't think they really went to an extreme. They simply got rid of a house with too much maintenance (e.g. with swimming pool they rarely used) in a city where they had to drive too much (which made them unhappy) & moved to a town where they can walk most places & into a home that is still fairly large (it's not a tiny home like some I've featured). They also left jobs they didn't like to start up jobs related to things they enjoy. I don't see this as extreme, but living deliberately.

[MotherLodeBeth]

Doesnt seem a simple lifetsyle as much as a change in environment. Simple anything to me means less. Traveling isnt a simple lifestyle to me. Neither is creating beer or anything someone doesnt need to actually live simple.

[kirstendirksen]

@MotherLodeBeth I think they did downsize their lives quite considerably. They got rid of a house with a pool, a 2nd car, boxes & boxes of stuff... Granted they're not living in a shack, but they definitely don't have excessive amounts of stuff and they don't want a lot of stuff to enter their lives (which is why they consider carefully anything new that enter their home). He's brewing organic beer... perhaps not essential to life, but not exactly "stuff".

[Gunnarsguns]

A new minimalist culture is being born from the ashes of McMansions and rat race debt slavery.

[zekehooper]

The only thing I would want bigger is "raw" land. Right now I live in a trailer park and dream of having some land someday. I want at least 5 acres, 10 would be better. at least haveing an acre of land would be nice. Some day I will make that dream come true.

[danielbillingsley74]

Le Corbusier chairs? Is that living "simply?"

[neonbackpackk]

I hate the suburbs because there is no art and no one talks to one another. It's so depressing and weird and impersonal and anonymous. Literally no one talks to their neighbors. Sometimes you don't know who they are.

[johnmonk66]

@dr1345 I agree, the secret to frugality is to cut your expenses, not move into a box in the woods. Just smart food shopping, and cutting expenses can increase your cash by 30 percent

[billpeart]

Who are the Jones' and who wants to be like them???

[circusboy90210]

@Gunnarsguns people who live in mcmansions are not in debt.

[katherinegonzales82]

super like!!

[justangvano]

I loved this video because I agree with what they have done and are doing and I really like that he brews beer. I am a home brewer and have been for a few years now and have thought about doing commercial level brewing. It is encouraging to see that someone has done this also.

[youtubinwizeass]

Thanks to all the camera switching I had an epileptic seizure watching this.

NOTE to Post Production crew: Keep this in mind, excessive switching causes seizures in some people.

[juanitarn76]

@kirstendirksen I was just being silly, really (empty room, because they're minimalists). The sound is fine, to be honest. :)