Hey everybody! Rob Greenfield, here, and
this is everything I own. Everything I
own is sitting on this table right here.
And fits into this 1 backpack.
Today I am going to show you what I
own and share why I own these things and
some lessons to go along with them.
Now, when I say this is everything I own,
I truly mean it. It means there is
nothing stored in other places.
Nothing stored at family or friends.
And I don't even actually have a bank
account, a credit card... many other
things. All of my money is also right
here on this table.
This is literally everything I own
and it's about 43 possessions.
My net worth, right now, is about $5 500
to $6 000.
There's $5 000 in this envelope and
everything, here, is worth substantially
less than $1 000.
This is it and I'm going to show you
the different things.
I'm going to go ahead and start with
my clothes. First, I'm wearing 2
articles of clothing. I have my shorts
and I have my shirt on.
Along with that I have 4 more shirts.
All the same, except one of them is long
sleeved. The other 4 are short
sleeved. These are bamboo cotton blend.
One of my goals is to be basically
biodegradable. My goal is that when I die
hopefully if I can be in the woods or out
on the ocean and if I fall into the ocean
or I die in the woods, I just simply
return to the earth rather than
littering, as I die, by wearing plastic clothing.
One of my goals is for
almost everything I own to be
biodegradable. To be a single, or
multiple, like a few simple ingredients
straight from the earth.
Bamboo and cotton is one example of that.
My sweater is a wool sweater.
Thrift store, I think $10 or $11.
That's my main source of warmth.
I have 2 pairs of underwear which are
plastic, not natural fibres.
A second pair of shorts, also plastic.
I have a pair of socks and these socks are
actually my boy scout socks from when I
was in high school or middle school.
So these are 20 years old? Possibly?
No, 15 years old?
My clothes fit into this little cotton
bag. This is my clothes bag. I don't think
the sweater would fit in here, but
everything else fits into there.
And, that's it for clothes!
One thing to point out. I'm in a warm
climate right now. I lived in Florida
before, while I was doing my year of
growing and foraging all of my food, so
I designed my life to be where I am.
I don't design my life to be in a cold
climate because I am not in a cold climate.
Wherever you are, you have to do things
that make sense. Apply common sense,
critical thinking, problem solving to
wherever you are.
For example, a month from now I will
be in western Europe. I'll be in Germany
where it's going to be cold. I'm
going to have to get some warm clothes.
Right now, I own 43 possessions but
that will fluctuate. My goal is,
one day, to have no possessions. So, 43
less possessions and at times I'm going to
have more possessions. When I'm on tour
in Europe speaking, maybe it will be
double to 80 possessions. We will see.
But the point is that wherever you are,
whatever climate you are in, you have
to adapt to that climate.
My other item of clothing, you could
say, is my sandals. Very simple.
I'm mostly barefoot. I try to be barefoot
as much as I possibly can, which is a vast
majority of the time. And these provide
very simple cover to my feet.
These are the soles but our feet
naturally have soles. They're called
callouses and I won't go too deep into
that, but to sum it up, I believe that
the human body was designed over
10's of 1000's... 100's of 1,000's
of years to really work. So, all I do is
I believe that my feet work.
It's actually not that crazy.
Let's see, what do I want to show next?
Okay, so I have a little towel. If I have
a cold, this works as a towel for that, a
handkerchief. I use this for washing
dishes and things like that, so multi- purposed.
One of the keys is for things to be
usable for many functions. A lot of the
things that I have, maybe it's one
possession, but I can use it in many
different ways.
This is probably one of the great
possessions that I have, and this is my
pot, and it's my bowl, and it's my 'to go'
container. It's what I can put my
leftovers in. A lot of people who
are striving for zero waste, they'll carry
a reusable bowl. This is basically that
except it is also a pot so that when I
am travelling and I am somewhere where
there is no pot or pan I can cook.
And I can also cook over a fire with it.
I washed this with steel wool so it keeps
it really shiny, but I've been using this
for...I'm not sure how long, but probably
5 to 10 years. It's one of my oldest
possessions right now. So this is a
really important possession in my life.
And when I say important, not a single
thing here is irreplaceable.
I actually don't own a single thing that
is sentimental. Every single thing, here,
has a purpose and has value to me in the
sense that it allows me to live out things
that I am trying to do, but there is
actually not a single item, here, that is
sentimental. If I lost all of this
tomorrow there'd be some issues I'd have
to deal with but it would have no
sentimental aspect to it.
Another thing that I have is,
rather than disposable bottles,
I carry this. A reusable water bottle.
It is also a thermos so I can carry hot
beverages or soup. This is my cup
wherever I go. One important possession.
I often just have a simple glass jar, too.
Which is better, but actually...well,
I got this because someone lost it and I
found it and there was no owner to claim
it, so that's why I have this, but usually
I just have a jar. A mason jar.
Another eating utensil. A spoon.
Sometimes I have a spoon and a fork.
You don't need awesome bamboo forks and
spoons, they're cool, but go to a thrift
store. 25 cents. Or open your drawer.
You have spoons and forks to travel with
already. Normally, one of my possessions
is a leatherman, a multi-tool, but I don't
have that because this year I am
travelling, using planes, and everything
is carry on so I can't carry a knife.
Otherwise, that would absolutely be one of
my key possessions.
Next, I will show...this is a reusable
bag as well. I keep using the word
reusable. Of course it is reusable, but
what I mean is, for a lot of people who
are getting plastic bags at the store,
you can use a reusable shopping bag.
Now, this can be used for grocery
shopping, This is basically like
my day pack. So, that I don't have to
take everything out of here, I have this
small pack that I can carry as well.
Both of these backpacks were given to me
by a friend who gets backpacks that are
going to be thrown away and he repurposes
them and makes things out of them
instead. I actually took these because
they are still good.
I have my computer. And computers can
be expensive. This would be my most
expensive item but I buy them used on
Craigslist. This was, I think, about
$300. It's a 2014, so it is 6
years old. And so, if I break this, or it
gets stolen, then I just need about $300
to get another used 1 of these.
There's the charger to go with that.
I am counting the charger and the computer
as 1 possession at the advisement of
many of my friends who say that is 1
possession. But if you want to call it
2, you know, the 43 is a little bit
subjective. You can decide what you want.
I am going to show you 1 possession, my
earplugs, to help me with sleeping. There
are 6 pairs in there. I am going to
call it 1. Part of me wants to call it
6, so, you could say I have anywhere
between...depending on how you do it,
you could say I have between 30 and 70
possessions, just depending on how you
want to count it.
And then my headphones, so this is, at
this moment, literally, the only
electronic items that I own. This is it.
I usually have a headlamp as well but
right now I'm not carrying a headlamp
because I am really enjoying the
simplicity of this being the only
electronic items that I own.
This is a little cotton bag that I put my
headphones and the charger in.
That is another possession.
I've got my notebook, which is an
important possession for me.
I do a lot of writing and I try to
minimize my time on technology, on
my computer, so this notebook is a great
tool for me to be able to write by hand
rather than on the computer.
My goal is to move away from technology
as much as I possibly can.
Lots in here, I have my 'to do' lists
and things like that in there. I got this
at a thrift store. I think it was
$1.10 which is a little expensive
for a notebook, actually. (laughs)
Let's see, reading. My goal is to
generally be carrying 1 book at a time.
Right now I am reading the Omnivore's
Dilemma by Michael Pollan. One of my
favorite authors, one of my favorite
books. I am reading it again.
You can see, in here, just all these
earmarks. There's just so much I'm
learning from here. So much important
information.
And then I have my bookmark. This is a
postcard of Gandhi that I got at the
Martin Luther King centre in Atlanta 4
years ago. And I keep this with me. Just
nice remembrance of someone that I love
very much. Oh! One thing I didn't count
as a possession, is on my computer.
I always forget about this possession.
It's a bumper sticker that says "We must
be the change we wish to see in the world."
And, technically, that's a possession.
So, I guess I'm up to 44. I always forget
about that one! 44, actually, that's a
great number! Thanks Gandhi!
Okay, a couple other things.
Let's see, I am going to go into my
hygiene now. I practice a very simple
hygiene. I think that this body functions.
Just like I think my feet function,
I think my body functions. I don't
believe... Old Spice, I don't believe
that I am better off because of it.
And I don't believe that I need it in
order to be an important member of society.
I haven't used deodorant for about 8
years now and I hug 1 000s of people
a year and sometimes I smell a little
bit but I also think a little bit of
smell is just fine. I won't go super
deep into that, but all of my personal
hygiene items are on this table.
I very much simplified it. Again,
as a man with very little hair it is
different than as a woman, or a man, with
long, flowing, beautiful hair.
So, everybody is different.
But the point is, is that there are so
many ways we can reduce. Do we need
suave in order to be contributing members
of society? I don't think so, whether we
have long hair or short hair.
And there are plenty of women out there
who are examples of that who have said
"I don't need that system. I can stand
outside of it, as well."
So, we will start with hair, actually.
How do I cut. my hair? As I said,
I try to use as few electronic items as
possible. So, I've got this old school,
vintage, hand-held buzzer. How it
works is I squeeze it and then there are
blades, here, and then it cuts my hair.
I can do it as super short, but I
actually took a plastic piece from a new
one and that's how it works. It just
squeezes. Just like that.
And I will have a video on my channel
about that. The off the grid zero waste
haircut. So, that is a pretty sweet
thing. I think this is about 50 years
old. I don't think they are
made anymore. You can only get
vintage ones and I got this online.
Oh, and that goes inside of this bag.
So, that's another possession, the bag.
Which is hemp, I believe.
I also have these little scissors. These
have come in handy so much, since I don't
have my multi-tool anymore.
These are probably one of my most commonly
used possessions. I use it for trimming
the beard, the ears, the hairline.
But I use it for so many different
things. When I'm repairing
things, repairing my clothes, things like
that. So, really great.
I also grabbed this from my mom's house.
She had 3 or 4 of them so I asked
if I could have one of these pairs of
scissors. A nice little memory of my mom.
Hi mom, I love you.
One of the ways that I use this is for
my dental floss. My dental floss
does not have a plastic container
surrounding it. Instead, it's just this
little roll and then I just cut it with
the scissors. And what's really
great about this dental floss is this is
made out of silk so this is not plastic.
And this goes right into the compost pile
as well. So, there are very few ways that
I create trash. I minimize them, the ways
that I create trash. And you'll see that
is a big part of the possessions that I own.
(skip in audio)...alternative to it but
for now I'm sticking to this plastic.
To be honest, I don't feel bad about that.
I'm not trying to be perfect. I'm just
trying to do a really good job and I
think I'm doing pretty good, so I'm happy.
So, that's the toothbrush.
For toothpaste, I also buy my toothpaste.
I buy a brand called Jason Power Smile.
Not because I have any connection
to them, just because I've been using it
for 5 years and I really love it.
(smells it) Oh, it's great. I love it.
And what I do, is I take it out and I
put it into a glass jar for multiple
reasons. I buy it in 6 ounces. I am
travelling right now and you can't carry
a 6 oz thing. And also because
plastic, when it heats and cools , can
release the plastic and this way it's in
glass for it's life. So, this is another
one of those luxuries of life that I am
sticking to. I can definitely make my own
toothpaste. A lot of people do it and
they like it. I have made it but it
didn't beat this for me.
I have my essential oil. This is
something that I buy and I generally have
lavender or a blend that is very soothing.
And that's what this is. I use this
to help myself relax, often before
sleep, but throughout the day. Especially
if I'm in stressful scenarios. Just being
able to smell this, really is so helpful.
This is a very important natural medicine
for me. And the other essential oil that
I am often carrying is tea tree, which is
an antimicrobial that I use as a
disinfectant and that's the other one that
I'm usually carrying, but for now, I'm
keeping life the simplest I've ever had
it at 44 possessions. And so I just have
the one essential oil.
I have a moisturizer. Basically you'd call
it a body butter. This is also store
bought. I have friends who make
this but right now I have
a store bought one for
moisturizing, keeping myself young, taking
care of the skin. And that's all natural,
biodegradable. And speaking of
biodegradable, my soap. Most people
that I...a lot of the people that I visit
use toxic soap. Toxic cleaning products.
So, I like to carry my own soap.
This is pretty much just for washing my
hands and my dishes. I actually
rarely use soap on my body because
our body has a naturally functioning
system with trillions of bacteria that are
living in harmony with our skin. And a
lot of our soaps and our products
actually destroy that and make us
dependent on that, but my body really
functions without that. I've been living
without soap on my body for, again, about
8 years...7 years-ish. But I do use it
for dishes, and for the hands and it's
biodegradable and plant based, so this is
grey water friendly. This can go onto
the plants rather than going to a waste
water treatment plant.
I have earplugs, which I use for sleeping
or when I'm travelling. For leaf blowers
and lawn mowers and things like that.
Those actually really improve my
quality of life. It helps me get good
sleep. I would love to exist completely
without these but It's a tricky one,
I get much better sleep with these.
I have my fingernail clippers and
that is it for natural hygiene.
This little bit, right here. And it all
fits into this natural fibre bag.
So, natural hygiene is mostly from the
sun, from the water, from the elements of
the earth, from eating good food.
Speaking of food, I carry tea with me.
I like to have tea every morning and every
night. A nice morning tea and an evening
tea. This is chamomile. I really like to
have that to just relax me at night.
And this was a tea ball but I
lost half, so I just strain it. I make
the tea in a pot and then I just pour it
through this to get the tea without the
chunks in it. Some people, like my friend
Kathy, they just love the chunks in their
tea. I like a nice smooth tea with no chunks.
Last, but not least, I have my
identification. I have my passport.
I still travel internationally so
this is a very important possession for
me. I don't have a driver's license.
I don't have a social security card.
I do have a birth certificate. So these
are my only two forms of identification.
That means I don't need a wallet.
I don't have all these bonus cards and
things like that. If I had a wallet
that had 100 different cards in
it, that would be 100 different
possessions but I don't have a wallet.
I don't have any of those things. I got
rid of all those things over the years.
So, these are my 2 forms of I.D.
The reason that I have these is because,
with these 2 forms of I.D., I can get
other ones if I decide to. I got rid of
all the other ones about 5 years ago-ish,
so my 2 forms of I.D. My dream is to one
day, again, have nothing, including this.
Which would mean no longer being able to
legally leave the country. There are ways
around that, maybe, I have no experience
with it, but I know there is.
I believe that we are all human beings of
this earth first and foremost.
The borders come second to that.
Lastly, my most valuable possession is my
money. Although, I don't actually own
this. Technically, the government owns
the money. It's not my property.
(Reading:) "This note is legal tender for
all debts public and private." So, that
wasn't the exact words I was looking for
but I don't actually, technically, own
this. But I do own this envelope, which I
took out of the garbage can, so I'm
counting this as 1 possession.
I have about $5 000 and I make
the little bit of money that I make
from public speaking. For all of 2020
I am actually not making any money. This
is going to get me through the entire year.
100 % of my speaking honorariums for
2020 are donated to indigenous and women
led environmental non-profits.
So, I literally mean this is all of my
money. I have no bank account.
No credit card. I have no savings account.
I have no retirements fund. No Roth IRA's
mutual funds. I have no debt that I owe
to anyone else and no debt is owed to me.
This is my financial life, right here.
And, it's not a lot of money, but for me,
this is actually a substantial amount of
money and I am very comfortable with this.
Now, you can look at this and say, okay,
well what this really is is, he's just
dependent on other people.
Dependent upon humanity.
And, yes, I am dependent on other people.
I am dependent on humanity.
Money makes it appear that we're not
dependent on other people, but I believe
that is just one big illusion.
Every time you spend money there's someone
behind that. There are other creatures
behind that. There's our world behind
that but we're able to remove ourselves
from that and consider ourselves
independent. But the reality is, is we're
not independent. We are completely
dependent on our global humanity and
that is what I've chosen to embrace
through this way of life. I want to stand
out against this idea of radical
independence and stand for radical
connection to humanity.
That's what I'm trying to show here,
actually, is that we are dependent upon
each other and we absolutely do need
to work together.
At the same time I think that it is
important, as individuals, that we have
skills. That we are resourceful. That we
have common sense. That we critically
think. And those are all things that
I have established in myself.
I know how to take care of my body.
I'm not asking other people to do that.
I've learned how to be able to take care
of a lot of my own needs, so there is that
form of independence, but only with the
complete embracement, of
the reality that I'm completely
dependent among humanity and so are
every single one of you. Even if you have
your own wifi that you pay for and your
own cell phone that you pay for and your
own house. All of those things are all
dependent on global humanity working
together and all of the creatures that we
depend on in the environment, the earth
that we depend on. That's really,
you know... I'm trying to shake things up
a little bit, here. I am extreme. There is
no question about that. The way that I
do things is extreme but I think that our
current way of living...United States has
5 % of the worlds' population but
uses 25 % of the world's resources.
That is extreme. So, what I am, is I am
a counterbalance to that extreme way of
life. I only have to go this far because
society has gone so far in the other
direction and that is why I am extreme.
So that I can stand out and get people
thinking and get people questioning their
own lives. I am extreme but I also
wasn't always this way.
I used to be really focused on material
possessions and financial wealth. My goal
was to be a millionaire by the time I was 30.
I wonder what the 23 year old me, now,
would say to a guy who actually only has
less than $6 000 as his full
financial net worth. So, I wasn't
always this way. It was a
transition. In 2011, that's when I woke
up. I lived in a 3 bedroom apartment
at the time. I lived in the biggest
bedroom because I had a lot of stuff.
I moved to the smallest bedroom as I
started to wake up and reduce the amount
of stuff. I went from the smallest
bedroom to living in a 6 by 6 closet
of my home as well as having my
friend park his camper in the driveway
and I stayed in the camper, as well.
After that I was simplifying my life,
simplifying my life, simplifying my
life. I eventually got rid of that
apartment and I moved into a tiny house.
A 50 square foot tiny house in San Diego.
At that time, when I moved in there, I was
able to bike over with everything that I
owned on a bike trailer and the bike
pannier. That was a big step for me.
Then I lived for a year in a 50 square
foot tiny house, off the grid, in San
Diego. At that time, I think I had
around 1 000 possessions. After that,
I downsized to having just 111 possessions
that all fit into my backpack, which I
travelled with for about 2 years.
So, that was a bigger backpack then this.
Substantially bigger, about twice as big,
111 possessions. And then I moved to
Orlando and that's where I decided I was
going to grow and forage 100 % of my
food for a year. That meant drastically
increasing my possessions to be able to
be self sufficient food wise. I had a
lot of possessions. You know, just the
shovels and the rakes, and I built a 10 by
10 tiny house. So much bigger than the
last one, and I filled it with a lot of
stuff. Mostly useful stuff. Things that
I could use for sustainability, for
gardening and such. And then I left
Orlando, after 2 years there. I gave
away the tiny house, I gave away most of
my possessions, sold some of them, and
then it took me month to downsize my life
again. I left Orlando with a huge duffle
bag! It was so heavy, it hurt my back.
Eventually got that down to 80 possessions
and then, a few weeks ago in Montreal,
I was at a school, speaking, and I turned
that 80 possessions into 40 possessions.
I gave away half of the things I owned
that day, to kids. I was leaving Montreal
and coming to Costa Rica, where I didn't
need my jacket and my pants, and I wanted
to get rid of those things as I'm going
to be shifting only to natural fibres
instead. So, from 80 down, to now 44.
You can see there was a long transition.
to get to this point.
The most minimalist I've been took from
2011. So, nine years. It was a long
transition process and I know a lot of
you might be overwhelmed with the idea
of where you are today. Maybe you
have a lot of stuff. Maybe you have a
5 bedroom house full of stuff.
But just remember, that I was there in a
similar situation 11 years ago, and it was
a transition. Again, the way that
I've done things is extreme but you don't
have to go that far. And I know a lot of
you probably would like to. You
might be inspired. You might want to
reduce the number of possessions you have.
You might want to shrink the size of your
house. You might want to live in a tiny
house. You might want everything you own
to fit in a backpack. So I've actually
created another video for that.
Tips on how to downsize your life that
goes into that and shares my transition
and gives you a lot of the tools and the
guides on how to be able to do that.
But, just keep in mind, it's a process and
you don't have to go to this extreme, by
any means, to drastically increase
happiness and healthiness and be living in
a way that is, indeed, more harmonious
with the earth. And, another thing, for
me, is this is life. Life is complicated.
And I can't possibly go into all of the
reasons behind this, but it's all based on
a deeply thought out way of trying to
live an examined life. Live with my
actions being in alignment with my
beliefs. So, for me, this is a practice
of non ownership and, instead, sharing
and being a part of humanity. It's a
practice of non-materialism. Not focusing
my life on what other people think about
me based on material possessions or
getting my happiness from possessions.
It is a practice of my impermanence.
Embracing that I am an impermanent
person. Here for just a very short period
of time and understanding that's okay.
The less that I have, the more okay I am
with the fact that I am just one human
among over 7 billion. And that's
just one species among millions of
species. And just embracing that I'm just
here for a very short period of time, and
I'll be gone. And being okay with that.
Non-materialism, non-attachment,
non-ownership, and embracing my
impermanence. if you got a lot out
of this video and you're inspired, then I
would encourage you to subscribe, if you
aren't already, if this is your first time
here. And if you think this is
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Comment and like this.
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Share this as some information and some
practical information.
I love you all very much and I hope to see
you in real life one of these days and
get a big hug!
(acoustic guitar music)