[Flavius]

How about selling everything and NOT buying it back? Because halfway through the article he goes:

In Victoria, I bought all new furniture — TV, couches, bed, kitchenware, etc — and still had cash left over from the sale of my old stuff. That’s right, I made money.

This can only work if you're filthy rich. The article ignores 90%+ of the world's population who can't sell everything because they own pretty much nothing. And yeah, these people can be hackers or founders as well. It's hard to think that somebody just learned today what is the default for most of the people and he feels like everyone should profit from this amazing discovery.

A better title for this article would be: How to have more fun with your money by selling expensive stuff and buy more expensive stuff

[eightyone]

Seriously. Or call it: Sell everything and then buy it back again. This guy sounds like he's trying to impress people. "Look how Zen I am, you guys." He quotes Tyler Durden and then goes directly against that quote. Tyler Durden didn't say sell all your stuff and then go buy new stuff so you can finally start to be anti-consumerism and minimalistic. The most anti-consumeristic thing he could have done was pay for the truck and not expel resources so he could buy new things. It's like people who wake up and say, "I want to start buying ethical clothing" and then they go throw out their entire wardrobe to buy new clothes. The most ethical clothes are the clothes you have on right now.

[marshallhaas]

This wasn't meant to advocate profiting from selling the stuff you no longer use. An earlier draft even pointed out this would only be possible the first time you sell all the extra crap you own.

I think people are getting hung up on me saying you should do this too. I assumed readers would intelligently apply the article to their own situation. I recognize everyone's situation is different.

[marshallhaas]

The point here was that I didn't re-buy everything, only the essentials I really needed or missed. I ended up having a lot less in the end, and only things I would use.

[jamesaguilar]

Bed, couch, tv and kitchenware isnt exactly the model of decadence, even among the poor in Canada.

[Flavius]

That's true, but selling everything you have just to buy more is not the best idea regardless of your social position.

If you move to a new city for example you could just rent an apartment that has most of the stuff you need for a fraction of the cost and effort of buying your own.