The guy who lives with 21 items

It's my second day of doing this Mr. Extreme Minimalist Vlog Series with 3Speak. Need to improve my vlogging style and find a calm place to record my videos. Tomorrow I probably need to write my blog first before record my video.

I think I was born minimalist. My mum is a hoarder, She has 7 kettles and 4 radios and she finds it hard to throw things away that no longer needs. I grew up with my grandmother. When I visit my mum's house during school holidays, I wait until my mum goes food shopping and do a massive house tidy up and throw things away in the bin. However she will come back and bring back the items I threw away from the bin. It's like a constant ongoing situation with mum. I don't remember too much my teenage years but one thing for sure I always wanted a cleaner and tidy home with less items.

Since I moved to England at 18. I stayed with my aunty for a few years. Even though my aunty is not a hoarder, their family had many things in their big house. They will keep storing unwanted things in their garage and keep buying new things very often. I remember walking into their garage one day and finding things all over the garage from floor to ceiling. Wish I took a picture to share it with you.

Being an immigrant, working two, sometimes 3 jobs I never had much time to tidy up or live a minimalist lifestyle. It took me many years to get used to English weather and find the right clothes that suit me. I was just a window shopper for the first few years living in London. I go shopping but I hardly ever buy anything because it is too expensive in Sri Lankan Rupees. Eventually I started making my own money, I was able to buy all the things I wanted. I used to compare myself to others and see what everyone else around me is wearing. Because I worked hard, I started treating myself with cooler and expensive clothes, trainers and then cars etc and I became a hoarder.

After 6 years living with my aunty, I finally started living my own and rented out a double room in a shared house. I remember I had to do 5 trips in my Blue Mini cooper to move every item that I owned. This is the first time that I lived alone and I started to experience more freedom in my life to do what I wanted to do. Went clubbing 5 days a week, Made many new friends, and started hanging out with friends more. There were 6 Charity shops (second hand shops) within 5 minutes walking distance to where I lived. Because I went out partying almost every night, I started to buy even more clothes and shoes. Now I buy 90% of the items second hand. I lived there for like 6 months before moving away from London to Canterbury, Kent. Lived Kent for 2 years and continued an almost similar life and I became more and more disconnected with my family and started discovering more about myself and my true nature.

My girlfriend broke with me on 2013 New Years eve. In 2014, I started travelling on my own outside Europe for the first time. Bought my first apartment in London. Met my current wife. Quit working for somebody and I started doing things that I always feared doing in the past. Thanks to minimalism, I was cultivating the ability to let go. I became less fearful.

Journey of me going from 600 items person to just 21 items person, started in 2014 and is still going. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of how many items that I used to own. Me not owning a house or a car will tell anyone that I no longer compare myself with others. Thanks to Brexit that made me stop my first ever startup. Sold my house and I started travelling the world in late 2016. Going country to country. One Airbnb accommodation to another made me cut down the number of things that I owned.

I took this picture today and these are all the items I currently own. Three things missing from the photo are my iPhoneX, ToothBrush and Toothpaste.

I don't know where I'm going with the Mr. Extreme Minimalist series. Probably end up writing my own book on the HIVE Blockchain about me and minimalism. Or become Gary Vaynerchuk 2.0 who started wine library TV with YouTube when YouTube was in its infancy. Like Gary everyone has start somewhere.

Thanks for reading and/or watching. See you tomorrow with Mr. Extreme Minimalist Number 3