Things like "not needing to iron a shirt" are nice (basically, labor-saving devices and technology), but doing none of your own cooking, laundry, coffee, mowing, car repair, etc is sad to me.
Life gets more empty when you live an outsourced life. I agree that "stuff" can get toxic, but rather than shooting for owning just a laptop and a single change of clothes, I instead aim to interact directly with my possessions. Do my own maintenance & repair wherever possible. It connects you with what you own, and encourages you to own reasonable things. Why would I want a house with six bedrooms and five bathrooms- I'm the one who will have to repair them!
Of course there are limits; a six-hour service job on my truck will be outsourced, especially as in my hands it would stretch to a twelve-hour job and I want to enjoy my weekend. But repairing my sink or changing the oil take a half hour.
Life gets more empty when you live an outsourced life. I agree that "stuff" can get toxic, but rather than shooting for owning just a laptop and a single change of clothes, I instead aim to interact directly with my possessions. Do my own maintenance & repair wherever possible. It connects you with what you own, and encourages you to own reasonable things. Why would I want a house with six bedrooms and five bathrooms- I'm the one who will have to repair them!
Of course there are limits; a six-hour service job on my truck will be outsourced, especially as in my hands it would stretch to a twelve-hour job and I want to enjoy my weekend. But repairing my sink or changing the oil take a half hour.