Moving out after divorce? Check out this husband’s new dumpster home.
Think your house is a dump? Just wait till you see this guy’s place. After a divorce and a fit of massive downsizing, college dean Jeff Wilson decided to try something extreme. He moved into a 36 foot dumpster located on the campus of his university. And it seems he’s found that you don’t really need that much to be happy.
Dumpster living is Professor Jeff Wilson’s experiment in minimalist living. Professor Wilson, aka “Professor Dumpster”, teaches at Austin’s Huston Tillotson University. The Dumpster Project is a real world lab to address the growing problem of having enough low cost homes to manage our planet’s growing population. You can read about the Dumpster Project here. He says that he started his Dumpster Experiment to push the boundaries of what we mean by necessity. He has a bed, an air conditioner, a few items of clothing and a lamp. He says he’s happier than he’s been in a long time. Should we be following his example and move on out to the trash too?
Wow, not sure I could find happiness in a green metal dumpster with four shirts and a mattress but the thought of paring down my needless junk sounds freeing. Don’t you ever fantasize about an organizing fairy coming to your home and magically whisking away all of those holey socks, mismatched earrings and ill fitting pants you have nesting in your closet?
I’ve always wanted to light a huge bonfire of my old crap. Just watch the flames of my old clothes and bits of wrapping paper I’ve been lugging around in mildewed cardboard boxes. I don’t think I’m cut out for a life in a 36 foot dumpster, but the lesson of extreme downsizing is a good one. It reminds us of how little we really need to be happy. I don’t think that we actually need all the accessories we’ve purchased to line our lives. Tell me, what do you think you really need to be happy?
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