--- author: '' category: '' date: 2012/10/22 16:26:25 description: '' link: '' priority: '' slug: the-basics tags: '' title: The Basics type: text updated: 2012/10/22 16:26:25 url_type: '' --- Because I am going to be traveling for three weeks, I was thinking today about packing. Last year, I spent five weeks on the road, and I packed a cabin-size suitcase, plus a messenger bag. Didn't feel like I had forgotten anything, so I guess I didn't. That was spring and this will be late fall, so I will add a sweater and a better jacket. So, it seems the amount of things I need to take with me on a trip doesn't correlate with the duration of the trip beyond a certain point. It seems that all the material assets I need to live fit in a smallish suitcase (plus a bag). I moved to Buenos Aires twelve years ago with a suitcase, a TV and a cat. So, ignoring details such as family and sentimental value (which, for me, material things have none), suppose everything I own burned down in a fire. How much money would I need to miss nothing I lost? Assuming I am moved into a bare appartment with the usual things in it (no furniture, but has a stove and a fridge), here's my list: Clothes 7 t-shirts, 3 pants, 2 shorter pants, 2 pairs of sneakers, 2 sweaters, a coat, misc. About $400 or so? Computer I am considering upgrading the one I have for a $800 one, so surely no more than that. Phone I have a $90 phone, but let's replace my kindle too, so a nicer one: $250 Furniture A table, a few chairs, a matress (I had to replace my bed recently, matress in the floor for a week was surprisingly nice!). Perhaps $500? Random Cutlery, dishes, a pot, a frying pan, towels, bedsheets, coffee mug, toiletry items, blanket, extension cords, etc. $1000? Nothing else comes to mind, so, it seems I need a bit over $2000, let's say $2500 to be on the safe side. It's interesting to imagine I could move to, say, Costa Rica, by just having a job there, $2500 in my pocket and no baggage.