A home. I've been living in a van since September 2020 and I'm never looking back! Such freedom out here, all you need are solar panels and a lithium battery and a comfy bed, a gym membership, and you can go anywhere and do anything you want. And every dime you earn goes into your own pocket: no landlords or mortgage companies or utilities or HOAs, no property taxes, and you can live anywhere you want!

And reading through the comments, I have done away with all those things everyone else has mentioned too! I don't need any of it. Except for money. Someone mentioned money. That's stupid. Everybody needs money.

People.

Meat. I was a huge meat lover most of my life, until I decided to try going without it. I didnt think it would be easy so I thought I needed a smooth transition. Turned out I could cold turkey no problem.

One day around 7 years ago I turned off the radio in my truck and I never turned it back on. I just sit in silence and I honestly prefer it that way.

Edit: to elaborate a little: I consider it almost like a meditative practice. I drive virtually every day, so this way I can quite easily force what I consider to be a healthy near-daily habit.

I do the same thing with my phone whenever I'm queuing.

Facebook messenger. I was afraid people wouldn't want to deal with using other chat apps, etc. DM'd everyone I knew with "Hey I'm leaving Facebook, I have XMPP, Signal, texting, and email, lemme know which one you want" and most people were fine giving me their phone number.

Turns out most people don't care.

Cable TV, left it many years ago, what a waste if money it was for mostly poor quality shows and tons of commercials.

Alcohol. Turns out I don't need it to be social, I was just using it to self-medicate myself into extroversion. I've wasted so many nights of partying, drinking too much and not being able to remember the fun times I had (or didn't have).

Nicotine.

Once I switched from smoking to vaping, I could just leave my vape at home and be perfectly fine. I do get anxious if I forget it at home, but that's mostly because I don't want the pets to have access to it.

But it's nothing for me to go on a 3 day camping trip or something without it. I still do it because it helps a small amount with ADHD, but I know I don't need it.

Constant companionship.

I have survived two long-term relationships now, the first left me traumatized and in dire need of treatment. The second one I chose to end while I still had my sanity intact.

It’s no doubt that I chose poor quality people, but even so, I have a new, lasting appreciation for solitude, having my own space that I don’t need to share, and the inner peace that allows me.

Sex.

So much time, money, and effort wasted that I wish I could have back.

My phone.

I broke the screen and had to deal without it for a week. I didn't realize how often I'd flip it out and start scrolling every moment of downtime I had until I couldn't do that anymore.

After a few days of that I started to wonder what was so important to catch up on every 15 minutes.

Money, home, family. Nice to have. Apparently not essential.

Alcohol

Discord.

facebook, reddit, twitter, livejournal, aol instant messenger..

Most things I stop I would really like to have but im not sure I felt I could not live without them. Honestly the stuff I want is pretty simple but also hard to obtain. Like I used to live deeper in the city with shops really close by but I can't afford that currently. Loved it though. Felt a craving for something and went and picked it up at a store like two blocks away. walked to work every day and my wife joined me with the dog going out in the morning for half of it. it was grand.