I'm currently in a situation that's about as opposite as you can get from traditional american culture. I left my big corporate job at IBM, left the condo life, left Chicago and am now travelling around, staying with friends and family most of the time. Technically I think I might be homeless and really I'm not even sure what state I'm supposed to be a resident of. This is something I never could have done years ago and only recently got comfortable with the idea of. Most of what I have left (which is not much) is in storage in a friend's basement. I loaded up my 1996 Civic with the rest of what I thought was really important, that is, the things I can not do without in life. Besides your basic clothes and toiletries, it turns out that the things most important to me right now are a bowling ball, ping pong paddles, a snowboard, an RC helicopter and my laptop.