Interest in the minimalist lifestyle has been exploding in popularity in recent days. The minimalist lifestyle is all about being content with what you have and rejecting excess stuff. We need less stuff in our lives than we think we do. Consumerism is the enemy.
For me, I religiously practice minimalism and refuse to buy any more than necessary. There are absolutely exceptions on a store trip here and there but overall, I rarely buy excess. I care about what I need more so than what I want. As long as I have a roof over my head and food on the table, I’m more than content.
These days there is too much clutter in our homes, mind, and rooms. In a fast changing world that is made even faster through technology, it’s hard to stay sane. Having too much stuff in your home spills over to your psychology and behavior.
You are more prone to making subpar decisions with clutter and the quality of your life suffers. The clutter in your home is the result of your spending choices. Which means that you have the power to change your situation into the life that is better than today.
Not only does consumerism and maximalism mess with your ability to make decisions, it makes you poorer. That is not good for your journey to financial independence. When was the last time that owning excess stuff made you happy? I’m willing to bet the happiness lasted a very short amount of time.
When you have to move apartments is when you especially feel the pains of owning a superfluous amount of stuff. Moving is definitely not an easy process that can be done in a day. Even afterwards, you have to rearrange furniture at your new place.
Minimalist Lifestyle is the Best
One way that minimalism can work for you is for you to SMASH that social share button for the Google algorithm 😊 . BERT, the almighty algorithm, approves of the minimalism lifestyle and encourages your friends as well. The more people who practice minimalism, the less glut there will be in the world. Less glut means that more people are happy. Spread the happiness!
In any news, having less than what you want and having exactly what you need is a great way to live. In my own apartment, I have a futon, a small couch, TV, and a coffee table in the living room. It takes up a tiny bit of space and there’s so much room for me to reflect on my life throughout the day.
Whether we recognize it or not, our environment influences our thinking process more than we think. An open space to walk around and think about your life serves great inspiration to us. That’s why the minimalist lifestyle is the best thing ever.
I usually walk around the house for an hour or so a day to reflect on the day and my goals. Because I only have the essentials and what I need, it gives me the freedom to actually have space to think. I love being alone in my thoughts and trying to look for strategies and ways that I could improve my life.
I don’t need or want a second home, a second car, or any additional stuff for me to live the life that I want to live. All I need is my 5-year old beater car, a medium sized 735 sq. ft. apartment, and some basic furniture. Don’t discount the basics, they add a ton of value to your life.
Declutter Your Life
Clutter is the enemy. Take a look at your apartment or house around you right now. Are you really content with the amount of stuff you own? Evaluate if it’s the aesthetics of owning the stuff that matters to you or if you truly experience daily benefits out of them.
Most people own an exorbitant amount of things that decorate their house. Things that add sentimental value are necessary and encouraged to own, like pictures of your family. Things like a photo of a mountain that adds no meaning to your life is encouraged to disown.
The world is already noisy enough. Cars are honking, people are texting you, and population growth is through the roof. As more people are born, we lose personal space. Personal space is vital to our survival. Which means less space for you and more space for others.
It’s rare to experience quiet enjoyment these days, more so than ever before. The outside world has so many things that are going on. Why not start your day free from the noise? That’s where a minimalist lifestyle comes in.
You start your day off the right way to tackle your goals. Rather than starting it off on the wrong foot and being tackled by the world.
Tangible Benefits of Minimalism
Below are actual, real life, tangible benefits that the minimalist lifestyle can bring you. Too many people discount the lifestyle, especially since we are living in a consumerist society. More stuff does not equate to more happiness but less stuff does.
1) Your Finances
First and foremost, the most obvious answer is that your net worth can grow faster than normal. Trading dollars for material things leads to a loss of money. It’s more likely than not that the thing that you bought will not bring you more income.
Rather, it’ll bring you less happiness. You start to realize that you are stuck working for someone else for a longer time period. Sure, your friends and coworkers might be impressed at what you have but that lasts for five minutes. Afterwards, you are stuck working a job for an extra year, or two, or even five years. That’s no good. Never trade minutes for years.
Frugality is a major and important theme to employ in your life. Frugality and minimalism go hand in hand. Not only will your apartment or house look for beautiful to and spacious to hang out in, your wallet will thank you for it.
2) Intrinsic Happiness
The popular saying is that wanting less stuff is better than having less stuff. Why? It is completely based on you. The decision to want less stuff completely came from your wants. The motivation to live a less stressful life came intrinsically from you.
Once you finally see it yourself that the minimalist lifestyle is a good way to go, you will be happier with who you are as a person. I began to realize that stuff just was not making me happier. All it was doing was making a mess in my life.
I would have experienced temporary joy from having the latest and shiny new car. Without question. However, that joy does not last. Permanent happiness is what I’m after.
3) Easier on the go
You will be chained by the stuff that you own. It’s a paradox problem. The more stuff that you own, the more your stuff owns you. Don’t let them have power over you. If you ask yourself the question “if I want to move away from where I live today, will I do it”? And the answer is “no,” the most likely reason is because you are bogged down by your stuff.
It’s just too difficult to move away the infinite amount of things in your possession. So you are looking for the easier way out and refraining from leaving your perceived sanctuary. Your landlord loves it when you start adding things inside your home.
It means they’re keeping you as a tenant for life. All they hear is “cha-ching!” when they find out you’re moving a second couch to the apartment. Your stuff chains you down.
4) Less Maintenance
You can invest less time and energy into maintaining things if you have fewer material things. Things break all the time and a simple breakdown can equate to thousands of dollars in yearly maintenance expenses.
That’s time, money, attention, and energy lost just to maintain your current lifestyle. Not to better your life, but to maintain it. You will be stuck in the same place at this pace instead of progressing and moving forward.
That’s what the consumerist lifestyle can do to you. Don’t get sucked into the glory of genius marketing and ads. You don’t need a third computer, second car, or a fourth couch. Truly and objectively evaluate your needs. Most of the stuff you buy probably ends up in landfill, anyway.
Minimalism and FIRE are Connected
It’s no secret that buying less things will lead to a growth in your personal finance. Things like clothes, car, furniture, etc. can be trimmed down from what you own today. I advocate for things that trim years off your working life.
A year is a meaningful amount of time. Don’t buy into the saying that “life is short”. No, life is long. The extra year of having a work-free life is invaluable to you. We severely underestimate how long a year’s worth of living actually is. It’s a lot more time than you think.
Therefore, I encourage you to practice some of the ideas behind the minimalist lifestyle. The less stuff you own, the faster you grow your net worth. The faster you grow your net worth, the faster you can retire. The faster you can retire, the faster you can enjoy life.
Even if you actually enjoy the work that you are doing, wouldn’t you rather work on things you want to? Not on things you are told to work on?
Minimalism will give you peace of mind. You don’t need to worry about that microwave breaking or the toaster creating a fire when you’re not home. I personally haven’t used a microwave in the past 3 years because I don’t need one.
Therefore, I rest easy knowing that I won’t have to worry about a microwave breaking down on me.
There’s less things to worry, stress, or care about. I can just focus on things that actually matter to me, like achieving financial independence sooner rather than later.
Exception to the Minimalist Lifestyle
The biggest exception to the minimalist lifestyle is if the stuff you got was free. Stuff that you got from a friend who was looking to unload her furniture should completely be taken by you. I was actually surprised how common it is. College students who are graduating and have no use for their furniture throw it away all the time.
Instead of selling it, they choose to throw it away because selling it requires time. That’s where you can come in and offer to take it off their hands, free of charge. That’s the exception to the minimalist lifestyle. When you can get stuff for free while at the same time furnish your apartment with things you need.
Otherwise, it was going to be thrown away anyways. Not only is it better for your wallet, it’s better for the environment. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.
A large portion of my apartment is actually furnished using secondhand furniture. The opportunities do come up, it may just be a matter of time.
The vast list of things that people throw away all the time include:
- Couch
- Coffee table
- Loveseat couch
- Nightstands
- TV stands
- Dinner table
- Futon
- Shoe rack
- Portable shelf
- Lamps
The most important equation is to objectively evaluate your situation. Remember to balance the free things you receive versus the cost of ownership.
If someone were to give me a bicycle tomorrow, sure, it wouldn’t cost money. However, I doubt that I would ever use it so I would happily decline it. The cost of ownership can outweigh the benefits of ownership. Weigh the decision carefully.
Final Goal to the Minimalist Lifestyle
The minimalist lifestyle is more than to simplify your living situation. It’s for you to be content with what you have. Look around you right now. Chances are, you have far more than you realize. Remember that the top 1% income in the world is around $34,000.
The middle class in America brings home far more than $34,000 in the world. Once you learn to embrace the idea that you have more than enough to live on, you begin to be happy. You don’t chase the next newest thing and stop looking for happiness. Happiness finds you.
No one can take intrinsic happiness away from you. A mindset that says “if I get the next raise to buy the next house” will always be beholden to that house owner. In contrast, intrinsic happiness can never be stolen because it’s your state of mind. Forever. In perpetuity.
Compared to others at my income level, I live astronomically cheaply. I don’t own a lot of stuff because it’s a hassle to own a lot of stuff. Things seem to break all the time and once something breaks, it dominos into everything breaking. I am, for all intents and purposes, content right now.
Remember to never confuse content with boredom. Too many people look for the extra hit of dopamine to hit their brain. When they don’t experience the sensationalism, they start mistaking one for the other. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t own anything. Buying things does make me happy from time to time and I do like to shop.
However, it is to say that what you already have is probably more than you need.
