I haven’t always been a minimalist, nor have I always been interested in minimalist living. I used to purchase crazy amounts of clothing, random items for my home, wasn’t interested in becoming a minimalist, and so on.
I hoarded lots of items, hoping that one day I would find a use for them. I often thought that I needed things, so I would purchase crazy amounts of them even though I should have put my money to better use.
Then, around two years ago, I realized that I had too much stuff and that I had an unhealthy relationship with material things.
Over the past two years, I have donated or given away the majority of my belongings. I now pretty much only have the things I need to get me through the day or week ahead. There is no extra, and before I purchase anything, I always think about what use I’ll get out of it.
After all, I travel full-time and there’s only so much I can carry. Plus, getting rid of the majority of my belongings has been hard, stressful, and tiring, and I definitely don’t want to experience that ever again!
I know that not everyone wants to be a minimalist. And, I’m not pushing it on anyone. I know that buying stuff isn’t all bad, and there are many material things that make life easier and better.
Instead, I want to introduce people to the idea of minimalist living, especially since the average person has lots of extra stuff in their lives that they don’t need. This can lead to debt, buying things just to impress others, wasting time, and so on.
Plus, being a minimalist has changed my life for the better, and I believe that it can help others as well.
I used to spend a lot of time thinking the things I bought and spending all of my money on new things, but I am far from that now.
It’s easy to get lost in the idea of spending money on things to fill your life, and the average home size has changed to make it only easier to feel like you have to buy more than you need. Consider this, the average home size in 1950 was less than 1,000 square feet. Fast forward to 2013, the average home size has increased to nearly 2,600 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Clearly, we used to make due with less, and there are still many reasons for minimalist living:
- Minimalist living can help you save more money. Minimalist living most likely means that you’ll be buying less stuff. Instead, you’ll only buy what you want and what you truly need.
- Minimalist living means less clutter. Clutter can take over a person’s life. You may feel stressed out, tired, like your things are taking over your life, and more.
- Minimalist living can give you more time. By living with less stuff, you can spend less time on cleaning, maintenance, and repairs. The more things you have, the more things that you’ll need to clean, maintain, and repair. Just think about what you could do with all of that extra time!
Here is how minimalist living has changed my life:
Clothing doesn’t define me.
By being a minimalist, I’ve definitely realized that I don’t need much in order to be happy. Before, I thought that I needed all the clothing in the world in order to be happy, but now I know that I really don’t need much.
In fact, I hardly ever purchase clothing, and I’ve been wearing nearly the same things for several years.
For me, it’s all about buying things that are more “classic,” won’t go out of style, things that I actually like instead of what’s trendy for that month, and so on.
It feels great when you realize that you don’t need all of that extra stuff in your life.
Instead, purchase what you want and need, rather than thinking about keeping up with others all the time or thinking that emotional spending is something that will help you.
Minimalist living gives me more time.
Minimalist living allows me to have more time to spend on other things.
Just think about it: The more things you have, then the more time you have to spend on using it, maintaining it, repairing it, cleaning it, and so on.
I would much rather live with less than think about all of the things that I own that need work done to them!
Related blog posts about minimalist living:
- What I Learned By Donating And Giving Away Nearly All Of My Stuff
- Downsizing Your Home? Here’s How I Went From A 2,000 Square Foot House To An RV
- Minimalism 101: One Thing a Day
- Maintaining a Minimalist Wardrobe
- How I Live in a 400 Sq. Ft. House – My Minimalist Home
- How I Live On A Sailboat
- Why Paying For A Storage Unit Is A Waste of Money
With minimalist living, I’ve realized that I don’t need much.
Before I was a minimalist, I kept a lot of things because I thought I needed them for the future. On a regular basis, I probably only used around 25% of the things I had in my house.
In reality, it was probably even less than the 25% figure that I just said above.
I know I’m not alone, and many people keep items because they think they might need them in the future. You know the feeling– you buy something, don’t use it right away, and years later you find it but just can’t throw it away in case there is some circumstance where you need that exact item.
If this is you, then you should put a timeline of no more than one year on the item. If you don’t use it in that timeframe, then there’s a big chance that you’ll never need it or will even miss it that much.
Instead of buying items that you rarely use, you may want to think about renting or borrowing them from someone else.
When I think about how much stuff we gave away, I honestly can’t even remember half of the things. I realize now how little we really needed, and those things definitely did not make me happy if I can’t even remember them!
I save more money by living with less stuff.
Now that we live with less stuff, we are able to save a great deal of money. Instead of thinking that we need everything that exists, we are now much more realistic about our needs and realize that there’s a lot of clutter in the stores that no one really needs at all.
Plus, now that I realize how much money I’ve wasted over the years, I am able to say “no” at the store when debating about whether or not I should purchase a certain item, especially one that might create clutter.
I can also walk into a store and only buy exactly what I need, even if that store is Target!
I have so much more control over my spending and that has saved me a lot of money.
Related:
- 30+ Ways To Save Money Each Month
- How To Save Money – My Best Money Saving Tips
- 8 Things To Sell To Make Money
- Are You Making Your Life Difficult? 18 Ideas To Simplify Your Life
- How To Reach Your 2018 Goals
I understand now that I don’t need things to make me happy.
Having more things doesn’t make you a happier person. Things don’t make you a better person, they don’t make you more successful than others, or anything else.
In fact, in many circumstances it’s far from that.
I know this because I have less stuff than I have ever had, and I am happier than ever.
Plus, when was the last time you heard someone say “I’m so glad I bought all those pairs of pants 35 years ago!” or “I’m so glad I had all of those things decades ago!”
You should only own something if you truly want or need it. Who cares about what everyone else has!
A minimalist house allows me to travel.
Unless I maintain my minimalist lifestyle and house (well, RV), then I wouldn’t be able to travel full-time. It would be quite hard and not nearly as enjoyable if I had a bunch of things holding me back.
I really, really love and enjoy being able to travel full-time, and it is one of the best benefits of living minimally.
Do you think minimalist living could change your life? Why or why not?
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Having less definitely is something I believe in. I agree on clothing that is more classic and of good quality. When you have less, I believe you’re less stressed. 🙂
Yes, same here!
Love that you posted this! On New Year’s Eve I always choose a word to help guide my next year, this year the word LESS popped into my head almost immediately and I’m so thrilled about it. Less truly is more!
Yes!
Thanks for reiterating my theme for 2017. I read a post on DailyOM about how de-cluttering is not something that you “DO”, it is a lifestyle. So now my theme is to embed decluttering into my everyday and get my house down to that minimalist life. I’ve got a long way to go, but so far, it is liberating and empowering me. Great post, as usual, Michelle.
Thanks Sandi!
It’s a work in progress in our home but I find just getting one area more peaceful is motivation to keep going on to the next area Less really does equal more! Clearing out clutter helps me focus on things that are truly important. More stuff just takes up more of my time, and time keeps going by faster as it is!
Yes, it’s definitely great motivation.
For a few months now, I’ve been working on decluttering and removing a lot of material items from my life. It’s been so freeing and stress relieving. The biggest challenge for me has been feeling like I have room for more stuff once I get rid of old stuff. For example, I love collecting books. So, after donating a bag of books to the Goodwill, I felt like I had more space for new books. I’m working on that part. 🙂 Overall though, it’s been great! And it’s a lot easier to keep the house clean when there’s less stuff.
Yes, a clean house is nice 🙂
Great goal for 2017!
My fiancée and I just watched a wonderful documentary on Netflix called The Minimalists. It was excellent. Then we went around our 600 square foot apartment and decluttered. LOL. It is better to live with less stuff. I recently spent $70 on clothes at White House Black Market after Christmas and returned them 2 days later. I didn’t want to pay the credit card bill. I’m getting much better with my money these days.
Good job!
I’ve lived out of a vehicle before and I loved knowing everything I needed to live was within arms reach! I now live in a 1500 sq. foot home with my husband and young daughter and constantly feel like I am fighting the clutter battle. It really takes discipline to resist the societal pressure to fill our lives with stuff we don’t need. Thanks for sharing all of the positive effects of minimalism on your life!
Thanks Leah for reading!
Since childhood I’ve been fascinated with Hollywood action heroes moving around cities and countries in one suit and no luggage, but always having what they needed at the moment. Growing up I became freelancer moving around the country carrying a backpack with a lot of stuff, laptop, notepads, books, etc.
After reading about minimalism, I recalled the movies and rethought my behavior, realising that I dont really need all that stuff.
Smartphone replaces laptop, small notepad replaces A4 notepads, books are available online. Today I leave home for a long workday with only a pen, notepad, credit card and ID, and of course with a smartphone, no backpack, no luggage, hands are free and mindfree.
Yes!
Well, minimalist living is one of the best ways of saving money. My wife always try to focus on these kinds of stuffs but I think minimizing is not for me. This is really a good read and showed me positive effects of minimalism in our life that I hadn’t thought yet. I am thinking to follow minimalist living. At-least I give it a try.
Awesome! 🙂
I haven’t fully converted to minimalism but my day to day has improved with the few changes I have made. We had so much stuff when we moved in together but our apartment doesn’t have any storage. So I started to get rid of things that I felt weren’t really a necessity. The next thing I want to work on is creating a uniform for work and cutting down on the amount of clothes I have.
Glad your day to day has improved. Great job!
I was going to say living in a RV you can’t have too much clutter! I have downsized my wardrobe. It helps to work from home so I don’t have to dress up as often and when I do I can easily repeat an outfit (see different people) and nobody notices but me!
It also helps with doing less laundry. So I agree on the saving time factor you mentioned!
Yes!
I totally agree with what you have said here, but I think the benefits of living with less STUFF goes well beyond those you list. With less STUFF, there is less to clean, less to organize, less to lose and search for, less to maintain, and less to trip over. The mind is less distracted when there is less to look at. You did mention that your life focus can change from STUFF to goals, to other people, to the outside world. The more crowded a house, a room, or a closet is, the less able we are to function in that room. For example, of the kitchen cupboards and drawers are overflowing, it is much more difficult to prepare a meal. The more STUFF you have, the less you are able to appreciate each item, giving your mind and heart less happiness. The less STUFF you have, the more you can love and appreciate each thing, thus giving your mind and heart more joy and peace. I could go on and on, but you have hit on a GREAT principle!
Thanks! Yes, for the most part these are all things that I mentioned in the blog post. Having less stuff is great! 🙂
you’re so right michelle. i used to have way too much stuff. then i ended up moving & took forever getting rid of lots of it.now i’ve got much less & it’s a lot better. it’s a lot easier to have less around.most of what i had wasn’t that useful & thinking i’d use most of it rarely happened. it’s never worth the stress & trouble to buy a ton of stuff all the x to keep around. we’re all better off with as little as possible.
Yes, I agree!
I have struggled the majority of my life with collecting and holding onto things (mostly clothes!). I recently read Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and watched a documentary on Netflix called The Minimalists. It is a huge concept to wrap my head around and start to change but I know I would be happier and feel lighter if I got rid of the the stuff around our place. I think I can start with your one year rule and just accept that I no longer will be looking for any of that stuff once I get rid of it anyways! Thanks for your inspiring post!
Thanks!