You’ll experience less stress, you’ll save more money and you’ll be healthier. Just a few benefits that you can enjoy when being a minimalist. But don’t just take my word for it. Here is what some other bloggers have to say about minimalism:
MNMlist
“Often we don’t really need those possessions as much as we might think, and even when we do have them, we’re not as secure as we might think.” A blogpost on the troubles with getting rid of your possessions. It’s actually by far the hardest thing out there in the minimalist approach: the initial struggle to reduce your belongings. Leo argues that your belongings give you a false sense of security. You’re prepared for all sorts of events. The idea of being prepared goes a bit overboard when you have a triple redundancy on your car, a stack of over 20 dinner plates and you just can’t get rid of that old tv. “What if the new one breaks down, I won’t be able to watch tv for a while”
Keeping stuff means you need a bigger house to store them all in.
The Everyday Minimalist
A 20 something blogger living out of a suitcase since 2006. Having lived in 1600 and 1200 square foot apartments and now living in a 600 square foot studio. Just imagine the difference in monthly rent! and immediately two benefits come to mind: the first being that rent, it’s probably going to be cheaper and secondly: you can vacuum the entire space without unplugging the vacuum. Cleaning 600 square foot while owning just a few things means you have a lot of empty floorspace. Enough space to exercise, lie flat on the floor and stare at the ceiling for a while or dance.
A smaller home and less stuff means easier cleaning
Far Beyond the Stars
You know about the 100-things challenge. Everett took it one step further and decided to go with just 50 items for a while! “The 50 things movement doesn’t count shared items like cooking supplies, bedding, and furniture. I was only counting personal possessions that only belong to me.” Give it a little thought, what if you could live with the freedom of having so few things that you could tuck it all in a suitcase. You’d no longer have to wonder what you would be packing when going on a holiday, you’d just pack every single thing you own!
Everett dropped the 50 things and went back to 75 after a while, to make life just that little bit easier (think laundry…) “Living with less isn’t for everyone, but I’ve discovered that it can make life a lot simpler when you decide to opt out of the endless cycle of consumerism.”
Less stuff means more mobility
Wake Up Cloud
“Having the latest gadgets is cool, but I also realize that it is largely unnecessary and something I’m going to grow tired of within a few weeks.” As soon as you realize this, you can start saving some serious money. Do you actually need that iPhone, iPad or high powered notebook? Or worse, phone, pad AND notebook. Thinking about needs versus wants will help you here. Will owning the latest thing seriously make you happy? And if so, for how long. Especially on the more expensive things, think about how long it took you to save up all that money and so where you will spend those hours of your life on you can never get back. And so Henri realized: “happiness doesn’t come from things, it comes from inside of me.” You can be happy with nothing, and unhappy with everything.
Less desires lets you find true happiness
Simple. Organized. Life.
Is there something wrong with you if you choose to own less? David has been told this countless times. Many people think an empty house is an empty life but they couldn’t be more wrong. For them it certainly is true because thy identify who they are and what they are worth by their possessions. Minimalists however find their worth not in the stuff they own, but what they carry with them in their mind and hear. Happiness really does come from within. So is there something wrong with us because we know where to find true happiness?
Minimalists are completely sane and have a full life
The Minimalist Path
Minimalism can be applied just about anywhere in life, and David points out that it’s actually fun! Yes, you know and I know, but do others know as well? Spread the word. You get perspective and control over your own life. There are less things to take into account when making a decision, less stuff to worry about. Although on the one end there are a few who think that going minimal actually costs more, David makes a clear statement that it actually doesn’t cost anything to get organized.
Sure, if you own just a few things, you’ll be inclined to make those few things the best they can be. If you can own only one computer and it’s essential to your income you’ll be wanting a very reliable laptop and those are expensive. If you have just one coat or one pair of shoes, you’re going to make sure that they will last. It’s still cheaper than buying something new every week or month and -maybe that’s just me- it’s fun to go hunting/researching for the best possible buy.
Minimalism goes great with frugality and quality
Step 1 minimalist
The final blog we’re visiting it written by Brett and gives you the absolute best reason to become a minimalist: Time. “Looking at every aspect of minimalism, it constantly comes back to creating more time to focus on and act upon what we love, while discarding the rest.” Remember that triple redundant car I mentioned? If you spend some time (and fun) on hunting down the single best car you can buy, you don’t have to work all those hours to buy the other two, work all those hours to maintain them, and have a garage that will fit them while you drive around in the first one. Bigger garages come with bigger houses, that come with higher rents or mortgages. Well, you get the idea.
Minimalists have more time to spend on the important things in life
Where it all comes down to
There are plenty of benefits to be had in living the minimalist lifestyle. It will save you time, money, space, stress and distraction among other things. You’ll be rewarded with a sense of freedom and control over your own life, and live green and save money at the same time! You want to live the minimal life? A good place to start is to take the one step towards a minimalist home.
Thanks for the mention, that’s great company with which to be included.
Most welcome Brett, you actually nailed it right on the head with the “time” post.
You can’t even procrastinate any more. “I need to clean my room” *5 minutes later* “drat, already done” All that’s left is doing what you truly care about.
Actually, I should thank you! :)
I am glad that article reiterated your thinking so well and hope your readers enjoy too.
Thanks for the nod….
David Damron
TMP
Most welcome David and thanks for the comment. Struggling with balance is a good point too (when is something minimal enough..) I hope this post sends some traffic your way as well, blogging is sharing after all
All great websites you’ve quoted there! I think we are seeing a bigger and bigger shift towards a more minimal lifestyle – if not to the extreme of living with less than 50 things, than at least less conspicuously consumerist than previously.
Hi Suzie,
Thanks for the comment, I wonder if we’ll ever end up all being minimalists. For now it seems that we’re quite a small group compared to the “mass consumer” group. But that’s just fine, I quite like it this way. Quality over quantity after all :)
Do you have any other minimalism blogs that need to be mentioned?
Christiaan
Hey Christiaan, I’m a first-time visitor and I enjoy what I see so far.
Just a few questions about minimalism from a spiritually-inclined guy…
For starters, while I understand the essence of minimalism, I feel as though concerning yourself with limiting your possessions to an arbitrary number is exactly that… arbitrary. I’m certainly of the mindset that less is more, and I regularly and rigorously get rid of everything I don’t want or need. Yet when it comes to certain things- namely books, musical instruments, clothes (that you actually wear, that is- for instance, having enough exercise gear to not waste time doing laundry so frequently), or even old notebooks, why be so ruthless?
Isn’t there value in having a rich library of books to revisit over time and perhaps pass onto others? If my grandfather had been a minimalist and thrown away his various journals, how would we have written a biography of his life? I personally love the idea of revisiting my thoughts and ideas 10, 20 or even 50 years from now. And no, I don’t want to read books for the rest of my life off a computer screen, a kindle or Ipad. And while I may do 90% of my writing on the computer, there’s a valuable 10% that goes into notebooks, moleskines and the like which I’d rather have access to down the road. We’re not talking oodles of space here- in fact, everything I just mentioned fits easily in my bookshelf and closet.
Don’t get me wrong, I am in 100% agreement with the essence of minimalism, and I am ruthless about throwing out or giving away things that I no longer find useful- so much so that I occasionally irritate those I live with. I’m just trying to understand how the “100 things (or less) challenge” is a good metric for it.
Thanks for helping me understand this increasingly popular phenomenon.
Hi Trav,
First off, thanks for the visit and glad to have you here.
Now let’s have a look at your questions. Being ruthless, it’s actually a delicate balance between keeping stuff, and building clutter. Books are a classic actually. On the one hand having a few bookcases filled with books looks absolutely great! But on the other side of that coin, it does mean that you have more dusting to do, need more floorspace and moving house will take more time. There’s minimalism, and extreme minimalism. Having 3 pairs of shoes is minimal to most people. Having just one pair might be overdoing it. Equally you could do with just three shirts: One to wear, one to wash, and one back-up. Although a great idea when travelling, you’ll be washing every evening. It’s more realistic to travel with three shirts AND enough money to buy new shirts while there. In most countries shirts aren’t that expensive. Although you will be more of a consumer when tossing the shirts when moving on, you might choose to donate them to some charity for the homeless.
There are some things in life you just don’t throw away. Journals are one of those things. In the 100 things challenge, there is this small thing called collections. It’s of course completely up to you to decide what you call a collection. Being ruthless is my way of dealing with the constant “danger” of building collections. To each his own of course. Some things are just to valuable.
I hope I’ve managed to clarify things a bit, if not, just leave another comment or mail me or something. :)
Gr, Christiaan
Thank you so much for the kind tweet and for featuring me with all these other experienced, way more minimalist bloggers.
I am honoured and blushing furiously. :)
You’re most welcome, you’re actually quite experienced! I’m not living out of a suitcase (yet…) for example :)
Thanks for the inspiration
Thanks for clarifying Christiaan, you’ve definitely helped me better understand the philosophy. I’ll be sure to look around your blog to get the bigger picture!
Glad I could help Trav. If there is anything you’d like to know more about just drop me a line and it might just become a blogpost :)
Minimalism is a big contradiction to the propensity of man to possess more. If we somehow realize that having more gives no benefit rather than temporary satisfaction, we will continue to clog our life with unnecessary worries. Perhaps we should learn to be content with what we have and stop the attitude of envy and jealousy. :-)