Let’s talk about minimalism.
The path to financial independence (FI) often leads gently to a degree of minimalism.
I have noticed that as my desire for more disappeared, I started to re-evaluate all of the things that I had bought in the past.
Things cost more than money
One of the benefits of paying more attention to spending, was the realisation that, quite often, buying things actually made me less happy.
A build up of anticipation, a short thrill on purchase, followed fairly quickly by the inevitable buyers remorse.
People spend a significant proportion of their lives thinking about the next thing they are going to buy:
Researching, browsing, planning, shopping.
Some things demand regular attention:
- Cleaning
- Repairing
- Storing
- Keeping warm
- Keeping dry
- Finding
- Charging up
- Filling up
- Emptying
- Protecting
- Insuring
- Upgrading
- Replacing
You could lose years of your precious life, just to looking after objects.
Free your mind
More than anything each thing takes up some space in your mind.
You can end up caring too much about keeping the thing and keeping it in good condition.
Things clutter up your mind as much as your house.
Things lead to more things
Lots of things lead to the purchase of yet more things (especially houses and cars).
Before long you could find yourself looking for a bigger house (or external storage) to store all of your extra things!
Freeing up space in your life
For at least a couple of years we have been doing sweeps of the house and things are either sold, given away, given to charity, recycled, or thrown away.
This process makes you realise how hard you have to work to get rid of things.
Which makes you all the more careful about letting anything new into your life.
Things really have to justify their place in our home by adding a lot of value and fulfillment to our life.
I’m always amazed that there is still anything left to come out of the house but it keeps piling up in our clearing warehouses (under the stairs or in the attic) before finally going to a new home.
Pausing before letting any new thing into your life
It feels good to pare back the things you own to those that truly enhance your life.
The exercise also strengthens the habit of pausing before letting any new item into your life.
Some things get to stay
Minimalism could be taken to an extreme but what we’re really after here is the perfect balance:
We’re looking for enough.
Some things get to stay:
All of our outdoor gear gets to stay. As we’ve had incredible adventures thanks to this stuff. These things easily justify their place in our life.
Likewise, the family bikes, the camera, the Sonos speakers, our iPhones … and of course the books, all get to stay 🙂
Buying high quality when you do buy
When you decide that a thing is truly worthwhile. That you’ll get a lot of use from it and it will add a lot of value to your life. It is often worth buying the highest quality you can.
Cooking equipment, coats, walking boots, tools, are all examples where it is worth buying high quality items and keeping them for a long time.
Store things in the second-hand market
We now always look to buy things second-hand to start with.
These days: people buy, barely use, and then discard things for the latest model.
There are always incredible, good-as-new things, on offer for a fraction of the original price.
I have used this technique to buy a barely used Digital SLR camera for a sixth of it’s original price.
Looking back at the changes I’ve made since stepping onto the FI path. Buying second-hand is one change that has made a big positive difference.
You end up with a high quality lifestyle for a fraction of the price.
Rather than storing things you’re not using in your garage or attic. Simply sell it and you can always buy something similar later if you find you need it.
Anything that hasn’t been used for 6 months is a good candidate to sell.
When you store your things in the second-hand market you don’t have to worry about them at all.
Someone else takes care of keeping them in good condition, keeping them warm and dry, and storing them.
We bought a campervan once, had an incredible year of family adventures, then sold it for a small profit that meant it paid for its running costs. But that’s a story for another day.
Having what you use and nothing more
There is something incredible about having just what you use and nothing more.
There is freedom in having enough.
Give yourself the gift of time by clearing out your clutter.
Less time being owned by your things. More time and space for living.
A simple step to take today …
Look around your house for anything that hasn’t been used in 6 months.