One peculiar aspect of being in college is that I essentially have two homes. While I spend the vast majority of every year living at school in Dallas, I always have my room at my parents’ house in Minnesota to go back to every winter break.
Fulfilling the American stereotype, I have plenty of stuff in each home. A dresser and a closet full of clothes both here and there. Two beds. Two book collections. Multiple guitars at each location.
While this two-room setup is convenient, it’s also ridiculously inefficient. There is no reason for me to own a room full of material possessions that sit and do nothing for 11 out of 12 months. Especially considering that there are people in Minnesota, and probably in my own community who would benefit greatly from owning my spare clothes/bed/blankets, etc.
It also occurred to me that I did not miss a single thing in my old room at my parents’ house. My life was great without those items, and if I had come back and my room had been empty, I couldn’t have named any of the things that were in it.
This made me take a step back and look at the things that I owned, both at school and at my parents’ house. What did I actually use? What added value to my life? Even in my closet at school, I had worn maybe half of the clothes in the past year. Why did I own things I didn’t use?
So I started learning about minimalism. I stumbled upon two guys called The Minimalists, and started listening to their podcast. Their message made a lot of sense to me. They outline many ways that owning and consuming less can add value to your life, but here are the biggest ones that I have experienced:
No. 1: Money. You can save a ton of money by living a minimalist lifestyle. Living in a smaller apartment or house, driving a smaller car or no car at all, not buying that 12th pair of shoes. Being more conscious of what you consume can lead to lots of extra cash. You can use that cash to purchase more of your life, since money is time, or purchase experiences (which have been proven to make you happier than material things).
No. 2: Flexibility. Since I don’t own very many things, it will be easier for me to move from place to place. Being in college, I will most likely do a lot of moving over the next few years. I want to live and work all over the country and the world, which is easier with less stuff. I also love traveling, and it’s much easier (and cheaper) to travel with less stuff.
No. 3: Health. A year ago I started eating a plant-based diet, and have never felt healthier or looked better. Eating plants instead of meat considerably reduces the amount of the earth’s resources you need to feed yourself, as well as reduces your risk for lots of not-so-fun stuff like cancer and heart disease. If you are not ready to go vegetarian just yet, simply reducing the amount of red meat you consume can make a difference. (It’s also less expensive to eat a plant-based diet, blog post on that coming soon!)
No. 4: Stress. We only have so much mental power to make decisions in a day. Opening your closet and being confronted with picking which of your 80 shirts you are going to wear is stressful. I have a few go-to outfits, and cycle through those for work. It also takes less time, and lets me sleep in more 🙂
No. 5: Happiness. When you’re not looking forward to that new shiny thing, it makes you stop and appreciate what you do have. Being able to look at a fancy car and think “My life is great without that” is much more satisfying than thinking “I need that, but I can’t buy it. Life sucks.” I also find a lot of joy in donating my things, knowing that it might help someone out. That makes me a lot happier than anything would just sitting in my closet not being used.
And really, that’s all anyone wants, is to be happy. Stuff does not make people happy. So being able to pay less attention to stuff will allow you to pay more attention to what does make you happy. #MoneyGoals
If any of this sounds interesting to you, I would highly recommend checking out The Minimalists’ documentary on Netflix. Here’s the trailer: