Living With Less – 21 Benefits + 7 Ways to Get Started
A life lived with less material possessions can potentially be more satisfying and fulfilling. Think about the times you’ve ever found yourself acquiring more and more items om your home.
Did those additions give you contentment, or did you just end up wanting to add something else?
This is a question we could all ponder over. Advertisements on our smartphones, televisions, radios, and other devices all tell us to get more.
Maybe at the end of the day, you don’t need to collect as much stuff as you think you do. Maybe all those clothes, toys, and gadgets aren’t necessary.
In fact, choosing the minimalist approach of having less things may be just enough. Here are some benefits that might convince you to decrease what you own.
1. Being able to focus on what matters
It’s harder to focus on one thing when you have so much visual stimuli getting your attention. With owning a lot of things, it’s easy to lose touch of what you really value.
Choosing to minimize what you own allows you to focus more on what you really enjoy. The items that really make you feel good.
You can highlight what you want others to know is important to you. Examples could be family photos or accomplishments.
2. Easier to find everything
One of the annoyances in life we all don’t like is not being able to find something we want or need. Without having as much, you can easily locate things within minutes or seconds.
How nice would it be just to have something in one spot you can look to whenever you need it?
3. More easy to move
Imagine you only had to pick up a few things here and there, and you’d be ready to move in just a couple hours.
That doesn’t have to be a fantasy. It can be a peaceful reality with only having little to pack in your home.
No more packing up 20 or 30 boxes just to move to a new place. With just a few articles of clothing, pairs of shoes, and not much furniture, it can be a piece of cake.
4. Less history to deal with
Much of the stuff we still have date back to earlier times in our lives. Some pleasant, but others not so pleasant.
Our living space can be a space of happiness. A constant reminder of what we love, not what we’ve lost.
Removing the old can open up room for new peace. Let go of the past through decluttering what no longer serves a purpose in your life.
5. More relaxation
With less trouble sorting through everything in your home, it gives you more time to relax. You can just sit in your comfortable chair and just breathe easy.
6. Less stress
Of course, with more relaxation, it naturally follows there’s less stress. When you imagine having to clean out your closet or room, you’re probably a little overwhelmed about that.
But just think of good you’ll feel when it’s done. I remember when I re-organized and cleaned up my room once, it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
When you declutter, it might feel that way for you too. I’ve also mentioned before that it was written a Psychology Today article that clutter can cause some anxiety.
7. Less comparison
With getting more things, we do in some ways get caught up in the “keeping with the joneses” game. You look at what your family, friends, or neighbors have, and try to compete with that.
But that can end up putting you in more debt, and making you feel much less peace of mind. With having less things, it’s no longer about comparing, it’s just about making yourself happy.
8. A more attractive home
Clearer space tends to be more attractive than space that’s filled up. It’s like giving our eyes room to breathe and be calm.
If you ever plan to sell your home, it might help you have a better shot of getting it sold quickly. Me and my partner always enjoy looking at homes that don’t look cluttered.
9. It’s refreshing
Maybe it’s just me, but it really did feel like a breath of fresh air when I’ve cleaned up my room. We get so used to our environment the way it is, it no longer feels polluted to us.
Decluttering things can remind you just how good your space can feel for you.
10. Get better quality
With less of your finances spent on things you don’t value, there’s more to spend on higher quality things that you do.
Let’s say you’re a big fan of tools. Well now you can get some really fancy ones to do some great woodworking or crafting.
One high quality item is much better than multiple low quality items.
11. More opportunity to do work you enjoy
Some people only work at a job just to afford the lifestyle of owning a lot of stuff. But with less in your life, you no longer have to afford that lifestyle.
You can instead choose work that you enjoy and can afford you just what you really want in life. Doing a job you actually enjoy and working fewer hours can be a lot less stressful
12. You can inspire others
Many of your family and friends are probably in the same boat as you. Owning a lot of things that don’t bring them much happiness.
Spending a lot and constantly having to worry about paying off debts. When people see how happy you are with less, it’ll encourage them to have less too.
Then they can get to experience the same joy you do, which could make you even happier.
13. More time for charity
With less stuff to deal with or spend on, you have more to give back to your community. You can take time to volunteer at a community center.
You could donate to causes you care about. Life is as much about helping others as it is about helping ourselves.
14. More financial control
When you’re no longer succumbing to the impulse of infomercials or ads, you’ll have more finances in your control.
You’ll really get the most bang out of your buck with being able to spend on what you enjoy most.
15. More freedom
Clutter and debt can feel like being shackled with chains. It’s hard to break yourself free from it. But once you choose not to own much, you’ll no longer be as constrained.
You’ll feel more free to make choices to travel or do things you’ve always wanted to.
16. Productivity
It’s hard to be productive when you have a bunch of clutter in your home to deal with. Once that’s gone, you can spend more time working on your other goals.
Accomplishing all the dreams you have in life.
17. You make the environment better
Not owning as much means you decrease the amount of waste that gets into the environment. That helps to create cleaner air, cleaner water, and an overall better world to live in.
18. More time with family
People matter more than things. Not having to deal with clutter in your home gives you more time for those close to you.
Your family, your friends, and your partner. Having not as much stuff can help you have more quality in your relationships.
19. Less cleaning
It can be a dream come true to not have to vacuum, dust, and sweep up around you as much. Not having many things means not having much to clean
20. Decreased focus on quantity
With not owning much, there’s a decrease of focus on owning a lot of material things. You’re able to re-train your mind to recognize happiness comes from value and not quantity.
21. More time for experiences
Your experiences are what you’ll likely most remember when you near the end of your life. You’ll think more about what you did in life than what you owned.
Use the extra resources you have now to spend on enjoying what you value. Learn new skills that can improve you as a person.
Multiple experiences can do far more for you than owning a lot of things.
7 ways to get started
1. Clothes
Your closet is a small space in your home you can get started with. Just take out items that you haven’t worn in weeks and months.
Put in them in a box and store it away for a while. If you still find yourself not missing those clothes after a week, give them away.
Having a simple wardrobe can make getting ready in the morning much easier.
2. Toys
If you have children, help them collect toys they haven’t used in a while. Show them the value of having more organization in their room.
You can lead them by your own example in showing your newly cleaned out closet.
3. Decorations
When we first move in our homes or apartments, we look to fill it up. We feel like it needs to be decorated a lot to feel “homey.”
But after a while you may have realized you don’t like most of the decorations you put up. You may think they just take up space in your place now.
Take down those decorations and put them away in box. Similar with your clothes, if you don’t miss them, give it away.
Now you can put up decorations that fit your personality and have some value to you.
4. TVs
While TVs have been on the decline in homes in recent years, many still have more than necessary. This blog shows that most houses had 2.5 televisions, and about 31% had more than 4.
If you have more TVs than family members in your household, maybe you should get rid of one. Television is mostly a waste of time anyway.
Imagine what you could do with all the hours you’ve spent mindlessly watching news or dramas.
5. Kitchen utensils
The amount of kitchen utensils should depend on your household size. It’ll also depend on the number of guests you ever plan to have over.
The beauty of decreasing your pots, plates, spoons, forks, and knives, is that you’ll have less dishes to clean.
6. Chairs, couches, and all other furniture
I felt pretty good whenever I recently got a small shelf for my room. The other shelf I had was bulkier and took up a lot of space.
Look at the furniture in your room. Do you feel some of it takes up too much space? Consider downsizing them to a level that’s enough for your rooms.
7. Desktops and counters
That seems to be the easiest place we just dump all of our daily stuff we accumulate. The problem is that eventually turns into a pile of mess
Take time to remove everything that doesn’t need to be on your desk and countertops. With the space cleared up, only place items on there that are of value for you.
Can having less lead to happiness?
Over the last decade or so, there’s been more of a push towards minimalism bringing people happiness.
Modern culture will always tell you that you need more to be happy. It’s not necessarily to help us, but more so to help businesses and corporations make money.
Though it’s not something for them to be faulted for, as that’s the purpose of what a business is supposed to do.
It’s our job to think about whether what we’re being sold is really going to help us be happy. Even with living a minimalist lifestyle, you’re being sold something.
Whether it’s minimalistic aesthetics, decors, tiny houses, simple living books, decluttering courses, and so much more.
Anything being suggested to you, to some extent, may be helping that person make money.
You have to decide what works for you
There are compelling reasons to suggest it can be more fulfilling to have less.
Let’s imagine different examples of more that would perhaps obviously not help you be happier.
Let’s say you just wanted to eat more and more food. For millions of people, that’s a real reality, and they’re often not happier for it.
They don’t feel as physically well, they’re more insecure, and generally more dissatisfied with life.
Another example is people who just have more and more intimate partners. At some point, a lot of those people just eventually get tired of it.
They realize maybe just having one intimate partner is enough.
From a materialism standpoint, you look at people with lots of houses, cars, and jewelry, at best it’s impractical, and at worst it’s ridiculous.
Unless you have a passion for it, lots of cars won’t get you somewhere quicker. Lots of homes won’t shelter you any better.
Many times, simplicity is just a much better route to go than falling into mass consumerism. In a way, at a certain point more possessions eventually just possess you.
Why is less better?
One could push back in a lot of ways to the idea of less not being better. What if you feel like you miss out on what everybody else is enjoying?
With most things people have there’s usually a drawback. People may have some joy with the latest Apple phone, but they also have to spend a lot on it to keep enjoying it.
I’ve read somewhere how Apple products are designed not to last long. Individuals have to keep paying to fix them on top of the amount they’ve already spent to get it.
One reason less can be a lot better is you save a lot more in your wallet. More things often means more responsibility.More time to have to use on upkeep.
That takes more of your focus and energy away from other activities that maybe make you happier. Eventually with all that you acquire and accumulate, that’s tough to deal with whenever you move somewhere.
You end up having to get a lot of boxes to pack, and the process can become quite stressful. The simple choice of not having as much can potentially make life a whole lot easier.
But of course, don’t take anyone’s word for it, including mine. Try it for yourself. Remove anything you don’t use anymore little by little.
See how much better you feel, and then go from there.
