Aug 21, 2013

I've always been curious about minimalism but I've never been willing to say, "I am a minimalist." I guess I'm not sure what being a minimalist really means. Everyone seems to have a different definition but most blogs and articles agree on two core concepts, living with less and living with purpose. I stand firmly behind both of those ideas and would encourage others to do the same but before I do, let me explain.

Living with Less

For me, this all boils down to simplicity. The whole point of living with less is to de-clutter and I'm not just talking about getting rid of stuff, I'm talking about shortening your lists. Think of it this way, if you were to categorize everything in your life, the things you own, the bills you pay, the way you spend your time, the way you spend your money, etc. and make lists under those category headings, then living with less would be the art of shortening those lists.

When I first started shortening my lists I did it with a goal in mind, to cut spending and save for something big. The first step was simple; make a list of where my money goes. This was my list:

1. Mortgage
2. Property taxes
3. Utilities (water, gas, electric)
4. Refuse removal
5. Home insurance
6. Home owners association
7. Lawn maintenance
8. Cable
9. Internet service
10. Netflix
11. Car loan
12. Car insurance
13. Fuel
14. Cell Phone
15. Groceries
16. Health insurance
17. Dental insurance
18. Eye care (daily contacts, glasses, etc.)
19. Gym Membership
20. 401k
21. Employer stock purchase program
22. Savings
23. Discretionary spending (bars, restaurants, weekly outings, etc.)

Once I got over the shock of how much of my paycheck was already spent every month, I started thinking about things on the list that could be removed. I don't just mean extra spending, I mean everything, even the bills you think you can't avoid. There should be some low hanging fruit on every list and on my first list the low hanging fruit was cable and some discretionary spending. When it comes to the other stuff though, you've got to be really creative if you want to have a big impact. In my case, the house represented not just a big item on the list but a shackle holding me down, so I decided to rent out my house and move into an apartment. Renting the house was great for a lot of reasons but in terms of the list, it knocked off or consolidated many expenses and the rental income paid all the remaining items on the list. Sure I replaced one living expense with another by getting an apartment but the apartment cost less, included all the utilities, was in an area I enjoyed more, and was MUCH smaller forcing me to shorten other lists such as the list of stuff I own.

In the end, renting was a great trade-off because I dropped some major bills like gas and electric and was able to have the others paid for by the renters. The next step in this process for me was to begin evaluating what I was really getting out of each of the remaining things on the list. This is a very personal process for everyone but it comes down to assessing your happiness and strategically making changes to shorten your lists.

Living with Purpose

Living with purpose is, to me anyway, all about getting the most out of your choices. For example, I chose to drop the gym membership and start going to a smaller more expensive Crossfit gym. Obviously that didn't cut costs but in terms of value, I got MUCH more out of the money I spent. Instead of being uninterested at the gym and not really enjoying it, I was eagerly going to the gym and was never bored. Physically, I got more out of the workouts and I felt better about my health. This was a win-win but not all decisions are this easy. The trick is to be realistic when asking and answering some tough questions meant to challenge your choices and preconceived notions of what makes each of us happy.

I like to evaluate everything by asking myself how much fulfillment it will deliver and whether or not that amount is worth impeding my goal. I do this all the time really, even when grocery shopping. For example, I might stand in front of the craft beer section of my supermarket where you can pick individual beers by the bottle to make a six-pack, and just look at the beers I want trying to decide if the $10 I'll spend on the six-pack is worth it. 80% of the time, I walk away empty handed but satisfied with my decision because I know it was the right one for me. What's going through my head in those situations is kind of funny to write out but I'm basically thinking "will I really enjoy these beers or would I rather spend less this week on groceries and save the money for my goal… will I be less fulfilled without the craft beer six-pack… what about the fact that drinking these beers will probably affect my workouts?" This sounds like a ridiculous amount of consideration for such a small decision but it happens quickly and in the end I have the most happiness for my money.

The last thing I'll say about living with purpose is that people generally do it naturally when it comes to big things like their family or their career but when it comes to the smaller stuff in life we tend to just forget about the purpose. Perhaps it's complacency or maybe we just don't care about the cost of low value decisions. Whatever it is, I would encourage everyone to be critical of their choices and thoughtfully consider your options and the trade-offs of each.

I fully believe in living with less and living with purpose. While I won't pretend to know what's right for everyone, I strongly encourage you to try it. I think you'll find that having fewer things on your list is liberating and empowering. With less, you gain great flexibility to focus on purpose and through that purpose you can achieve more. You can have purpose and not live with less but if you do that, you lose flexibility and you have a more difficult time being focused given the many other things on your lists. You can also just decide to live with less but without purpose, it will probably just feel like deprivation. This is all sounding philosophical so I'll digress a little and sum it all up by saying that I am not sure if I'm a minimalist or not, but I do appreciate simplicity and purpose and want the most out of everything.

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