Why Living With Less Might Be The Best
Consumerism runs deep in our American culture today. We’ve been taught that we deserve what we want and should not have to wait. If I just have that, I will finally be happy. Even after the purchase has been made, that same longing for something more begins to creep back in. Here is why living with less might be the best thing you do.
Living With Less Is The Best
More than likely, you just like I, have fallen for this trickery at some point. Take a step back and look around at the world you’ve created with your home and what’s stored in your garage. After that, look at your bank account transactions for the month and see what kind of story it tells.
While there is nothing wrong with owning nice things, it is wrong when we find our worth and our happiness in those things. It might seem foreign to you, but living with less might be the best thing you can do to live a fuller life. Here are some ways that your life will improve when you decide to live with less.
You Save Big in the Resource Department
Living with less has many benefits to it. Not only will you save money, but other resources too, including time and energy, along with more space in your home to live better. These are similar to the ones I use: Savings Envelopes
Who couldn’t use extra money in their wallets or more space for their kids to run around? Spending time on cleaning or repairing things in your home takes you from spending time with the things that really matter.
More Time to Pursue What Really Matters
Have you ever heard the saying, “You’ve brought nothing into this world and you’ll take nothing out.” It’s true! That is unless you’re a pharaoh mummy buried in an Egyptian pyramid. So why do we get wrapped up in things that rot, get stolen or fade away? Chasing after possessions reveals a lot about ourselves and our wrong way of thinking.
As mentioned earlier, owning less will give you more time and energy to focus on what really matters. That could be spending more time playing with your children, or sharing intimate time with your spouse. Maybe going out fishing with a buddy on the lake or serving meals at a soup kitchen.
In case you haven’t noticed, all of these circumstances involve people. The people and relationships in your life should be what matters the most to you.
The more you invest in other people, the more joy you will have. Ebeneezer Scrooge almost found this out a little too late in life. Whatever your circumstances or place in life at this point may be, pursue people, not things.
Gives You a Healthier Mind
Living with less will not only take the clutter out of your life, but will give you a healthier mind too. While this might sound strange, having less allows you to think more clearly.
When a problem strikes, a person living in a house full of stuff will not only see the problem but an obstacle in all the clutter as well. Maybe without even realizing it, causing more stress than what a minimalist would feel.
Allows You to Be Content
Minimalists have come to the realization that money can’t buy happiness. Living with less will help you become content and happy with where you are in life. Your itch to buy something from a pop-up ad might fade away. Eventually, your desire to have fewer things will become even more important than simply having less stuff.
You will also be content with not comparing yourself to others all the time. For many people, this would be a huge weight lifted off their shoulders. If you’re always comparing yourself to what other people have, you won’t find contentment.
You will be miserable, complaining more and may even become a bitter person. Stop basing your success on the car that you drive and the house you live in when you see your friends or family living like high-rollers. More than likely, even with all that stuff, they’re still not really happy.
Less Financial Problems
Having less gives you a better chance to avoid financial problems. Most marriages that come to a crashing end usually have some sort of financial crisis that brought them to that point.
Removing financial problems in a relationship will help take a huge burden out of the equation. Couples would spend less time arguing about money and more time enjoying each other instead.
Minimalists are very careful with their spending habits and stop and think whether a purchase is really necessary. They also don’t use credit cards for larger purchases.
Everything is paid in cash, money that they actually have. There are also no monthly bills for toys and trinkets to play on like an iPhone bill or laptop. This will help keep you from being stretched thin every month.
More Freedom to Be Generous
Wouldn’t it be nice if you had more financial freedom? Imagine not being weighed down by monthly payments to several banks and creditors, and instead you can put your money where you see fit.
Breaking free from this is like breaking free from invisible shackles. We are able to take our mindsets off of ourselves and try and care for other people with our resources.
When we’re not worried about how to come up with the money to pay the bills, it frees us up to be more giving and helpful to others.
A Presentable Home
Not only will you live better, but your home will look better too. Have you ever had company over that never returned, perhaps turned off from the clutter and messiness of your home? While it might not have made you feel uncomfortable, it obviously had an effect on others.
Having a tidy home will make you feel better about yourself and constantly remind you that stuff is not what defines a happy life. A cleaner home will allow you to breathe.
Final Word
These are several ways that illustrate that living with less might actually be the best thing that you can do. Would you agree? If you’ve been a minimalist for some time, please share with us other ways that might help our daily lives by living with less? Let’s use our money wisely for preparedness items. May God Bless this world, Linda
