The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Derek Sall. Derek is the owner of the blog, LifeAndMyFinances.com, where he teaches people how to get out of debt, save money, and become wealthy.
We hear the term thrown around all the time, but what is minimalism anyway? According to the gentlemen over at theminimalist.com,
“Minimalism is a tool used to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.”
There are no defined rules of minimalism. There’s no one that says you can’t own a house or a car and still be a minimalist. Minimalism is different for each person. Some people choose to own less than 100 items, and others own a house in the suburbs and drive a car, and there are (of course) many people mixed everywhere in between.
To be a minimalist, you just need to unbind yourself from the stuff in this world. For those minimalists that own homes, their house does not define who they are and they certainly aren’t struggling from month to month to make the payments. They live far below their means each month so that they can be free from life’s daily struggles. They choose to live on far less than they earn so that they have options to do whatever it is that they please. By getting rid of the excess, they find out what is truly important to them.
The Keys to Live a Minimalist Lifestyle
Minimalism isn’t for everyone. If you like the way your neighbors look at you when you drive past in your new luxury car, then you’re probably not ready to live a minimalist lifestyle. If, however, you question yourself monthly (you know, when all those bills come due) and wonder why you keep torturing yourself with all of those payments, then it’s probably time to start considering a pseudo-minimalist lifestyle.
So if minimalism intrigues you, where should you start? That’s easy – start with the stuff that pains you the most – those big ticket items.
1) Downsize Your House
There are so many people out there that are house poor. They have this huge mansion of a house, which looks awesome, but it comes with such a large monthly payment that it cripples them financially, and they can’t ever have any fun because they are stuck making that stupid payment each month.
This is certainly not the way to live. If you are discontent with the mortgage payment on your home, then why not consider downsizing? Or maybe you could even rent a small apartment above someone’s garage. Think about it. What kind of freedom would you have if you cut your house payment in half? What if you got rid of it entirely? By downsizing your home, you could probably save yourself a thousand dollars a month. Wouldn’t that be such a freeing feeling?
2) Downgrade Your Car
The second largest expense for most people is their car. It often comes with a monthly payment, high insurance costs, maintenance costs, and fuel costs. It’s not uncommon for a person to spend nearly $10,000 per year on their vehicle alone.
What if you went from owning a $20,000 car with payments to a $5,000 that you paid for with cash? Your monthly payments would be gone, your insurance would go down, and your maintenance costs and fuel costs will likely remain the same. By downgrading your ride, you could save yourself around $5,000 per year.
3) Buy Quality Food for Less
People waste so much money on food. Instead of frying up an egg themselves for $0.10, they go to a restaurant and pay $3.00. Or, for the so-called “wise” consumer, they’ll go the grocery store for their eggs instead. But, instead of going to the discount grocery store where eggs are $1.29 a dozen, they’ll go to the nearby grocer where they’re selling for $1.79. Why? Because they feel too sophisticated to shop at a discount grocery store. In my option, that’s just downright stupid.
If you want to save big money on food, avoid restaurants and shop at discount grocery stores like Aldi or Save-A-Lot. The food is good, the prices are cheap, and you’ll save a bunch of time as well (I’m often in and out in less than 10 minutes). Instead of spending $1,000 on food each month, you could just follow this simple advice and cut that bill in half, saving you $6,000 per year. That’s huge!
Final Key Points to Live a Minimalist Lifestyle
To save even more money, do your best to combine all three of these points. If you decide to downsize or move into an apartment, pay careful attention to where it’s located. To save the maximum amount of money, you should find a place that’s within three miles from work and three miles from the nearest discount grocery store. This will allow you to do without your car much of the time, and maybe even allow you to get rid of it entirely! This simple move will save you money in gas, insurance, and also means that your car doesn’t even have to be very expensive since you could bike or walk everywhere anyway!
How about you all? Are you ready to live a minimalist lifestyle? What will you reduce in your life?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy https://www.flickr.com/photos/mes_regards/12167414035/
