Achieve More with Less and Live Within Your Means
Now picture your life in relation to the desk. If you were to gather everything in your home that you own, would you be able to fit it all into a suitcase? If not, would you be able to fit everything that you actually NEED into a suitcase?
I divide possessions into three categories:
-The kind that are necessary for survival
-The kind that makes life more convenient
-Junk
Having a house cluttered with junk you don’t need is stressful. Home is supposed to be your sanctuary. You should know where everything is and be able to locate whatever you’re looking for at a moment’s notice. The size or appearance of your home isn’t as important as what’s stored inside.
We Can Make Life More Complex Than it Needs to Be. It Can Be Mentally and Physically Draining. Be More with Less and Find Yourself More Content With Life
Be more with less. Becoming a minimalist is as simple as removing the things from your life that you don’t need in order to focus on what really matters.
More Baggage = More Stress
When we initially took on these unnecessary burdens into our lives, we thought it would make us happier. We thought our lives would be fulfilled, the more things we owned. However, by cluttering your life with so many things, it tends to give you the perspective of a jail inmate. Your home is filled with too much junk, so you’re stuck. You have invested a lot of time and energy into one place, so you are limiting your ability to travel elsewhere and experience new things.
Minimalism Refers to More than Just Physical Possessions
We can apply this mentality for every aspect of life. By taking on so many possessions, we are committing ourselves to being in one place even though we don’t know what our future holds for us. By taking on so many thoughts and emotions, we are committing ourselves to one person or thing, possibly sooner than necessary. Here are 4 easy steps toward a free lifestyle:
Live Within Your Means
First, it’s time to focus on what matters most. Limit the big purchases and live frugally in order to have the resources to endure an actual emergency. Keep one at a time. When it comes to food and daily living necessities, I like to live day to day. I buy what I need the moment I need it. “Stocking up” on something for long-term future use leaves just enough room to forget about it. Those goods you buy in bulk get stored in the back and eventually left to expire. Those individuals who use more than one car and live a life of excess and luxury gain no benefit from doing so.
The Bare Necessities
Once you have freed the space in your life from unneeded junk, start thinking about what are your conveniences and what necessities. You have places to go. But do you need your car to get to those places? No? Then walk. Do you have some free time you wish you could use more constructively? Sell the TV and computer. How often do you cook? Get rid of that dishwasher and consider using only one plate, one glass, and one of each utensil. Different people have different preferences. Minimalists would prefer to do more with less, and choose to keep only the essentials for living.
Quality over Quantity
Be more with less: this can mean something as broad as redefining your life goals and specific as narrowing down your speed dial numbers from 5 to 1. Does that toxic relationship you are in seem to cause more stress than happiness? Onto the next one. Life is short and your time is more valuable than any one relationship. Don’t weigh yourself down worrying about any person in particular. Inversely, don’t fill up your life with too many unproductive relationships. Having one or two worthwhile people in your life is more fulfilling than having handfuls of mere acquaintances.
Eliminate Debt
I have personally never owed any money to anyone. I never carried any debt of any kind. I don’t know what debt feels like, but I imagine it can’t feel very good. To carry the burden of having to work for money that doesn’t even belong to you is a stress that should be minimized if not flat out avoided. My advice: Avoid incurring any kind of debt in your lifetime. Easier said than done for some depending on their family’s social class. But think of it this way: is having higher education, cars, and a house necessary? Not for everyone, in my humble opinion. Live within your means, and take this risk if you feel it is necessary for your survival.
Don’t Go Overboard
The great thing about living within your means is that there is always room for improvement. However, taking this perspective to its extreme would be thinking you need to get rid of everything you own. The term minimalism doesn’t need to be expressed as a radical lifestyle choice. Just eliminate the things that cause the greatest amount of stress in your life to achieve a peaceful state of mind. You don’t need to eliminate everything to experience the benefits of a simple life. Like sentimental possessions, for example. Keep the things into your life you hold dear, even if they have no practical value; those things give your life meaning.
Clutter-Free Lifestyle
Without material possessions you gain more control of your life, you have more freedom than you previously thought was necessary. You start to narrow down things that seem like a part of everyday life, but don’t need to be. Get rid of everything that doesn’t matter. That way, you can focus on what matters most to you. You begin to appreciate things you have more. You take less for granted. You experience life in the moment since you depend on very little for survival. Your worries about the future cease to exist and you take things as they come.
