5 Benefits of Minimalism
According to the cliché, less is more. I happen to agree. Here are five benefits of minimalism and how I utilize it in my own life to save on space, money, decisions, and time.
1. Quality Over Quantity
Quality over quantity can be summarized by how it's better to have things that will last than to buy something cheap and needing to replace it in a month because it breaks.
This way of living sparks creativity as you need to find different solutions if you don’t have certain things. Oftentimes, this can be tedious to do things without the right tool, but eventually, once you are able to invest in a quality piece, it makes it so much more worthwhile.
Moreover, I think the whole concept of quality over quantity is huge for clothing, specifically capsule wardrobes. If you don't know what a capsule wardrobe is, it is basically a very curated set of basics that all work together. For example, your entire closet consists of two pairs of pants that work with every one of your five shirts. You have two timeless jackets like a trench coat and a white denim, and then you have a belt that works with all of your pants and all of your shorts.
This is essentially the embodiment of a capsule wardrobe, and it helps people refine their clothes. When you shop with this in mind, it lets you focus on universal pieces rather than buying something trendy or cheap.
Right now, I need a pair of blue denim shorts as we head into the summer because I don’t have any at the moment. I'm looking at buying a pair of Levi's 501s, because of the versatility of this short. They will work with whatever clothing I have five years down the line. They won’t be going out of style versus something like checkerboard shorts, which were really trendy last year, but now not so much.
2. Minimal Decision Fatigue
Continuing with the clothing theme, minimalism can seriously cut down on any decision fatigue as you have fewer options to consider. Minimalism helps you to define staples that you shouldn't have multiples of. For example, I only need one hat. I don't wear them often as they give me headaches, but it is nice to have a hat every now and then.
I've come to understand that I'd rather have one good option than five decent options and three good options. For example, I do like to invest in jewelry. I've always hated the idea of jewelry turning my finger green or causing some kind of reaction. In turn, since I invest good money into these pieces, I already have fewer options, and it takes extra decisions out of the picture. I wear the exact same five rings every day, and I usually wear the same earrings too. This means I’m not wasting time in the morning considering each of my jewelry options and wasting time going back and forth.
On the flip side of minimalism, I follow an influencer who has the most clothes I've ever seen. She has multiple closets completely devoted to her clothing, which is just so crazy to have to sort through that many options. She has also mentioned how much laundry she has to do.
It was a lightbulb moment for me as the fewer clothes you have, the less laundry you have to do, and the fewer decisions you have to make. Moreover, she never seems to wear the same thing twice in her videos, and I think people should have clothing that they really want to wear over and over again because it sparks joy in their lives. We all should have a favorite shirt and a favorite pair of pants or shoes that we wear too often just because we like the piece so much.
3. Intentionality
Minimalism is also about intentionality and how you get to make choices that align with your values, such as deciding whether to spend your money on material things or spending it on experiences with the people in your life.
I was recently out, and the topic of de-influencing came up. This is a trend where influencers discourage their followers from buying certain products. This notion coincides with minimalism because it reminds us that we don't need a Stanley Cup in five different colors, and we don't need to pick up another one when they have a collaboration with our favorite company. I think people should determine worth based on if an item is doing the job that it's supposed to do. In turn, whatever water bottle you own right now is perfectly adequate. I also think it can be difficult to find products that work for us individually. So when you do, there's really no need to change just because your favorite influencer is raving about something. Simply spend money on what you know you like.
4. Prioritization
Minimalism teaches you how to prioritize and minimize the things that take up the bulk of your time. It allows you to streamline the things you have in a day. Maybe this means cooking a simpler breakfast in the morning or only checking your phone at specific times during the day, but having a set routine that is based on simplifying can add a lot to your life. I also think that there are a fair number of misconceptions about minimalism. For one, minimalism isn't avoiding spending money at all costs, but it's just choosing what is most worthwhile to spend your money on. Another kind of wrong connotation that goes with minimalism is that you have to live with barely anything. It encourages you to pick and prioritize what your money should go to since we all have a finite amount of it.
5. Finances
In terms of finances and minimalism, I'm constantly looking for things to donate and remove from my life. I know that it can be difficult to get rid of things because we get hung up on how much we paid for it. But it helps me to look at things as a sunk cost, which is just basically that the money has already been spent and it can't be recovered. Essentially, everything we own is at a sunk cost. When I look at it this way, it helps to eliminate that financial chokehold.
Sometimes you are able to sell things for a reduced price, like clothes on Poshmark or furniture on Facebook Marketplace. This is great it you can, but “I spent so much money on this,” shouldn't be the sole reason you keep something if all it ever does is sit in your closet or on your table collecting dust.
I will leave you with a little mantra that I have on a poster, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do with it.” I hope this provides some inspiration for adding minimalism to your life, and if you would like to listen to a more in-depth conversation at my thoughts on minimalism, you can listen to my podcast episode about it here!