Comments on: why i am a good candidate for minimalism

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:25:17 +0000

Fascinating! My reasons:

* I do make plenty of money. This enables me to let go of things… I know I can re-buy if I find I really need them. Most of you are saying that the opposite also makes you a good candidate; I don’t understand the dynamic but I guess it just shows that minimalism can work at various perceived income levels.
* I don’t have a lot of time, so I don’t want to have things that are high-maintenance.
* I live in the city and have already been getting by without a car for years (prefer this anyway; cars are high-maintenance.)
* I’m childfree by choice and have never had a TV, so there are two more classes of objects I’ve never needed.
* I grew up in an atmosphere of both poverty and clutter, with things always being lost in the messy environment. This has made it very hard for me to learn non-cluttered patterns, but I’m also motivated, because I don’t want to live the way I grew up.
* I don’t like to clean, either. When I must, I’d rather it be easy.
* Like others, I value things that are not physical: work, fitness, learning, friendships, snuggle-time with my family, etc.
* I’ve always found physical possessions to be a bit of a burden. Even in college I remember debating with friends about the cost of stewardship.

By: Summer

Summer — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:06:06 +0000

*We don’t have any money to waste, so we have to find out what we need verses what we just want.
*We move a lot because we move into cheap old houses and fix them up to sell or rent, so we can’t have too much stuff or no one would ever want to help us move!
*We love simple, clear spaces.
*We would rather have one large piece of art than several smaller pieces.
*We sometimes live in small houses (under 700 square feet) so there isn’t room for clutter.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:16:04 +0000

We don’t have our home yet. My husband lost his job. I am suck at organizing. I am fat( eat less), my child need my attention.

By: enid

enid — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:27:00 +0000

After 22 years of marriage, my husband disappointed me and broke my heart. We are working through our problems, but in the meantime, I have decluttered and made peace with letting go of many things. I want to always only have enough stuff that will fit in a small uhaul if I decide to go or if he decides he wants to go.

Do not be sad for me. I am totally at peace.

By: Meg

Meg — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:57:39 +0000

Let’s see…

* My husband and I have both appreciate quality over quantity. We’re both really tired of cheap plastic crap that breaks way too easily.
* We’re both trying to be more frugal, be more eco-conscious, and just generally reduce waste.
* We also are trying to save money because we are trying to pay down debt. * We both love simple designs.
* Neither of us like to clean, but we like things to be organized and look uncluttered. And it is easier to clean when there’s less stuff in the way.
* We don’t really entertain often personally, but we have a roommate, so having things less cluttered helps the house seem a lot larger than it is, I think. While our roommate has a child who stays with us every other week, she’s good about putting things back into her mom’s room.
* My husband and I have no plans to have kids of our own — at least any time soon, so we don’t have to worry about where to store kid stuff. We have five cats and that’s enough for us.
* As my husband and I were recently discussing, we both really like change and trying/learning new things. We’re both always looking for a better — and especially simpler — way to do things.

We’re still far from truly minimalist, but we’re doing a lot better than we are. We’re still cutting back but perhaps more importantly, we’re a lot more careful about what we add to our collections now.