“Wanting less is a better blessing than having more.” —Mary Ellen Edmunds
Owning less brings great benefit to our lives: less stress, less debt, more time, more freedom.
But wanting less brings even more. Removing ourselves from the culture of consumption that surrounds us allows wonderful habits to emerge in our lives: contentment, gratitude, freedom from comparison, and the opportunity to pursue greater significance.
Breaking free from excessive consumerism is an essential step not just for a simplified life, but for any life that desires to be lived intentionally. How then we can realize this freedom? What steps can we take to break free?
A Simple, Helpful Guide to Overcome Consumerism
1. Admit it is possible. There are numerous persons throughout history and the present who have adopted a minimalist lifestyle that rejects and overcomes consumerism. Find motivation in their example. And admit you can join their ranks. Victory always begins there.
2. Adopt a traveler’s mentality. When we travel, we take only what we need for the journey. As a result, we feel lighter, freer, more flexible… we understand why there is a growing movement to stage our bedrooms like hotel rooms. Adopting a traveler’s mindset for life provides the same benefit—not just for a weeklong vacation, but in everything we do. Adopt a mindset that seeks to carry only what you need for the journey.
3. Embrace the life-giving benefits of owning less. Rarely are we invited to consider the benefits of owning less. But when the practical benefits are clearly articulated, they are quickly understood, easily recognized, and often desired. Of course, these benefits are only fully realized when we actually begin living with less. An important step to overcome consumerism is to embrace the reality that there is more life to be found in owning less than can be found in owning more.
4. Become acutely aware of the consumer-driven society in which we live. Our world will lead you to believe your greatest contribution to society is the money that you spend. We are faced with 5,000 advertisements every day calling us to buy more. As a result, average consumer debt equals $8,000/household, shopping malls outnumber high schools, Americans spend more on jewelry and shoes than higher education, and 93% of teenage girls rank shopping as their favorite past time. Recognizing the consumeristic mindset of our world will not immediately remove you from it, but it is an absolutely essential step in the journey.
5. Compare down. Theodore Roosevelt once remarked, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” He was, of course, absolutely right. As we begin comparing our lives and possessions to those around us who have more, we lose joy, contentment, and happiness. And we begin trying hard to close the gap. This is because we always compare upward—looking at those who have more. But we could begin breaking through the consumerism-trap if we began taking greater notice of those who need more and spending time with people who have less and remain joyful in their circumstances.
6. Realize your money is only as valuable as what you choose to spend it on. The financial resources we have earned or been given hold great potential. They can be used to provide for those without. They can be used to bring justice and hope to a world desperately searching for both. And we ought to dream bigger dreams for our money than the clearance rack at a department store.
7. Consider the full cost of your purchases. Usually when we purchase an item, we only look at the sticker price. But this is rarely the full cost. Our purchases always cost us additional time, energy, and focus (cleaning, organizing, maintaining, fixing, replacing, or removing). Making a habit of intentionally factoring those expenses into our purchases will allow our minds to make more competent and confident decisions about our consumption habits.
8. Turn off the television. Television glamorizes all that it needs to glamorize in order to continue in existence. Corporations don’t spend $50 billion every year on television advertisements because they think they can get you to buy their product, they spend that much money because they know they can get you to buy their product. Television is an industry built on the assumption that you can be convinced to spend (and overspend) your money. You are not immune.
9. Make gratitude a discipline in your life. Gratitude serves little purpose in us as merely a response to positive circumstances. Gratitude holds its greatest potential as an attitude in undesired circumstances. Embrace it as a discipline during seasons of plenty and seasons of want. And begin focusing more on your blessings than your troubles.
10. Practice generosity. The surest path to contentment is generosity. Giving forces us to recognize all we possess and all we have to offer. It allows us to find fulfillment and purpose in helping others. Remember, generosity always leads to contentment with far greater efficiency than contentment leads to generosity.
11. Renew your commitment daily. We are bombarded every single day with advertisements from nearly every flat surface we encounter. Rejecting and overcoming consumerism is a daily battle. Expect it to be such. And recommit every morning—or every hour if necessary.
To exist is to consume. But we were designed to accomplish things far greater.
The sooner we remove ourselves from overconsumption, the sooner we realize our truest potential. (tweet that)
May it be so in your life and in mine.
Purva says
Joshua, great blog! I love most of them.
‘Americans spend more on jewelry and shoes than higher education’ – where is this statistic from, if it is data backed, that is?
shara says
I love this post, like all of yours. I laughed at the compare down suggestion though. That’s exactly what I did….and now I can’t find any families to compare down to. I know I just need to look harder. Lol anyways thank you everyday for the great articles!
K. Winstead says
I have moved 24 times in the last 42 years–almost all work related! Each move was more difficult and more stressful because through the years I had collected so much stuff. I got rid of a good bit of stuff during the packing and moving process each time, but always managed to replace it all at the new location. In the last 5 years I’ve gone from a 4,000 sq. ft. home, to a 2,000 sq. ft. home, to a 1,200 sq. ft. apartment.
I am getting ready for move #25 in the next few months–moving to the smallest place I’ve ever lived (580 sq. ft.). Because of my minimalist efforts over the last several years I’ve given away, sold or donated more than two-thirds of all my belongings! I am not stressed about the upcoming move and packing should be a breeze. I look forward to this new chapter of my life!
Paris, the Green Minimalist says
As always a wonderful post. Consumerism causes a lot more damages on our society, our families and our lives than we can imagine. Unfortunately, consumerism changed our whole mentalities.
It you don’t mind, I share one of my posts here that is about the effects of an artificially high standard of living that is a byproduct of consumerism.
Thank you for a wonderful site.
Paris
http://thegreenminimalist.blogspot.com/2014/01/artificially-high-standard-of-living.html
Kathleen says
Re: Adopt a traveler’s mentality — A couple of years ago, I noticed that I felt happiest when I was on vacation in a fully furnished house or condo, and not concerned with having just the perfect things in my (albeit temporary) home. So I took it one step further and decided to sell my home with all its contents, and moved with my computer and just a few boxes to a fully furnished and equipped condo in a new city. Now I only buy things that are consumable, and I have so much more money to invest in experiences. I am still amazed at how freeing this is.
Northmoon says
In addition to turning off the TV I need to stop following so many fashion/lifestyle blogs. Some of my favourite ‘what I wore’ bloggers have become more commercialized lately with links to deals at on-line shopping for clothing, skin care products, jewelry etc. They post their recent purchases as well as their travel itinerary for their vacations. Hard not to think ‘She looks so good, I want that xxx too’.
Mel Haun Sr says
Someone mentioned moving. This is the real test on how one is living.
Trying to judge what to do how much one has accumulated…..And how much of it one really needs.
David Lynch says
“Security is knowing what I can do without.”
– Interview excerpt from the book “Hard Times” by Studs Terkel
Erica says
I’m ashamed to admit this, but my idea of a fun day was spending $100+ at Target or going to an outlet mall and coming home with my trunk filled with stuff. I recently reached a breaking point and have started getting rid of things. Last night I got rid of books and some knick-knacks in my bedroom. It’s amazing how much nicer the room looks! I’m now working on getting rid of my grandmother’s china dishes that have been in boxes for almost 10 years. Baby steps !
Carol MacMillan says
As a wife and mother to two children aged 14 and 9 I find more and more that I’m having issues with number 5. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not feeling bad because I want more stuff, I’m feeling frustrated because I want much less and my husband and children are all on different pages from me. I feel like I’m forever dealing with everyone else’s stuff. I have ‘smaller living’ and ‘less stuff’ envy, I read great blogs like yours about people living great lives with less and it has inspired me to give away so many things over the last couple of years but nowadays when I leave my computer and look around it isn’t my stuff that’s cluttering things up. It belongs to the people I love and they aren’t so keen to get rid of any more of it. Hence my frustration. They have over the last year parted with some things but the bulk seems here to stay.
I guess I should just get a grip and remember all the things that we have accomplished so far but it’s hard not to compare what we have with where I know we could be. I guess I’m stuck for now.
Carol MacMillan says
Just thought I’d add that things have moved along quite fast since I posted my first comment. I guess leading by example really does work because my kids and my husband all recently decided to have a good cleanout. My husband in particular surprised me by getting rid of lots of old computers, floppy discs, boxes of old computer magazines and extra tables and things that he had stored in his manspace in the garage. There was only a narrow walkway between things before and now there is heaps of space to move around.
So I think Joshua is totally right when he says that you can only be responsible for your own stuff and that you have to let people deal with their own things in their own time. They do feel the difference when you clear space in and around your things in the house.
Phil says
Well done, Carol, you must have set a wonderful example!
shara says
I can relate to this. Sometimes it feels like an uphill battle. But awesome things are working out! They always seem to