“He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” – Benjamin Franklin
I’ve never been one to employ large sweeping generalities. I try to recognize that everyone lives unique lives with unique backgrounds focused on unique passions. We are different in our nationality, our heritage, our gender, our family status, our religion, our culture, and our worldview. But I am becoming increasingly convinced there is one characteristic that unites each of us:
We don’t need more money.
I admit that some have stumbled upon this blog post today who do need money for legitimate survival. But it is probably not you. After all, you clearly have access to the Internet… which doesn’t guarantee you have everything you need for survival, but it sure increases the probability. Add to that the reality that 6 billion people live on less than $13,000/year and Daniel Suelo has survived the past 12 years with no money at all and I’d say chances are pretty good your basic needs are already taken care of.
We don’t really need more money.
But most of us still want it. We’d like more cash in our pocket. We want a bigger paycheck each week. We want a larger balance in our checking account, savings account, or retirement account. And many of us have tied our happiness to this pursuit of money.
Even though our basic needs have been met, our desire for money persists. Far too often, this desire begins to take root as a need inside of us. Before we know it, we forget that we were talking about a want and begin confusing it with a need. But what we need and what we want are rarely the same.
We don’t really need more money. Instead…
- We need to show more spending restraint.
- We need to discover gratitude and contentment.
- We need to practice generosity.
- We need to stop comparing our lives to others.
- We need to change our view of money.
- We need to realize our lives are far more valuable than the amount of money we possess.
I agree with this post.
Money is a currency to get things, and we need to get things like food and such. Money eases that stressor but adds another.
If you find a way to find survival without money, that´s something for me. At the same time I don´t believe in excluding either the possibility of no money or the possibility of ONLY money.
As I read this article I realize it´s about letting the weight of the burden of money.
It awakens the question of “How much do we need?”, nobody died from not going from millionaire to being a billionaire, but poverty is a problem. I don´t NEED a yacht, but I will say that there´s not many options to be totally independent with basic knowledge and no money.
With that said I agree.
We are not built as humans to handle the stress of modern society, money being one of the factors of stress. We are not born with money as a part of nature. Do we need it? No, but how else will a 30 year old human get his food?
Suggestions?
Begging for money is not an option, and reling on others to give you food from society is not really the same but still not ideal.
That way you could survive.
You can always grow some food. But is that basic knowledge?
Only option left is to pick poison berrys and kill rabbits.
The hard truth is we are depend on money, but we don´t need it.
But man, we are depend that´s for sure
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As someone struggling to make ends meets I must admit my first thought was: WHAT is this man saying? Of course I need more money. See, I’ve been unemployed for three months and barely getting by. But then I realised that you probably meant something different. For me, having had to live on very little at different moments of my life has taught me valuable lessons such as being content with having my needs met, and knowing that the most important ‘things’ in life aren’t things at all, that is, my family, my friends, nature, being alive, etc, and it made me realise money can’t buy happiness; it has nothing to do with it. Why do we want more money? Maybe because in a subconscious way we still believe it will make us happier, even if this idea is not supported by our rational mind. Thanks for the article Joshua, I found it really insightful.
Have lived at the bottom, scraping to put food on the table. Have lived “at the top”, with a Dad who used credit like it was water. Have lived in between, on one income, raising 5 children and making do or doing without. This I have to say, I am a minimalist at heart but creature comforts are a blessing. I might do with less money but running water, in door toilets, my own automatic washing machine & cook stove, lights, air conditioning in hot steamy climate, etc. etc. are all WONDERFUL and do require money…otherwise you are working just to survive and each day is a drudge with little comfortable reward. These “luxuries” require more money every month with the state of our economy and it actually takes more to live frugally! A Catch 22 for sure.
Basically, therefore, minimalism is about attitude and gratitude, sharing and giving, loving and living within your means. Just keep it in perspective.
I use the internet daily and I’m homeless. Nearly everyone I know who is on the street or staying at a shelter has an android pad cause they are $50 on sale at toys r us. The only homeless who do not get on the internet are schizophrenic and smell bad…..really rank. They do not need the internet to receive ” transmissions”. The internet is what keeps the rest of us from jumpin off the nearest bridge. Minimalism SUCKS ! Everything I own fits in one backpack. But, I don’t need money cause I have no life and no hope. There truly is nothing worse on earth than Minimalist.
Why not just live your life how you want to instead of taking everyone else’s advice but that little voice of your own…