If you pay much attention to the world of retail sales, you will notice a trend: worry.
You will certainly find short-term worry about not enough people buying enough stuff—but that worry has always existed. In a society that bases its measures of success in terms of home prices, market values, and GDP, there will always be a need to prompt citizens to buy more and more.
But beyond the short-term unease, there is a long-term anxiety clouding the retail market. This long-term worry is far more significant and can be summarized in one sentence: Millennials don’t want to buy stuff.
Business publications have been covering the story for years: Fast Company, Fortune, TIME, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, even Goldman Sachs.
Recently, in a radio interview for a station in Montreal, I was asked if I thought the desire to downsize was age-related. In the mind of the interviewer, it seemed to make sense that the older one got, the more they recognized the emptiness of material possessions and the need to minimize.
I assured the interviewer this was not always the case. In fact, from everything I can tell, the desire to minimize and declutter stretches across each of the generations. It is growing among the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomer Generation, Generation X, and the Millennials. In my new book, The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own, I highlight each of the unique forces drawing people of every age to minimalism.
But for the sake of this post, let’s consider some of the reasons Millennials are refusing to partake in the retail game as the rules are currently constructed and why retail giants are worried about it:
Technology and Mobility: The Millennials are the first generation born after the technological revolution. The world feels smaller to them than previous generations and they are intimately connected to one other—regardless of geography. Coffee shops have become the new office, collaboration has become the new competition, and mobility has become the new stability. And, as many Millennials will tell you, it is difficult to live a minimalist lifestyle with a house full of stuff.
The Sharing Economy: Technology has ushered in a new connectedness with one another. Additionally, it has provided a platform on which access can take precedence of ownership. With the touch of a thumb, we can now borrow someone else’s home, bike, car, book, music, unused stuff, or countless other possessions. Ownership has never been less necessary.
Environmental Concerns: The Millennial generation is the most environmentally conscious of all age groups and this influences their buying habits significantly.
Living Preferences: The Wall Street Journal once reported 88% of Millennials desire to live in an urban setting and that one-third of the generation is willing to pay more because of it. Over the past several decades, retailers have banked on the growth of suburbia—bigger and bigger homes, further away from town-centers, fostering isolation, individualism, and personal ownership. As younger generations migrate toward smaller dwellings in walkable communities with shared amenities, consumer consumption will continue to slow.
Experiences > Possessions: As I have argued in the past, minimalism is not the end of spending. Even when minimalist principles are adopted on a large scale, the transfer of money will still take place—money will just be spent on different things than physical possessions (you can read more here: A New Minimalist Economy). The Millennial generation is proving this to be true, spending less on possessions, but more on wellness, food, drink, and experiences.
Debt/Unemployment: Certainly, significant economic trends have brought with it new shopping habits. The Millennial Generation has graduated college and entered the workforce in the middle of the Great Recession. In fact, most economic studies would indicate this generation is entering one of the worst working environments in modern history burdened with more student loans than ever.
Corporate Mistrust: Economic forces (housing bubble, student debt, shrinking of the middle class) and generational preferences (the environment, social justice) have resulted in a generation distrusting of large corporations and “the 1%” who run them. According to one study, 75% said that it’s important that a company gives back to society instead of just making a profit. While it would be interesting to know how previous generations would have answered the same question, one thing is for certain: the Millennial Generation is acting on this belief and choosing smaller, local retailers for their purchasing needs because of it.
There is one more factor that I think is quite significant. There is growing evidence that the Millennial Generation is “delaying adulthood.” At least, they are delaying adulthood as defined by economists (getting married, buying homes and cars, having children). Researchers point out that marriage is important to Millennials, they just want to do it later—the same with parenthood.
It remains to be seen whether the economic conditions of their upbringing have shaped Millennials to be minimal by nature or whether future economic growth and rites of passage will cause them to slip into the same excess of ownership that previous generations have fallen into.
But I am hopeful for the Millennial Generation. At the very least, they have examples to learn from. For example, both their parents and their grandparents continue to live beyond their means in crippling debt.
Millennials appear to be a generation hard-wired for minimalism.
I hope the trend continues.
Laura says
I partly agree. I thing tere a two types of millennials. The once as you described and the once over consuming big time.
Shirley says
I loved reading the comments here. I’m a millennial (I think) and I definitely don’t enjoy clutter I don’t need hanging around my home. That said, I get why my parents need to keep things they aren’t currently using. They’ve been through some rough times, they both grew up with less than the necessities, and it hurts them to have to spend money on something if they had gotten rid of it earlier. It hurts them when I spend money sometimes. And they are so happy when they can save me money through their hoarding (as in, my two children used the same crib from my sister’s childhood). They are guilty of buying on sale random appliances and kitchenware they don’t need because they couldn’t pass up the deal because, “what if someone needed it later and had to pay full price?” I don’t think it would even be fair for me to try to change their mindset. Everyone’s reasons and motivations for their choices are unique, of course.
Margaret says
I like thrifting. I find it hard to be a minimalist because I also value self expression in the way I present myself. Sometimes being a “minimalist” can be expensive too, those sleek, modern,”minimalist” style furniture isn’t cheap.
Marissa says
I typed up a comment for this article earlier, but it seems that it disapeared when I hit ‘post comment’. Hmm… Well, I type it again.
I am 24 years old and I am a part of the millennial generation. I think millennials are trending toward minimalism because of student debt. However, I am one of those rare millennials that do not have student debt because I know better than to go into debt for anything including an education. Paying cash for everything ftw! And because of the terrible job market that I think is still terrible and if you are lucky enough to get a job, which would still pay low wages than what they used to no matter what kind of jobs you take, you have a crisis on your hands and your student debt won’t be going away anytime soon.
But besides all of this, I’m happy my generation is embracing minimalism! They will all be better off for if they do so now and keep it up in the future. But I predict once all of my generations’ student loans start getting paid off and they can afford house, they will turn into to the boomers and start collecting stuff just like them. It’s only a matter of time methinks and Generation Z will soon follow their ways afterward. Only the strong, which are the people who are really passionate about minimalism during every day of their life, will survive! But kudos to the baby boomers who are embracing minimalism and not leaving a legacy of junk for your adult children to go through once you pass away and go on to the next world.
As a minimalist who lives loving minimalism every day of her life and will never stop loving it, I am proud to represent for my generation! ;D
Hope Connell says
Love this article! My husband and I are millennials, and I would say that having kids has only further fueled our minimalist philosophy. It’s one thing to tolerate your own mess, but when you add in toys and kids clothes (because they grow out of them SO quickly), you end up being up to your eyeballs in clutter if you aren’t careful.
I know a lot of moms my age who feel the same way, and there are a lot of discussions on the best way to encourage other (often older) family members to buy fewer things for their kids (focusing, instead, on paying for experiences or, better yet, spending quality time with the kids if possible).
In short, I don’t think that the onset of parenting is going to change this trend, even if millennials are coming to it later in life.
Sheryl at Providence Acres says
Minimalism is new to us, but we’re learning! We love it!
Emma says
I’m a millennial in rural Illinois that doesn’t support Trump! There’s hope!
Eve says
I would hope that your living a life you choose would have nothing to do with who is president.
Anne Hawley says
Good article, and good news, but it misses a major factor in the Baby Boomer generation’s accumulation of stuff: the sudden boom of actual stuff to be had. I think you had to be there to realize how incredibly compelling it was. In the early 80s or so, when I was in my mid-20s, suddenly there were all these stores! New stores, full of new goods. Cheaper clothes. Housewares. Shoes, cosmetics, furniture, luggage…you name it. We’d never seen such variety, or such abundance.
Speaking for myself, it had absolutely nothing to do with my parents having grown up in the Depression. It had everything to do with that sudden, heady, abundance that started to pour out of cheap international labor markets, and has continued to pour.
We’ve reached Peak Stuff not because Millennials are inherently smarter, more frugal, or more environmentally aware (though IDK, they may be all those things), but because the pent up longing for stuff has finally been satisfied in “the West” and the sense that it was all hollow is beginning to spread to everyone.
Shraddha says
I being a millenial myself, am feeling torn between buying very expensive house in one of the costliest city in the world or living on rent here. Rents are also pretty high. ?
One good thing that we did was we had bought a tiny apartment 5 years ago at a small suburb and paid it off completly. Now we can get small rent from there and we are loan/ mortgage free. We also avoided paying a lot of interest on our loan by saving as much as we could and repaying our loan asap. Both me and my husband
are 32 yrs old now and we don’t want anymore loans. Although we sometimes miss having our own apartment to live here and not having to move every couple of years would be good. But we are unable to bring ourselves to buy another apartment here since they are so damn expensive and they will start owning our life. And am scared of having to work a lot with all that stress just to live in my own apartment. Sometimes I feel am trying to secure my future tooo soon. But the thought of paying huge mortgage worries me. Need advice people. Its okay to rent and not own right?
Melinda says
Shraddha, I like this idea. https://www.quora.com/Real-Estate-Investing/Is-it-ultimately-better-to-rent-or-own-a-home
Claudette Lacombe says
Minimalism is a recognition that material possessions are a burden. Our current society fosters the accumulation of stuff through simple availability and a social moré that big, bursting piles of belongings shows you are not poor and downtrodden.
If you live a mimimalist life style, you must be lower class. I’ve fought this my whole life. It was a bone of contention between my ex and I. He didn’t understand why we couldn’t just go into debt and buy stuff.
On my own, finally at age 57, I’m trying really hard not bring stuff into my new tiny house. Every. Single. Person. that visits has a different thing they want me to go buy for my house. From toilet brushes to microwaves, my peers can’t believe I’m choosing to live without “basic” necessities.
I hope my next move will be into a camper van. I need someone to (preferably one of my children LOL) to take the family heirlooms off my back. Maybe, I need to let the family heirlooms become stuff, so I can let them go without guilt.
Meyli says
In regards to family heirlooms:
Maybe consider only keeping what you can practically use, (nice China, actual silverware) you could use those every day and have the added pleasure of their family significance. Or keep items that add beauty to your home (a painting, a cross stitch piece).
The rest could be passed on to family, or others in need. Just my 2 cents!