Minimalists come in all sizes, ages, genders, races, nationalities, social classes, and religions. It is a growing movement that continues to invite others to live with less and define their lives in greater ways than by the things they own. Yet despite its recent growth, it continues to be misunderstood by a percentage of the population.
With that in mind, I think it would be wise to personally address some of the common misconceptions about minimalism in case you are thinking any of them.
Minimalists Are Boring
A minimalist life is not void of excitement or entertainment. In fact, minimalism reduces many of the mundane tasks (organizing, shopping, cleaning) that rob us of daily excitement. And when unnecessary possessions have been removed, minimalists are free to choose for themselves what things will define their lives.
Some will choose to travel the world, find a new hobby, appreciate nature, get involved in their community, or spend more time with friends.
Minimalists Don’t Own Nice Things
Actually, one of the greatest unforeseen benefits of owning less is the opportunity to purchase possessions of higher quality. For some reason, many people don’t correlate owning fewer things with owning nicer things. But the truth is, they go hand in hand and are directly related.
When a commitment is made to buy fewer things, our lives are opened to the opportunity of owning nicer things as well. In fact, one of the key thoughts behind minimalism is it is far better to own a few, quality things than a whole bunch of junk. This relates to technology, clothing, furniture, sporting equipment, and countless other areas.
Minimalists Are Not Sentimental
Less is different than none. Personally, my family finds more value in sentimental belongings if we keep only the most important pieces and place them in a significant place. As a result, rather than a box full of sentimental things stuck in the basement or attic, we display the most important sentimental pieces from our past somewhere in our home—again, promoting the things that are most valuable to us. Minimalism doesn’t mean we had to throw away all of our sentimental belongings.
Minimalism Is Too Hard
In a world that seeks to own more and accomplishes that by encouraging others to do the same, minimalism is countercultural. It is a lifestyle that goes against the mainstream belief about what constitutes happiness. In that way, it is difficult. It requires trust, intentionality, discipline, and frequent readjustments. It forces us to define our values and choose what is most important in life.
But it is not so hard that you can’t do it. In fact, if my typical family of four can do it, so can you. There’s nothing special about us. The only difference between you and me is that somebody took the time to introduce my family to a new way to live life. We removed our possessions, discovered the joy that can only be found by living with less, and have never looked back.
No wonder minimalists come in all sizes and shapes. And no wonder it is a growing movement where countless people are deciding to own less and define their lives in greater ways than by the things they own. They find freedom because of it.
Since the beginning of this year I have been contemplating with minimizing household items and reducing the purchase of unnecessary items. Then, I came across your book at the library, The More of Less, which has been quite inspiring. My husband and I are considering going down to 1 car from 2. He works at from home and the kids’ school is right across the street from our home. When sharing this idea with family and friends we have received negative comments. Any advice?
As long as they don’t pay for the cars, they don’t have a say about them. Do what you think is best!
This is true for me. Especially the one about nice things.
This is absolutely positively true for me! I’ve been in your online course I believe 4 or 5 times now and I have gotten rid of so much ‘junk’ during this time that I now buy ONLY good quality items now. Whether it be decor for my house, or clothing or whatever, if I don’t absolutely love it I don’t buy it. No more buying because it’s a ‘good sale’. Now when I shop I shop intentionally and buy exactly what I set out to buy. I buy for ‘need’ and also ‘want’ but never for ‘well it’s a good deal so I’ll buy it’.
Today I’m getting ready for a Salvation Army pickup again. It’s easy to go thru about the ‘whole house’ in one fell swoop because I’ve done this so many time. Now, if I don’t ‘love it’, it goes to hopefully find a home where someone else will ‘love it’.
You are a blessing, and I hope to be on the band wagon to bless others because I’m on that wagon too!
Great post! I’m really the only one in my family of four who believes in the minimalist philosophy so it can be challenging at times. But I try to keep going as I know for me the space minimalism creates is freeing both mentally and physically.
Hi Joshua
I’ve been on a minimalist journey for a few years now and have enjoyed reading your and others blogs on the subject. However recently I’ve been reading more and more comments about minimalism being only for rich people. I feel that this is another misconception about minimalism that could be added to this post. Our family is not rich by western society’s standards but we own our own home and have clothes, food and money for fun things which makes us richer than a lot of people in the developing world. We’ve struggled on one wage while we had our children. Lived paycheck to paycheck and suffered job losses and redundancies over the years. If I could go back and change anything it would be to discover minimalism sooner. It would have helped a lot when we were first starting out and would have cushioned later job losses a lot better.
It can be harder for people on low incomes to discard possessions. The temptation of bargain purchases can also be greater. I notice this in family members who grew up with less, even those who are no longer poor.
People in different income brackets face slightly different challenges in their minimalist journey. The benefits are the same though – more time, space and money for the people we love and the things that add the most value to our lives.