I find it difficult to admit most of my life was wasted chasing the wrong things. Looking back, it has become increasingly clear how I spent the first 33 years of my life chasing temporal, material possessions. I thought my life would improve as I acquired them.
It was supposed to be the “American Dream.” But I was all wrong.
While my household possessions were not extravagant, they accumulated over years—especially as we moved into larger and larger homes. Each move would result in more rooms to furnish and more empty closets and storage areas to keep our stuff. Fashions changed and thus, we bought new clothes. New technology emerged and we purchased new gadgets. Kids entered our family and with them came toys, gifts, hand-me-downs, and purchases “necessary” to raise them correctly.
Eventually, our possessions began subtly to control our lives. We spent countless hours cleaning, sorting, organizing, repairing, replacing, removing, and maintaining our physical possessions—not to mention all the time we spent on the front end earning the money just to make the initial purchase in the first place.
Our pursuit of material possessions was controlling our checkbook, draining our energy, and robbing us of true, lasting joy.
But then, everything changed.
When I was 33 years old, we began giving away all the possessions in our lives that were not absolutely essential to our purpose and goals. Eventually, our family removed over 60% of our earthly possessions. And we couldn’t be happier. We found more time, money, and energy to pursue the things in life most valuable to us: faith, family, and friends. We discovered far greater fulfillment in life pursuing our passions than we had ever discovered pursuing possessions.
And now, my only regret is that we didn’t pursue simple living sooner—that we wasted so much time, so many years, and so many resources. If I could do life over again, I would have embraced a minimalist life earlier: my teens, my twenties, or as a newly-formed family. As a result, from the very beginning, we would have experienced:
- Less debt.
- Less clutter.
- Less financial obligation and debt.
- More savings.
- More intentionality.
- More presence with others in my life.
- Less need to get ahead at others’ expense.
- More passion.
- More contentment.
The life-giving invitation to minimalism holds benefit for every generation. It is never too late to start no matter what stage of life you are introduced to it. But my life would attest to the fact that today is the best day to begin living with less. And the earlier in life, the better.
Michael Lanphear says
Minimally brilliant.
Dennis Schroeder says
I hope, at just taking on Social Security, that it’s not too late.
Linda says
It’s not too late. We’re 69 and it’s not too late for this old dog to learn a new trick or two. Now I need to learn how to share this perspective on life with our grown children. Maybe wisdom does come with age after all. I’m grateful every day more than ever before.
Linda says
Ver perspective. Our clutter is a “first world” problem.
Mel @ Melba Says says
It’s taken me until I was almost 50 to realise everything you wrote in the above article is so very true. With plans to travel long term in a couple of years time I am very happily becoming minimalist!
Sherry N says
I am 58 and I have a Dad and a sister that are hoarders. I struggle with that thought every day. “Oh, I better keep this, I may need it someday”. I have been told over and over that my place is not “cluttered” but I think by these standards I still have way too much STUFF. It comes from having to struggle my whole life with not having the necessities or the money to live life without struggling. Psychological, no doubt.
Iris R. says
I’m 25 and I have been moving toward minimalism for the past year or two. It’s nice to know that I have my whole life ahead of me to engage in my experiences and take time with my family rather than focusing on “stuff.”
I truly look forward to seeing what the new generation being raised by minimalists now will be like when they’re my age.
But I agree, it’s never too late! I think it’s much better to find minimalism later in life than not to find it at all. It’s just easier to declutter when you’re young and too poor to buy much in the first place.
Susan says
Having recently cleaned the house of a life-long hoarder, I can see differences in my own attitudes toward possessions. I have never been a hoarder type or the type to accumulate lots of things. I do like to know I have groceries ahead. Clothes, books, other lovely things are not so much a priority. I also was haunted by the hoarder lifestyle I discovered in the home I cleaned. My heart was broken. It bothered me for months. I am just now getting beyond it. Minimalism is such an appealing lifestyle. I don’t want my family to ever go through what I did, once I’m gone. Truly the household bossed this person around and she had no control of it at all. Tragic.
Lizzie says
Just a comment American Dream. When this country was established, it meant FREEDOM AND LIBERTY…that included whether you wanted to have possession or not have possessions. The early settlers left family and possessions behind for liberty. Those who fought the American Revolution were willing to lose all (and most did) for liberty. The question remains, “What are Americans willing to do without or lose or forfeit for Liberty?”
Our consumer driven society has left us, not with Liberty, but with monetary slavery and our “classless” society has become, well, to be quite honest, quite polar…Getting rid of the excess will not only make life simpler but will remove the scales from our eyes so that we more easily see the chains that bind us.
Tana says
I am just starting to jump into this and feel overwhelmed. I am in financial hardship because of health conditions.I want to be able to get something in return for my life’s accumulation of things.Yet physically I find all this challenging,especially the work with chronic pain I experience.I want to do this not only for me but my adult daughter so she will have an easy job once I am gone.Any ideas to start off this task with a faster result? Not sure zi have years to achieve this goal.
Jeannie says
Tana… Just start off really slow. Pick one drawer.. I did a my Kitchen ‘junk’ draw as I go in their often. Every time I open that drawer I am encourage and want to do more. I do it is spurts and seasonally so it is a work in progress. One day I might just be looking for something in a drawer or closet and the next thing you know I have started de-cluttering it. You will get there but just start small and enjoy your accomplishment… Good luck!!
Vicki Cook says
I was 55 when I started to declutter. It’s been over a year now, and I’ve made significant progress. But it’s a process, not a destination. And I think the important point is that it’s never too late to start!
Jacalyn says
I am so thankful that others are experiencing the feeling to minimize, it is so refreshing and a room that has less clutter provides rest and restoration. I am 30, still enjoying an apartment with my husband and planning to become homeowners within this next year. We are trusting God to provide and lead the way. Although the “nice to have” mentality seeps in once in awhile, I am a huge believer that less is more. It comes down to appreciating what we have, and to focus on others instead of ourselves. We live in the wealthiest country in America, and for that I am eternally grateful. Excited to see what God has in store for us in the years to come, spreading the Joy that this lifestyle brings.
Susan says
You will probably enjoy these verses of Scripture:
Proverbs 30:8,9 ..give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Psalm 16:5,6 Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I Timothy 6:6,8 Abut godliness with contentment is great gain. Abut if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
They have made a huge difference for me.
J Betts says
Amen. Also Matthew 16:26. If the last few Christmas holidays have taught me anything… It’s that ignoring the instruction manual usually ends in disaster. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent assembling toys just to realize I missed a piece or 2. Sure the toys still work, but not the way it was intended to. It’s the same with life. There is a biblical principle behind every aspect of our lives: Money, marriage, jobs, parenting,, ect. But if you never consult the instruction manual, then you never realize the purpose of things. Sure you could find a way to make it work, but not like it was intended to. The trap set by those who wish to imprison us to debt & keep us caught in the rat race, is very subtle. We are bombarded everyday with subliminal messages telling us we need the next best thing. That our lives would be so much better by buying material goods. But what do we get for our trouble… rises in cancer levels, divorce rates, and stress. I looked up one day & everyone in my family was in a different corner of this big house, on our on devices, ignoring one another. Every room in our home was filled with stuff we had bought but never used. That’s not what this life is meant to be about. That’s not what money is meant for. Going to work is not just so I can aquire means to buy things. This house isn’t just to store junk that will be obsolete in 3 yrs. Holidays aren’t just an opportunity to consume useless junk. It’s a stressful, & exhausting way to live. That’s not what God wants for our lives