Minimalism is about living more with less. Sounds intriguing, right? But does minimalism save money? The truth is that when you adopt a minimalist lifestyle for the right reasons and are passionate about being intentional with your choices, you can undoubtedly save money at the same time.
After all, one of the foundations of living a minimalist lifestyle is stopping to think before spending money on items unlikely to improve your life’s quality.
So, in this article, we examine how minimalism can help you save money and introduce you to some of the concepts that make this an alluring lifestyle approach.
How does minimalism help to live frugally and save money?
There are lots of tenets of minimalism, but people often oversimplify the approach by considering it as a means to throw away all of your things to live like a monk! To highlight the diversity of the approach, we introduce the main aspects of minimalism below and highlight how they can help you to save money.
Helps you focus on needs over wants
Minimalists consider each payment they make, separating things into needs and wants. For instance, a need would be to exercise. But rather than paying for an expensive gym membership, a minimalist might commit to exercising outdoors in a local park or nature reserve.
Clothes are another great example. Of course, we all need clothes, but minimalists are much more intentional with their choices, opting for practicality and need over splurging on the latest trends and most famous labels. This minimalist mentality of needs vs wants applies to practically every purchase you make and is a brilliant way of saving money.
From holidays to house deposits, focusing on needs over wants as a minimalist will help you to save money.
Promotes living in a smaller home
Moving to a big house in the suburbs with a picket fence was considered the gold standard for many people. But living in a “dream” home often requires a huge mortgage that will eat away at a monthly paycheck for 30+ years.
So, rather than burdening themselves with debt to live in a mansion, minimalists look for homes they can afford, even if it means living in much tighter spaces.
This follows from the previous point about needs vs wants – we all need shelter, but we don’t all need to live in a 6-bed mansion! As well as saving on mortgage costs or rent, living in a smaller home saves on utility bills, council tax, and various other costs.
Encourages you to sell things you no longer need
Before turning to minimalism as a lifestyle choice, having a clearout is really helpful. Did you know that the average American home has 300,000 items inside? That’s a lot of stuff! While minimalism isn’t about selling everything you own, it encourages you to go through your things to identify items you no longer need or use.
From clothes to garden furniture, identifying surplus items helps you to prioritise what’s important in your life. Depending on what you're selling, you can then sell many of these items online via eBay or Facebook. You can also give some unwanted items to charity shops or ask friends or family members if they want to take some of your bulkier items.
As well as being incredibly liberating, using a minimalist mindset to remove clutter from your home is a great way to make some extra money on the side.
Supports buying better quality items
Remember, minimalism isn’t about scarcity or deprivation. It’s about being intentional with your purchases and buying things that will help you live the life that you choose. Therefore, minimalists often focus on buying quality items that will last a long time instead of cheap items that need to be replaced in no time.
This applies to many items, from cars to kitchen appliances. Yes, buying expensive, quality products cost more initially, but you will save money in the long run as there are fewer maintenance and repair costs to consider. So, before buying anything as a minimalist, consider the item’s quality and how it will serve you as you live a more intentional life.
Opens up new revenue streams
Minimalism isn’t just about saving money – you can also make money if you’re an astute and entrepreneurial minimalist. How? Here are just some of the ways that minimalism can open up new revenue streams:
· Clearing out space in your home could free up living space for you to rent rooms to other people.
· The process of decluttering your home enables you to sell previously unused or unwanted items on eBay or other online marketplaces.
· Many minimalists pursue intentional hobbies – like starting a blog or cultivating a vegetable garden. Both of these activities can be monetised, enabling you to earn supplemental income by being more intentional with your hobbies.
There are so many attractive aspects of minimalism, but the fact that you can make money by following this lifestyle is perhaps the most attractive element. You can then dedicate this extra income to things you need.
Pros of minimalism
As introduced above, there are so many reasons why living a minimalist lifestyle can be beneficial. As an overview, here is a list of pros associated with minimalism:
· Minimalism adds purpose to your life and enables you to focus on what you think is important rather than what society encourages you to regard as important.
· When done properly, minimalism can help you save and even make money.
· Adopting a needs vs wants mentality helps you to prioritise your purchases and remove clutter and excess from your home life.
· Many minimalists focus on relationships and experiences rather than objects. This can lead to a much more fulfilling and purposeful life.
Cons of minimalism
Of course, nothing is perfect, and there are some downsides to minimalism that you should think about:
· To be effective, minimalism requires time and patience. It’s challenging to alter your lifestyle overnight, and you must be intentional with your choices over several months to adapt to minimalist living.
· Removing excess from your life can be challenging, mainly when dealing with sentimental items. Therefore, minimalism requires strength and willpower.
· Explaining minimalism to friends and family members can be challenging, and you might experience resistance. Helping your loved ones understand why you have chosen a minimalist lifestyle is important as it will contribute to your success.
In our opinion, the pros outweigh the cons of minimalism, and this lifestyle's freedom and intentionality are well worth pursuing.
Conclusion
Are you ready to give minimalism a shot? Now is the perfect time to start being more intentional with your choices, and there’s no better time to start decluttering your home. In terms of your finances, HyperJar can help you to pursue and live a minimalist lifestyle while providing you with fantastic incentives and rewards.
If you enjoyed reading this blog, you might also like our piece on living frugally, and our 30 money-saving hacks to help you when you start living as a minimalist.
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