Living a Minimalist Lifestyle

Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy https://www.apartmenttherapy.com

Recently, I mentioned the fact that I've decided to go down the path of FIRE - financial independence retire early. Now, there's a lot I could say about FIRE but I'm going to save that for future posts. Instead, I'd like to focus on something that many people who choose FIRE (or just FI) do: minimalism.

I'm sure you've heard of minimalism or living a minimalist lifestyle, but what does that mean? Simply put, it means living with fewer possessions. When we live with fewer possessions we:

1. live a more intentional life, one less hampered by things

2. have a cleaner, clearer space

3. free ourselves from consumer culture

For most of my adult life, I've collected stuff and lots of it. I loved filling my homes with a wide variety of eclectic items, items that I bought from thrift stores, garage sales, or got free as gifts or from the side of the road. This was how I felt like a had a nice, cozy home when I was poor. I found myself never being able to turn down free stuff. 

Over the past few years, I began to notice a shift. I've noticed that I feel more and more encumbered by my possessions. I don't have enough room in my small home to move as freely as I'd like, leading me to stub my toes almost daily. I'm also sick and tired of all the dusting I have to do and I can never find anything it seems until much later when I'm cleaning out some corner somewhere. On top of all that, I don't even like most of these things anymore, either.

So, I started dealing with areas of the house, little by little, every day. I'm going to sell or give away most of the things I own and throw away anything that doesn't fit into either of those categories. There was a time when I never thought I could live with so few things, but that time is over now. I'm ready for a change.