Have you noticed there’s a trend going around to shrink your life? Minimization. Simplification. Downsizing. Letting go. You can find the advice everywhere.
For years, decades, we’ve increased just about everything in our lives. The average new single family home in 1920 was 1,048 square feet. By 1970 it was up to 1,500 sf. And by 2014, square footage increased to 2,657.
With more space comes the need to fill it with more stuff.
There are also studies that link happiness to income. The “perfect” salary is right around $75,000. Once you reach your “perfect” income level, your happiness won’t increase exponentially as your income rises.
It’s not money that makes you happy. It’s not more stuff. It’s tidying up what you have in your life. It’s building comfort into the space you already have.
Start With Your Home Design
If you’ve read Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, you might already be pulled into her uncluttering philosophy. Her uncluttering advice can help free up your space, your time, and your mind. With less stuff in your home, there’s less to take care of. And if you aren’t focused on the task of always cleaning your space, it frees up your mind to do other things.
More important things.
Stuff doesn’t bring happiness. A more simplified lifestyle lets you see past the things in your life and allows you to focus in on what’s most important to you. Like spending time with the people you love. Or spending time on realizing your dreams.
Think Better, Not Bigger
In a consumer world, our goals are to consume. We’re marketed to, sold to, until buying becomes second nature.
In order to spend more, prices are low. Things wear out quickly and you have to replace them just as fast. Could it be that luxuries are the answer?
Simplification isn’t about getting rid of everything. It’s about keeping only what you truly need. Spending money on “the best” so that it stays with you indefinitely. A Vitamix, for example, may cost you more than an average blender. But it’s more powerful and more durable than it’s cheaper counterparts. And because of all the things it can do in your kitchen, it might become your favorite tool for creating nutritious meals from morning till night.
It’s not about getting rid of everything. It’s about loving what you have.