Minimalism has gained a lot of popularity recently. It seems like the ultimate way to remove distractions and prioritize what matters most.
What is minimalism all about?
To put it simply, minimalism is a lifestyle choice where you focus on living with less. It involves reducing the clutter in your life, minimizing distractions, and being more mindful of your priorities and consumption.
Minimalism doesn’t have to involve living out of a suitcase or only owning five shirts. It’s what you make it. You can choose to reduce your consumption however you want.
As it has grown in popularity, minimalism is often touted as the ultimate way to improve your finances.
The reasoning goes that if you just became more mindful of your spending then you could dramatically reduce your expenses, reach your financial goals, and feel less stressed about money.
I disagree, and here are a few reasons why.
You Can Only Cut Back So Much
One of the big topics in personal finance is the spend less vs. earn more debate.
People who advocate for spending less say if you targeted the mindset and behavior you have towards money, then you could reduce your expenses and get better with your finances.
The earn more crowd says spending less isn’t helpful because there is a limit to how much you can cut back on. As for earning more, there is unlimited income potential.
Both sides have strong points, but ultimately it comes down to growing the gap between what you’re baseline expenses are and your income amount.
Minimalism is just a dressed up version of the ‘spend less’ side. Are there advantages to cutting out the clutter in your spending? Absolutely. However, for many people, it’s not going to yield some drastic amount that cures your financial woes.
Earning more allows you create additional income to reach your goals. Mind you, it isn’t a simple solution. Creating and growing an additional income stream takes time, hard work, failure, and experimentation, but the work can yield more positive results than just cutting your spending.
Side Hustles Are Valuable
Having a side hustle. It’s a common thing in this society of wage stagnation, paltry raises, and layoffs. It’s become a buzzword and the go-to thing for millennials looking to level up in their finances.
You hear about side hustles a lot. The hardest thing for many people is choosing one to do and finding time for it.
There are a vast amount of different side hustles you can do. There are people self-publishing books, freelance writing, doing graphic design, marketing, blogging and more.
Side hustles are valuable. They’re valuable beyond the obvious benefit of additional income. They can give you and teach you more than what mindfulness and decluttering will do.
Decluttering your stuff and cutting back your spending are quick wins. They’re something you can start doing right away. You can get rid of some of your stuff, cancel your subscriptions and you’re able to free up some room in your spending.
What happens if you’re already living on a bare bones budget and don’t have lots of things to sell off? You get stuck.
Side hustles are different. They require research and experimentation. They give you fulfillment you might not get from your job, they allow you to learn more a lot about yourself while earning more in the process.
Life is Expensive
There was a bad storm a few months back where my dad lives. Several trees snapped and fell over in different parts of the town. A few of the trees ended up falling on top of the room of his house causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
Insurance covered most of it, but my dad ended up having to pay $8,800 to cover the rest. Hearing that amount made me wince.
In the news, I constantly hear about the ever-rising cost of homes. They keep rising at a rapid rate while wage growth continues to move at a snail pace. Texas, where I live, is known for having somewhat reasonable housing prices.
Even with that in mind, the housing prices here are continuing to rise rapidly. The only way many people have been able to buy a house is through family assistance, a high-paying job, or by working additional jobs in order to save up for a down payment.
Life is expensive.
Unexpected bills pop up all the time. Reaching big financial goals like homeownership, a wedding, or saving for things like travel can be hard.
Practicing minimalism can maybe net you a few hundred extra in your spending, but it probably won’t help you reach your financial goals when you want.
You could argue about how some have had a drastic change in their finances from practicing minimalism. It’s true, some have, but for most, it won’t make a massive difference.
A big thing problem I have with a lot of minimalism money articles is how they always focus on one type of story: a middle-class person or couple who decided they were spending too much, had an epiphany, and then eliminated things from their spending and were able to achieve peacefulness.
They cut their cable, got rid of their car payments, moved to a cheaper apartment and doing all of those things is what allowed them to get control of their money.
What about people that do that stuff already?
Decluttering and spending less is important but it’s not the ultimate key to help your finances.
Bottom Line
Minimalism has its positives. Everyone should limit their consumption and be more mindful.
I just don’t think it can help in the drastic way many articles would have you to believe. It may help in the week to week to cut a little, but for your long-term goals, it’s better to brainstorm different ways of improving your finances.
It doesn’t have to strictly involve getting a side hustle. It could be negotiating a raise at your job, learning new skills to expand your career, and focusing on growing the gap between your expenses and income.
Do you practice minimalism? Do you think it can be a good way to help your finances?
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this is a really interesting point of view something about to think, thanks for sharing!