It’s ironic that when you’ve publicly declared as a follower of minimalist principles, the second you make a purchase people say…”Oh, well that’s not very minimalist.”

I think this comes from a misconception that minimalists don’t own any stuff, or more importantly, shouldn’t own any stuff.

I own lots of stuff. Probably still too much in quite a few areas. This is no problem as I am on a continuous journey and am quite intentionally living my life with less and less as the months go on.

This does not mean however that I don’t buy stuff when I need it. It does mean that I spend a great deal of time considering new possessions before I bring them into my life. Minimalism is the journey towards having a life where everything around you is value adding and this means that I no longer impulse purchase. I have had to say goodbye to a lot of cushions as I’ve decluttered and am now not seduced by their funky covers and air of squishy comfort when I pass them in a store. In fact, I pretty much don’t go into home decor type stores anymore because I pretty much have everything anyone could ever need and then some.

When it comes to buying what I do need or something that is definitely going to add value to our lives I don’t hesitate once I’ve determined that there is value in the purchase. I also don’t experience buyer’s remorse.

What does happen in a minimalist lifestyle is that you start saying no to many potential purchases so that you can say yes to the things that really add value. It’s rare for anyone to have an endless supply of money and we definitely have a budget to stick to so we are mindful with our purchase of possessions and experiences.

Living this way has allowed us to start living our dreams without giving up anything that truly added value to us. We just gave up the stuff we didn’t really need for the stuff we didn’t want to live without.

Published by the lean minimalist

Donna Sherriff is a New Zealand based improvement and operations management specialist. Seeing a need for simple, no fuss, improvement advice she started The Lean Minimalist blog in 2017. Donna writes articles offering advice and tips for rapid and sustainable business improvement based on over 15 years in Senior Management roles. Passionate about sharing the lessons of over 20 years on the high performance track Donna offers coaching services to professionals. She also writes about her own personal improvement journey, minimalism, and her life long struggle against the tyranny of cookies and sugar which she overcame in 2020. These days, Donna is pursuing a journey to earn her black belt in Taekwondo after a long hiatus of 16 years away from training. On the side she is an amateur but passionate musician and poet. View all posts by the lean minimalist