Day 28- All Spokes: Minimalism

Day: 28

Spoke: All of them

Habit: Minimalism

Initially, I was going to write about this habit under financial because living below your means is one of the keys to building wealth.

However, as I started to reflect on the benefits I’ve seen in my life once I began practicing minimalism, I realize it affected every spoke.

The basic premise is that we don’t use 80% of the stuff we own. We are going through our day to day lives using 20% of our “stuff” but storing everything else. Excess clothes. Excess stuff in our kitchen cabinets. Excessive everywhere.

So I purged. Overtime we went through every room and got rid of what we don’t use. Before we purchase something new, we discuss if we really need it and if it will have a place to belong in the house. I used a combination of tips I learned from The Minimalists and Marie Kondo (Japanese Art of Decluttering) to learn how to be okay with throwing away, donating or selling things I had created attachments to in my mind.

Less truly is more.

What I found was that as I practiced this habit, every area of my life saw benefit. Spiritually, I felt lighter. Like a weight was lifted off my shoulders I didn’t know I was carrying. Mentally, it was easier to think because I wasn’t surrounded by clutter. My family benefited because our home feels more peaceful. Financially we benefited because we are living off less. Keeping things as simple as we can.

When I was a teenager in youth group, we were at a church gathering, and I was talking to one of the dads. I don’t remember the context of the conversation I just remember his response. He said “yeah, well, making more money isn’t that big of a deal. The more money you make, the more you spend. Your life just gets more expensive and you have to keep making more to afford what you own. So no matter how much you make, you always feel broke.”

That stuck with me because it sounded AWFUL. My husband and I have set some very intentional goals related to places we want to travel together with each other and our family. Time we want to be able to take off to spend together and things we want to accomplish. None of them are possible if we stay broke from living at our means.