I like to consider myself a bit of a minimalist. But really, it’s more cultural than how I choose to live. See, I like things. So, it’s more about budgeting for things and living within our means. The common thought is that consumerism creates clutter in our lives by the accumulation of things. We tend to wear minimalism as a badge of honor. But is minimalism really the key to living a fulfilling life? 

I’ve accumulated many things over the course of my life. Sometimes it’s difficult to really express whether purchases degrade our lifestyle or if they add to it. Financial gurus will tell you that you cannot consider consumer goods as an investment. They aren’t wrong. 

We typically define an investment as something that will increase in value and create positive returns. So, if we hear someone say they are investing in a new vehicle, perhaps we could argue that it’s not an investment at all. Investing in a home could go either way. It really goes back to whether the home increases in value and creates a return over time. 

Lifestyle design 

Now with some definitions out of the way, let’s get into some lifestyle design. Think of this in terms of a minimalism assessment. First, we would want to understand our goals. We’ll use the house as an example. How much do we need? It partially depends on future goals such as intended family size, how much storage space we need, and any other variables. 

Here’s my current example. Our kids are adults so it’s only my wife and I at home. But we do have three dogs. And a lot of accumulated possessions from living and moving into many different houses in different locations. If you’ve never experienced this, it always seems that home décor doesn’t quite fit from one house to the next. So, we continue to accumulate. 

The result is that we need a bit larger house to be comfortable. This is where the minimalists and those that prefer to live with austerity as a budget would shame me for having too many things and too much house in which to put those things. I’d offer that it comes down to how we choose to live. 

Discretionary purchases

Let’s use a discretionary purchase as another example. After traveling across Europe for a couple years and then moving back to America, we decided we wanted to travel more. So, we purchased a recreational vehicle. Or in our case, a rather large fifth wheel trailer. Of course, this also meant a large vehicle to tow it with. Not so much minimalism.

If anyone is unfamiliar with recreational vehicles, they are a rapidly depreciating asset. We got some great use out of it during the time we had it. However, we had to pay storage fees when we weren’t using it and our time didn’t allow very much usage. With that in mind, we sold it at a loss. Certainly not an investment as we knew it would begin depreciation the moment we bought it. However, in the context of lifestyle design, a part of our consideration was to live in it for a period and still travel around. That never materialized (for the best), but we learned lessons from it. 

Minimalism isn’t the whole picture

There are many more examples from vehicles to shoes or from clothing to furniture. What is too much to someone is not enough to another one. Each person is different. Aside from the budgeting aspect of it, the biggest problem is when people in a relationship fail to agree. That creates discomfort at a minimum and in more extreme cases, creates arguments and resentment. 

The key is to find balance and harmony. It begins with a clear budget. Then an outline for spending. Consumerism isn’t necessarily a bad thing, provided we’re living the life we want. Some targeted minimalism can help in this instance. When the discretionary spending prevents us from living the life we desire, then creating boundaries for how we spend becomes necessary. 

What I’m doing

I’ve read my share of varying viewpoints on this topic. I’ve also allowed the thinking of others to create negative feelings about how my wife and I spend versus how we save and invest. Here’s what you will most commonly find. Either ads telling us of all the goods that our lives will not be complete without or folks telling us we will never live our best life if we spend on anything over the bare minimum. 

My approach to this comes down to one word. Balance. The more I learn, the more I’m convinced that living our best life comes down to this one thing. Here are the extremes. Living life to the fullest we can afford in the moment or eschewing any of our wants to save and invest so we can retire at an arbitrary later date. 

Look, we may never make it to that date. So, I’m going to choose to find a balance. To live life the way I want to now while also prudently planning for the future. As the most intelligent person I know once told me, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. 

Read my story here.