Someone shared a video about how a Japanese man lived a minimalist lifestyle which appeared in my FB feeds this morning which I find it interesting. In the interview, he mentioned about having only 3 shirts, 4 pants and 4 pair of socks in his drawer and that is more than sufficient for him to live by.
As a cynical human being in this century, we’ve relieved the scene of wasteful spending too many times. The activities that we live in were typical of the general consensus approved by society: Study hard, get good grades, climb the corporate ladder, earn more money, borrow higher mortgage loans, spend more on luxury and repeated items and fill the drawer and graveyard with even more things.
I used to engage in this sort of “normal” activities in the past having been exposed to the true color of society until in the recent years where more reading and blogging on personal zen of finance taught me otherwise. My own personal journey towards minimalism has never been more far stretched than before. The possessions of things I own right now are far satisfying than anything I’ve ever had before in the past.
Today, I had only 5 working shirts, 2 pants and 1 pair of shoes for work. I also had a limited number of t-shirts which I bought during my last visit to BKK which is worth THB100 (about $3) each. I have a couple of more decent shirts and tuxedo for important events such as wedding, interview or party events but that almost conclude what I have in my wardrobe. I do not own a car nor do I own any expensive hardware items other than my laptops which I am using it frequently to write my blog and surf the net.
My goal is to go for an asset light strategy as much as I can, so I feel lighter on the go. The ability to remove the incessant desire that idolizes consumerism has allowed me to roam more into spaces I’ve never been into. It allowed me to pursue a greater opportunity in my passion to do things that I love to do – to spend quality time with family and to travel and experience the world we live in without boundaries of consumerism.
Reducing the number of things that we possess is not the true goal of minimalism. It is after all, a delusion that a person can only have a certain number of items in order to be happy. Minimalism is about adding more colorful things in your life. Less is more. Pursue on the greater things in life. Gratitude. Passion. Contentment. Generosity. Togetherness. These are the real additions we should have in our lives.
Very true! After all, you must first empty your cup before it can be filled… with the best things in life.
Hi owq
Good analogy there… some things full, there will be some that will be left empty.
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Ass…saya tidak menyanka kalau saya sudah bisa sesukses ini dan ini semua berkat bantuan MBAH RAWA GUMPALA,saya yang dulunya bukan siapa-siapa bahkan saya juga selalu dihina orang dan alhamdulillah kini sekaran saya sudah punya segalanya,itu semua atas bantuan beliau.Saya sangat berterimakasih banyak kepada MBAH RAWA GUMPALA atas bantuan nomor dan dana ghaibnya,alhamdulillah kini saya sudah bisa membuka usaha kembali yang dulunya pakum karna masalah faktor ekonomi dan kini kami sekeluarga sudah sangat serba berkecukupan dan tidak pernah lagi hutang sana sini,,bagi anda yang punya masalah keuangan jangan sungkan-sungkan untuk menhubungi MBAH RAWA GUMPALA karna insya allah beliau akan membantu semua masalah anda dan baru kali ini juga saya mendaptkan para normal yang sangat hebat dan benar-benar terbukti nyata,ini bukan hanya sekedar cerita tapi inilah kisah nyata yang benar-benar nyata dari saya dan bagi anda yg ingin seperti saya silahkan hubungi saja MBAH RAWA GUMPALA di 085==316==106==111
Serious. 2 pants?
One pant for 2 days and the other pants for 3 days?
BTW, how many underwears you have? LOL!
Hi Uncle CW
The 2 pants are for Monday to Thursday. Friday is casual day 🙂
Underwear i bought at giordano in bulk hehehe
strong.
Thanks Kyith
Good job!!
Thanks SI.
You understand them much more than I do 😉
B,
I like the way you live to your fullest, especially with the idea of less is more!
Thanks for the inspiring article!
Hi Seekay
Thanks for your kind words.
I think most of the finance community are living life in the right direction 🙂
B,
Fill our souls with the "colourful things" in life!
As you soar with your spirituality and philosophy of life, be patient with those who may continue to pull you down to their material realm.
That includes those who may be confusing minimalism with frugality…
"Letting go" is never about reducing in Zen; its all about "regaining" 🙂
Hi SMOL
Indeed, its a very thin line between frugality and fluffy and minimalism. The latter has reached the peak of truly understanding what basic life really needs, which is all that basic to begin with. Feel empty outside, not inside 🙂
I am definitely a minimalist. I believe in the tiny house movement. As a single person, a 1 bedroom apartment is sufficient for me (In Singapore, that will be a 2 rm BTO or at most 3 rm flat) . I also dont like clutter. Like you say, I keep myself asset light, including all the belongings I have. I don't believe in being miserly. I spend reasonably. The way to quick financial freedom is to 1) reduce our expenses 2) accumulate passive income.
Renewed investor
Hi Renewed Investor
Like you, i prefer a simpler and smaller apartment than a big one where I had to walk more steps to get me to where I want to go.
It's really more.about the comfort and I think you can agree with it.
I don't believe in feeding capitalist with my hard-earned. I am not tempted by advertisement on discounted items. Less money spend = increase in savings. Less clutter = easy life management and free to go. Less attachment to materialism = happiness in life. When you spend less on external objects, you are more prompt to care for your internal well beings.
Hi Anonymous
Thanks for your wise advice.
Can't agree more with you there. People choose to spend their time earning more money for external objects to show off to people they dont like. Strange world indeed.
Hi B,
Indeed, less is more! I think when we have lesser things in our lives, there's not only less clutter, we also become more creative with how we allocate our resources and that's more fun and exciting!
I think minimalism is great. We can definitely be more with less. It's sometimes all in the mind that we think we need more. That we never have enough. But then again, who's the determinant? It's definitely yourself. Once you have a change of mindset, you would definitely feel lighter. And happier.