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How We Planned a Debt Free Wedding

Posted on July 30, 2017

You’re newly engaged and starting to make plans for your upcoming wedding. What an exciting time! The sad reality is that weddings are expensive. Most likely, more than you imagine they cost. Soon enough you hear through the distant bells chiming and realise that this is going to take some financial juggling and severe budget savvy-ness. But there is a way to plan for a debt free wedding and avoid any financial hangovers with a little forward thinking!I remember about a week after getting engaged to my now husband, I was asking my friend who was planning his wedding at the time, how much things are going to cost. He told me his entire budget was nearing the $30k mark. I began sinking in my chair. How on Earth could one day cost $30k?! Sure enough we soon realised that figure was pretty realistic for an average wedding.Money Smart’s 2014 report on wedding costs estimates an average Australian wedding will set you back $36,200, that’s closer to $40,000 in 2017 with 3% inflation. Soon enough my naive, newly engaged hopeful eyes were opened to the financial realities of planning a wedding.

I certainly felt a tad unsure and concerned at this point. I’ve always loved working on budgets, but this was a whole new world of financial challenges. My husband (to be) and I knew we were going to be paying for our wedding ourselves as our parents weren’t in a position to help out too significantly financially. Going into debt wasn’t an option in our minds and didn’t align with our values of avoiding debt (and certainly not for non-asset purchases!).

I had heard of people trying to pay off their wedding debt post the big day and I didn’t that to be us. I was determined to find a way to have a debt free wedding, our perfect day to remember for years to come, without the debt to remind us!

We got engaged in January and set the date for September the following year which gave us 19 months to save. Let me tell you we needed all 19 of those months and every spare dollar!

The good news is that we managed to pay it all in cash. Completely Debt Free! And you can too! And a debt free wedding is still possible even if you don’t have a long engagement to save like we did.

Read below for How We Planned a Debt Free Wedding.

SAVING FOR THE BIG DAY

If you aren’t saving now then you need to start today! Remit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich goes even further by suggesting that people who plan to get married one day and looking at a $28000 average wedding cost should each save about $3,000 per year, or $250 a month from when you turn 21. At 21 I was certainly not thinking about saving for a wedding but in hindsight, even a small amount each week would have helped out a lot when I got married at 27.

If you have left saving for a wedding until the engagement, you will need to work out what your expenses are in a month and what you can afford to save towards the wedding. This will need to go into a separate wedding savings account.

Determined to plan a debt free wedding, for 19 months, all of our non-wedding spending was on hold. Not off indefinitely by any means! We still went out occasionally for our sanity, but there were no holidays, shopping sprees, non-urgent home repairs, new cars, new TVs, new clothes (other than things we needed of course). All spending came to a halt and every spare dollar we could find from savings – pay rises, bonuses anything we could think of, went to the wedding savings fund to fund our debt free wedding goals. I remember in that entire 19 months we took one 3 days weekend trip up the coast and that was it which wasn’t easy for two lovers of travel. But looking back, it was worth the struggle.

FINDING EXTRA CASH

Consider ways that you can bring some extra cash to help boost your savings and help you achieve your debt free wedding.

Do you have unwanted clothes or clutter that you could sell? This can bring in some fast easy cash and clear up some of your crap.
Can you pick up some overtime at work?
Can you do a side hustle if you have the time. Drive for uber, sell your arts, crafts, or designs. Advertise some work to do locally like gardening.
Save any pay raises instead of adding them into your spending budget.
Reduce your eating out budget and cook at home more often.
Change expensive nights out at bars with friends to dinner parties at home.
Shop your wardrobe instead of going out shopping and spending unnessessarily.

YOUR DEBT FREE WEDDING BUDGET

Before you spend any money on anything and ensure you can plan the entire wedding debt free, start by preparing a budget of all the wedding expenses. Refer to this one below for an idea (this is read only, save a copy on your drive to edit).

Include all clothing, jewellery, accommodation, cars etc. Work out a rough budget and talk with your wife or husband to be about what are the most important things to you both.

You can research online or ask a friend who got married recently for an estimate of pricing for different expenses. Some suppliers advertise their prices online which is a good place to start, others you can get a quote after a quick email. Plot out the budget estimates into your wedding budget as a starting point. As you fill in more accurate number you will see whether you are in or over budget and you can adjust it from there. The more expenses you add in the better. Don’t forget all the little things; postage, flutes, gifts for the bridal party and so on.

Updating your budget regularly is the key to planning a debt free wedding so you can ensure you haven’t left anything out. Record every expense as soon as you can after receiving the invoice. Forgetting to enter a cost into your budget can cause you to have budget blow outs or lose your reservation when it is left unpaid. As soon as you get the email or receipt put it somewhere safe and enter it into your budget!

HOW MUCH WILL I NEED TO SAVE?

Once you have a ball park of all the expenses work out how much you will need to save each month up until the day. If you are budgeting $20k for a wedding in 12 months you need to be saving $1667 a month for the wedding. Once you have your figure you will need to decide can we afford to save this month each month. If not you can either push back the wedding day or cut expenditure so you can put more money away to meet the required saving amount.

Don’t leave this too late when your wedding is a couple of months away, and everyone has booked their flights and accommodation and you have to go into debt to pay the difference. It’s really important to get this figure and save the required amount from the get go.

HOW TO SAVE ON WEDDING COSTS

These are the things I did in order to save as much money as possible for our wedding. I do not what to think of what we would have paid had I not taken the time and effort to research multiple suppliers and get the best deals we could. We did a lot of the below tips and friends and family have saved on their weddings with others.

Get multiple quotes

For practically every wedding expense I got 3 quotes, sometimes more. This was no easy feat and time consuming but is going to be a huge help to your budget and potentially save you thousands!

Quotes can range significantly and getting three or four can usually give you a ball park of what is at the budget end and what isn’t. This is a must particularly for big ticket items like the venue, cars and photographers. I looked into at least 10 reception venue’s and prepared a spreadsheet of the inclusions they offered and compared the prices to inclusions which ranged from $90 to $150 per person. When you multiply a saving of $60 by 50 guests or more the savings add up quickly!

Be aware that cheapest is not always best. I didn’t go with the cheapest videographer I found because the quality of work was no where near that of the more expensive supplier. Sometimes it is worth paying more on a professional than throwing away half the money on something inferior.

2. Pick a date further out to give you more time to save and bargain hunt

The longer your engagement the longer you can save. If you want all the bells and whistles of your dream wedding in six months time you are going to find saving up in time a complete struggle. picking a date further out gives you more time to save and bargain shop!

Once you have worked out all your wedding expenses budget, work out how much you need to save and what you can save each month as early as possible. If you can’t afford to save enough you are going to have to tighten those purse strings. It is not going to be easy but will be worth it to know you can enjoy your day and not have to worry about any debt afterwards.

3. DIY as much as you can

Skip the extras that you can do yourself like printing names on the invitation envelopes- pen will do just fine, bow tying etc and invite some close friends over for a night of crafts. These little expenses can add up when they a multiplied for each guest. I saved myself $5 per RSVP card plus postage by just requesting a text message RSVP instead of ordering cards. If you are going to do this you need to update your RSVP list regularly.

4. Work out what are your must have items

For us it was the stuff that we would look back on for years the photography, the rings, the wedding album. This is where we spend on quality. For everything else that is less important and you are willing to save on, this is where you need to find your savings.

We opted to only have flowers for the bride and bridesmaids bouquets and didn’t bother with any others other than some orchids for the reception centerpieces. Besides, our wedding was in a garden we didn’t need any extra flowers 😉 If you can buy flowers from the local market the day before or ask a friend or family to help out on the day. This alone can save you hundreds. I know some brides who have done this and the bouquets are just as lovely (and not so heavy which is a bonus ladies!).

We skipped the fancy ceremony set up and just opted for some chairs and a carpet. We could have spent big on an archway and aisle liners, and flowers for the aisle chairs but decided that the garden and water features were beautiful enough without all that excess stuff.

5. Ask around for any friends or family that can help you out

We are musicians so are fortunate to have many musicians as friends. A friend played harp at our ceremony and my husbands band did an acoustic cover of a song for entertainment at the reception. Do you know anyone that can make your cake, or do your hair or make-up for a discounted rate or in place of a gift?

Did anyone have a wedding recently that would be willing to lend you their decorations or know of any great supplier offers? Save where you can. I got my flowers delivered to my brothers house so we could save $50 on long-distance delivery. Any small help goes a long way!

This also goes for the venue. Ask your reception what vases and decorations they can provide to save you buying them.

6. Consider buying the dress second hand or off the rack

Shop around for the dress, aim for the perfect dress that you won’t have to go into debt for. On my wedding dress shopping day I saw other brides trying on expensive dresses with their mums looking like they were starting to sweat. If a $5000 dress is completely out of the budget don’t even try it on, you are asking for pain! Stick to your budget!

A great time to shop is at EOY sales around June 30. I bought mine off the rack with a 50% discount saving me over $1000.

Check out pre-loved wedding treasures facebook groups or eBay for second hand dresses to save!

7. Shop around for wedding dress alterations

These can range significantly and cost upwards of $500 very quickly. My first quote from the store I bought my dress from was for $500 not including what I ended up getting done. Get at least three quotes here! By doing this I managed to save hundreds of dollars by going to a local alteration place that specialised in formal and wedding dresses which worked out much more convenient travel-wise.

8. Opt for a smaller cake.

A friend was kind enough to give us this advice after his own wedding when he was left with half a cake – a very expensive one at that. We opted for a two tier cake and still had about half left over from 80 guests. Even after giving a lot away to family a lot ended up in the bin (Shock horror but it sat taking up space we didn’t have in our freezer for a few months and after agreeing we were not cake people we just wanted it gone).

If you are having wedding cake, if your venue allows it consider skipping the dessert to save some extra cash. We paid for both and most people only had one or the other.

9. Consider skipping the DJ and MC

If a DJ and MC aren’t included in your package consider asking a friend to bring their laptop and speakers and be your DJ for the night as their gift to you. We did this for a friend of ours recently and were happy to help them out. With a playlist you only need to check the laptop occasionally and be there to que a few of the main songs.

Sometimes the personal touch of a family or friend as MC can add to the night and save your money. If you have an extroverted friend this might be a good choice 🙂

10. Have a wishing well

If you feel comfortable with the idea, I highly recommend having a wishing well in place of a gift registration. Let’s face it do we need a second toaster and and a new set of towels that don’t go with what you already have? We were living in our home for three years before we got married and had everything we needed.

Rather than getting more unnecessary stuff that you don’t have room for, consider asking guests if they are happy to, to donate to your honeymoon fund so you can create memories with their gift. Some people may still opt to give you a gift they picked but in our experience most people were happy to accommodate our wishes.

We asked guests to donate money to our European honeymoon and some opted to give us Euros and Pounds which was greatly appreciated.

If parents are buying you are gift, ask if they would mind paying for something for the wedding – the photographer, the celebrant or cake. Every little contribution helps and will be something you can appreciate for years to come!

11. Ask whether your reception location offers discounts for weekdays

Weekday wedding can be significantly cheaper. Fridays and Sundays can also be cheaper than Saturdays as an alternative to weekdays. We managed to save almost 10% or about $1000 off the wedding reception bill by booking our wedding on a Sunday instead of a Friday or Saturday night. It happened to be our actual anniversary so for us it was perfect.

12. Limit your guest list

Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this but if you are paying for your own wedding and don’t want to be saddled with the wedding debt for the early years of your marriage you are going to have to stick to a numbers limit. If your parents insist on inviting extra people that aren’t on your list, ask them to pay the cost of their guests attendance.

Work out what you can afford and stick to that number. If some people RSVP that they can’t make it, you can then potentially invite others that you had hoped you could but just couldn’t budget for in the original list.

Try not to get caught up in offending people. It is not worth going into debt to avoid potentially offending people not invited who most likely completely understand how expensive and difficult wedding guest lists are. If you are really stuck, consider inviting guests to the ceremony only and keeping the reception for close friends and family.

12. Consider a more minimalist wedding

I recently went to a very minimalist wedding and it was no less special than any others I had been to and a lovely relaxing day. Work out what you can do without. Can you use a current suit (or buy one that you can wear again after the wedding)? Can you find an affordable dress off eBay (check feedback first of course!)? Do you have some heels you could wear instead of forking out for new ones? Do you need the pricey photo album or can you put one together yourself (we did this saving us $1000 or more!)? Check out How Minimalism has Helped Me Find Financial Stability and how it can help you stick to a budget leading up to your wedding.

Work out what are the must haves for you and your partner and agree on what you are willing to go without. We didn’t bother with expensive add on centerpieces that can cost hundreds and instead we went for some orchids in vases with water for under $80 in total. Sometimes less is more 🙂

13. Find ways to save on bridal party costs

This is particularly helpful if you have a large bridal party. Instead of buying the bridal party dresses and matching suits consider asking them what item they already have that they could wear. Maybe they already have a dress or shirt in the colour scheme you are after and can mix and match. This can look really amazing in photographs and potentially save you a lot of money if you are planning to buy the outfits. Again look at buying these outfits around the sales periods like end of financial year.

14. Keep your venue options open

Picking the most higher demand venues means you are going to pay much more. We were looking at $120+ per head costs for a wedding venue in Sydney without any inclusions. On the suggestion of a friend (Steve, you are the greatest!) we looked at a coastal location 100kms away and managed to find a beachfront venue for under $100 a head that was just what we wanted! That decision alone saved us thousands and more importantly meant we could invite more of our close friends and family!

15. Set realistic expectations and do what is right for you.

It is your special day and you only get one of them. At the end of the day ask yourself how much you are willing to spend from your budget on one day. Weddings cost an exorbitant amount of money and there is a lot of pressure to conform to friends or families expectations of what it should be.

Less flashy wedding are no less special than their pricey counterparts! It is about two people coming together to start their lives together not about how expensive the car was that you hired or how many swarovsky crystals were on your dress. No one is going to judge you for wearing a $200 dress, or getting your bouquet from the markets or wearing shoes that aren’t new. If anyone does they probably aren’t your friend (and surely not paying the for wedding :p).

If you want to elope with a couple of people around or have a destination wedding and limit your guest list, go with what is important to you. At the end of the day it is your wedding and your happiness should be paramount.

16. Don’t overspend on the invitations

I had no idea how expensive invitations got! They can range for a couple of dollars each to $20 or more. When you are buying them for 100 or more guests this adds up quickly. Let’s be honest, sure the fancy ones will look amazing, but people just open them, and chuck them on the fridge or in a drawer. No one else cares if they were the $5 or $30 ones. At the end of the day a good invitation gives guests the details they need to attend your wedding. The $5 ones will do this just find. Save your cash and spend it on the photography or honeymoon!

17. Quality is not something to skimp on.

Don’t skimp on the irreplaceable stuff! It is important to balance budget services with quality.

I’ve heard horror stories from people where friends or family were asked to take photographs for the wedding to save money. This can often end in disaster. Your wedding day is a one time thing, if you are going to spend your budget anywhere I would put photography to the top of that list and invest in a professional photographer with a great portfolio. You can never retake those photos. You can still get to the wedding in a Camry. You can still have a good day with a friend as a DJ but you cannot fix a bad photographer.

Our celebrant was not the cheapest, but we met her at a friends wedding and loved how relaxed she made the ceremony and how friendly she was. We hired her and paid a fee for her to travel long distance. Despite the higher cost than other celebrants were charging she was available to help us with an unlimited amount of questions and made us feel comfortable and sometimes that is more important.

We hired a venue for our wedding over a DIY hall option, which was the more expensive option. At the end of the day it was worth every penny to not stress on the night and to have professionals on the floor making sure by any means we were having a good time and had nothing to stress about. To hire a hall we would have had to book caterers, cutlery, table cloths, decorations with all the added stress that comes with that. This was definitely something where we opted for quality over budget but found a way to still save by picking a Sunday night and choosing a location that was not in the city.

Want more money saving tips? Check out How an Organised Space Can Save You Money

AFTER THE WEDDING

Congratulations! If you have managed to plan a debt free wedding, you have given yourself a leg up in your financial future. Now let’s keep those financial wins going!

After the wedding can be a good time to claw back some of the money you paid out. Can you sell your wedding dress, shoes or jewellery if they are something you won’t wear again on pre-loved wedding treasure sites? Can you sell your decorations, vases, lolly bar supplies, excess stationery etc that you no longer need on eBay? Did you buy a wishing well that will just sit there collecting dust? Find someone else who needs it. Consider with your new found freed up time creating your own wedding album online instead of paying thousands for the photographers one. This can help to get back a small amount of your cash after the wedding.

I hope these tips will help you plan a debt free wedding and give you the day of your dreams within your budget.

Did you plan a debt free wedding? How did you save money with your wedding? Please comment below with your tips with other soon-to-be-wed Minimisers! Don’t forget to share this with anyone who is planning a wedding 🙂

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

Minimalism

The True Cost of Our Stuff

Posted on June 12, 2017

Often when we shop our main decision basis is one of price. We review the price tags as well as asking ourselves questions like; is it on special? Does it come with something free? Can I get two for one or buy one get one half price? We assume that we are frugal or budget savvy by considering these price points before purchasing. The issue is that this often means that the true cost of a purchase is not considered.

When we only consider these price points in the decision making process for new purchases we forget the most important costs. One of the prime and irreplaceable costs being – our time. One of my favourite quotes is from Minimalist blogger Joshua Becker from Becoming Minimalist. He says “We don’t buy things with money. We buy them with hours from our lives.” A thought I try to be conscious of this each day.

Before we head out to the shops, or to buy something online – or anywhere, we need to consider a few things. Not just the money spent to make that purchase, but the investment of time involved in owning something. This assessment allows us to truly make wiser purchasing decisions and to consider the true cost of our stuff.

There is much more that needs to be considered than just price alone. Here are 7 other things you should consider when making purchasing decisions to assess the true cost:

Lack of mobility

When you consume excessively your rob yourself of future opportunities. What if a new position came up interstate that would be perfect for you but because you have a huge home filled with stuff you can’t move. What if you find the perfect rental property and you need to be out in a week but miss out because you can’t physically pack up all of your stuff that quickly. What if you need to sell your house whilst the market is booming but you take three months to declutter and pack your stuff and during that period the market drops suddenly and you lose thousands in the lost market price? Having too much stuff can hold you back from decisions that make you happy and add to your life and stop you from being mobile when you need to be.

Environmental Cost of Excessive Consumption

When we consume in excess we increase our impact on the environment. Everything you buy comes with packaging – boxes, plastic, tape, tissue paper, foam and other stuff that will quite possibly end up in landfill. Not to mention the cost on our natural resources. Clothing manufacturing uses vast amounts of water and chemicals. The more we buy, the more our valuable resources are depleted and the more waste we create.

This impact is often not seen by the consumers but born by the wildlife and locals who live in the areas of manufacturing. Check out True Cost on Netflix for a great documentary on the environmental and human cost of our fast fashion industry.

Opportunity Cost

This is the cost of what you could have done with that money had you not spent it on a new outfit or tech gadget. Instead of buying more stuff you could have invested that cash in yourself such as; by starting your own business, signing up for an educational course, contributing to your retirement, going on a holiday, paying off your mortgage or other debt. All these things have the potential to greatly improve your circumstances.

When people reach the end of their lives the common regret is not wishing they bought more things over there life times, but wishing they would have spent more time with family and friends and traveled more. There would be more time to do in our younger years if we stopped working more and more to buy things we don’t need. Rather than spending our hard earned cash on more stuff, we should consider the true cost – the opportunity costs of spending that money on stuff which could have been redirected to save for our future and retire earlier and have more time to spend with the people we love, doing things we truly enjoy!

Less time for your important relationships.

Whilst you are spending all Saturday morning cleaning your large home you’ve missed out on brunch with a friend, going out with the kids on a road trip, a morning walk with your wife.

The more stuff we have the more time we invest in cleaning it, maintaining, repairing not to mention the other stuff we don’t think of – the time we spend unpacking and setting it up, the time we spend reconciling our accounts each month, filing our receipts, finding a place for the item, washing it, moving it to dust or vacuum. The list goes on.

When buying something new ask yourself what is the true cost of this item? Are you prepared to spend the extra time to look after this item, dust it regularly, iron it weekly, pay for maintenance costs, take it for repairs when necessary and so on.

This goes for buying a house. A house is one of the biggest drains on your time. Consider whether you really need a two story mansion for you family of three or if you would rather spend the time you would have spent cleaning each weekend with your family not to mention the extra work hours needed to cover the larger mortgage.

If you like this article you may also be interested in reading “10 Benefits of a Minimalist Inspired Life“.

The Cost to Our Health.

The more we spend, the more money we need to bring in to stay ahead and on top of our debt. Maybe you are working 80 hours a week to bring in the big bucks to keep up with your spending. As a result of overworking you get home too tired to spend time with your family or do anything for yourself like exercise or read a book. You begin to live for the weekend with Monday to Friday just being a blur of alarm clocks and falling asleep on the couch.

Not only is your health suffering from lack of time to exercise, cook a nutritional meal and relax after work but you will be carrying around a lot more stress if you are living pay-cheque to pay-cheque. This can soon escalate if you are constantly worrying how you will meet your bills and debt repayments each month. Many people are reaching retirement age saddled with large consumer and mortgage debts without considering the consequences if they suddenly have to retire due to health concerns.

Anxiety and Stress Caused by Excess Clutter

Having lots of stuff adds stress and anxiety into our lives even if we are not aware of it. Clutter makes it difficult to relax physically and mentally and can make it an embarrassing time if unexpected guests rock up. Not to mention the added stress of not being able to find things, having to step over things constantly, pick up things endlessly to tidy up, or seeing cluttered spaces every time you open your drawers or wardrobe. The clutter is always there to remind us. This stress can be reduced by minimising your possessions and limiting what new items you bring into your home. Having space in your home, a sanctuary that you love can do wonders to alleviate stress and anxiety.

Missing Out On Valuable Experiences

When we become so obsessed with buying more and more stuff we often miss out on the important things in life like experiences. How many people do you know that have never been on a holiday but easily spend money on other things without much thought – their nails, a daily coffee, an expensive car, new jewellery or outfit for a party. They constantly say I can’t afford to travel and yet don’t realise that if they were just a bit more intentional with their spending that they too could go on an occasional holiday. Whether it be a local one, interstate or overseas.

It doesn’t even have to be a holiday. Maybe they want to go to a fancy restaurant for their anniversary but can’t afford it. Sometimes we place more value in things that we can see and hold and keep and hold onto for years and years and we forget the importance of creating memories with loved ones. If you just saved $20 a week – just 2.5% of a $50000 annual after tax salary, you would have over $1000 saved with interest to invest in an experience that is important to you. It could be a weekend away, spa day and nice dinner and only takes a very small sacrifice each week.

Have you identified the true cost of stuff in your life? What changes have you made since to your purchasing choices? Share you comments below 🙂

Check out How I Discovered Financial Freedom Through Minimalism for more benefits on focusing less on our stuff and more on what is truly important to us.

Minimalism

How I discovered Financial Stability Through Minimalism

Posted on June 4, 2017

What if I told you there was a whole new way to financial stability that you may have not yet heard or considered? You might say something in reply like ‘Well, I’ve tried everything and there is no way I can get ahead’ Or ‘I don’t earn enough to save or have any financial stability’. But don’t fret!

What if I could show you that there was a way to get your finances in order without having to save every cent. Without living miserably whilst trying to keep your head afloat financially. Hoping that one day you would land a better paying job or win the lotto and your financial problems would be solved. A lifestyle where you could buy that expensive insert quality material possession you’ve wanted guilt free with a bit of forethought.

A couple of years ago, I stumbled across the term Minimalism by accident. It was during my lunch time Pinterest scroll where a few Pins came across my feed. I’d never really heard of ‘Minimalism’ before and wanted to learn more. I started to read the first post I came across. Then another and another. I became infatuated with the idea of living a more intentional life, reducing the excess to focus on the essential. Not long after I was reading and watching everything I could about the Minimalist lifestyle. What I didn’t realise at the time was how much this would have a positive effect on my financial stability.

Fast forward a couple of years to the present as I am typing this article. Minimalism has allowed me to change my whole relationship with money. I’ve always considered myself a frugal person that budgeted and saved and was keen to stay out of debt as much as possible. Those are all great financial habits and helpful to get to a point of financial stability, but I now see the missing piece of the puzzle. Through Minimalism, I have developed a more intentional approach to my finances and even more foresight for my financial future than ever before.

In the past most of my financial decisions were based on a price basis. I’d ask myself questions like – Was what I was buying a good price? Was is it on sale? Good questions by all means but they weren’t getting to the heart of the spending issue. Minimalism has opened my thought process up to a whole new dimension of financial decision making.

Instead of being focused just on price, I now consider other aspects of the purchase. These include asking myself questions before spending my money such as; is this the best use of my money? Could something I already have do the same job? Could I borrow this from a friend or family member if I only need to use it for a short amount of time? Is this something that will last me and be a quality product? Could my money be better utilised elsewhere?

The Minimalists define Minimalism as a tool that allows you to make decisions more consciously, more deliberately. To live a minimalist life to me, means living within your means and living more intentionally, getting off auto-pilot and reassessing your daily interactions and decisions. This I believe, is the key to financial stability. It doesn’t matter if you are earning a six figure salary and are spending more than six figures or only on a small wage. Minimalism can be used to help people on any income at any point on their financial journey.

I have found Minimalism a great tool in many areas of my life and one that can greatly add to your financial health. Here is How I discovered Financial Stability Through Minimalism.

I trust myself to plan for the future.

I know that I will, through everyday actions, be thinking of ‘future me’ and how I can ensure ‘future me’ is not left behind at the expense of ‘today me’. This gives me confidence to know that my financial future will be one of stability as I have plans in place in order to prepare for any financial emergencies that may present themselves unexpectedly.

I consider the bigger picture in decision making.

Minimalism has taught me to consider each purchase and take pause. Every purchase is well thought out and intentional. If I’m in kmart it’s because I’ve already made a list of what I need or want, where I am buying it and asked why I am buying it, and where it’ll be stored in my home. The temptation to impulse buy is reduced when you have to stop and think about your purchase decisions more thoroughly. The less I am buying on impulse, the less I will have to deal with buyers remorse and the shopping hangover that comes after a shopping binge.

I no longer feel the need to impress or keep up with others.

Minimalism has taught me to appreciate what I do have and shown me that I don’t need to make decisions to impress others. Being more aware of what truly makes me happy gives me financial stability and the financial freedom to make decisions for the right reasons, not to impress others.

Not everyone has the same financial circumstances and bank account balance as you. No one knows what everyone’s personal financials are and we shouldn’t be blindly trying to keep up at the expense of our own financial stability. If you want something and can afford it, that’s great, but don’t do it because of some need to impress others.

You’re more aware of your needs vs wants.

We bought our first home in our mid 20s, assuming at some point in the future we’d need to upsize when our one garage home with small rooms and one bathroom started feeling claustrophobic. Since discovering minimalism, instead of upsizing to a larger home, we donated, sold and cleared over half our our possessions.

Rather than getting a bigger home (and mortgage to go with it) we’ve stuck with our humble abode that is the perfect size for us. Sure, it might be nice to have some extra space and a more modern home, who doesn’t want that?! But we would rather have a smaller mortgage we can comfortably afford to pay. And even better, being able to afford additional payments means we can be debt free earlier and that is more important to us.

Seeing the importance of planning for unexpected financial disasters.

Before I discovered minimalism I maintained a small emergency fund and always made sure that if the car broke down or the hot water system blew we wouldn’t be stuck. There was some foresight to tackle any small potential disasters. But it was through discovering minimalism that I discovered a whole new level of financial stability.

I learnt how important it was to forgo temporary joy in the present for my future financial stability. This includes saving up three to six months of expenses to prepare for even bigger hiccups such as the possibility of a job loss. Having a goal to get an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses is no easy feat, but certainly adds a level of financial security.

If you were to lose your job tomorrow with a few months of pay stashed away, it would still be an unexpected development but one that you were prepared for. This emergency fund could give you the time to find a new job without worrying how you will pay your bills or put food on the table.

I value my time and money more

Minimalism has taught me to value my time and money more and that means finding ways to spend my hard earned cash more efficiently. Like looking for new ways to decrease my expenditure and therefore hours required to earn that money, without necessarily decreasing my spending. Spending time to find discounts on bills such as insurance, registration, utilities, and phone bills which can add up quickly in your budget and often only require a quick call or online quote.

I save time by automating my saving transfers and ensure my money is transferred to a separate savings account before I am even tempted to spend it.

Each small investment of my time to reduce expenses not only decreases the time I need to spend working to earn that money, but also better manage my money so it can be better utilised and contributing to my financial stability.

Minimalism frees up time which can in turn increase your savings.

In addition to the above point, one of the biggest benefits of minimalism is finding more free time and using it more efficiently. When you spend less time organising, cleaning, maintaining stuff and less time shopping for things you don’t need, you open up time to dedicate to more value adding activities.

This could include freeing up time you might have spend at the mall that you can now dedicate to reviewing your budget and analysing your expenditure to check in with your finance goals and to be more in control of your finances.

It can also free up time that might otherwise have been wasted. This could allow you to take up a side hustle to bring in extra income to further contribute to your financial stability.

My debt appetite has been re-routed.

Minimalism has helped me to become more aware of how intrinsic debt is in our society. People will pay out their car loan and not long after they are going out to buy another car with another hefty loan. They are so accustomed to having a debt repayment they haven’t even considered what else they could be doing with their money if they were just willing to hold onto a slightly older vehicle. I am now even more unwilling to go into debt than ever before and focused on reducing my current debt as quickly as possible.

Having less credit card debt, or any other kind frees up your cash to invest in your savings account and allows you more financial freedom to plan for the future. If we don’t have cash for something we don’t buy it. Our emergency fund also helps ensure we never have to rely on a credit card for unexpected costs.

Minimalism encourages living within your means.

If you are not living within your means, your income is less than your expenses and you are going to end up going into debt to fund your lifestyle. Minimalism has shown me that it is possible to save and have financial stability despite the level of income, if I choose to live within my means.

Just because you earn six figures doesn’t give you the ability to be financially naïve and ignore your incomings and outgoings. Nor does it mean someone on $40000 can’t have a savings balance. By working out your income and expenses for the pay period and planning your budget, you can ensure that you aren’t spending more than you earn.

Always asking is this the best use of my money?

Minimalism has taught me the importance of re-evaluating where my money is spent and asking whether that is the best use of my savings and income. It has shown me the importance of acting in the best interest of my goals.

Maybe you want to go on a trip to Europe next year but your friends want to go on regular shopping days. Or your friends asked you to go out for an expensive night of bar hopping that is going to blow your entire weeks spending budget. Minimalism reinforces how important it is to make intentional decisions each day to reach your goals.

Being more intentional about how I spend my money has helped me reach financial stability. Don’t be afraid to say no to an event or suggest alternate budget-friendly plans if something is going to put you in a financial pickle. Being open honest with friends and family can make this easier. If they understand your goals and why you are savings I’m sure they will be happy to make more budget friendly plans that can involve you.

Have you discovered financial stability through Minimalism? Please comment below and share your experiences!

If you loved this you may also enjoy reading 10 Benefits of a Minimalist Inspired Lifestyle.

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

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