When I first discovered the ‘minimalist lifestyle’ five years ago now, I was keen to learn everything I could about this idea of living a more meaningful life. After reading everything I could possibly find on the subject, I started making small gradual changes and found very quickly that this was having a positive effect on many areas of my life.
By reflecting on what my experiences were on this minimalism path and the benefits I experienced I hope it might help inspire others to discover the benefits of living a more intentional life. Keep in mind that there are no set rules for minimalism. My version of minimalism will be different from your version and so on. It is different for everyone but is a useful tool to help you create a more intentional and meaningful life.
Here are 10 Benefits of a Minimalist Inspired Life that I have found over my journey.
10 Benefits of a Minimalist Inspired Life
- You’ll Feel Less Stressed
A minimalist-inspired lifestyle has helped me to feel the least stressed I have felt in a long time.
Minimalism is all about living a more meaningful life and in turn, empowers you to be more comfortable saying no to things that you don’t enjoy and yes to the things you do enjoy.
It will allow you to reassess the relationships in your life, which could entail leaving a bad relationship or setting new boundaries with a friend or family member to ensure those close relationships aren’t detrimental to your well-being. It might give you the courage to leave a job that is negatively impacting your health or consuming all your time.
By identifying your core values, and understanding what is most important to you and your happiness, you can reduce stress when you eliminate non-essential things, such as going out more than you want to or working more hours than you might need to.
- You’ll Have More Free Time
On your minimalism journey, you will start to identify which aspects of life bring you joy and which don’t. Once you start saying no to things that don’t bring you joy, you can start freeing up more time to say yes to things that do.
I managed to swap out a lot of activities that didn’t add any value to my life for ones that did. For example, I watched TV less so I had more time to exercise. I only bought things I needed so I didn’t waste my weekend shopping for things that added no value to my life. And I chose the people I spent my time with more selectively. These small changes freed up time I wouldn’t have otherwise had.
- You’ll Have More Spare Cash
Adopting a minimalist inspired lifestyle frees up money to spend on things that are truly adding value to your life.
Consider this example. Removing the excess in your home means you might reduce the need for a larger home now that you have fewer things to store in it. If you reassess what you actually use you might find that you don’t need a big two-story house after all. This awareness could give you the opportunity to:
- Downsize your home saving you money on your rent or mortgage
- Allow you to potentially work less hours as your smaller home takes up less of your paycheck and frees up money for other things you love
- A smaller home costs less to heat, cool and clean again saving you more money
Removing the excess in your life can free up cash in your budget that can go to things that you didn’t think you could afford before, such as taking up a new hobby you have always wanted to or enabling you to see more of the world.
Related Post: Ten Surprising Things I Discovered About Minimalism
- Shows You Experiences > Things
Minimalism has helped me to realise the joy of experiences over material possessions. Buying material possessions may bring a temporary increase in happiness, but that disappears over time once we adapt to having that item. Having that item, and the temporary dopamine effect it gives wears off much quicker than experiences.
When you prioritise experiences over material possessions it provides you with joy that no physical purchase can really come close to, particularly if that experience is shared with someone.
My husband and I often talk about all the trips to different countries we have done or gigs we have gone to and it brings us so much happiness to think back on these occasions! I can’t say that talking about an outfit I bought years ago or an eyeshadow pallet does the same. I grew up in a family that didn’t prioritise experience over things and it took me until my mid-20s to change my mindset around this and realise how much experiences added to my life.
These experiences give us memories that we can talk about for years to come with loved ones. Although they may not provide us with a physical thing to place in our homes, the memories are with us for life.
For more ideas on giving more intentional gifts check out 10 Minimalist Gift Ideas that Add Value, Not Stuff!
- You’ll Get to Live Your Life For You, Not Others
There is so much pressure placed on everyone to have an impressive-sounding career, the newest car, biggest home, and the focus has shifted away from what makes us happy to what we can do to impress others.
A minimalist-inspired lifestyle helps us to shift the focus, from being defined by others’ expectations helping us put our needs first. If it is important to you to be debt-free and drive a reliable, affordable car instead of a new more impressive vehicle do that. If it is more important to you to have more free time to follow other passions than having a high-stress managerial position with long hours, go for it!
When we spend less time worrying about what other people’s expectations are of us we can focus on living a more meaningful life and being true to ourselves. Stop listening to what others expect your life or lifestyle to look like and start living the lifestyle YOU want.
- You’ll Focus More on Your Health
Minimalism helps you to prioritise the essential things in life, one of the most important being your health.
It can be easy to get caught up in day-to-day life. There are bills, chores, work, and so on. Over the long term, your health is going to suffer if your well-being takes a backseat to those other priorities.
Minimalism can help redirect your focus away from what you might be spending your time on, to your detriment, to more productive and positive habits. These changes will feel like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders, a weight you might not have even realised was there.
You might pay off your debt and reduce your stress and anxiety around your finances. You might realise that you don’t need a six-figure salary and the stress that comes with working 80 hours and choose to downsize your workload. You might try and minimize habits that don’t add much value, like scrolling on Tik Tok or watching too many hours of TV and replace them with ones that do add value, like exercising more.
- You’ll Be More Intentional In All Areas of Your Life
When you clear the excess clutter and get down to what truly adds value to you, you’ll start applying the minimalist-inspired lifestyle to other aspects of your life – not just the stuff.
You might find yourself asking: Does this house bring me joy or does it just take up my spare time cleaning it? Am I really that passionate about this degree or career? Could I have my dream job if I could take a pay cut? Do I want to be in debt for the next 30 years?
Minimalism seeps into all areas of life and can open you up to a new way of thinking about all areas of your life. It helps us to regularly reassess where we are in life and over time, trains us to apply our thinking of small decisions such as do I need this kitchen gadget to the bigger decisions that have a larger impact on our life.
- You’ll Have to Make Fewer Decisions
Making decisions takes more brainpower than you may realize. Every time you make a decision on something you are using up mental energy.
When you think about your day and what decisions you have to make: what to have for breakfast, what to wear today, what watch to wear, what bag will you grab, what route will you take to work, what will you have for dinner and so on – it’s no wonder we are at decision overload and have little attention span left to do much else with our time. For me the worst part is standing in the shopping aisle trying to pick one item from a section of 20. It all gets a bit much!
Minimalism helps us find ways to reduce everyday decision making which takes mental energy away from more valuable uses of energy and creativity. This frees up mental energy to do more value-adding activities like writing that book you’ve always wanted to or learning a new language. It’s why people like Steve Jobs and Matt D’Avella wear the same outfit every day!
Here are a few ideas to get you started to help minimize your decision-making overload.
Create a capsule wardrobe like Courtney Carver’s Project 333 as a curated selection of your favourite clothing, shoes and accessories that can be mixed and matched and save decision overload.
Meal planning once a week can save you time each day thinking about what to cook and save you from having to hit the grocery store with its 20 options for each item.
Life can be simplified so much more by limiting everyday decisions so we can focus on more important things.
Related Post: 7 Essential Questions to Ask To Help You Declutter Your Wardrobe
- You’ll Spend Less Time Cleaning
Nothing has sped up the cleaning process in my home like adopting a minimalist-inspired lifestyle has. Less is definitely more here.
Clearing the excess from your home allows you to spend less time cleaning it. Fewer things on the floor make for quicker vacuuming and mopping. Limited stuff on the countertops and tabletops allows you to use those surfaces for what they are intended and makes them much easier to keep tidy. Less decor saves you on dusting extra stuff. You get the idea.
I now see things in stores I am tempted to buy and ask myself – would I be willing to dust that? The answer is no 99% of the time!
A minimalist-inspired lifestyle has allowed me to have a more intentional wardrobe, which has made it so much easier to get on top of our laundry instead of attempting to try and tackle baskets of unwashed clothing, we now have manageable loads.
And with all the money I saved from spending with intention, I invested in a robovac that vacuums and mops my house for me!
- You Are More Appreciative
After realising how much I don’t need to be happy I’ve developed a greater appreciation for what I do have.
I don’t feel the need to have the best of everything and am so grateful that I have the knowledge at this age of how important experiences and relationships are over things. Minimalism has helped me to acknowledge the small joys in every day, whether that be time spent with a close friend, a walk-in nature, or a lovely home-cooked meal. The emphasis is not on what you buy or accomplish to impress others but on what truly makes you happy.
I am excited to see where minimalism and intentional living take me in the future and hope to see even more benefits over time.
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If you have adopted a minimalist inspired lifestyle comment below with what benefits you have found and how minimalism has helped you.