Do you live a minimalist lifestyle?

No. I have a bunch of hobbies and so I have a bunch of stuff.

I sometimes wish I either didn’t have so many hobbies and stuff or that I had a bigger house but I do and I don’t so it is what it is.

Been living minimalist for the past 20 years. It got old once I had time for hobbies. Just about to move into more space.

My life is very minimalistic by First World standards, but extremely luxurious when compared to how most people on earth live.

No, but sometimes I wish I did. My wife is not extravagant, but she likes her kitchen tools and gadgets and loves a nicely detailed house and is not great with a budget.

To be fair, I love my cameras and computers, so I’m not one to talk.

We did decide to travel this upcoming holiday season instead of buy more stuff we don’t need. So I think that’s progress putting an experience before things.

Nope, not me.

I need my books, the artwork on the walls, enough kitchen stuff to cook a good meal and serve it nicely.

I was watching “Small Houses” on cable last night, and while they looked cute and efficient, I noticed there was no room for anything, no books, no music, no more than a few days clothing and no spare sheets and towels. I don;t need a ton of stuff, but that was way too minimal for me.

Yes. I mean, it really depends on how you view it. Compared to others I know, yes.

I don’t have many material things. Up until I got this lavishly large room in this apartment (private entrance and private deck!), I’ve had very little things. In fact, I could fit all of my possessions in a station wagon. Now I think I’d need one and a half station wagons.

I don’t drive a car, I live in a 3-bed, I’m very conservative with my possessions, I don’t even have a drawer of junk, and I never buy more than I need. So I’d say I’m a minimalist.

Very much so, we recently downgraded our housestaff to just the six core workers, butler-maid-chef-gardener-chauffeur & valet.
Any less then that would be akin to living on the streets ;-}

I might know a thing about this. I have a few boxes in the garage but this is pretty much it. I have a lot of clothes that are behind the A/C in the picture.

Note that this room is detached from my mom’s house and I will be moving into a apartment in September. I am saving buckets of cash by being in here.

I have become more minimalist the last few years after losing it all in the great recession and having to give up my home and 5 acre property.
I have thinned the herd down immensely and am, right now, thinking of giving away one of my prized paintings I have had for 11 years as it does not fit in my new, minimalist digs. While I love it it is a burdensome piece of art being a near 5×5 abstract monstrosity. What I did was make a 30 inch copy and have it’s image in my new little zone.

It’s not the same as the brilliant original but, it lends the color and form I love about it.
Yep, I too am becoming more minimalist out of necessity and many of you know I have just restored, revamped, painted and am now living in a 30 ft. RV on a property. I have the option of the resident apartment here but after all this work in my “Tiny House” I may just stay here for at least a year to enjoy the fruits of my labor. It turned out really adorable thanks to my creative ingenuity and it feels ilke I am living on a houseboat, but yep, space is limited, but I have all I need and most of what I want.

I like @Love_my_doggie‘s answer. Ditto. I live like a queen compared to some in other cultures, am looked down upon by some of my culture because of the things I can’t afford.

If you click on my avatar, here is my new little berth in the bedroom zone of the RV. Minus the spiffy new area rug I just put down. I am also going to be re-carpeting the whole thing, minus the dining area in new carpet soon. I have a full size memory foam mattress on the plank bed, and lots of under bed drawers for storage. At either end I have stained glass light bulbs in the fixtures that cast a lovely light at night. I love my little berth and it feels like I am sleeping on a sailboat. haha

@Coloma :: I lived in a RV my mom bought for 1K for a few years. I gutted the insides down to the studs and rebuilt it. It was fantastic. I made the RV great again. One night it was struck by lightning while I was asleep and it was perhaps the most frightening experience of my life.

I sold it about a month later and moved into my sisters house.

Nice @Coloma! Really nice! I must get working on my RV to make it look as spiffy as yours!

@Dutchess_III How very sad that anyone would belittle you because you lack certain material things. Possessions are the lowest measure of any person’s value.

@Dutchess_III :: Welcome to the team. I have friends that are accumulating kids and cars. I have neither. Their Facebook life is very different after dinner and a few pints.

I went out with one of my besties in HS a few weeks ago. Grabbed a burger and about three hours of drinks. He has kids, a real job, a mortgage. He was not really thrilled with life. He thought he was doing what he was supposed to do. I competed in a Tetris competition the next day and made tater-tots and chicken strips.

It is up to the reader to decide who wins.

^^^ Tater-Tots trump everything within human experience. Starch, salt, and grease…what’s not to love?

@Love_my_doggie It’s my one sister, mostly. She equates intelligence with how much money people have. Same with according respect.

At one time, several years ago, her teenage daughter was dating a judge’s son. She kept carrying on about how he was a judge’s son!
Finally I said, “Well, how does he treat her?”
That’ kind of took her aback. After a shocked second her answer was, “Oh, like a queen!” of course.

Actually, that same daughter just got married yesterday and not to the judge’s son! I was not invited.
They both work for an aeronautics company and will be well off for life. And that’s a good thing.

But it’s sad. I’ve been cut out of their lives for 20 years for no other reason than I didn’t have the financial resources to be in her inner circle. Although their youngest made a point of inviting me to her HS graduation party recently. :D

I suppose. I have much less than most do by the time they’re my age, but still more than I really need or want really.

@zenvelo

You might be surprised. I’ve seen some tiny houses that are absolutely ingenious in design. Some of those folks can really pack a lot of storage into such a tiny space. Were I not a married man I believe I’d find me a small lot and purchase or build a tiny house for myself.

I live a maximalist lifestyle. Maybe not in quality, but in quantity.
It has been an albatross on more than one occasion, including my current home.

It occurs to me that I’m very adaptable, and that I’ve never had to live in a minimal dwelling space. If I had, I might be less-is-more today.

I need to be sentenced to living a year in a well built tiny house

One thing I always enjoy about staying in hotels is that they’re pretty empty, except for the few pieces of furniture. Bare, easy to clean, easy to keep track of my stuff.

No. We have way too much ‘stuff’. I like the idea of living a more minimalist lifestyle, I’ve not managed it yet.

Best of all, easy for someone else to clean, @jca!

I lived it for many of the many of the first years of my adult life. Everything I owned fit in 4 boxes and a suitcase. I truly miss those days of just a land phone line, antenna TV, a couch and a bed. Shopped Good Will and Aldi, hung out at forest preserves and camped with friends instead fancy vacations. That kind of minimalist lifestyle demanded less choices in the matter of living. You worked your job, went home and enjoyed what you had no moving company required.

Getting there! Always had a simple life and now working towards a minimalistic one. The less the better, less is more. As I get older I find that too much stuff or too much of anything weighs me down and makes me anxious.

This is the first time in 30 years that I do not have a washer & dryer in my home. I have yet to make my first trip to a laundry-mat ( laundromat? ) and this will be rather a PITA after so many years of convenience but…it is what it is.
Yesterday I spent about an hour doing hand washing in my kitchen sink. I have a lot of little summer sundresses that are easy to wash and hang out to dry.

A few pairs of undies, a bra. Not so bad. :-)
Summer is easy, just go maybe once a month to wash sheets and towels, blankets, throw rugs. I have several sets of sheets and towels so can get by for a month.

Winter will be more often, for obvious reasons. Wearing heavier clothes and bad weather that will prevent air drying.

@Coloma: You’ll find if you buy more underwear, you may be able to go weeks without going to the laundromat.

I wear jeans a lot so that makes a lot of laundry. I hang my underwear and shirts to dry, and usually my jeans. In the winter, I hang them on hangers on the shower curtain rod or on hangers on doorknobs. In summer, I may put them on the deck (not the underwear but the jeans).

I feel like washing things in the machine gets them cleaner than washing them by hand.

@jca For sure with things like jeans rugs, towels and blankets, washer is best and besides they are too hard to hand wash anyway, but lightweight things are fine. Yes, I hang things in the shower too.

I got stuck in a hotel unexpectedly on night, Rick and I. We didn’t know it was supposed to be an overnight visit. I didn’t bring a change of clothes.
Rick saw me in the bathtub, with my jeans on, scrubbing my jeans with a wash cloth and soap. He thought that was SO funny. I was kind of pissed at the lack of communication that basically stranded us.

@Dutchess_III That kinda lends a whole new meaning to the phrase, “wash-n-wear.” lol

Yeah, no kidding.

No exactly but I don’t live in a great big house anymore. I’m in a new smaller home that is still kinda of big but easier to keep up. I’m not interested in proving how little I can live with; I find that silly. I’m comfortable but not interested in extravagant. I can afford that.