It’s easy to imagine what is gained when we buy.

If we’re not holding it in our hands as we leave the store, it will most certainly be sitting on the doorstep within two days. Even the intangible aspects aren’t difficult to fathom. We’re told from every direction about the amazing ways our lives will improve, if only we had this one thing.

A rush of dopamine flows into the brain just as quickly as the money flows out of our bank account. A brief feeling of accomplishment occurs (read more about the false first step). Then, a moment of bliss, because we’ve been told that this is the purchase that will get us closer to being the person we want to be.

On the little white tag, there’s a listed price. But is that the only price we’re paying?

[Read more…] about Consumerism: What Is Lost When We Buy?

It was late in 2013 that the Amazon realization happened. After pulling four years of purchase history on the online shopping website, it hit me like a ton of brown UPS boxes. I had been spending my hard-earned money on one-click solutions to largely made-up problems. While that realization began the process of reducing my online purchase consumption, it didn’t all come together until the end of 2014 – here’s why.

[Read more…] about SimpleREV: The Event That Changed Everything

We all know that feeling.

Looking around the house for ways to make things less cluttered and identify areas that can be tidied up. More often than not, we find a few things here and there that can go into the donation pile but it doesn’t always make a large impact.

Seeing positive results from getting rid of things is always satisfying, but how can we expedite the process to be more impactful and see results sooner? Sometimes it just comes down to forcing ourselves to deal with the stuff immediately.

Here are five things you can get rid of that will help reduce clutter in your home:

[Read more…] about Get Rid of These 5 Things To Reduce Household Clutter

After a long weekend in Las Vegas, I found myself at the airport 10 hours early for my flight.

I had experienced as much Vegas as I could handle, so I decided to head the airport with the other gentlemen who had much earlier flights. After going through security, I wandered around the airport and came across the American Express Centurion Lounge—an “exclusive” lounge for American Express cardholders.

After realizing that I was going to be hanging around for a tremendous amount of time, I inquired about the cost and benefits.

A 24-hour pass for $50 included high-speed WiFi, unlimited drinks, a full meal buffet, plenty of seating and napping options, a beautiful shower facility (yep, I took a shower), and more. I figured if I ate two or three meals here I’d get my money’s worth in food alone.

I went ahead and purchased the pass.

[Read more…] about The Intersection of Minimalism and Luxury: When Does Spending Make Sense?

Often people focus on the act of getting rid of things when talking about minimalism.

While purging is indeed an important part of removing excess and distractions in your surroundings, it’s not the end all be all.

In fact, just getting rid of stuff completely misses the point of minimalism.

[Read more…] about Why Just Getting Rid of Stuff Misses The Point

I used to hate doing laundry because it took a ton of time and energy to do load after load.

Sorting, washing, drying, sorting, folding, putting away. It was made worse by the fact that I would never do laundry by choice—only out of necessity when I ran out of clean underwear. I had so many clothing options that I didn’t have to do laundry for weeks, or sometimes up to a month or more.

I’d always wear the clothing I most enjoyed first until they disappeared into the pile of dirty clothes and I’d move on to other clothing I liked less and less. Then at the last possible moment, lacking any reasonable remaining clothing options, I was left with a massive multi-load laundry project to tackle.

How I learned to enjoy doing laundry wasn’t by figuring out a more efficient way; it was by doing less.

[Read more…] about How I Learned To Enjoy Doing (Minimalist) Laundry