How many times have you heard a person describe their college experiences as being a “poor student living on Ramen noodles“? Having little money and few resources has become synonymous with the life of a college student at this point. Students are caught in this half-way stage of no longer being a kid, yet not quite being a fully-functioning adult either. When we’re students, we can’t wait to get into the adult world, where houses, cars and spending money will finally fall into our laps. The ironic part is that many adults who have these things look back on their college years with fondness, wishing they could go back to those times for a little while longer with the knowledge they now have. While a portion of this sentiment is due to pining after our youth, there’s another thing we look for – the feeling of being in college again. What if it’s not the college-aspect of that time period that we miss, after all? What if it’s the way we lived our lives instead? The parts of what make our college years so great are actually related to the core philosophies of minimalism. Today, we’re talking about 7 crucial lessons we can learn about minimalism in college!
7 Crucial Lessons We Can Learn About Minimalism In College
Minimalism is all about living simply, being happy and focusing on the quality of our time. Sound familiar? Yes – the core tenets of minimalism are on full display in our college years. Let’s talk about how we learn and embody these philosophies of minimalism in college, even if we don’t know it. Here are 7 things to consider:
- We Live In Small Spaces, But Maximize Our Use Of Them
- There’s Not A Lot Of Money To Spend
- We Learn To Share Communal Resources
- Getting Around Requires Basic Transportation
- We Live With Very Few Supplies Or Possessions
- The Use Of Our Time Is Our Biggest Focus
- We Appreciate & Enjoy The Simple Things
Scroll to read more about each of these points in detail!
1. We Live In Small Spaces, But Maximize Our Use Of Them
If you’re ever lived in an on-campus dorm, you know that they’re particularly famous for being a tiny amount of space.
DormStormer has a great article on various dorm dimensions. Referencing a typical double room (two person) size they mention, you’re sharing a space of 16ft x 12ft (192 SF) with another person!
That’s not even half the size of a typical NYC studio apartment, which are notoriously tiny.
That said, living in a space like this forces us to maximize what little space we have.
In college, it’s almost a competition as to who can use their space most creatively.
One year, my roommate and I lofted both of our beds, then put our desks and dressers underneath. This opened up about 50% of the floorspace. We then ‘borrowed’ two small couches from the common area (yes, we got consensus first) and basically had a tiny living room in the back half.
We essentially had a bed, desk, dresser and small living room in a tiny room, certainly less than 16ft x 12ft. We became the go-to room for people on our floor to hang out.
We learn about minimalism in college through making the most of the space we have, not by getting the most space.
Read Next: How Do You Maximize Space In A Small House? Try These 6 Tips
2. There’s Not A Lot Of Money To Spend
The broke college trope isn’t true for everyone, but it’s common enough for the majority of us. Most college students are broke!
In college, we have no choice but to learn to live on very little money.
Discount stores, specials at restaurants and scouring for great deals become our daily habits.
What’s funny about this, is that many of us learn to take pride in finding the best deals, not in having the most expensive stuff.
Finding a good deal or spending the least amount of money often becomes a friendly competition, as well.
I still remember bragging about getting a sweater for $20, going to buy food on nights that a restaurant has amazing specials and buying beer over the state border at a big discount.
A big lesson we learn about minimalism in college relates to getting the most for our money, not having the most money.
Read Next: Is Minimalism For The Rich? 5 Common Opinions & Our Honest Thoughts
3. We Learn To Share Communal Resources
The college experience comes with sharing a lot of resources.
These resources include bathrooms, common areas, libraries, cafeterias, gyms, classrooms and of course, our rooms.
To be clear, we aren’t saying that we must share these resources in adulthood in order to be considered a minimalist. By having the experience of sharing these things, though, we learn how to be happy in a community setting.
Sharing in this manner brings with it patience, appreciation and bonding with others in our community – all great things that lead to having positive experiences.
Speaking of bonding, there are other things we learn to share, too. This includes beer, food and…other recreational things!
A major thing we learn about minimalism in college is the experience of sharing resources and therefore the bonding we have with others in our community through this process.
Read Next: 6 Philosophies Of Minimalism Realized During COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
4. Getting Around Requires Basic Transportation
Let’s put it this way, the vast majority of us aren’t rolling around campus in a nice, new car. Or any car for that matter.
Living on campus requires that we rely solely on basic forms of minimalist transportation.
We either walk around campus, cruise around on a bicycle or catch a bus in 99.9% of occurrences – and learn to enjoy it in the process.
Some of the happiest times in my life were when I had a days’ worth of supplies in a backpack and a bike to ride around on.
Read Next: Is A Bike The Ideal Form Of Minimalist Transportation? The Pros & Cons
5. We Live With Very Few Supplies Or Possessions
With a tiny dorm room comes a tiny amount of stuff we can bring along.
In college, we often don’t have more than some clothes, school supplies, essentials and a few other odds and ends items, which we then rely on daily for weeks or even months on end.
I remember my parents and sister dropping me off in their car with all of my stuff loaded up, too. Do you know any adults who live on that little? I know one, maybe two!
What does this teach us? Even with a scarce amount of supplies and stuff to our name, we still have a great time – we have them through great experiences, not through owning stuff.
Having amazing experiences without a lot of stuff is one of the most important lessons we learn about minimalism in college.
Read Next: Things A Minimalist Must Own: Our List Of 111 Items
6. The Use Of Our Time Is Our Biggest Focus
With few possessions, a small living space, shared resources and really basic transportation, we have all the time in the world to, well, make use of our time!
We have way fewer things to worry about as students – we don’t have a full-time job, an actual apartment or house to pay for or any real bills to worry about – all of which can be “time sucks”.
Time is our greatest asset in college. We have the luxury of having a heck of a lot of free time, even with a full course load, compared to most adults.
In turn, we get to learn how to spend our time wisely – or not! Time is the one resource we can never get back; it doesn’t matter how much money we have or the status we occupy. The present moment is always important and all we ever have. The way we spend our time in college largely affects a big portion of our future, as well.
College is the first time most of us become the masters of our own domain. We must learn to balance a course load, homework, social lives, activities, fitness and more…all by ourselves. Time is all we ever really have in life and to get the most out of it, we must optimize and enjoy it.
What we learn about the use of time as it relates to minimalism in college is two-fold:
Firstly, we learn that a simple lifestyle gives us back our most precious asset – time. The more complex our lifestyles become, the less free time we actually have.
Secondly, we learn that how we spend our time directly impacts the quality of our lives! Time may equal money, but it also equals quality.
Read Next: How Do I Start A Minimalist Lifestyle? 6 Simple Steps & Questions To Ask
7. We Appreciate & Enjoy The Simple Things
This last point is more of a wrap-up summary. If you can take away one lesson on what we learn about minimalism in college, it’s this:
We can live in a small space, have few possessions, share resources and still be happy in life…particularly when we optimize the use of our time!
College life teaches us how to appreciate and enjoy the simple things in life.
There are caveats, of course:
- Yes, we need at least some money to live well.
- Yes, some time periods in life will be stressful.
- Yes, a bad job or tough circumstances make it challenging to be as happy as we’d be without them.
- No, we can’t simply live like college students our whole lives when we start working, raise a family, etc.
It’s true, though, that we need a heck of a lot less in life than we often think to be happy.
Read Next: What Can You Do For Free Outside? 10 Free Or Cheap Outdoor Activities
7 Crucial Lessons We Can Learn About Minimalism In College
Whether this article has brought you down memory lane, or has opened your eyes to lessons you’ve learned about minimalism in college, we hope you’ve enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!