“Minimalism? That’s for rich people!”. We’ve probably all heard that quote somewhere. Whether it be from a parent, elder or anyone in our day-to-day circle, many people hear the word minimalism and immediately picture urban, educated, difference-maker types who go out of their way to be as progressive and “with the times” as they possibly can be. People with extra time on their hands. People who can afford to live light and spend their money on high-quality experiences instead. So, is minimalism for the rich only? In this article, we’ll open up on our honest thoughts about minimalism and the common stigmas associated with it.
Why Do People Think Minimalism Is For The Rich?
Is minimalism for the rich only? Here are some reasons why people think of minimalism in this way:
- You Must Be Rich, Or At Least Well Off, To Declutter Your Life In The First Place
- You Must Be Able To Afford High-Quality Items To Live With Fewer Items In General
- Minimalism Is Like Many Other Trends – People Begin To Practice It For Social Status, “Societal Points”, Or To Fit In With Others
- Because Minimalism Is Unrealistic, It’s More Of A Hobby Or Passion Than A Daily Way Of Life
- Life Requires That We Spend Money On So Many Things, It’s Just Not Realistic To Cut Out Enough To Make A Difference
We’ll discuss our thoughts on each of these common opinions about minimalism below, along with who our mentors on the subject are.
Who Influenced Us To Practice Minimalism? Are They Rich?
I’ll talk about the two influences in my life that have played a role in creating Maximize Minimalism. These are of course, my anecdotal experiences.
The two ‘mentors’ in my life are my mother and my grandmother (my dad’s mom). They have taught me minimalist practices as well as indirectly influenced my path towards it.
Both left home in their early teens. Both have worked to support themselves from a young age. Both grew up poor. Neither is rich presently, but we did live a middle class life – certainly an advantage and background I’m lucky to have.
My mom is a fanatic about recycling. Since I can remember, we had a routine at home for sorting various recyclables. She drives cars for upwards of 10 years. We had a compost pile when I was young, plus a small garden with peppers, tomatoes and other common produce items. We either donated items or used them until they couldn’t be used anymore – we even used empty plastic butter containers for eating snacks. In general, she taught me about getting the most out of an item, along with recycling and reusing when possible.
My grandmother is known specifically for her frugalness. Much of her shopping was done at yard sales. In fact, material gifts for us kids were often from yard sales, but were either hilarious, cool or at least of reasonable quality – albeit used. To this day, we look forward to her gifts because of how…..unique they are. She’s eternally frugal, and has always made sure that we have fun and spend time doing enriching activities.
My childhood memories are fantastic. We played outside in our neighborhood every day. My sister, cousins and I knew every local park and explored the woods regularly. We had traditions like Sunday morning get-togethers and family parties, most of which were orchestrated by my grandmother. We all pitched in to rent a local beach house for one week during the summer, where we piled into bedrooms and onto couches. There was no personal space, and it was awesome.
Both my mom and grandmother taught me the value of having enriching experiences in life. None of those memories are exclusive for the rich, but we understand that they’re difficult to relate to without living at least a middle-class lifestyle.
Is Minimalism For The Rich? Our Honest Thoughts
In short, we do not believe that minimalist practices are only for the rich. This is based on the influences in our lives and various research we’ve done while building this site.
We also believe that practicing minimalism is difficult when poor, in the sense that cheap, lesser quality items are all we can afford when money is tight. There’s often no extra money for any type of experiences even when buying just the cheapest options.
We also agree that minimalism has become a trend in recent years. Any trend invites a lot of newcomers all at once. These newcomers share their new passion for minimalism with their social circles, and even more people become interested. Minimalism becomes a buzzword at social gatherings. We believe that minimalism HAS become a trend amongst people who are well off, but is NOT exclusively for well-off people.
Going off our list from above, we’ll address each of the common thoughts many people have about minimalism with our honest opinions.
See below for the details!
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1. Only Well-Off People Ever Need To Declutter To Begin With
This point is interesting. In a global sense, Americans are consumers. Across the world, many people would agree that if you have things to declutter and get rid of, you’re “rich”. The tricky part – this applies to nearly ALL Americans in the eyes of many across the world.
In America? I don’t think this is true. Minimalism is not only for the rich in the USA. Why? One word: debt.
According to USA Today, Americans carry over $1 Trillion in total credit card debt. Out of all the people in this group, only 40% have the money to pay the debt off in full when the payment is due. That means 60% of people are paying giant interest on their consumer debt – on things they literally cannot afford!
If interested, check out our article on common wastes of money, where we break down the average American’s spending habits and what we lose money on.
Our final verdict: In the US, people en masse spend way more money than they should on items they just don’t need! We have a spending problem, not a wealth problem.
2. You Must Be Able To Afford High-Quality Items To Live With Fewer Of Them
For people living below middle class levels in America, we agree: it’s difficult to afford those high quality items in the first place that’ll actually last a long time.
In turn, people buy the cheaper items when money is tight. Inevitably, these cheaper items won’t last and will need replacement soon. This constant buying is a root of consumer culture – buying is literally a way of life.
For those who have at least a little spending money i.e. middle class or above – lower-priced items are temptations in our consumer-driven lives.
With so many cheaper options, why buy just one thing? A good quality pair of jeans costs the same as four pairs from another store. Sure, those other jeans might wear out quickly, not feel as good, not survive more than a few washes and will be replaced soon, but they look better, suit fashion trends and give us more versatility.
Our verdict: we believe this is by design. Ever notice how there’s rarely a middle-of-the-road item for sale in terms of price? There are cheap options and expensive items, with a void space in between.
Cheap items will be bought frequently, and profit is made on the volume of sales. Expensive items have a higher profit margin, so while fewer are sold, a lot more money is made on each.
Businesses exist to make money. It’s what WE do that makes the difference. If you feel ‘addicted’ to shopping or buying things, check out our article about Hedonic Adaptation & how we can avoid it.
3. Minimalism Is A Social Trend
There’s a concept out there known as the ‘luxury belief’. Luxury beliefs are opinions held by those with wealth, status and/or privilege. The theory is that to have these beliefs in the first place, you must first be wealthy or of a certain status for them to make sense.
In fact, people can advertise their own luxury beliefs as a show of status! “I think this way, therefore I should be seen as…”. This can range from political opinions, ideology or philosophies on life.
Often times, luxury beliefs manifest in social trends.
Here are a few contradictions we often hear when minimalism is expressed as a luxury belief:
- ‘Why do people buy cheap items? Just buy fewer, more expensive ones?‘, yet they can afford these items relatively easily.
- ‘I don’t need to shop to be happy‘, yet they have everything they need already, so there’s no good reason to buy more.
- ‘I just care about having great experiences‘, yet they travel frequently to exotic locales, spend time overseas or constantly take day trips – all which cost a tremendous amount of money that few could afford.
Our verdict: Like all trends, we must be selective and base our opinions in fact and principle. In the examples above, it’s clear these people have some contradictions in their beliefs about minimalism – even if their intention is good!
Both my mom and grandmother were practicing tenets of minimalism long before it was cool, trendy or socially impressive. There are many others like them. If one is serious about practicing minimalism, it’s best to look past the social noise, learn the principles of minimalism and recognize their own thoughts, feelings and behavior first.
4. Minimalism Is A Hobby Or Passion
At Maximize Minimalism, we believe that minimalism exists on a spectrum. There are many different levels people find themselves on.
Some people want to spend less money, while others want to see how much use they can get from an item. Some crave more quality in life, which offsets their desire to spend – this includes traveling, hobbies and passion projects. Then there are people who have a passion for recycling and doing more with less. Lastly, there are minimalists who want to live with as few possessions as possible.
There are many reasons why people are interested in minimalism. This includes those who we mention above – people who choose to own as few possessions as they can.
While this is admirable and certainly impressive, we must admit that these people have a true passion for minimalism, too. On a practical level, I’m confident that these people would live by minimalist principals even if it had no official name.
Now that minimalism is recognized by many, and social media allows people to share their passions in detail, it’s common to think of those who practice minimalism to be doing so our of their love for it – minimalism is otherwise unrealistic.
Our verdict: there are people who practice minimalism because they’re passionate about the topic, but those aren’t the only minimalists out there! Because of social media, we just hear from the passionate ones a lot more frequently on the topic.
5. Daily Life Requires That We Spend So Much – There’s Just No Room To Save
We’ve covered so much in this article already that we’ve covered this point, too. Many believe that daily life requires them to spend the amounts they do. There’s simply no room to make cuts. No way to save more money to put towards things like travel or experiences. Minimalism is just not practical.
When you consider the points below, it’s easy to spot holes in this logic:
- For those who are poor, it’s understandable that the ability to practice minimalism is limited. It’s not completely pointless, though – changing our mentality or habits is free.
- Americans carry a lot of debt and waste plenty of money.
- Human nature affects our habits. Tendencies such as Hedonic Adaptation keep us coming back to spend more.
- According to Digital Information World, the average person spends almost 2.5 hours per day on social media. Free time is clearly not the issue.
- Minimalism exists on a spectrum. Small changes in mentality and habits make a big difference over time. This requires patience and persistence, though!
Our verdict: If a person is interested in minimalist practices, is willing to take an objective look at themselves and is willing to make a conscious effort to change, minimalism is a realistic practice for everyone. Minimalism is not just for the rich!
In Summary
We started Maximize Minimalism to dive deeply into a few topics. These are the core tenets and goals of our website:
- Breaking Free Of Compulsive Consumption
- Changing Engrained Thought Patterns & Habits That Don’t Serve Us
- Maximizing Quality Of Life, Even In Simple, Inexpensive Ways
- Enriching Our Lives Through Experiences
- Minimizing Our Impact On The Environment Via Waste
- Living In A Financially Responsible Manner
- Last But Not Least – How To Not Waste Money!
When considering our personal experiences, the points discussed in this article and our website’s core principles, we return to the original question.
Is minimalism for the rich only?
No. No it’s not.
I truly hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Thanks for reading!