Join Scott Bennett & Nikki Wolff as they discuss the intersection between minimalism and finances. Nikki discusses how she defines minimalism, as well as a few of the misconceptions about it. They share their team member Nicole's philosophy surrounding goal setting and discuss how someone might be able to determine what their values are and how that might affect the way they spend their money.
Join Scott Bennett & Nikki Wolff as they discuss the intersection between minimalism and finances. Nikki discusses how she defines minimalism, as well as a few of the misconceptions about it. They share their team member Nicole's philosophy surrounding goal setting and discuss how someone might be able to determine what their values are and how that might affect the way they spend their money.
How's it going everyone. Welcome to the third decade podcast. My name's Scott Bennett, I'm Nikki Wolf. And today we're gonna be discussing minimalism and how minimalism can affect your finances. It's something that has gotten a lot of attention and it's a piece of our curriculum and kind of has been for years. And that's due to the fact that we have lot of participants who have had success implementing the mindset and some of the strategies used. Um, we obviously talk a lot about budgeting and savings and a follow up question we get all the time is how do I make my current income stretch a little bit more, or, okay, I know what I want to to spend. And, but how do I get there? And, and minimalism is just one tool to do that. We don't have any, you know, we, don't definitely say you have to subscribe to minimalism in order to have a successful financial plan. It's just one tool in the toolkit for people to use. And hopefully if, if they need a little bit, bit of a jumpstart in terms of budget and saving and things
Speaker 2:Like that. Yeah. And I think it's important to note too, that minimalism really looks quite different from person to person. Think of it kind of on like a scale you can be extreme, extreme, where you can literally fit all of your things into a suitcase, or you can be like me where I have a three bedroom house and some minimalist would think that that's way too excessive since there's only two of, but that I still personally would identify as a minimalist. Um, even though some of those things might not fit the traditional mold, someone would think of when they think minimalist. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a, it's a really
Speaker 2:Good point. So to start off today's discussion, I wanted to discuss a little bit about what minimalism is as well as what it isn't. Um, so I think for the most is a common understanding, but my spin on it would be to say that it's the intentional selection of what most closely aligns with your values and your objectives.
Speaker 1:Hmm. Yeah. And it's, it's huge to, to think about things that way, but it's something that I think so many people do or organically when they start thinking about their personal finances and things and we a third decade. No, it's really, the only way to get started is to say, what are my objectives? What are my values? You have to have something to strive for, if you're just saying, I just wanna save money. Right. Okay. But, but how and why are you doing that is so much more impactful.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It helps to kind of give you a reason behind it, the fuel to your fire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely. And, and so, you know, a couple of the things that, that kind of fit into that minimalism mindset is, is quality over quantity. You know, what, what in your life I is, uh, is quality to you and, and that it's different for everybody obviously. But some, some ways that I've seen this, uh, lived out is through slow fashion versus fast fashion. Um, that the fact, the it's the idea that, you know, maybe you spend a little bit more on a couple pieces of clothing and some really high quality things that you wear a lot,
Speaker 2:And that are really versatile and kind of timeless in their application. Like a great example of this would be like a P coat. Yeah. I can't think of a time period in the last 60 years, somebody would've been like, wow, that's hideous. That's like a great piece, but they're also like a hundred dollars. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And so, and, and so it's a little bit of, you know, not, not bashing any one person or one store, but like, you know, it's the difference of going to H and M and getting, you know, six shirts for$20 that, that might fall fall apart in the, uh, in the washing machine, the first time you wash them versus, you know, getting a, getting a piece that's a little bit more ethically and thoughtfully sourced and built. Another thing is just in terms of the things you buy, my wife and I ran into this recently, um, and actually Nikki and Nicole at the third decade, we a big part in this where we were saying we started making smoothies all the time for our girls and, and for us in the mornings. And we just started experimenting with different recipes and stuff. And I was complaining one day about our, our cheap little smoothie machine. And I said, it's about to break. I'm gonna have to get a new one. And I I'm, I don't wanna spend the, you know, 9,000 bucks on what, and, and they really convinced me to look and, and do some research and think about it and buy a nice one. And
Speaker 2:I think what maybe surprised you and correct me if I'm wrong, but Nicole and I are both pretty frugal people. So when you were like, wait, you guys justified spending$300 on a blender. I was like, yeah, because I've, instead, you know, I, I have family that also is really heavy into making smoothies and using their blender who are replacing their$30 blender every year.
Speaker 1:You're completely right. That it's you and Nicole saying, it carried a little bit more weight because I know how thoughtfully you all think about your purchases and spending your money. And so, you know, we, my wife and I talk about it and we started saying, you know, how much time it would save us by not having to like blend something for 20 minutes and constantly, you know, stir it with the spoon and everything, as well
Speaker 2:As to use the plunger and taking 10 minutes just to yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah. As well as just, you know, like you said, having something quality it's gonna last years and years. So we said, all right, that's gonna be a Christmas present to each other. And, and that's gonna be something that, that we want and we can spend on. And we thought about it for a long time. It wasn't something that, boom, yes, we're gonna do it. And, and we just bought it. It was a thoughtful decision. So that's what, what I mean with, with quality versus quantity, it is, it is something that, you know, you're, you're thoughtfully thinking about and not kind of buying blindly
Speaker 2:For sure. I think another good question to ask yourself is, is it eliminating a problem? So I'm gonna give one example, actually that came from Nicole who works with us. Um, she described having like a really crummy can opener. That was a hassle to use every single time she used it. She hated using it. So finally she decided to do a little bit of research on how to find like where to find a better one, because she's a nerd and that's her words, not mine<laugh>, but she was really happy that she did because then sometimes it's just worth reposing, even if you have something, but it sucks. I mean, to put it bluntly, sometimes it's just worth reposing, the nice version of it, because it improves your experience every time you use it. And she said herself that like every time she uses it now, like she feels happy because it works well.
Speaker 1:Right. Right. And it's, and it a little bit of a different kind of thinking and saying, oh, I'm spending money on something I don't absolutely need. Right. The, the reposing thing is, um, is tough for some people because you're going, oh no, I have a can opener that works. Or I have, um, I have something that works. I'm gonna use a piece of my budget to buy something else when I have something that already works. Yeah. It's, it's getting into that thoughtfulness. Right. If you're thoughtful about buying a can opener, you're gonna be thoughtful about some of your other purchases as well. Uh, that's a fact. And so getting into that mindset and saying, okay, you know, what, what is important to me? What's something that, that would get a lot of use and be really necessary in, in my daily life. And, and how can I apply that? But Nicole on our team had a really cool kind of way that she thinks about this. It works for her and her husband. They say every purchase that we make, if it, if it's not budding up against our goals, if it's not kind of affecting how we think about our goals, then it's either our goals aren't lofty enough, right? The, the goal, we can be more aggressive in our goals or that the goals aren't important enough to you, right. If you're able to sit a, oh, that, yeah, this, this might not allow me purchasing X might not allow me to hit my savings target for this month then is that goal really something that important to you, if you're able to just kinda put it aside for a month. So it's really that idea that how are we defining our goals and how are we getting them and, and making sure that they're in line with what's really important to us and minimalism is just one tool in helping that and saying, okay, I'm gonna think really clearly about every purchase or everything that I own. And does it align with the goals that I wanna make?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I, I think I wanna add something else to that too. I can speak personally that I have pretty like lofty savings goals and I'm meeting them at this point, like pretty easily, cuz they've been so automated. I've just figured out how to work my budget around them. And so there's no question about whether or not I meet them. And I think it's important too, to distinguish that goals. Don't always a hundred percent of the time have to be like increasing how much you invest, if your intention is to retire as soon as absolutely possible then. Yes. But for instance, something that my husband and I are doing in is that when we were kids, we didn't get to travel out of the country at all. We've never left the states. And so obviously right now with COVID, it puts a little bit of a complication in there for being able to do that. But it's also giving us this nice buffer time to save up. So one of our goals is to be hitting our normal savings goals and now to be saving up for a more elaborate trip up. Um, and so monthly we're contributing to an account and that's another way that, you know, you might feel a little bit of strain. Like we're trying to save it for other house projects too. And so like maybe that's the strain that Nicole and Tim are talking about, where it's needing to reevaluate. If, if you just have like all this extra money that you're like, I don't even know what I'm doing with this. Like what, what am I then maybe like come up with something that would bring value to your life. If, if you do wanna invest more, you can do that. But if you wanna travel more, you can do that or do something else with your money. Like not all goals have to look the same, I guess, is
Speaker 1:What I'm getting at. Yeah. Very good point. And it's, and it's so true because we talk about, you know, the retirement savings and investments and things like so often, but there's nothing wrong with having goals that are current and relevant right now. You know, mm-hmm,<affirmative>, that's, that's a personal, even, even if, you know, the travel one is a great example, but even if it is purchasing things right where minimalism is like the idea, a lot of people, uh, uh, related to the idea of just getting rid of stuff. Right. Yeah. But you know, part of it is, is, is purchasing stuff too. It's saying, okay, I got rid of all this stuff in order to purchase one nice thing that that is they
Speaker 2:Can replace all of those things perhaps. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1:For sure. Right. So, so that's a good segue into kind of what it isn't. How have you heard Nikki, like some of the, I, I, and I have talked about it, but I think you have a good grasp on some of the things that, that people relate minimalism to that, that it really kind of isn't.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think the first thing that comes to mind actually are the minimalistic nativity sets that gained a lot of popularity this last Christmas, um, getting rid of things that you currently own purchasing replacements that have a more minimal aesthetic, I would say is not what minimalism is. In some cases like maybe yes, you have something that looks really cluttery and you want a more simplistic version of it. But a lot of like how minimalism is marketed is just, oh, get rid of everything you have so that you can buy this. And it's important to tune out advertisements like that because minimalism has become just another trend. And if you're being encouraged to just purchase a different kind of stuff, they have their own interest in mind.
Speaker 1:So one of the questions that we get in that we talk about is, is kind of, well, I'm, I'm new to this, right? I'm new to minimalism or, or it's not something that I've really thought that much about, but it, it does resonate with me. So where can I start? And the first thing is kind of what are your, non-negotiables the things that you either own or, or, or want versus, you know, again, what are your goals? So identifying those it's huge. And one way to do that, it is the classic minimalism trope is to go through room for room and say, what is, what is necessary here? Mm-hmm<affirmative> and if something isn't necessary, not saying, oh, immediately donate that or immediately sell it. Um, it's, it's putting it aside and giving it some thought to say, is this actually not necessary? Can I go couple months without using it? And if that's the case, do you need it?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm<affirmative>, that's actually, uh, another thing that one of the minimalists Ryan calls a packing party, uh, he basically packed his entire apartment into boxes and then only took the things out of the boxes that he, he needed in the next 30 days and got rid of everything else. That's obviously pretty extreme. I personally would not be willing to do that, but it is a good question to ask yourself for sure. And Nicole, uh, again, shared another experience of her. She described her experience with her kitchen and having felt like there was never enough storage, at least at her house in the kitchen. So after living in their house for nearly 10 years, their drawers and their cabinets had been more cluttered and less organized. And she finally decided to try an experiment where she removed all the unnecessary items, kind of like what we just described, uh, anything that wasn't used regularly and then put them outta sight. And it was really clear to her at that point, how much was or not getting used and then was able to, you know, get rid of things that were just taking up space. Uh, and weren't adding value to
Speaker 1:Her life. Yeah. And also just putting them out of sight is another thing too, right? If, if, if it's something that you're gonna use once a year, but you know, you use it once or a couple times a year, there's no reason it has to be in your main kinda utensil drawer. There's probably some other storage that is harder to get to and everything else, um, that, that you can, you can place. It doesn't mean you have to give it away if you know that you're going to use it. Um, but it's, it's coming to terms with, okay, that this doesn't doesn't have to play such a big role in what I'm doing to, to the main point. Now it is. Uh, and, and Nicky, you wrote this down, it's finding who you are outside of what you own. Yeah. That that's so huge because it, it is saying what's important to you. What do you enjoy doing? Who do you enjoy being with and interacting with, uh, outside of stuff mm-hmm<affirmative> and how can that, that stuff can be a barrier to the things that you actually enjoy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I think consumer culture does a really good job unfortunately, of kind of tying up our worth to society and what we own, whether that's the car we drive to the house, we live in the phone, we use the kitchen we cook in since we're on the topic of kitchens. Yeah. So many things that just take advantage kind of, of our psychological need for approval and belonging. So just asking yourself, like, what are you without all of those things, this, I mean, this is a deeper question. This is gonna take some deeper introspection, but it's a good question to ask yourself for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And it, and it, and it changes too. So it's not a one time thing that you ask yourself. And that's the nice thing about the, the minimalism, some of the philosophies here, you know, my wife and I, I would not call us minimalists at all. Um, we're trying to, to do a little bit more towards it and it's a process, but we, we have been much more just thoughtful about
Speaker 2:Our purchases. Mm-hmm<affirmative> I will, I wanna add one more thing as far as finding your values. One more question to ask yourself. I think if you, if you are new to this and wondering where to start is kind of, what sort of activities do you engage in that make you feel at the end of like your day was really well spent? I think that, uh, if you actually start paying attention to this or even journaling about it, you'll find that these things don't usually cost you much money. If any money really. I know for myself, it's connection with other people is like one of my highest value things or spending time outside one of my highest value items. So I think that that is another thing that you can evaluate, uh, tying this all back to how minimalism can help your finances. I think that's kind of the, the goal is to find what is actually bringing you value and not just compulsively spending, because it provides that temporary relief and excitement factor of, you know, getting new clothes, uh, or going to target and getting a few things that make you happy that fades so quickly. But like, what are the things that really do add value to your life?
Speaker 1:Sure. Good, good point. And, and that's a perfect spot for us to wrap up on, you know, uh, I think today it was more are centered around the overall kind of feeling and, and stuff surrounding minimalism, but there are a ton of different resources out there. I know Nikki wrote a cool blog post on it recently just on our blog. And, and it's something that if, if it's something that kinda sparks your interest a little bit, look into it and see if it's, if you can apply, might not apply everything. But if you apply a couple of the principles
Speaker 2:For yourself yeah, absolutely. I'll be including a few extra notes in the description for this episode too. So keep an eye out for that. But, uh, we hope you guys have a good week and we'll catch up with you
Speaker 3:In a few weeks. So yeah.