Minimalism — Why Less Really Is More

Exploring how choosing “less” — fewer possessions, fewer obligations, less visual and mental clutter — can actually create more peace, time, margin, freedom, and joy. Minimalism not as deprivation, but as intentional living.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast, Working on Amazing. This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

Now, in today's episode, we're gonna be talking about minimalism, which sounds a little bit cold and a little bit stark, and it actually isn't those things at all, but it sounds that way, and that's why I wanna talk about it.

Because if you are going through a season of change and transition, and this podcast is dedicated for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life, so when you go through a season of change and transition, sometimes the way

you occupy your space changes. You either have to physically move. I got divorced, I had to physically move. My sister, she went through the unexpected death of her spouse.

That was so horrific. And within just a few months of that, she made a move. So sometimes, when we go through a major change and a major transition in the middle of our life, it is accompanied by a move.

Not always, sometimes you stay in the same location, but the way you occupy that space changes.

If you've gone through the divorce, the loss of a loved one, a major medical diagnosis, the loss of a job, all these things can have major impacts on the way you live and occupy your space.

And I think minimalism folds in really nicely to this, because if you're moving already, or if you're needing a fresh feeling start for your space, this is something to consider, okay? It's not about being cold and stark.

It's not about denying yourself things. It's about choosing less, fewer possessions, fewer obligations, fewer visual and mental clutter. It actually can create more peace, more time, more margin in your life, more freedom and joy.

Minimalism really isn't deprivation, but it's intentional living. So if you're in a season of transition and change, if you're in a season of starting over, and everything is changing anyway, this is something to think about, okay?

I get that it's not for everybody.

2:28

The Estate Sale Revelation

Then I'll explain to you what brought this to light in my life. I went to an estate sale. I actually know the lady who runs the estate sales, and what will happen is, family members generally reach out to her.

They're either needing to put their parents, our parent, in a nursing home, in a facility, or their parents have passed away, and the house is full of stuff. It's a house somebody's lived in that is now no longer able to occupy that space.

Either they are deceased, or they're moving to a care facility, right? But they have a house full of stuff. They have accumulated the stuff their whole life.

And I went to an estate sale, and it's a great place to find a good deal. It really is. But it feels kind of heavy and sad to go through these people's possessions.

And it's pennies on the dollar that you're gonna pay for something that they prided themselves in collecting. They spent all this time, all this energy, and definitely a lot of money to collect all kinds of stuff that they decorated their house with.

And now strangers are going through it. And it just felt odd to me, like, oh, that's heavy. And there are people, this is, I mean, this happens often enough.

This is somebody's job, is to facilitate these sales. And people love the sales because this is how to get a really good deal. You can go through their clothes.

You can go through their jewelry. You can go through whatever.

And generally, what happens, just so you're not too whatever, if you're not familiar with estate sales, the family goes through and gets out all the personal items that they want personally. But what's left over is just left for sale.

And there will be a sale, and a lot of people come, because this is how they get a good deal, especially if you're like an antique collector or something like that, you might find a really good deal at an estate sale.

But there's a part of it, another side, that's just kind of sad. I think, will my possessions be like that?

When I pass away, will just strangers comb through my things to find something at a good price, something that I paid top dollar for and I was proud to have, and now it's just being sorted through.

So that's what kind of made me go down this road or start, I think I had been starting to pair back. I had a fairly decent size home. It was 2,700 square feet, and I moved to a house.

It was almost half that size. It was very small. So I'd already had to pair down a lot.

So I already had been very familiar with cutting back and having less. I had less space, which definitely meant I needed less stuff. So I was familiar with this concept, and then I went to this estate sale, and it's a great way to get a good deal.

But I just remember feeling, what will happen to my things when I pass away? And it's a reminder that most things that we cling to are really temporary. And it makes me wonder, what do I actually want my life to hold?

And I think I want it to hold people and memories, and time, and peace. I don't want it to be a placeholder for just stuff.

And so that's what I want to talk about, is minimalism isn't about owning nothing, but it is about not letting what you own, own you. Does that make sense?

6:27

Defining Intentional Living

So let's talk about it. What minimalism really is and what it's not. Minimalism is intentional ownership, okay?

It's clarity around what truly matters. It's choosing to live with margin instead of excess. In the way I described margin, I think we need to have margin in our finances.

That's really important. To me, that's a definition of true wealth, is how much margin you have. After, you know, you've paid your bills, your paycheck hit, how much do you have left over?

What's your margin? But when it comes to the space we occupy, and I say, you know, margin versus excess, well, when you go, let's just say, into the kitchen and you open your cabinet drawers, would there be room for something else?

Or is it so full you can barely open and close the door? Do you have margin? And in that, we need margin in our life.

In the space we occupy, in our finances, in our mental health, we need margin. We need space that isn't all filled up. So minimalism is about having margin instead of so much stuff completely filled to the top.

It's about creating a space that supports your life, that doesn't overwhelm it. Does that make sense? So what minimalism is not, that was what minimalism is.

Now let's talk about what it's not. Minimalism is not stark white walls, okay? It's not three shirts in your closet.

I couldn't live with only three shirts in my closet. So that's not what it is. It's not denying yourself joy.

It's not getting rid of the things you love. And it's not a contest about who owns the least. This isn't about restriction.

It's about making room for what matters most. And that is a decision that you make. You don't allow marketing companies to make that for you.

Do you get what I'm saying? You decide what really matters to me. What do I want to own?

Instead of, you know, when you go to the grocery store, there are definitely impulse items. When you go to Walmart, when you go to any store, they have impulse items set up. Our whole culture, our whole society, is consumer driven.

That means they want you to buy products so they can make money. That's how the engine of the economy turns, right? So, of course, we're constantly being marketed to all these different things to buy.

And what minimalism is, is trying to turn down all that noise of everybody saying, buy this, buy this, you need this, you need that, and you decide what matters.

You're not being swayed by item positioning in the store, or clever marketing in your email or on social media, but you're saying, hey, what do I want my life to reflect? And I feel like that is much more intentional living, all right?

9:44

Benefits of Less

So why is less really more? This is what I really want you to understand, and why I really like this idea of minimalism.

And I feel like it's a journey, it's not like a light switch, you don't say, okay, I'm gonna live minimalism, and get rid of all your stuff. It's a journey, it's a process, and I am in that journey, I'm on that road.

I'm not a full minimalist, but I love the concept and the ideas, okay? So why is less really more? Well, if you have less stuff, think about it, that's less to clean, that's less to organize, that's less to maintain.

If you have a 2,700 square foot home, that's more to maintain than 1,200 square feet, right? I mean, it's half the amount to clean, it's half the space to vacuum and dust. It's less things to organize.

I mean, think about it, if you have fewer dishes, you have fewer dishes to clean, fewer surfaces to wipe down, fewer junk zones. You know what I'm talking about, right?

That when you put all your stuff down, it kind of becomes a zone for like junk, like mail and keys and what you carry in from the car, right?

It's less time that you spend tidying your stuff and more time that you get to spend actually living, all right? And it's mentally freeing. You're no longer feeling buried by a bunch of chores.

So less stuff is less cleaning, organizing, and maintaining. Also, I mean, really think about it. If you have less stuff, you have less to spend.

You're spending less money, which equals more financial peace. When you kind of embrace this idea of minimalism, you make fewer impulse buys. You reduce the pressure that society puts on us to keep up or impress.

You shift from buying happiness to actually experiencing it. Sometimes we think, if I buy these shoes, if I get that purse that's so cute but really expensive, I'll be happy. If I get this, if I get that, we think what we buy will make us happy.

But this is a whole mindset shift to actually experiencing happiness. Because if we're not buying all these different things, what does that free our money up for? Well, it frees it up for travel.

It frees it up for experiences. I mean, is there somewhere you would like to go? Would you like to travel?

And while travel can be an experience, you can have experiences that aren't travel-based. Like, have you ever had a spa day? That's really relaxing.

You can't do that if you've spent your money on shoes and a handbag. But if you say, you know what, I don't have to have the shoes and the handbag. I already got shoes, I already got handbags.

Instead, I can have the experience of a really relaxing day. You can free your money up to give to others. Giving is a really beautiful thing, and I feel like it's a great mental health practice.

I've talked about it before, the importance of giving back to others. I really believe that. So if you're not buying all this stuff just to accumulate dust and clutter, you've got money for travel, for experiences, for giving.

You also have money that will provide you a little bit of security, a little bit of savings, a little bit of cushion, a little bit of margin, right? Because we like margin. We like margin in our finances too.

So when we have less, we spend less. Does that make sense? So that's good.

When we have less stuff, we have less clutter. And less visual clutter means less mental noise. And I read a study recently that said, clutter affects anxiety rates in women much more than it does in men.

Women are strongly affected by clutter, and it raises their anxiety. That doesn't mean all women are neat freaks and going around and cleaning everything fanatically.

It just means that we sense that something needs to be done, and we can turn off the switch that says, I'm going to get up and do that. We may not, but we still feel the stress because we know there's something that needs to be done.

Does that make sense? So it makes mental noise. Calm spaces support a calm nervous system.

I remember I bought a house. It was right after the market crashed in 2008, so I guess I bought it in 2009. I got a really good deal on it.

But I remember when I was trying to put my bedroom together, I thought I wanted it to look like a hotel room. And that sounded so silly to anybody. I said, you want your room to look like a hotel room.

But every hotel room I had been in was neat and clean, and there was no clutter. And that space always felt very calming to me. And that's the effect I wanted.

I didn't want it to look necessarily like a cookie cutter hotel room. I think that's what I didn't know how to exactly articulate back then.

I wanted it to be clutter free, and every hotel room I had been to was clutter free, at least when I first walked in, right? It was neat, there were clean surfaces, and that's the thing I wanted to replicate in my bedroom.

So letting go of some of this stuff kind of mirrors an emotional release, too, if you think about it.

When we talk about less stuff is good for your mental health, you know, it's less clutter is less mental noise, and it supports a calm nervous system.

But if you're going through a season of change and transition, you know the physical act of paring down your closet, of paring down your stuff and letting it go, take it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

There's something that mirrors an emotional release. When you let go of physical things, somehow you're letting go of emotional things sometimes. Not always, but oftentimes, it's a way of just saying, I'm letting go.

And sometimes we need that. Sometimes when we're going through a major life change, a big transition, letting go is important.

And that emotional stuff, like cleaning out your closet isn't gonna just magically make your life better, don't misunderstand.

But it can help aid in that process of just kind of letting go, letting go of the physical clutter, releasing the emotional clutter. They kind of flow together.

And just understand that minimalism and owning less can really be good for your mental health. It's moving from over stimulated to peaceful. The other thing that minimalism can do, why less really is more, it's less distractions.

Fewer possessions mean fewer things pulling your attention away from your relationships, your health, your spiritual life, your creativity. It means you have more time to enjoy what you already own and the people you already love, right?

The more stuff we have, the more clothes we have, the more laundry we have. The more things we collect, the more we have to organize and maintain them, and dust them, and clean them. Less can really be more in so many ways.

I understand that we do live in a culture that is constantly showing us more and more and more, and it's easy to want more. Well, if I just had this, oh, I want that.

And if you think back to who you were 10, 15, 20 years ago, do you remember where you were in high school or college? What were your dreams then? What did you want then?

And chances are, you've surpassed that. Because as a society and as a culture, we have surpassed so much of where we were back then, and now we want more. And it's never enough.

If we can say what we have is enough, not continue to seek more, we can live alive without being constantly overwhelmed. Contentment versus constant accumulation. You know, gratitude can kind of be a tool for minimalism.

I mean, I love gratitude, but when we could say, I'm thankful for this meal, I'm so grateful that I have food to eat, it is enough, then we quit striving for more and more and more, just for accumulation sake, right?

When we're thankful for the house that we have, we quit striving for more and more and more. When we are thankful for what we have, and when it is enough, then we quit this constant accumulation mode. Gratitude aids this process.

Being grateful, truly grateful, for what you have today really matters. I already have enough. I'm grateful for what I have.

What I have is working. More isn't going to make me happier. That is a way to look at minimalism.

20:03

Starting Your Journey

Now, some practical ways to start minimalism is, don't overdo it. I mean, it's a neat concept. I love it.

I'm on a journey. But I've not reached a destination, okay? So if you say, you know what, this is a good concept.

I kind of want to fold that into my life. Start small. Pick one drawer, one shelf, one category of items.

Like, I'm going to go through the mugs. I'm going to go through my shoes. I'm going to go through the towels in the linen closet.

Something really simple, okay? Don't try to tackle the whole house at once because you'll start, you'll get stuck, and it'll just feel overwhelming. Just start a little bit at a time, just slowly.

And if that feels good, do a little bit more the next day. I mean, you can fold this into your life. It doesn't have to be a light switch that's all or nothing.

Small steps make progress, okay? Also, think about gentle questions to ask yourself when you're decluttering, when you're going through your mugs, your towels, your shoes, right? Do I use it?

Do I love it? Would I buy this again today? If I lost it tomorrow, would it really matter?

Now, sometimes I have trouble letting go of something. I'm always thinking, well, I might want to wear that shirt again. I mean, I know I haven't worn it in the last six months, but I might need it.

Or, you know, something around the house, I might need that. So, what I recommend and what I do sometimes is I will take the stuff that I think, I haven't used this in a while, but I'm a little hesitant to let it go, and I'll put it in a box.

I'll put it in a bucket. We have a Goodwill bucket in our house. I'll put it there.

And if I don't go back and reach for it, if I don't go get it back out, and it's been a month, two months, three months, you know what? Let's go ahead and get rid of that. That is, it's like a trial run.

And then, you know, when you're getting rid of it, you're doing the right thing, okay?

22:21

Embrace a Peaceful Life

I just want you to know that minimalism is a simple, simple process. It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be stark.

It doesn't have to be cold. It's not all harsh lines and empty space. But it is being intentional with what you have and what you accumulate.

And being at peace with accumulating less. Less is easier to clean. It's more breathing room.

It's less mental clutter. It's less decision fatigue. It's a lighter emotional load.

It's time back. It's money back. It's peace back.

I don't know about you, but at the end of my life, I don't want it to be bins of decorations and piles of clothes that are the things that mattered.

I think at the end of my life, I want it to be the people I loved, the peace I tried to cultivate in my home, the time I spent well, and a life I lived with intention. Less clutter makes room for more peace. Less stuff makes room for more life.

So that is my thing for today. Minimalism. Tell me what you think.

Do you think you could go on a journey and be minimalism-ish? Maybe not tackle that whole thing, but just the idea of saying, I want to accumulate less. You look at things differently.

Now when I go to the store, I used to love to go to the store, not because there was something I needed, but because I knew I'd find something when I got there. Stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls and Home Goods.

I love to wander through the aisles and see what I could find. But now I go and I still enjoy looking, but I don't want to bring a bunch of stuff home. I don't want to clutter.

I don't want to dust it. I don't want to clean it. I don't want to eventually give it to goodwill in three or four years when I move.

That isn't what I want to do. So I look at it, and now I'm at perfect peace with letting it stay at the store. It doesn't have to come home with me.

Even if it's beautiful and cute and lovely, I've just gotten really good at saying, that's okay, it could stay here. How do you think you'll approach minimalism? What do you think you're gonna start working on?

Just slowly letting go. I would love to hear from you. You can find me online, www.workingonamazing.com.

You can also find me on social media, but I will say, I do hang out on Facebook the most, and that's just a page, Working on Amazing. You can drop me a line there. I would love to hear from you.

I would love to know how your journey is going as you're transitioning and changing and starting over. Does minimalism fold into the new you? I would like to know.

So reach out, drop me a line. I would really love to hear from you. Thank you so much for joining me today.

I look forward to talking to you next time. Bye.