How to Live with Less and Still Live Well
In a world where commercialism is all around you, it’s easy to see why people eventually want to become minimalists. Aside from the abundance of waste, spending money just to spend money just doesn’t make sense. The thing is, once you decide to buckle down and start living with less, you might not know where to begin. Do you sell your car and start taking the bus, or do you stop shopping at high-priced department stores and buy gently used items? Even this looks different for everyone, one thing holds true is that you need to have your finances in order. Below are ways you can live with less and still live well.
Restructure Your Finances
Living with less can help you save money. However, this also means you have to restructure your finances to better suit your new lifestyle. To start, create a budget that goes over everything you currently pay for and eliminate what’s no longer needed. This can include subscription-based services and routine splurges. Even lowering how much you spend every month at the grocery store.
Another expense you need to prioritize are your debt payments, specifically your student loan debt. Student loan debt can prevent anyone from reaching their financial goals. As such, it’s in your best interest to pay them off as quickly as you can. A great way to this is to look into student loan refinancing. This is a process that lets you take your student debt and turn it into a new one. Through this method, you can lower our monthly payments as well as the interest rates. You’ll also have a new loan to use however you want. You can also use a student loan refinancing calculator to estimate how much you have to spend when it’s time to start repaying.
Renovate and Declutter Your Home
Finding ways to take care of yourself during stressful times does not always have to be reactive. You know how your home can sometimes feel like it’s a little too cramped? This can happen when you have too many items in one space and decluttering is a great, proactive way, to manage stress overall. In fact, the minimalist lifestyle is one where you only have the necessities, along with a small number of trinkets. Because of this, you’d be amazed at how much you can accomplish by decluttering your home and moving around your furniture. Contrary to what some may say, there are ways to renovate your home without spending a fortune.
Ignore What Others Have
Those who try to live a minimalist lifestyle may be tempted to go with the flow again. More specifically, you might feel the urge to purchase what others have to feel achieved. While it can be difficult ignoring your impulses at first, you’ll eventually realize that you don’t need to do what everyone else does. To be honest, more than half the things people buy are splurges that you won’t pay much attention to after the initial purchase is made.
Things You Need to Consider
Adopting the lifestyle of a minimalist is a pretty good choice to make. You won’t have to worry about maintaining too much, you’ll have a better way of being organized and you’ll have more money in the bank. However, a change in lifestyle isn’t something that occurs overnight. You need to be ready and willing to take things slow and get used to it first.