I own a car and have rent and bills to pay. I live in a normal house, in a normal street, with normal children. But Caro and others say this is not the case.īlogger Chris Wray, on his .uk site, says: “I have a normal lifestyle. “When I am shopping I ask myself: ‘Do I need it?’ And if so: ‘Why do I need it?’ If there is something we need or a holiday, for example, then we save up.”įor some, the idea of minimalism brings up images of an austere life devoid of creature comforts. We have a ‘one thing in, one out policy’,” she says. When you have spent a lot of time and effort decluttering your home, the last thing you want to do is fill it with more stuff. “Shopping used to be a leisure activity but now we only shop if we need something specific. Owing to their change in lifestyle, the couple are able to save each month and expect to be mortgage-free within 10 years. Disposable income is spent on quality family time, such as eating out and day trips, watersports and holidays, instead of material items. Each member of the family owns about 30 items of clothing. They now live in a small three-bed home, having downsized twice. I realised I just wanted to live a different kind of life.” We were spending money and accumulating more and more stuff – but we didn’t need it all. “We had this fantastic big house and we were filling it with lovely things, but I could feel my anxiety levels rising. The family had moved into a large home in Kent and the couple were running a busy pub.
For anyone living beyond their means and concerned about debt, there is the added financial benefit.Ĭaro, whose website .uk has advice and tips on living a sustainable and simple life, started reading about minimalism five years ago, a period when she was feeling particularly stressed and overwhelmed. In the US, advocates such as Joshua Fields Milburn, Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Becker explain online how they have turned their back on the pursuit of material goods, extolling the virtues of minimalism and how it enables individuals to live more intentionally and focus on the important things in life, people and experiences, rather than possessions. The principle is simple – buy significantly less and save in the process, paying off consumer debts and mortgages. The proliferation of minimalist blogs online are filled with stories of how people have decluttered their homes and disposed of the bulk of their possessions. “If you are someone who feels a constant pressure to keep up with things, bigger house, better car, more expensive clothes, then minimalism could be that breath of fresh air which allows you to step off the consumer treadmill,” she says. As a result, Caro and her partner, Phil Warne, who live in Cornwall with their two young children, no longer have any short-term debts and have halved their mortgage. Georgina Caro downsized the family home, gave away three-quarters of their possessions and now thinks much more carefully about every purchase.
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