Simplify Your Life to Find Greater Happiness

Simplify Your Life to Find Greater Happiness

Do you know the Joneses (maybe for you it is the Taylors or the Andersons)?  The neighbors who have better cars, clothes, furniture, and electronic toys than you do?  In the search for finding greater happiness in life, many of us often turn to buying newer and better stuff.  We mistakenly believe the lies of the advertisements that if we have new stuff (or at least better stuff than our neighbors), we are winning at life.  What we don’t realize is that all this consumerist mindset gets us is debt up to our eyeballs, added stress, broken relationships, and misery. 

Because of this negative outcome due to a consumeristic society, many have finally decided that they don’t believe the advertisements anymore.  There is a growing movement against consumerism.  Some of the names of this movement are “minimalism,” “freeganism,” and “tiny homes” to name a few.  Tiny homes aren’t just about looking cute but are a part of a movement that promotes living more simply and having sustainable living.  Freegans decide on an alternative living strategy where they have limited participation in the conventional economy and instead consume resources that would otherwise be wasted (think dumpster diving and reusing the trash of others).  Minimilists believe we give too much meaning and too much of our lives to our things while basically ignoring our health, our relationships, our personal growth, our passions, and our desire to serve others (see http://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/).  

         

What type of consumer are you?

Being honest with yourself, how much of a consumer are you?  Do you, as Dave Ramsey states, “buy things you don’t need, with money you don’t have, to impress people you don’t like?”  If you do go a bit overboard on your purchases, ask yourself why?  Is the new item really bringing you joy and peace or instead is it to make sure you’re keeping up with your neighbors?  Is life really just about competing to have the best, or at least the same, stuff?  Would you feel inferior if you lived more simply and had an older car, a smaller house, and less expensive furniture and clothing?  According to Dr. Thomas Stanley, the author of The Millionaire Next Door, living more simply with less expensive stuff is exactly how many millionaires live, in fact, that is how they built their wealth.  According to Stanley, most millionaires avoid buying status objects (e.g., leasing or buying new vehicles, having the largest home on the block, and buying expensive clothing) but instead buy reliable used vehicles, have a regular size home, and buy their clothes and shoes from places like Walmart.  Instead they decide to use their money to have experiences with those they love and to build wealth.  The millionaire mindset reminds me of a financial principle that states, “money spent on things you value usually leads to a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Money spent on things you do not value usually leads to a feeling of frustration and futility.”  So, do we spend money on strengthening our relationships and other things we value, or are we just running in the rat race trying to keep up with what our neighbors and friends are doing? 

Written By: Bryce Jorgensen, PhD

Family Resource Management Specialist 

Come back tomorrow to see how finances and happiness can apply to you!