
Be Happy with what you have - jameswatling
http://www.jameswatling.com/blog/2016/07/06/be-happy-with-what-you-have/
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yoo1I
I am bit annoyed at these feel-goody "minimalism" articles, almost always
inevitably written by some rich kid, who, if they were to live their preachy
minimalism, could at moments notice buy the thing they need in that moment.

For everyone else on this planet for whom financial security is not a given,
it makes sense to keep more things around than needed in a given instance.

So yeah, if you want to declutter your life, go ahead. But don't think that
your newly discovered boring lifestyle choices are somehow so good that
everyone else needs to make them as well.

Especially if the depth of it is "have and do less things, I promise it will
make you happy".

~~~
ethanbond
Could it be that they have the resources to purchase necessary items _because_
they opted not to purchase the several dozen unnecessary items that their non-
minimalist peers had sprung for?

It's well established that poorer people not only have fewer resources, but
are generally worse at allocating the resources they _do_ have. This is
attributed to a difference in perception of money (something to spend vs
something to save).

It's not a difference between being able to purchase an item versus not being
able to. It's a difference between being able to invest heavily in each item
you own — certainly a privilege of the well off.

In any case, whether the loudest advocates of minimalism are annoying or not,
our base level of consumption is far too high for a variety of reasons:
environmental, economic, and yes, I think emotional.

There are immense resources poured into making people want/need/desire more
"things," and if their ability to acquire "things" doesn't make that possible,
there's an inherent damage to a person's psyche.

~~~
yoo1I
"Minimalism" isn't the same as being poor.

To be honest I don't think your first point is accurate. People aren't poor,
because they spend a lot of money, they are poor because they don't _have_ a
lot of money.

To say that you can lift yourself and your family out of poverty by saving
money, makes not a lot of sense. And lot's of the items that one would
perceive as unnecessary from a financially comfortable position, don't maybe
look that way when you're in the situation yourself. Sure, eating beans
everyday might save you money, but then you've spent your life eating beans,
and in the end that wasn't the deciding factor.

That said, there are many people ( and I agree with you, our society as a
whole probably does) who live above their means continually, I just don't
think that that's a problem that's confined to poor people. You said

> It's well established that poorer [...] are generally worse at allocating
> the resources they do have.

Would you mind expanding on that a little, or link me to some material that
you've found useful ?

~~~
msandford
Well there are people who make $100k living paycheck to paycheck and there are
people who make $40k but spend even less and as such grow their assets.

Being poor is a thing you can dig yourself out of but it takes a huge amount
of energy to do so. It's excruciating to not spend on comfort when you're
uncomfortable but that's what it takes. Which is probably why so few people
manage to "pull themselves up by their boot straps"

~~~
at-fates-hands
>> Being poor is a thing you can dig yourself out of but it takes a huge
amount of energy to do so.

This is why if you want to stop the cycle of poverty, you need to give people
incentives to get off assistance and make it possible to succeed, instead of
making it _easier_ to stay on welfare. As humans, we will always take the
easier route.

It also sad to think we've made it much easier for people to get on welfare
and stay on welfare indefinitely. I have several friends who prefer to work
just enough hours to get assistance, but not enough to actually get off of it.
What does that say about our culture and society when people are content to
live off the government instead of wanting to succeed and get out of poverty??

source: after college, I had several bouts of depression, was homeless for a
stint and used government programs to get out of the hole I was in. It wasn't
easy, but it gave me perspective on what its like to be really poor, and what
it takes to get out of that hole.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
Some people do work under a certain amount of hours to stay on assistance. You
are correct, the system needs to change to make it possible to succeed. I have
a cousin that made just a little too much ($20 or less) and lost about $200 in
food assistance. Many face the same sorts of choices with housing benefits,
child care, and so forth. The problem more lies in the cutoffs for assistance
making it such that many people have to make horrible choices to be able to
not get assistance. It isn't being content, it is trying to eek by.

You were able to do it, but some folks can't. The system doesn't help, and
they don't know how. Some folks, in your situation, might have died. You were
armed with a college education, which meant you had more opportunities than
the local retail spot. Add a wife and/or children and/or severe health
problems into the mix and it becomes much harder.

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tluyben2
My 2cts, not trying to convince anyone :) Just giving perspective; might help
some.

There are many ways to do this. The easiest I found is moving away from toxic
environments which, for me (it's personal; other people have different
experiences I guess), are cities. You can get everything 'same day', you see
many people 'having things' and 'having better lives than you have'
(perceived) around you. And a lot of people are showing off their things you
don't have; sports cars, new boobs, latest smartphone and so on. And that,
even if you don't do it consciously, builds on stress levels, on top of the
stress that you 'have to do stuff' otherwise you cannot pay for your tiny,
very expensive apartment. Most people I know (exclusively living in cities)
don't even dare to invite people in their homes unless they have stuff to show
off in there minuscule city dwellings of E800k.

In my village people are down to earth, no-one shows off, you get a villa +
pool + huge garden for a fraction of what you had in the city and you can
survive there for a very long time with very little money because it is much
cheaper AND there is a barter economy as well (I fix old computers for people
and get food for instance).

I would never go back. I think a lot of younger people (me in my younger
years) think they cannot live without the 'liveliness' of the city while
burning themselves out. Not sure about the numbers obviously but most my
friends have since moved and everyone regrets not doing it earlier.

Edit: rereading I notice my negative tone about city dwellings; that's because
I cannot imagine / phantom that anyone would want to live in a cramped
apartment _ever_ and definitely not for that price. While I did when I was in
my 20s and I was convinced I would never leave. But I was wrong; in hindsight
I was just scared. Once we did try (my wife being a HUGE ex-city living fan,
far more than I was) we literally turned 180deg.

~~~
ashray
What about social circle? This is the biggest question I have when I think
about moving to a small place. And when you say small, how small do you mean -
and where? A village in, say India, is very different from a developed
country. You'd be hard pressed finding running water and electricity in a lot
of those places.

~~~
tluyben2
I am in the mountains of Spain in a village with a population of 1600 spread
over many many kilometers up in the mountains. Water comes from the spring on
our land (we have it checked every 6 months; it's great :), electricity solar;
we need the generator a few days per year and 'need' is actually not really
true as it never really gets too little sun/light etc. Tons of sun (heatwave
now).

Social circle; most people here live on the coast which is what you would
expect of Spain as per expats and tourism which is what we really don't fancy;
most 'beach and sun' people seem to dislike the mountains, at least driving up
them. So we are left with people who do and that seem to be people with a
same-ish mindset as us; entrepreneurs and generally educated people. Our
village is a steaming pile of social when you want it and if you don't, you
just go home. Next to that, ofcourse, we have a part of our social lives on
internet, which works fine for people who don't mind typing. I met some of my
now best friends online (via entrepreneur and tech communities) and we have
better discussions than I usually have in person via text chat.

~~~
simonebrunozzi
How did you decide to move there? How did you pick the place? In which area of
Spain is your village?

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type0
Obsession to things and materialism is not something good, but simply saying
be happy with what you got is not always true. Let's say you want to buy a new
computer, do you need it because the one you have already is not sufficient or
is it just for bragging rights, when it's the latter you probably will find
some after-rationalization, that you will need it when you try to make some
new big data tool or play games. Humans are not very good at critically
evaluating their possessions, we become emotionally attached to some of our
things and might start to hate other things, e.g: anthropomorphizing our car
doesn't do us any good. Sometimes it's better not to have a car than do this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78b67l_yxUc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78b67l_yxUc)
(Basil Attacks His Car - Fawlty Towers - BBC)

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supersan
One of the people who I don't know personally but admire a lot in this regard
is Derek Sivers (creator of cdbaby.com). If you've got 5 mins, you'll just
love reading this article by him "Why I gave away my company to charity" [1]

I was listening to his audio-book and in the end he tells his story where he
gave all of his money away (I think it was like 95% of the money away to
create an institution for up and coming artists). It's just truly inspiring.

[1] [https://sivers.org/trust](https://sivers.org/trust)

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dominotw
Not possible. There is no way to escape fulfillment. You can only modify how
you fulfill yourself, not entirely escape it. Case closed!!

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jv0010
I really believe that due to connectivity and the emergence of a connected
lifestyle we now can live in smaller more quiet areas and still have our bare
essentials. This is a great article and I really hope people embrace the way
more than just the buzz of minimalism. It has freed me in a way and I was
lucky to stumble along it.

~~~
criddell
I think it will really take off with self-driving cars. It's going to throw
gasoline on the sprawl fire. I'm one of those that can't wait to move an hour
or so out of the city.

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bdegaston
I love the meaning of this article. Living a simpler life is a happy life!
Great job.

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bdegaston
Wonderful! You are so inspirational!

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jkot
1st world problems.

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Justinlouie
Makes sense

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lucaspottersky
Nope, I refuse d:-) funny post though.

obs: please, come to brazil.

