I love being a minimalist. I love having few possessions and I get a lot of joy out of useful, beautiful things. I spent almost two years perfecting my minimalism while living in a 400 square foot cottage. At that time, I had no choice in the matter, there wasn’t enough space to be anything BUT a minimalist. It was frustrating at first, but eventually I culled enough of my possessions that I realized I could live with very little and still be entirely happy. Then we moved to a 3-bedroom house and I was really worried that all of the minimalist tendencies I’d developed over the past few years would go out the window. Now that I’ve lived here for a month, I can confidently say that’s not the case.
Having What I Need, But No More
Naturally, I needed to acquire a few things for the bigger space. I was initially stressed about this, since I didn’t want to acquire stuff just for the sake of filling up space, but I quickly realized that as long as I was selective, this didn’t need to be the case. We needed a table for the dinning room, chairs, a couch, and a TV stand. Other than that, we have enough to get by without too many difficulties. So with a few phone calls to family and friends, we were able get a few pieces of furniture to do the job. Sure, some of the furniture we’re using has seen better days, but it’ll do the trick until I can save up enough cash to buy some better quality pieces.
Actually Feeling Like a Real Minimalist
In my 400 square foot cottage, everything always felt cramped. Even though we didn’t have much stuff, the fact that it was all crammed into such a little space made it feel like there was just too much stuff everywhere. Now that the same possessions are spread out over a three bedroom space, things are nice and sparse. In fact, two of the bedrooms have nothing in them at all. We don’t even use them.
Setting a Furniture Budget
Now, as I mentioned, I do want to acquire some furniture. Most of the stuff we have is second hand and I want to upgrade it. That said, I don’t want to waste money or buy too much. So, I’ve come up with a budget to help us acquire furniture slowly, over time. It’s not much, only $130 a month, but the small amount ensures that I won’t waste it, and that I’ll make sure whatever it is that I’m buying is exactly what I want. I can’t afford to waste money on useless knick knacks when I only have $130 per month. This month, I’m saving up for a TV stand, since our television is currently sitting on a busted record player.
I was afraid that moving into a bigger house meant more space to fill with stuff we don’t want or need. Thankfully, I’m still just as minimalist today as I was before I moved, even though we have had to acquire a few things to make the bigger space livable.
How do you combat the need to fill empty space with stuff? I want to know!