I have too much stuff. I buy too much stuff.
Chances are, if you clicked on this post, you do too.
To solve this, I’ve decided to do a year of less: getting rid of what I have, and controlling my consumerism. We’ll discuss my four reasons why and two actionable methods I’m using to do so.
1. Make my Room More Habitable ✅
I have the total accumulated possessions of a 26 year-old man stuffed into his childhood bedroom. Granted, I have gotten rid of a lot over the years, and my room is nowhere near as messy as it could be, but I have too much stuff.
For example, prior to a couple weeks ago, I had to stuff my clothing drawers down just to close them. This is how much I’m going to discard or donate from just few of them. I have a lot more work to do!
I have so much stuff that I don’t want to deal with it, and whenever I move out, everything that remains will be my family’s problem… Oh no.
How: Swedish Death Cleaning… but for Moving Out (Eventually) ☠️
I will be finishing my MBA program this summer, and I will hopefully be able to find a good-enough paying full-time job (or grow enough on YouTube? 👀) to be able to move out.
The philosophy of Swedish Death Cleaning can be summarized as follows:
When I die, do I want to make my loved ones deal with this?
I don’t intend to die. Ever.
Okay, at least not for a very long time.
However, I will be moving out from my parents’ place sooner rather than later (hopefully). As mentioned, I have a lotof stuff in my room, far more than I’d ever want to take with me when I move out.
As such, my Swedish Move-out Cleaning mantra is as follows:
When I move out, will I want to bring this or save this? If not, do I want to make my parents deal with it?
With that perspective, a whole lot of things I’ve been holding onto become a lot less precious, so I’ll be discarding or donating a lot of things this year! The goal is one area per week.
However, I don’t think I will get rid of any ocarinas. They will all come with me when I move—but that passes the rules of “When I move out, will I want to bring this?”
2. Challenge my Default Consumerism 💸
It’s so easy to spend money—buy that new gadget, try that restaurant, get another drink, add that subscription—but consuming begets consuming.
In fact, whenever we get more, we get used to that level of more and revert to a baseline level of happiness. Then, you keep wanting even more and the cycle continues.
That’s called the Hedonic Treadmill or Hedonic Adaptation, where humans have a tendency to revert to a baseline level of happiness even when major positive or negative life events happen. That also means you can reverse this process and get used to less while staying just as happy.
As such, I want to revert to a lower level of consumerism-related happiness and do more things that are creating or experiencing rather than consuming:
- Making more videos instead of spending more money
- Finding free/cheap/productive recreational activities with friends rather than just eating out and going out for drinks
- Appreciating the things I already have more and finding new ways to use them
On top of that, I also want to get abs within the first 3-5 months of the year, and consuming usually entails consuming delicious but unhealthy food. Consuming less will certainly help!
Yup, it’s my buff grandpa era.
3. Control my Finances 💰
I am fine financially, but since my layoff from my last full-time job, I’ve all but ceased saving money. I make enough money and have low enough expenses that I can save money if I have some discipline with my spending.
I don’t need to buy banh mi for lunch every work shift I have. I don’t need to buy every new piece of tech I want, and I certainly don’t need to say “yes” to every invitation to go out to eat or get drinks I receive.
Financial How: Doing a “Low Buy Year” 🙅♂️
This is inspired by fellow YouTuber Grace Nevitt, who makes videos discussing doing a “No Buy Year” in which all spending is prohibited other than absolute essentials and a few permissible categories.
In her model, you first express your goals for why you’re doing this, then list items in three categories:
- ✅ Green Light (absolutely allowed, such as rent, groceries, and replacements of essentials)
- 🟨 Yellow Light (allowed in specific scenarios)
- 🛑 Red Light (not allowed).
I highly recommend you check our her channel for more insight on the challenge.
I’m following this to a lesser extreme, since my “red light” items are not allowed unless certain conditions are met, like no new subscriptions unless it has a clear return on investment, or no new clothes unless I hit my goal weight anddiscard or donate 2-3x as much.
Some more examples include…
- ✅ Only eat out once a week, with two monthly floaters for surprises; same for cafes
- Ideally, it should be a social outing. If someone else is paying, however, it doesn’t count, other than needing to be mindful diet-wise
- Food out is probably my biggest controllable expense, too, so this rule will still let me eat out with friends, but it’ll prevent nearly all of my unnecessary food orders
- ✅ Replacements for something damaged I use all the time *if *****I don’t have an alternative
- 🟨 No new tech unless it’s for a specific, needed, tax write-off-able purpose that I cannot emulate for free with things I already have
- e.g. if I improve my filmmaking and need a better gimbal or dolly
- 🟨 Unexpected meals out are okay IF I have little/no time between work and getting to MBA classes and it’s relatively healthy and I am unable to meal prep
- If I get a full-time job, I can afford it, and it’ll be an essential-ish expense. Chances are I’d be making frantic dashes from the office to campus regularly
- 🛑 No buying books unless it’s for school, or I check the library first and finish at least one book I already own (if it’s not on the library and I’d need to buy it)
- I read a lot, and I accumulate a lot of books on Kindle I will probably never read. If I am tempted to buy a book, I can borrow it from the library, which will force me to read it within three weeks. Conversely, just buying it removes any obligation to read it promptly.
- I subscribe to a newsletter called BookBub, which alerts you to books in categories you select that are super cheap, like $1.99. I end up buying maybe 50+ books per year through this and only reading a few of them, and that’s $100 per year I could save, on top of other books I impulsively buy.
I don’t think I will have 100% adherence to these rules, at least ones that could dramatically impede on my social life or business, but I aim to be pretty close! And 90% adherence to a low buy year will still result in 90% more mindfulness on my consumerism.
4. Resist Future Lifestyle Inflation 📈
I have been quite undisciplined with my finances for the last year and change largely because I’ve had such a safety net. When I get a good job or otherwise earn more money, I cannot inflate my lifestyle! I was incredibly financially disciplined when I had a salary, but it’s gone away.
I’ve been living the excess free cash problem of finance: when a company has too much free cash floating around, they often spend it foolishly. It’s a reason why lottery winners often rapidly go broke even after winning many millions of dollars.
Gosh, I cannot escape concepts I’m learning in my MBA course material!
I realize I, too, have been doing this on a smaller scale by freely spending most of what I earn, and that’s basically grown to match all additional money I’ve made. My lifestyle has inflated with my income! Oh no!
By practicing financial discipline now, I’ll be better equipped to do so when I make a bajillion dollars a month. If I can budget to max out my Roth IRA contributions and add to my savings this year, imagine how well I can save when I make 3 or 5 times as much, even if my essential expenses rise too.
If my income inflates, I want my savings to inflate with it, not my lifestyle.
How Can You Live With Less? 🫵 👀
Consumerism is our culture’s default way of being, but we can challenge that!
I am not necessarily advocating for strict minimalism and eliminating everything you don’t need, but I am instead advocating for trying to understand what is essential in your life, whether that’s for necessity or happiness:
Be mindful both of what you add and what you subtract!
Author Greg McKeown says in his book Essentialism:
“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown
It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”
How can you live with less this year? Is it getting rid of things, consuming less, or a bit of both?
No matter what you do, make sure you know why you’re doing it. I want to manage my space better, be considerate to my family, and control my finances.
Let me know in the comments why you want less and how you plan to do it!
Andy Cormier 