Joshua Becker's Blog, page 107

Minimalism & The Pursuit of Happiness

Note: This is a guest post from Anthony Ongaro of Break the Twitch.

When my wife and I first started decluttering our house, it felt incredible.

With each unneeded item we donated, recycled, or took out of our home, we felt lighter and experienced new space opening around us. Over the next several months, a few thousand items went out the door. The contrast was stark: surfaces were clear and our home felt more welcoming than ever.

Coming home after a long day at work became something we looked forward to—a peaceful sight rather than reminders of things to be picked up. Cleaning up before having guests over, what used to take us a couple hours, took us only ten minutes, which subsequently increased the frequency of invitations and time spent with friends.

However, a few months after making the bulk of the changes, the glaringly positive effects began to fade.

Our lives were still significantly easier due to the streamlining, but the happiness and satisfaction we felt as a result of the minimizing process seemed to return back to normal.

At first, we wondered if we didn’t fully complete the appropriate amount of downsizing. Did we need to continue donating, selling, and recycling to get that happiness boost again? It might solve the problem, at least temporarily, but even that process would meet an eventual end once we ran out of things we didn’t want. We’d have to face the “Now what?” sooner or later.

We were experiencing “hedonic adaptation,” the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative changes. We had grown accustomed to less time spent on cleaning and organizing; other activities began to fill in the gaps—some productive and some not so much.

After reading extensively about the joy that minimalism brings, we found this frustrating. We had seemingly arrived at our desired destination but didn’t feel that our journey was complete. There was a missing piece to the puzzle.

What we found was that other distractions gradually crept into our lives as we freed up time from other tasks. No matter how much time we saved, it wouldn’t be helpful unless we used that time efficiently. Hours spent on a smartphone throughout the day did not add to our happiness. But working on a project, simply being still, reading for pleasure, or learning about something new did continually make our lives better.

It became clear the pursuit of satisfaction in life is a daily practice that never ends, and that’s for the best.

The purging process eventually reaches a point of winding down, but the gratitude and contentment that comes from appreciating all that we have should never stop. The calming of our desire for what we don’t need is an enduring task that continues to this day.

Getting rid of the clutter in our lives created more opportunity for us to pursue the things we’re passionate about. But it was still up to us to make the most of the opportunity.

For us, that means traveling, spending time with people we care about, dedicating time to our passion projects, creating more, and consuming less. What brings the greatest satisfaction in life will differ with each person. But the important part is we continually pursue them. It is with this intentional, consistent pursuit that happiness will follow.

***

Anthony Ongaro blogs and vlogs at Break the Twitch where he helps others explore ways to live a more intentional life. I also recommend following him on Twitter. 

How to Slow Down Your Family’s Schedule

Intentional parents help their children learn skills, gain confidence, grow in character, find interests, and experience new opportunities. When they are young, we desire to give them every opportunity to discover what they love and where they will succeed.

Often, this results in busy family schedules. We are presented the opportunity for busyness by living in communities that offer countless options. We feel compelled by the fear that our kids will fall behind. And we are guilted into the life by relatives, friends, or neighbors.

Even worse, there seems to be a little voice inside each of us calling us to impress others by the success of our children. As the philosopher Ernest Becker might say, “We exalt our children into the position of our own ‘immortality symbol’.”

Somewhere along the way, childhood activities became less about the goals outlined above and more about trying to keep up with everyone else. They became less about our kids and more about us—as if busy, successful kids is a badge of honor we could wear on our sleeves to parties and social outings.

41% of children, age 9-13, said they feel stressed either most of the time or always because they have too much to do. And more than three-quarters of kids surveyed said they wished they had more free time.

Now, don’t misread me. There is great value in extracurricular activities. Kids learn teamwork, discipline, and social skills. Some studies correlate physical play with improved intelligence. Each of us would be wise to count the benefit of involving our children in a variety of extracurricular activities.

That being said, we would also be wise to consider the costs associated with overscheduling children.

More and more families are eating dinner on the fly, often grabbing fast food on their way to soccer practice or music lessons. Unhealthy eating habits aside, this robs many kids of the important, life-influencing opportunity of simply eating together and discussing the day.

Overscheduled kids miss out on opportunity for extended free play. Free play allows kids to burn off energy and learn social skills in an unstructured environment. It provides opportunity for kids to exercise their imagination, create games, and refine rules. It forces children to learn awareness, police themselves, and develop empathy.

Overscheduled children lose the space to simply be with themselves and learn the art of being alone. In our noisy, busy world, the importance of developing the life skill of solitude, meditation, and quietly being with oneself can not be overstated.

Children need an opportunity to explore their world and themselves. They should be provided the space to discover their own passions and talents. Overscheduling kids from one activity to another often stunts their development in this area.

It would be wise for us to rethink the heavy scheduling of our children.

What strategies might we implement to slow down and create margin in our family’s schedule? Consider these 9 ideas.

Slowing Down Your Family’s Schedule

1. Discern where the motivation is coming from: you or your child. Take a step back and honestly evaluate the activities, teams, organizations, and clubs your child is enrolled in. Is the underlying motivation truly the welfare of your child? Or are there personal motivations shaping your decisions: succumbing to pressure, trying to impress other parents, or trying to make up for missed opportunities in your own childhood?

2. Determine an ideal baseline number of activities. Without consulting your calendar, ask yourself this question: “Ideally, how many hours each week should my child be involved in structured, organized activities outside of school?” This will likely vary by age, personality, need, and even season. Once a baseline has been determined, compare this with your current calendar. Are the numbers close? Or do adjustments need to be made?

3. Elevate the importance of family dinnertime. According to the American Dietetic Association, eating together as a family during adolescence is associated with lasting positive dietary choices in the future. Eating together as a family promotes relationship, understanding, and love. It provides opportunity for kids to digest not only their food, but also the events of the day. Elevate its importance. Guard it. Most likely, you will not be able to eat together every night of the week. But using it as a reference point in your decision-making will provide a valuable filter in saying yes or no to future opportunities.

4. Schedule time for yourself to be with them. The most important influence in their life is you. You love them the most and know them the best. Too often, we take this for granted and just assume we will find quality time with them as we go our separate ways. But quality time does not occur without the presence of quantity time.

5. Leave space between events. A spaced-out calendar is more enjoyable than one crammed too tight. In your weekly calendar, create space. Sometimes, this may mean waking early or eating early to relieve the anxiety of rushing out the door. Other times (vacations for example), this may display itself by scheduling one less activity each day—or adding “walk to the bakery” instead.

6. Develop a family, weekly routine. Help your kids navigate their schedules by establishing a weekly schedule. Some scheduled events are difficult to move: school, sports practices, religious activities. Others are more flexible: weekly chores, bathing schedules, play dates. Intentionally establish a family routine that children can learn to rely on each week.

7. Reduce your personal commitments. Embrace the seasons of life. There are times in our lives when we are more available than others. Raising young children is an important responsibility and will require time. Provide yourself with the necessary space to do it well by removing less-important commitments from your personal schedule. You’ll be glad you did. You can never get the time back once it’s gone.

8. Own less stuff. It is difficult to recognize how much time and energy our possessions take from us. They require our attention to be cleaned, organized, managed, maintained, repaired, and removed—not to mention all the time we spend on the front end just to make the money to buy the item in the first place. Owning less means less burden, less stress, less anxiety, and less time spent caring for it.

9. Leave room to add. If our schedules are so full with no room for margin, there is little opportunity to add something new or something better (whether that be joining a gym, getting to know the neighbors, or handling a family crisis). A too-full calendar leaves no room for addition. As you consider the coming months, take the bold step of actually under-scheduling your family calendar. This will provide margin when something better comes along.

Wise parents take their role seriously. They seek to develop talents, skills, and self-sufficiency in their children. However, they realize this does not occur best within the confines of a cluttered schedule.

Busy is not the same as productive. (tweet that)

A Life Worth Waking Up For

Last month, Tyler Tervooren posted an article titled, Why Productive People Always Have Time For Exercise. You can go read it, it’s good. But I didn’t—at least, not at first. I noticed the title. But because I was in the middle of something, I was left with only that.

The question was left for me to ponder alone: Why do productive people always seem to have time for exercise?

As the question remained in the back of my mind, it led to even broader questions: Why do productive people always seem to have so much time for everything they do? Are they working harder? Better at time management? More disciplined than the rest of us?

I was left to ponder the question for several hours. I looked up the original article as soon as time allowed.

In it, Tyler makes the wonderful case that productive people find time for exercise because they tend to be more intentional about taking care of their physical bodies. Like a tree-cutter taking time to sharpen his saw, productive people make time for exercise because it helps them be their best.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe,” is a quote often attributed to Abraham Lincoln. He knew the importance of sharpening his saw.

And believe me, I agree. I have found this to be true. Intentional physical exercise and healthier eating habits have been an important addition to my life over the past few years. But interestingly, that is not where my mind immediately raced when I was left with only the title.

My mind offered a different conclusion: People who love the life they live find more time to live it.

You see, and I stand as proof of this, the more we experience joy in life, the more we can’t wait to get up and start living it. On a very small scale, compare the worker who hates his job and the one who loves it.

The man or woman who hates his work scowls at the alarm clock, rolls out of bed with frustration, takes his time getting ready, mopes around the office, counts the minutes to 5pm, turns on the television when he gets home to distract himself, and then goes to bed late only to repeat the cycle tomorrow.

On the other hand, picture the man or woman who enjoys their work. She can’t wait to get started in the morning, she prepares her body with healthy food and exercise to accomplish her best, she invests proudly into her work, and returns home with energy. And then, she can’t wait to get started again in the morning.

People who love the life they live naturally find more time to live it.

Personally, I want to live a life that doesn’t require an alarm clock—one that I can’t wait to wake up and start living each day.

Does exercise result in more productivity? Absolutely. But only a man or woman who takes pride in their life and their choices desire more productivity for it.

Tyler wrote an important piece. If you skipped over it the first time, go read it now.

As you do, ask yourself this question, “Am I living a life that energizes and motivates me to even sharpen the saw in the first place?” And if the answer is no, what changes do you need to make in order to make that a reality?

Most often, implementing the change requires the intentional removal of something holding you back from the life you desire. Sometimes it is a commitment, a negative thought, or an un healthy habit. For me, it was the excess possessions that were robbing me of time, energy, and money.

Identify the nonessential. And remove them entirely.

Because the first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t. (tweet that)

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Never underestimate the importance of abandoning crap you don’t need.

Encouragement is important in all areas of life, but especially when trying to live a life different than those around us.

Encouragement provides us with motivation to persevere. It invites us to dream dreams of significance for our lives. And it begs us to work diligently with optimism and promise.

Overcoming the pull of consumerism is a difficult challenge regardless of our stage in life. Simplicity requires encouragement. To that end, I hope you will find motivation in these articles below.

Each post was intentionality chosen to inspire simplicity in your life. For maximum effect, find a quiet moment this weekend and enjoy them with a fresh cup of coffee or tea.

Lessons From One Family’s Quest to Buy Nothing New for a Year | Chicago Tribune by Heidi Stevens. When you’re not buying things that are new, you have a different way of looking at things.

The Secret to a Simplified Schedule | No Sidebar by Melissa Camara Wilkins. Saying yes to the best stuff means saying no to everything else, even some really good things.

Why I Got Rid of the Toys | Dallas Moms Blog by Denaye Barahona. “The answer to my problem was having fewer toys, and picking the right toys.”

Man (Dis)connected: How Technology Has Sabotaged What It Means To Be Male | The Guardian by Stuart Jeffries. Boys now spend 44 hours in front of a TV, smartphone or computer for every half hour in conversation with their fathers.

Chasing the Right “Likes”

I spent most of the past week in Honduras. For the last 9 months, I have been quietly working on maybe the most significant (and most ambitious) project of my life. We are preparing an official announcement and public launch this November.

While conducting research and documenting our vision, we spent several days at La Providencia—an orphanage in Siguatepeque.

One afternoon, when the sun hid behind the clouds, we began playing with some of the kids. We’d swing them around and they’d climb on our shoulders and back down again.

At one point, I helped a 9-year old girl walk up my legs and chest before backflipping over her arms to land safely on her feet.

After a few successful backflips, her house mom came outside to greet us. The young girl quickly yelled for her mom to watch, hoping to catch her attention. When her house mom acknowledged that she was watching, she flipped one more time and promptly looked over to see if her mom had noticed. I didn’t think much of it at the time—almost every kid does the same.

Towards the end of the evening, we were having dinner with the Director of the Orphanage. Our conversation turned to the difficult process of helping orphaned children learn to trust. Family is an important value at La Providencia. And helping orphans feel a part of one takes both intentionality and patience.

“Did you notice, Joshua, when that girl was swinging on your arms? How she went to get her house mom’s attention? You thought nothing of it, but for us, that is highly significant. It means she is beginning to feel safe. Children in a healthy family relationship would act the same way. They want to show off new accomplishments to their parents and experience acceptance in this way. That is what we hope to provide for these kids—but sometimes, it takes years to get to that point.”

I quickly remembered the different times my children did the same thing, trying to capture their mother’s or father’s attention. Still, even today, my 9-year old daughter will ask me to watch her perform a new trick or show me something she has recently completed. I think it is natural—we desire to be noticed by those we love the most.

This is healthy. But too often, our intentions get misplaced.

Recently, it seems, we have begun to distort this internal need. We still desire to be noticed, but nowadays, with the advent of social media, we desire “likes,” and “retweets,” and “comments,” and “views” and “clicks.” We refresh our Instagram or Facebook page minutes after posting a photo or status update just to see how many other people have clicked a heart or thumbs-up.

Even apart from social media, we experience misplaced intentions. We stay longer at the office in the evening hoping our boss will notice. We commit our kids to just one more extracurricular activity to prove how successful he or she is going to be. Or we buy that luxury item so we can show to the neighbors how successful we are in business.

Granted, in and of themselves, working hard, providing opportunities for our kids, or being successful on social media is not a bad thing. However, when we begin chasing those accolades rather than the most important ones right in front of us, we run down a dangerous road.

There is nothing wrong with putting in extra effort at work… unless your family is eating another meal alone.

There is nothing wrong with providing opportunities for our kids… unless we are using them to display our superiority.

And there is nothing wrong with being active on social media… unless we are sacrificing the relationships right in front of us.

Maybe David Letterman said it best. For 30 years, David has hosted late night television, most recently, The Late Show with David Letterman. This week was his final episode. In an emotional farewell address, he mentioned everyone associated with the show thanking most of them by name.

But when he thanked his wife and son for all their support, he added this comment, “Thank you for being my family. I love you both. And really, nothing else matters, does it?”

I think, at the end of our lives, we will fully realize which people meant the most to us, who showed us the most love, and whose acceptance we most desired. And more times than not, that will be our family and our closest friends—not our boss, not our neighbors, and not strangers on the Internet who clicked a small “like” button.

Let’s live lives that focus on the right things and the right people. Let’s choose to focus our pursuits on the right “likes”—those that come from the people we love the most.

21 Surprising Statistics That Reveal How Much Stuff We Actually Own

Most of us know we own too much stuff. We feel the weight and burden of our clutter. We tire of cleaning and managing and organizing. Our toy rooms are messy, our drawers don’t close, and our closets are filled from top to bottom. The evidence of clutter is all around us.

Today, increasing data is being collected about our homes, our shopping habits, and our spending. The research is confirming our observation: we own too much stuff. And it is robbing us of life.

Here are 21 surprising statistics about our clutter that help us understand how big of a problem our accumulation has actually become.

1. There are 300,000 items in the average American home (LA Times).

2. The average size of the American home has nearly tripled in size over the past 50 years (NPR).

3. And still, 1 out of every 10 Americans rent offsite storage—the fastest growing segment of the commercial real estate industry over the past four decades. (New York Times Magazine).

4. While 25% of people with two-car garages don’t have room to park cars inside them and 32% only have room for one vehicle. (U.S. Department of Energy).

5. The United States has upward of 50,000 storage facilities, more than five times the number of Starbucks. Currently, there is 7.3 square feet of self storage space for every man, woman and child in the nation. Thus, it is physically possible that every American could stand—all at the same time—under the total canopy of self storage roofing (SSA).

6. British research found that the average 10-year-old owns 238 toys but plays with just 12 daily (The Telegraph).

7. 3.1% of the world’s children live in America, but they own 40% of the toys consumed globally (UCLA).

8. The average American woman owns 30 outfits—one for every day of the month. In 1930, that figure was nine (Forbes).

9. The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes annually (Forbes).

10. While the average American throws away 65 pounds of clothing per year (Huffington Post).

11. Nearly half of American households don’t save any money (Business Insider).

12. But our homes have more television sets than people. And those television sets are turned on for more than a third of the day—eight hours, 14 minutes (USA Today).

13. Some reports indicate we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago (The Story of Stuff).

14. Currently, the 12 percent of the world’s population that lives in North America and Western Europe account for 60 percent of private consumption spending, while the one-third living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa accounts for only 3.2 percent (Worldwatch Institute).

15. Americans donate 1.9% of their income to charitable causes (NCCS/IRS). While 6 billion people worldwide live on less than $13,000/year (National Geographic).

16. Americans spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches ($100 billion) than on higher education (Psychology Today).

17. Shopping malls outnumber high schools. And 93% of teenage girls rank shopping as their favorite pastime (Affluenza).

18. Women will spend more than eight years of their lives shopping (The Daily Mail).

19. Over the course of our lifetime, we will spend a total of 3,680 hours or 153 days searching for misplaced items.The research found we lose up to nine items every day—or 198,743 in a lifetime. Phones, keys, sunglasses, and paperwork top the list (The Daily Mail).

20. Americans spend $1.2 trillion annually on nonessential goods—in other words, items they do not need (The Wall Street Journal).

21. The $8 billion home organization industry has more than doubled in size since the early 2000’s—growing at a staggering rate of 10% each year (Uppercase).

The numbers paint a jarring picture of excessive consumption and unnecessary accumulation. Fortunately, the solution is not difficult. The invitation to own less is an invitation to freedom, intentionality, and passion. And it can be discovered at your nearest drop-off center.

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Never underestimate the importance of abandoning crap you don’t need.

Encouragement is important in all areas of life, but especially when trying to live a life different than those around us.

Encouragement provides us with motivation to persevere. It invites us to dream dreams of significance for our lives. And it begs us to work diligently with optimism and promise.

Overcoming the pull of consumerism is a difficult challenge regardless of our stage in life. Simplicity requires encouragement. To that end, I hope you will find motivation in these articles below.

Each post was intentionality chosen to inspire simplicity in your life. For maximum effect, find a quiet moment this weekend and enjoy them with a fresh cup of coffee or tea.

Why I Gave Up a $95,000 Job to Move to the Caribbean and Scoop Ice Cream | Esquire by Noelle Hancock. Four years ago, Noelle dismantled her life in New York and headed to a place where she knew no one.

How To Help Your Kids Get Rid of Stuff | TIME Magazine by Carey Wallace. How do you recognize a house that has kids in it? By all the stuff. Here are some solutions.

What Will You Be Remembered For? | Patrick Rhone by Patrick Rhone. Our “yes” should only be given to those things that, if you were gone tomorrow, you wouldn’t mind being remembered for.

The Amazing New Thing | The New York Times by Tom Gauld. Ooh!

Why More People are Choosing to Live with Less | Sounds Like a Movement Podcast by CJ Casciotta. The rise of minimalism, advancing a movement, and why more and more people are choosing to live with less.

The Emptiness of Accolades

I care less about money than I ever have before. But accolades get me every time.

Last spring was one of the most successful seasons of my life—at least in worldly terms. I released a book, Clutterfree with Kids, that spent two weeks as the #1 Parenting book in America. On the exact same day, our Facebook page passed 100,000 fans (now at almost 250,000). And, with over 1 million visitors each month, Becoming Minimalist was reaching more and more people with the life-giving benefits of owning less.

I felt like I was on top of the world. It was an amazing season. And I enjoyed it for almost an entire two weeks.

You see, later that spring, during an evening session of answering email at my dining room table, I began to notice some interesting chatter on social media. A friend of mine had been featured on a popular news website. Immediately, it seemed, everybody was talking about her, heaping praise on her accomplishment.

I should have been happy for her. But I wasn’t. Instead, I was jealous. I wanted that level of exposure.

And in a heartbeat, everything changed.

Later that same week, I noticed another author’s Facebook page was growing faster than mine. And then a different blogger’s post was going viral. To make it worse, my book was no longer on top of any bestsellers list. In fact, there were several parenting books selling better than mine. I began to regret that I didn’t title my book, The 5 Love Languages to Expect You’re Expecting.

Rather than celebrating one of the greatest seasons of my life, I had become petty and envious of the people around me. And this was not just a superficial jealousy that fades in the morning—this was a jealousy deeply rooted in my heart that I could not shake no matter what I tried.

My work and accomplishments immediately seemed less impressive.

A short while later I was listening to Anne Lamott speak at a conference in San Diego. She was speaking about writing, but she was also speaking about life (as she so brilliantly does).

During one of her answers, she made an important observation. She said, “If you are hoping to find your self-worth and fulfillment in other peoples’ opinion of your writing, you will never find it.”

Her statement caught my attention immediately. I thought back over the last several weeks and suddenly realized that is exactly what I had done. I had based my self-worth and happiness on the number of accolades I received from others. And as they began to turn elsewhere, so did my opinion of the life I was trying to live.

Finding our self-worth in the approval and accolades from others is always a foolish pursuit.

It negatively impacts the decisions we make and the life we choose to live. But they never fully satisfy our hearts or our souls. Even those who have reached the pinnacle of fame and prestige in our society long for more. As Eric Hoffer once wrote, “You can never get enough of what you don’t need to make you happy.”

The life you live is the life you live regardless if anybody notices or not. (tweet that)

Our goal is not to secure accolades. They are empty and fleeting. Our goal is to live the one life we’ve been given to its greatest potential—whether anybody praises you for it or not.

8 Reasons Successful People Are Choosing to Wear the Same Thing Every Day

The capsule wardrobe movement continues to gain momentum.

Fast fashion deserves criticism. And our culture’s obsession with ever-changing fashion trends is an artificial pursuit manufactured by those who benefit from it.

The capsule wardrobe movement is far from mainstream. But, elevated in the social consciousness by some high-profile personalities, more and more people are applying minimalist principles to their fashion.

Many people outside the movement remain skeptical. They wonder why anybody would intentionally choose to wear the same outfit every day—especially when financial resources are not in question.

Evaluating my personal experience with a minimal wardrobe and studying recent profiles in various publications, I have created this list of reasons.

If you have ever wondered why some successful people choose to wear the same outfit everyday, or better yet, if you are considering adopting a more streamlined wardrobe yourself, here are 8 convincing reasons:

1. Fewer decisions. Decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. For people who make significant decisions every day, the removal of even one—choosing clothes in the morning—leaves them with more mental space and better productivity throughout the day.

This forms the basis for President Barack Obama’s limited fashion options, “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.” Mark Zuckerberg cites similar rationale. One less frivolous decision in the morning leads to better decisions on things that really matter.

2. Less time wasted. We have no idea how much of a burden our possessions have become until we begin to remove them. But when we do, we immediately discover a new life of freedom and opportunity. It was almost five years ago that I first experimented with Project 333—a personal challenge of wearing only 33 articles of clothing for a period of 3 months. The project is simple, life-changing, and wildly beneficial. I quickly discovered one of the greatest benefits of limiting my wardrobe: the gift of time. Getting ready in the morning became easier, quicker, and more efficient.

3. Less stress. Matilda Kahl, an art director in New York cites both decision fatigue and less time getting ready as her reason for wearing the same outfit everyday. But she adds another: less stress—specifically, less stress during the day over the decision she originally made in the morning. “Is this too formal? Is that too out there? Is this dress too short? Almost always, I’d choose something to wear I regretted as soon as I hit the subway platform.” But now, in her trademark silk white shirt and black trousers, she has one less source of anxiety during the day.

4. Less wasted energy. Christopher Nolan has created several of the most critically and commercially successful films of the early 21st century. But, according to New York Times Magazine, he decided long ago it was “a waste of energy to choose anew what to wear each day.” Now, he settles instead for a dark, narrow-lapeled jacket over a blue dress shirt with black trousers over sensible shoes to wear each day.

Christopher offers an important distinction when he refers to “wasted energy.” Not only do large wardrobes require more decision-making, they also require more maintenance, more organization, and more shufflng around. Additionally, while a capsule wardrobe may not result in less laundry, it does result in both easier laundry and storage.

5. Feeling put together. Denaye Barahona is a young mother in Dallas, TX. This spring, she exchanged her full, disorganized closet for a minimal wardrobe of versatile pieces she loves to wear. She summarizes the difference like this, “Pre-capsule, my wardrobe was like the Cheesecake Factory menu. It went on for days and was overwhelming. Most of my options didn’t fit right, didn’t look right, or I just plain didn’t like. On the other hand, my capsule wardrobe is like a fine-dining restaurant. I have fewer choices but I can be sure all of the choices will be amazing. Not only do I look better, I feel better.”

Easy, verstatile, and always put together. This is the promise and opportunty of a capsule wardrobe—and just one more reason the movement continues to grow.

6. Iconic. Alice Gregory is a writer living in New York City. Last year, her piece for J. Crew magazine brought a new word into my reasoning for wearing a uniform. She called it “Iconic. A cheap and easy way to feel famous.” She continues, “A uniform can be a way of performing maturity or, less charitably, impersonating it. A uniform insinuates the sort of sober priorities that ossify with age, as well as a deliberate past of editing and improving.”

Alice points out that wearing the same outfit everyday is a way of asserting your status as a protagonist. “This is the reason why characters in picture books never change their clothes: Children—like adults, if they’d only admit it—crave continuity. Adopting the habit of wearing a uniform is not unstylish—this is a classification that no longer applies.”

7. Less expense. Our closets are full of clothes and shoes purchased, but rarely worn. The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes annually. Which may not seem like a lot—until you consider that most clothing purchases are not based on need at all. In 1930, the average American woman owned nine outfits. Today, that figure is 30—one for every day of the month.

Living with a capsule wardrobe or adopting an iconic uniform removes most of the waste and expense from trial-and-error clothing purchases—not to mention all the time wasted shopping for items only to return later.

8. More peace. Last month, Drew Barrymore wrote an article for Refinery 29 highlighting her new stage of life and relationship with clothes. “For starters, I’m almost 40, and the 20s clothes don’t make sense anymore. And, after two babies, the 30s clothes don’t fit anymore. I am at a clothing crossroads, and it’s a painful one at times.” To counter these feelings, Drew put herself on a closet diet limiting her wardrobe and only buying items thoughtfully. Months later, her closet is “sane and happy.” Getting dressed is no longer a battle. And her fashion sense is “now calmer and more peaceful.”

We are a society drowning in our possessions. People are looking for freedom and rescue. They are searching for new solutions. No wonder the capsule wardrobe movement continues to grow.

Those who adopt minimalist principles in their wardrobe choices are discovering more productivity, less stress, less distraction, less expense, and more peace.

Maybe it is time you gave it a try.

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Fill your life with stories to tell, not stuff to show.

The simplicity/minimalism movement is a beautiful community. It is friendly, encouraging, and helpful. There is a genuine understanding that any promotion of simplicity is good for society—and there is little concern over who gets the credit.

It is a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful group of people. And I enjoy every opportunity to promote writing that encourages people to live more by owning less.

So fix yourself a nice warm cup of coffee or tea. Find a quiet moment this weekend. And enjoy some encouraging words to inspire more simplicity in your life today.

The Weight of Our Possessions | The Boston Globe by Peter Walsh. Could clutter be affecting your mental health and your waistline?

Why I Got Rid of My Wardrobe | Dallas Moms Blog by Denaye Barahona. “Pre-capsule, my wardrobe was like the Cheesecake Factory menu. It went on for days, was disorganized, and overwhelming.”

Four out of Five Children Don’t Recognize When They’re Being Advertised To | Quartz by Leo Mirani. Critical evaluation is a difficult task for sixth-graders, though an increasingly important one as social networks and online publishers inject subtle advertising into their content.

Why is My Phone About To Die | The Minimalists by Joshua Fields Millburn. Rarely does the blame belong to the material thing itself. The stuff is not the problem—we are.

The Ridiculously Thorough Guide to Decluttering Your Home | Budget Dumpster. I am proud to have contributed some material for this helpful guide.