A PRACTICAL SOLUTION TO (ALMOST) ALL YOUR MONEY PROBLEMS

“Go out in the world and work like money doesn’t matter, sing as if no one is listening, love as if you have never been hurt, and dance as if no one is watching.” —Victor Hugo.

For most of my life, I have had money problems. In fact, I have always lived with a deep sense of personal discontent concerning my use of money. I have always been discontent with the amount of money I was spending. Ever since graduating from college, I have lived paycheck-to-paycheck, never able to get ahead. Despite ever-increasing paychecks, I was never able to build up any substantial savings. My credit card bill seemed to mimic my pay stub. The money came in. The money went out. And as I entered my 30’s, this inability to build savings could no longer be blamed on an entry-level income; it had to be blamed on me.

That was, until Memorial Day when my neighbour introduced me to minimalism and intentionally living with less.

As a result of our short conversation, the solution to my financial discontent became surprisingly clear. It was simple and practical. It was “Buy Less”.

Just to be clear, the resolution of buying less was not a new solution to me. I was not naive enough to have never thought of it before. But the solution had never sounded attractive to me. Buying less sounded like I was taking a step backwards in life, admitting defeat, unable to earn the income necessary to live the American dream. It sounded boring, unfashionable, and destined for ridicule.

But I was wrong. Deciding to intentionally live with less is among the best decisions I have made in my life. As a result of paring down most of our possessions and determining to only buy things that are needed, I have found life greatly improved. I have more time, energy, and money available to me than ever before, I have more opportunity to pursue the greatest passions in life, I spend less time cleaning, organizing, and repairing the “stuff” in my life, I have been forced to intentionally redefine my values, and rather than chasing every new product or fashion line sold at the department store, I am finally able to invest into the things that make my life worthwhile and significant. In this simple solution of buying less, both avenues of financial discontent in my life have been resolved. Every month, I have money left over for savings.

For my financial discontent, the practical solution to buying less was perfect. Today, my only regret is that I hadn’t started sooner. But what about other money problems, would the mind practice of intentionally buying less solve them too? In most cases, it would. Consider some of these all-too-common money problems and how their solution is found in simply buying less.

By Joshua Becker