Five reasons to own less
“Own nothing! Possess nothing! Buddha and Christ taught us this, and the Stoics and the Cynics. Greedy though we are, why can’t we seem to grasp this simple teaching? Can’t we understand that with property we destroy our soul? Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelago”
1. Minimalistic living allows for extreme freedom and mobility.
Growing up, my grandpa always told me people do not own houses, houses own them. Superfluous property takes up room and severely limits one’s mobility. Consider the simple example of owning a bookshelf. If someone wants to move abroad or even to another state, property becomes a huge burden to bear. Hundreds of books would need to be packed into multiple boxes and shipped to somewhere else, at an enormous cost. That burden, that limitation on personal freedom, is simply not worth the benefit. I used to be rather proud of my book collection, but after accepting the simple truth that they were mainly decorative and I was not going to read them again, I gave away ninety percent of them. This allowed me to form a refined collection of classics that I really value. We live in a world rife with opportunity, a large open sea that is waiting to be explored. To own an excessive amount of property and stuff prevents us from having the freedom to realize opportunities fluidly as they come.
2. You will realize most property is superfluous.
Another idea that my grandfather taught me was that he did not want an expensive car because the base model did all that he wanted; it got him from point A to point B. This sentiment captures a very simple idea. When it comes to car purchases, 90% of the marginal utility for an automobile is captured in its ability to transport someone, anything on top of that is superfluous. This remains true for property, especially in a quantitative sense. The first jacket you buy is of immense value. It provides you with warm clothing and very clearly fulfills a deficiency. But, what about the second jacket? How much additional value does it provide? It potentially provides a little bit of value, but the amount of value pales in comparison to the initial purchase. Why do you need a whole wardrobe of clothes you never wear? The truth is that after the baseline of our needs has been fulfilled, any additional expenditure or accumulation is nothing more than superfluous marginal utility, accumulation that I personally would rather not be bothered with.
3. You will be freed from keeping up with the Joneses.
It is human nature that we compare ourselves with other people. Keeping up with the Joneses is a popular saying that refers to the nature of consumerism. It is the trend that people always try to out-do each other in terms of their property and possessions. Everyone needs the newest and latest technology, and people build bigger houses to complete with each other. When one embraces a minimalistic philosophy and intentionally decides to own only things that produce tangible value, it is possible to disconnect from this toxic mentality. It becomes possible to self-actualize, and dissociate one’s personal worth from the perception which other people have of them and their belongings. It allows liberation from the social rat race.
4. You will save money.
If someone is satisfied and meets their needs without unnecessary expenditures, they will be able to save money at a greater rate. Consider how much of our money is wasted on trying to appease other people, or on things that are of little marginal utility to us. This money can be stockpiled as a safety net, or used in other ways, such as pursuing meaningful experiences.
5. You will be able to focus on experiences over things.
Life is the sum of our experiences. We find experiences meaningful, not things. Travel, education, and cultural experiences satisfy our existential woes in a way that mere things cannot. We seldom remember many of the minor things we buy, but even little experiences can have a massive, transformative effect on our lives. “The Death of Ivan Ilych” is a short novella by Leo Tolstoy that describes the protagonist’s experience as he confronts death. One of the lines from the book reads, “It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up. And that is really what it was.” This perfectly combats the false notion that property makes us happy. We feel like we are going up in the world when we are going downhill. We buy more and more, expecting to be satisfied, but the truth is that actual happiness lies outside of property, in the mere experience of simply living and exploring our wonderful world. As soon as the consumerist notion of accumulation is rejected, you will be able to focus on dedicating your time and resources to pursuing experiences. And it is through a diverse set of experiences that a fulfilling life can be found.
Kristian Fors is a student at Utah State University majoring in Economics and is an opinion columnist for the Utah Statesman. He enjoys studying psychology, traveling, and living life as intentionally as possible.
— krfors@gmail.com