I’m in favor of evaluating which belongings/uses of time/other aspects of lifestyle are important to one’s happiness, but I don’t think the verdict will often be so straightforwardly in favor of minimalism across the board.
I’d be interested in whether clothes minimalism really reduces time/attention spent on clothes. My guess is that some minimalist principles are good here (having a number of clothing staples so you don’t put a lot of thought into getting dressed each morning) help, while times maximalism (having a larger number of these staples so you don’t have to do laundry that often) is the way to go. Personally, I found having a small number of “dearly loved” clothes items increased the amount of mental energy that went toward my clothing, while moving toward feeling less attached to any given piece has been good for having less of my attention taken up here.
As someone who’s spent a lot of time in smaller living spaces (e.g. sharing a bedroom with my partner and our baby/toddler), I think larger spaces (at least more bedrooms) can have a lot of benefit for quality of sleep. Needing to lie silently until everyone else is awake, or waking them earlier than they wanted to be woken, is a real cost to either time or wellbeing.
I hadn’t thought so much about the time saving aspects of having fewer clothes and would also be interested in seeing the effects minimalism can have on this.
Definitely understand your point about smaller living spaces and sleep quality. There are people who can take minimalism too far in a well meaning way and end up ultimately reducing their well-being and having the many negative spill-over effects of this. So I feel the minimalist actions someone takes on should net them an improvement to their well-being in some way if they are indeed good ideas.
I like one example from ‘The Minimalists’ documentary where they told someone that he really should keep his huge number of books in his home because they were a genuine source of joy for him and it would be worse for his well-being to remove them.
I’m in favor of evaluating which belongings/uses of time/other aspects of lifestyle are important to one’s happiness, but I don’t think the verdict will often be so straightforwardly in favor of minimalism across the board.
I’d be interested in whether clothes minimalism really reduces time/attention spent on clothes. My guess is that some minimalist principles are good here (having a number of clothing staples so you don’t put a lot of thought into getting dressed each morning) help, while times maximalism (having a larger number of these staples so you don’t have to do laundry that often) is the way to go. Personally, I found having a small number of “dearly loved” clothes items increased the amount of mental energy that went toward my clothing, while moving toward feeling less attached to any given piece has been good for having less of my attention taken up here.
As someone who’s spent a lot of time in smaller living spaces (e.g. sharing a bedroom with my partner and our baby/toddler), I think larger spaces (at least more bedrooms) can have a lot of benefit for quality of sleep. Needing to lie silently until everyone else is awake, or waking them earlier than they wanted to be woken, is a real cost to either time or wellbeing.
Greg Lewis’s piece “Beware surprising and suspicious convergence” has some relevant ideas.
Hi Julia, thanks for your comment!
I hadn’t thought so much about the time saving aspects of having fewer clothes and would also be interested in seeing the effects minimalism can have on this.
Definitely understand your point about smaller living spaces and sleep quality. There are people who can take minimalism too far in a well meaning way and end up ultimately reducing their well-being and having the many negative spill-over effects of this. So I feel the minimalist actions someone takes on should net them an improvement to their well-being in some way if they are indeed good ideas.
I like one example from ‘The Minimalists’ documentary where they told someone that he really should keep his huge number of books in his home because they were a genuine source of joy for him and it would be worse for his well-being to remove them.