How Being Minimalist brings You Happiness & Financial Freedom !!

The things you own end up owning you. Own Less and Live More. By living with the essentials, you’ll have more clarity and creativity. Instead of buying new things, you’re forced to use what you already have. This allows you to be innovative with your current belongings and intentional with your spending. When evaluating the necessity of a purchase, wait 30 days. And if you struggle to live without it, chances are high the new item will be valuable. Otherwise, it’s just a “nice-to-have.” As for objects that are not used frequently, you’re better off decluttering them. Rental service and/or borrowing from a friend is always an option if they serve you in the future. Keeping what is quintessential, you assign what remains to a clear objective. They all have a unique role. You’ll have less anxiety by not having to think about organization and storage space. By not splurging carelessly, you’ll have more money to spend on things and activities you enjoy. Using that extra time, you can do things you love and explore new opportunities such as: Traveling ; Hiking; Dancing; Taking classes . Instead of letting things weigh you down, allow them to support and propel you forward. We all need certain things to live a fulfilled and meaningful life. But the more we hold on to, the more they own us. It may be time, energy, or money. When we eliminate the unnecessary clutter, we free ourselves with more zest and freedom. Welcome to The Atlantis Report. Becoming a minimalist made me a lot happier, more efficient, less stressed, and gave me more time. I became a minimalist a few years ago. It really did change me in a lot of ways. I got rid of everything I hadn’t used in the past couple of months. I only owned seven shirts, two pairs of pants, two shorts, seven pairs of workout clothes, and six pairs of shoes. I donated every trinket I had; I got rid of all of my jewelry, but two, I got rid of anything that cluttered up the room that I didn’t use. I only kept two paintings that hung on my wall and some photographs to decorate my room. I also donated mugs, books, kitchen utensils, etc. Only the essentials in every room. I donated them to a nursing home. If you ever want to donate clothes, you should consider a nursing home over goodwill, because a lot of the elderly literally show up to nursing homes with nothing. It’s very needed. Anyways, for the first time in my life, I never had to clean anymore. When you don’t have stuff, it doesn’t get messy. I’ve never been a clean person in my life, I would clean my room, and it would be messy two days later. No more! Everything had a place, and there were barely any items; cleaning up only took two minutes. It made me stop procrastinating. Having only seven pairs of workout clothes meant I had to wash my clothes once a week. Before, I had so many clothes that I could go for a couple of weeks without doing laundry. It made me spend an entire day doing laundry, and I dreaded it. Being forced to keep up with that task really improved my life. Also, I only owned four mugs and plates and bowls. This meant I always had to keep on top of my dishes to eat as well. Procrastination no more! It made me able to focus much more. I didn’t know this, but I can’t concentrate in a messy environment very well. Once everything was always clean, I could focus on my engineering homework much better and for more extended periods of time. I could actually work from home. It also just made me a lot less stressed. I don’t even know the reason for it. Probably since everything was clean, I didn’t have any impending work to do, and since my productivity had increased, my brain had a lot taken off of its plate. I was no longer stressed about the workload I had or the cleaning I had to do. I felt much more relaxed all of the time. It also made me stop spending unnecessary money. I never bought new clothes unless I needed them. I didn’t impulsively buy stupid trinkets or things I didn’t actually need. I never spent money anymore, and I saved a lot. It made me simplify the rest of my life too. I started eating only healthy, essential foods to streamline my life further, since getting down to the basics felt so good. Becoming a minimalist really did improve so many areas of my life. I was less stressed, happier, more productive, and made better financial decisions. I sometimes order food by delivery and sometimes get food from the store on a daily basis. I don’t buy any junk food so there’s not any extra food lying around. I’ve lost 10-15 pounds in the past six months. That’s the only diet that works for me. Don’t eat junk food. Try to stick to two meals. When I say “diet” I don’t mean “lose weight” but just eat healthy. Don’t carry around extra food in the stomach and intestines. I have a small laptop to write with. If I didn’t write I would have no laptop. I’d just use my phone. Buying “things,” getting caught in a consumerist lifestyle, and living to impress others is always going to be a losing battle. So instead, we should strive to REDUCE our overhead, REDUCE our extravagances, and get back to the basics of what we all really value the most: FREEDOM. NOT THINGS. First of all, having any type of financial “overhead” just stresses me out. Having a big mortgage payment, or having a big car payment, or having ANYTHING that l need to be financially obligated to make me feel trapped, and makes me feel as though I’m on a hamster wheel just running to keep it going. Having that “Type” of stress causes me to resent the work I do, and stifles my own creativity when it comes to pursuing my own passions - it just drains the fun out of it. This is why I’ve always preferred a financially minimalist lifestyle - the less financial responsibility I have, the more freedom I have. Then, the more freedom I have, the less stress I have - and the less stress I have, the happier I am to pursue more creative and fulfilling work. I’ll tell you what all that saved money really brings you: OPTIONS. That’s it. Money is NOT for the purpose of flaunting;it’s NOT for the purpose of trying to IMPRESS random strangers. It is NOT for the use of measuring your own self-worth, or feeling a sense of superiority over someone else. but it does give you OPTIONS. That is worth more than ANYTHING I could’ve ever imagined. For me, that option was not ever needing to work a job I absolutely loathed. I had the option to pursue the work that meant something to me. I also applied this concept of subtraction to my relationships and professional life. To begin, I reduced interactions with people who don’t excite me. Eventually, I filtered them out of my life entirely. That way I created more time to spend with those who genuinely support me. As for work, I started focusing on high-value tasks which produced my desired outcomes. As a result, I learned to prioritize efficiency over output. By managing my energy effectively, I can maximize productivity with minimal time and effort. That way I had more freedom to concentrate on meaningful activities. it said I had the opportunity to spend every day doing something that gives me purpose and meaning to my life. And that NEVER would’ve been the case if I had to sacrifice those values in order to work a job I disliked, just to support the cars, and the houses, and the luxuries I never needed in the first place. This is really, at its core, the entire culture of the FIRE movement - Financial Independence, Retire Early. It’s a community and mindset that you don’t need to be 65 to retire, if you keep track of your expenses, save your income, and grow your wealth to the point where you can live off your investments indefinitely. And THAT is really the entire point of the financial independence movement - it’s spending money on things that really add value to your life, and SAVING with the intention of building a lifestyle that supports that. And while financial independence certainly doesn’t happen overnight, it can absolutely be a goal to work towards and one day achieves - because the less money you spend, the faster you can get there. Here’s the best analogy I can think of: Imagine a race car. In order for it is really fast, it needs to be as aerodynamic and streamlined as possible. Scientists spend months and years fashioning the race car to be as quick as possible and win races by even a fraction of a second. In order to do that, scientists chip away at all of the “dead weight” surrounding the car and leave only the essentials. Think of that car as you and the race track as your life. The more “stuff” that weighs you down, the slower you’ll be, the less effective and efficient you’ll be - unable to go down the track of life at a steady pace. Minimalism is the act of stripping away things that do not serve you in an attempt to focus entirely on the things that do. In western society, namely in America, most people have bought into the “must consume or else” mindset. They attach their worth and their happiness to material things. This insane and pathological sort of thinking has created a new type of “hoarder,” one who buys a large house and just fills it to the brim with junk. Not only that, but “junk” tends to crowd into every other aspect of our lives as well. Junk food. Junk TV. Junk news articles. Junk relationships. Stuff that’s quickly replaceable, easily breakable, and cheap, cheap…cheap. Basically, focusing on “breadth” without any sort of “depth.” Minimalism is a philosophy. It’s a philosophy that says: “Fuck the default way of life, I’m going to make my life as purposeful and as focused as possible to funnel my attention on what really matters.” At it’s best, it’s an airtight Ziploc bag that holds all you cherish, nothing in or out without your approval. It’s not about how much stuff you have or don’t have. It’s a way of intentional living, intentional awareness. It’s a giant middle finger to the status quo of mindlessness that afflicts current modern-day society. If you’re familiar with economics, you know of the Pareto Principle: eighty percent of your results come from twenty percent of your efforts. In your life, right now, there are a small number of things that you use 80% (or more) of the time. In your life, right now, there are a small number of websites that you visit 80% (or more) of the time that contribute to your entertainment, education, and overall life maintenance. In your life, right now, there are a small number of people that you hang out with 80% (or more) of the time. More importantly, how are they impacting your mental state? What if you could take action on getting rid of that dead weight and focus on streamlining your life? What could happen? Less anxiety? Less indecision? Better sleep? Better relationships? Who knows what could happen. One thing’s for sure: the way most people live their lives isn’t working. Minimalism is a giant reset button on a life that’s bloated with unnecessary concerns and giant time-wasters.











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