Amanda Owning more stuff won’t make you happier. Once a need is met, continuing to meet that need by buying more stuff doesn’t actually increase happiness or fulfillment. Let’s say, your favorite pair of shoes meets the need of protecting your feet and making walking more comfortable. They are your favorite pair because they aren’t just comfy, they match pretty much everything in your wardrobe, too. You’re happy with that pair of shoes. One day you decide to purchase a new pair of shoes while your favorite pair is still perfectly good. They are comfortable and you like to wear them, but they just can’t compare to your favorite pair. You didn’t increase your happiness with the purchase because you didn’t actually need more shoes.
The same could be said for all the different things that we have in our homes. Once our need is met, we don’t need to continue to meet that need by buying more stuff. If we continue to buy more and more stuff, it becomes a burden. Excess stuff in our homes becomes clutter. This clutter weighs us down and can keep us from enjoying everyday things.
We’ve accumulated so much, it simply can’t bring us joy.
When you remove the excess that weighs you down, it allows you to have simple pleasures in your daily life. These simple pleasures may have existed in your life before, but now you’re actually able to enjoy them because your life is simpler.
The weight that the accumulation of stuff brings into our lives can become suffocating. Decluttering the excess (the stuff that goes beyond meeting our needs) lifts that weight so we can breath again.
You’ll start to find joy in using things ups, getting dressed in the morning, and other simple everyday things. You might even find that there are better things to do rather than shopping. Your life and your worth is not determined by what you own – it’s how you live. Will that be joyously with a simpler life? Or will you fall into the trap of consumerism?
Fight Against Consumer Culture
Consumer culture tells us that we need to accumulate more stuff. Because if your current stuff isn’t keeping you happen, then the next thing definitely will! “Buy more” and “buy now” are the biggest lies we’re told on a regular basis. We don’t need the junk that is peddled to us through social media and TV commercials. Once our basic needs are met (food, clothing, shelter), we need things to help us in our daily lives or make our lives more comfortable. But you certainly don’t need a home crammed full of stuff in order to be comfortable.
There comes a certain satisfaction when we use something up and not re-buying or buying more until it’s gone.
When we use a product to it’s fullest we know that something useful isn’t going to the landfill. We save money because we use things up rather than tossing them when we tire of them. And if there are three things we love the most here at Hello Brownlow, it’s saving money, reducing my waste, and having a clutter free home.
Deinfluencing has allowed us and so many other social media users to take pause and realize that they don’t need a new-and-fancy thing just because someone on the Internet told them it was awesome.
Although, I was influenced in 2021 to purchase a dress from wool& and wore it for 100 days straight! I now own several of these wool dresses. They have become a staple in my wardrobe and have now lasted years.
Everyday Tasks Become More Enjoyable with Less
Because you have less things in your life makes tasks more enjoyable (or at least less stressful), too. Tasks like laundry, dusting, vacuuming, taking out trash, or putting away dishes take less time because there is less to move and put away.
Having less inventory to manage takes away the burden of figuring out what to do with it all. You’ll find when you have less, or only your favorites, managing your home is actually enjoyable. Everything has a place which means it’s easier to put away but also find when you need it.
You Have More Time
With fewer possessions, you have more time. Why? Because you’re taking care of less. The items that do remain, you actually want to take care of so they last a long time. If items last a long time, you don’t need to think about buying anything new. When we don’t buy anything new, we are not spending time acquiring, keeping, and disposing of those items.
Think about all the times you’ve been scrolling through Amazon looking at different gadgets or clothing. What about “just browsing” at Target? If you spend less time shopping (even if you don’t buy anything), that’s automatically time back into your day.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in 2024, the average American spent 0.67 hours (or approximately 39 minute) a day shopping. Over a year’s time, that approximately 245 hours spent shopping (or just over 10 days)! While some shopping can’t be avoided, like groceries, we can avoid scrolling online or wandering around TJ Maxx. Easy peasy.
Kids are Okay with Less Stuff Too
Kids also benefit from owning fewer things. We’ve noticed that our sons play longer by themselves when only a few toys are out. They get grouchy when they can’t find a certain toy or stuffed animal. Arguments and meltdowns happen because they’re simply overstimulated by the mess of things around them. That tells us as parents that there is just too much.
I don’t believe there is any “right amount” of things kids need to have in order to be happy. Each child is different in what they prefer to play with and wear.
Over time, we’ve decluttered toys and clothes to find a system that works for us.
For kids’ clothing, each boy has 10 tops, 10 bottoms, and about 10 pairs of socks that are all the same color. Add in two pairs of tennis shoes, a pair of Crocs, snow boots – now their feet are covered! Outerwear consists of one rain jacket, two light jackets or hoodies, and a heavy coat. We’ve found that any more than this, and we simply can’t manage it well.
For toys, owning less is step one. Creating a toy rotation is step two. Our rotations include: things that go (cars), something to build with (blocks), something for imagination (animals), and something big (Nugget). We rotate these out every week now. You wouldn’t believe the reaction that we get come Monday mornings! It’s like everything is new again!
Owning more won’t make you happier – take aways
There is so much joy to be found in your everyday life outside of your stuff. There is comfort in using and loving our favorite things until they fall apart. Constantly consuming only allows us to spend more money and ultimately leaves us unfulfilled.
We weren’t put on this earth to shop our way to happiness. Happiness happens in what’s already in front of us. In the small (and big) moments of the everyday.
