Some of my friends ask me what it's like to be an extreme minimalist.
I see myself as a minimalist who is almost at the extreme level as you can see in the fact that I don't use a drying machine anymore for more than two years.
Also Read: Extreme minimalist home tip 1; Life without a washing machine
So, I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of being an extreme minimalist based on my experience.
The pros and cons that I write here are what I think and also what many of my friends agreed on.
Pros
- Less Expense
- More time
- Cleaner house
Less Expense
The first upside that I can come up with being an extreme minimalist is that you will spend less money than you have to spend before.
As I have written in "The 3 best minimalist shoes 2022", I only have three shoes but those are completely enough for me.
Since I have a reason to buy a new thing every time, the purpose of every single object that I own is very particular.
Also Read: Minimalist Lifestyle Tips; Do not buy many cheap things but buy one that lasts for a lifetime
By being extremely modest and having your own rules for shopping like me, you can also avoid the impulse of shopping.
More time
Being an extreme minimalist gives you more time based on my experience.
For example, if you are travelling, you may have less trouble finding your belongings when you unpack at the hotel.
Also Read: Packing tips while travelling that all minimalists should follow
Simply, you have a few objects with you, and you don't have to search for things that are buried under your used clothes.
Cleaner house
Considering the above two upsides of being an extreme minimalist, it is very obvious that you will have a cleaner house for a room than most people.
I think that the reason why people have messy rooms is only that they have a lot of things.
Also Read: Extreme minimalist home 2; How to keep your bedroom as Clean as Possible
For example in an extreme case, if you think you are really bad at cleaning and if you are living with less than 10 objects, my question is how can you even make your room messy with only less than 10 objects?
So if you think you're bad at cleaning, then it's time to start increasing the number of objects you have.
Cons
- Inconvenience
- Stress
- Takes time to get used to a minimalist lifestyle
Inconvenience
The first possible downside of being a minimalist is that due to the number of objects that you have, you may feel inconvenienced at some point.
At least for me, being an extra one of my identity and a way to enrich my life, but for some people it may be something very hard to achieve and maintain a level of minimalism for a long time.
Also Read: Minimalist lifestyle fashion advice: The 3 Clothes 2 Colors rule
For example, I have really a few amounts of clothes and I am really happy with that, but I think it does not work for people who love being fashionable and who love to enjoy the variety of great clothes.
Stress
You may feel stress at some point when you try to become an extreme minimalist.
It happened to me when I was trying to gradually decrease the number of objects that I have and tried to be an extreme minimalist the more objects that I throw away, the more I felt anxious and confident at the same time.
I assume this is because I wasn't really used to living with a few objects and I felt anxious because I was outside of my comfort zone.
Takes time to get used to a minimalist lifestyle
As well as the possibility of feeling stressed due to the change in my lifestyle, quite a long time for me to get used to the minimalist lifestyle itself.
It is easy to give up to become a minimalist at some point, but if you follow the steps that at least I have followed and succeeded, it may be less stressful to continue pursuing your goal.
Also, Read the Minimalist lLifestylefor beginners. The full guide of "How to start Minimalism".
In the above article I have explained a full breakdown of steps on how to start minimalism, so if you are seriously thinking about becoming a minimalist, please refer to the post.
The purpose of this article was to help you to know more about minimalism.
As a minimalist, minimalism gives you a lot of interesting findings, so if you could take the essence from my experience, I would be very happy.