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If you ask anyone in America if money leads to happiness, they will most likely instinctively say no. There are probably a few people that won’t here and there, but most will. People say this because they think it’s the right answer to say. When it comes to their own money, feelings, thoughts and actions, it’s an entirely different situation. People just can’t wait to get that new car or that new big screen TV. We think that when we get a new better paying job, we’ll be happy. Generally, we won’t admit it out loud, but most of us have an emotional connection that more money equates to happiness.

This emotional connection is really quite strange, because we know that’s not the case. There have been times when we got the new job or bought the new toy, and we didn’t end up any happier. In fact, often times when our life becomes more complex and our homes are cluttered with all sorts of toys we become less happier because we found that we didn’t instantly become happy once we finally got that new toy or new job. We were the same person that we were before, just with a new toy or more money, and we weren’t any happier.

As soon as we can break that connection, we begin to wonder why we have so much stuff. Most of us have a house or apartment full of stuff, most of it that we never use. You might find yourself saying something like, “I know I haven’t opened used that deep fryer since Christmas, but I might use it sometime…” Let’s face it, we have a lot of crap. We don’t need it, and it’s not going to make us happy. Maybe it’s time to cut down on some of the stuff that we don’t need.

When I lived in the dorms, I didn’t have anything that I couldn’t fit in my car. I was very happy, moving was really easy too. Since I moved out of the dorms in college, I’ve got a bit more stuff, but still nothing compared to most people. I think now I’m up to two car loads worth of stuff. I’m still very happy for where I am in life. In fact, I regularly clean out my closet and drawers and throw away or sell stuff that I never make use of.

It’s called the minimalist lifestyle, and it might be time for you to give it a serious consideration. Living a minimalist lifestyle doesn’t mean you don’t have any fun stuff, you can have whatever you want, as long as you make good use out of it and enjoy it. You just need to get rid of all of the other stuff that most people have but no one really needs.

So what kind of stuff should you get rid of? Clothing is a big thing, ten sets of clothing is more than enough for anybody. If you have a collection of DVDs, books, or CDs that you never make use of, put them up on eBay. Anything that you have but don’t get good use of can leave your life.

There are a lot of benefits to this type of life. You get to save a lot more money because you don’t have to keep up and store a bunch of stuff that you will never make use of. You won’t have closets full of stuff that you think you might possibly use sometime. You can get away with a smaller living space as well, saving you on rent money or your mortgage payment.
It’s a bit of a simpler way of life, it’s certainly not for everyone, but for some us, it works out quite well.



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