Simple Living: Buy Less, Want Less

Have you ever heard someone say “buy less, want less”?

When I first heard that saying, I wasn’t so sure I believed it. In fact, it seems to contradict itself. If you are wanting something, it seems that the only way to satisfy the desire to want less, is to buy it, so that you get rid of the desire to want it.

But does that desire to want, ever go away?

That is when I started to realize that this saying is actually true.

When I decided to try and start to live a more simple life, to take into consideration what really makes me happy, to try and live the life I WANT to live, not the life that advertisers say I should live, I realized that the less I buy, the more content I am. The less I really want.

It was not a process that happened over night. In fact, it has taken me years to even consider that the saying “buy less, want less” could prove itself true. But after careful consideration and observation of my own life, it is in fact, true. How?

1. I find myself wanting things that do not necessarily have a monetary value, such as deeper relationships, time spent in those relationships, like with my husband. Buying things to “improve” our relationship, only end up getting in the way of it. Okay, yes, we do “splurge” if you want to call it that, on vacations together. We feel that with my husband’s job, the only way to get a break is to get away. So that is something we “buy” but do it for a much deeper purpose – to grow our relationship with each other.

2. In order to live the life I feel called to live, I feel that simplicity only makes sense. Buying things to fill up the home God has given us, only gets in the way of the life I really want to live. I want to live a life with less stuff – I desire a life where I am not tied to the things of this world. We are living in hopeful trust that in March, we will be blessed to welcome a new member to our family, our first child. I want to have as much time with that child as I can – not time wasted cleaning things that just take up space, picking up things that I could really care less about. What I care about is being the best steward of this child, best mother I can be, and best wife I can to my husband.

3. I try not to shop, for the sake of shopping. Only a handful of times will I step into a store to just browse. It is just who I am. Shopping is NOT bad in and of itself. Don’t get me wrong! For some it is a stress reliever. I watch sports as a stress reliever. It’s what you do while shopping, that matters, I think. If you are constantly buying, just to relieve that pressure to buy or pressure of stress, or to satisfy someone, you should consider other options. I realized that some of my clothes are starting to not fit because of my growing belly, so to Goodwill I went. Didn’t find a lot, but I went online and hit the jackpot at Old Navy with a sale they had. A few things bought, but saved oodles of time not buying what I didn’t need, by not shopping in a mall. Again, don’t get me wrong – malls are awesome. But for me personally, I cannot go into them often because I will only BUY MORE AND WANT MORE. I know my limitations.

How about you? Do you find yourself buying something just for the sake of buying? Do you find that you end up wanting MORE in the end? It is a slippery slope and I encourage you to take a deep look into why you buy every single item you do.

Try buying less for a week and see if you want less. If you don’t, try it one MORE week. Do you feel more content? Do you feel you can live WITH less?

I would love to know your thoughts on this concept; do you find this statement to be true?