Posts Tagged Money And Budgeting

Many of us are brought up believing that acquiring more, more, more is the ultimate goal — I used to believe this too. It takes self-awareness to break the cycle of excess and recognize that simple, slow living is the key to achieving happiness and peace. Lifestyle creep is a threat to that peace — often coming after an increase in income or earning — but I’ve learned that it can be avoided with attention and care.

I owe a lot to the slow money mindset. I get to feel good about what I have and where I’m at instead of chasing the latest new thing or the next big promotion. I’m happy, I’m invested in my community, and I get to live the lifestyle I want without comparing it to everyone else’s. If that isn’t the actual American Dream, I think it should be.

Learning to manage money like a minimalist begins with your mindset. It starts with rethinking your impulses when it comes to your spending habits, the nature of the items you tend to buy in excess, the why behind your purchases, and the areas of your life where it makes the most sense to cut back.

In a world where everything costs far more than it should, doing the no spend challenge may sound difficult at first. However, trying the no spend challenge for myself was easier than I expected and helped me reframe the way I think about money habits.

In our current consumer-minded culture, it’s easy to fall into reckless spending habits, so I decided to try a low buy year to help me creak them. This is how the low buy challenge helped me transform my spending habits and changed the way I think about money.