6 reasons to enjoy life with less

I still remember myself walking on the street in very high heels (of course, expensive) and very posh clothes with world-known brand handbags which costed more than 60% of my entire monthly salary. I truly thought I looked so good that anyone around me had to notice my existence and appreciated what I was having on and how I looked like. I was exceptionally proud of my outfits and things I could show to others even though my bank account was permanently empty or minus as all the purchases were made by one of my countless credit cards. I was in debts constantly but I believed it is all life about. Having more things, buying more expensive stuff and showing them to others could make myself higher and better person. 

 

After university, I started having my own business instead of being employed. As my business was doing quite well, my income was far higher than most of my friends from university. Every weekend, I went out for exclusive meals and shopped around luxurious department stores. I was not scared to buy anything I wanted even though they were 2-3 times more than my monthly income. It seemed to be just fine as I could swap my credit cards and paid for all the stuff by monthly instalments for many, many months. When I didn’t have enough money to paid off one credit card payment, I made cash withdrawals from other credit cards (over 20% interests on). I thought all was just fine because I deserved them and life would be just like that. I was young and foolish.

 

One day afternoon on the way home from work, I suddenly realised that I didn’t want to live like that all my life. I was supposed to be happy with my life (with plenty of good stuff) but I couldn’t deny the emptiness in my life any longer. I wanted to experience something ‘new’ and ‘valuable’. All the things I had suddenly didn’t mean anything to me. They didn’t excite or please me anymore. I wanted to change things around me that make me truly happy.

 

When I decided to come to Australia, finally I realised that I didn’t have anything. All the things I constantly purchased to please myself were no longer valuable to bring over. All I could bring over was a 29 year old lady who had no place of her own and awfully poor bank account after the 8 years of hard working.

 

 

 

 

“You are so stingy like Scrooge!”

Here I am. After 13 years in Australia, my teenager niece calls me ‘Scrooge’ and I am not ashamed of it. I don’t buy things because I want to show off as it is not important to me anymore.  Of course, I still occasionally  make compulsive purchases but most of time, I buy things because I need them not because I want them. I have much less things but I enjoy my life far more than before. Finally, I have started learning true value of possessing and obtaining things. I feel much freer and happier to have less so, I would like to share 6 reasons why I enjoy my life more with less.

 

 

1.      Be honest with myself : I don’t need to show off to make myself happy any more. I used to concern a lot about other people’s opinions and perspectives more than my own. I did wear what others would think good looking than my own comfy. I bought things what others would think I should have than what I needed. I had to have things to be shown who I was supposed to look like to others. I didn’t know then It was not real me and I was never truly happy with who I was. Having less makes me honest with myself. I wear what I feel like. I value more healthy and fit body than glamorous clothes. I don’t have any problem to carry my $12 well faked Louise Vuitton hand bag from Manly market instead of paying a couple of thousand dollars for real LV (which I refuse to pay). I feel free to show who I am as I finally learnt what I have is not who I am.

 

2.      Having less, less problem : My most expensive suits were given to me as a present several years ago but I have worn them only handful of times. Whenever I wear them, I had to be extremely careful with  my clumsiness. I cannot sit anywhere I normally would sit, I cannot eat or drink as I always do. The suits need to be dry-cleaned each time and stored with extra care. Even though the suits look great, I found myself avoiding to wear them as it gives me too much hassle. I like buying and having things that can serve me not that I need to serve them. Why do you need to buy an expensive luxurious car which will push you to work harder to pay off and run when you can buy an affordable car which can serve you to enjoy driving? When you have less, you have got less to look after and your life will be much lighter.

 

3.      Time Vs. Money : My people around me don’t seem to mind working longer and harder to buy/own better or more expensive things.  It doesn’t work for me. Time is far more precious than money to me. I simply refuse to spend more time and energy at work to have things more. My time for myself cannot be replaceable by anything. Having a luxurious house with massive mortgage, an expensive car in finance, exclusive holidays on credit cards and purchasing unaffordable goods will put you into financial disaster and force you to work longer. I don’t have anything luxurious or outstanding but I don’t have any debts either. I can stop working to have more time whenever I wish because I have been living frugally and I wish to keep the lifestyle as long as I can. I am happy to have less so that I can enjoy more time for myself and my loved ones.   

 

4.      Cutting cost is by far the most powerful to increase wealth : As I am interested in early retirement, I have been interested in reading and learning about the early retired people’s stories. ‘Cost cutting’ is one of the most common advices from them. I have seen many people who are on very higher salaries but they actually have no savings or even having a financial crisis. I have learnt through my life  how to spend money is far more important than how to make money. My husband and I are not on extremely high salaries but we are financially very sound. We save more than 60% of our salaries at the moment. I try to buy only what we need to buy and not to waste money for unnecessary things. If we have to buy expensive stuff, we try hard to get the best value products. Cost cutting doesn’t seem to be powerful at the beginning but I promise that it will give you massive difference on your finance. When you have stable finance, your life flows much smoother and easier.      

 

5.      Financial freedom : Is there anyone refuse to have financial freedom? I guess not. Having less and living frugally will lead you to the goal faster. I don’t mind to be richer but I do mind spend all my life at work to be rich and cannot enjoy my life. For me, financial freedom means freedom of choice. I want to work when I want to and stop working when I wish not to work. I am happy that my husband and I have been working on getting the freedom and we can see that we are walking towards to the goal. When we obtain the financial freedom, our life choices/ opportunities will be broader. Imagine that you can have a year break from the workforce to fulfil your dream. Isn’t it fantastic? Having less can free us.

 

6.      Beauty of decluttering : My husband told me that I am a hoarder so regular decluttering is one of the essential remedies to clear my mind and also surroundings. Whenever I start reorganising my wardrobes, I cannot stop being shocked by the countless things inside. Most of things are unused and forgotten by me for a very long time so decluttering makes me to realise there is no need to buy extra things that can be also forgotten sooner or later. I highly recommend anyone to do decluttering before shopping. It will help you not to buy things because you think you need to buy when actually you don’t need to. Whenever I clear up the unnecessary things, I feel much lighter and freer than owing and buying things.

 

I was always starving to buy more things but they didn’t fix up my hunger. I needed more and more. When I have less, funny enough I can’t figure out what I would need as I feel that I have enough. Owning more and better things never can make you truly happy when you are not happy with who you are. I am still the same person but little change in my mind transformed my attitude towards to the real value of life. I feel happier than ever because I finally learnt how to enjoy my life without having more.