Voluntary Simplicity: The Best Choice To Better Personal Finances In 2023
It’s time to accept that what the mainstream teaches about money is wrong
Before you start reading this, a small warning: you will probably dislike what I recommend here, but it delivers what it promises.
We are used to thinking that money and personal finances are about spreadsheets, saving techniques, and math. This may work once in a while, in the short run, but these things alone cannot give us financial tranquility in the long run.
Money is not about math, not at all. It’s all about psychology, about changing our mindsets, as books like The Psychology of Money point out. This article has not much to offer to those who don’t accept this premise and keep insisting on pure logic.
If we discard math and the like as a means to do so, what would be the necessary mindset to win peace of mind when it comes to money? Embracing voluntary simplicity. As I said, you wouldn’t like what I have to say, but it can finally solve your financial struggles.
Aligning needs with wants
We don’t need another app to take note of our expenses or elaborate complex plans to pay off our debts.
The only step we need to take is to stop craving things we don’t need and start training our minds to want just what we need.
If we do this, there’s no way our finances will continue in a not-so-good spot, even if it doesn’t happen right away. It will happen sooner or later, and it will be sustainable.
Nobody cares
I’ve seen this first-hand. I continue to suffer about money, as almost everybody does, but fortunately, it has been a long time since I had my finances disorganized.
Only when I gave up trying to please others with what I drive, wear, and so on I found the secret sauce to having financial stability.
This is one of the “secrets”: forget about status! In the end, nobody cares, and we know it.
There is happiness without spending money
When I was in the long process of saving money, some people used to say things like: “you have to live today because you don’t know if you’ll be alive tomorrow.”
I completely agree with this statement. However, if living today as if there was no tomorrow means splurging and buying stuff we don’t need, I must disagree.
With due respect, this line of thought, except in rare situations, is a clear sign that one has not figured out how to enjoy life. I mean, there are endless options for taking all the mellow of life without spending a penny:
- walking, walking, and walking;
- spending time with our loved ones;
- cooking;
- gardening;
- reading something that we like.
This mindset is so nonsensical to the point of suggesting that non-human animals, who do not even use money, are unable to enjoy life when we know for sure that our dogs and cats are doing a far better job at living than we are.
Pick your poison
I could quote several other reasons why we should quit the idea of craving what we don’t need and how it would deliver us financial tranquility. This is unnecessary. I am sure we can do our research.
For now, it’s more than enough if we choose our poison: suffering because we buy things and “experiences” that we don’t need or giving up our ego and tendency to search for quick fixes to our existential problems, like spending money.
How to change our mindsets
Of course, this is an impossible question to answer in such a small space, but here are some examples:
- consuming as much content on voluntary simplicity as we can;
- paying attention to non-human animals;
- remembering that most of our happiest moments were free of charge;
- keeping in mind how harmful is to our mental health having our finances disorganized.
There is another one that is a little peculiar. Assuming we are egotists and we don’t care about the planet and future generations. Yet, trying to adopt a better attitude toward the environment is one of the best hacks to change our mindset regarding consumerism and put our finances in order.
Oh, one more: quitting social media or curbing its usage. We know how problematic social media is when it comes to comparison, which can undermine our efforts to stop craving what we don’t need.
