Extreme Minimalism: How To Own Fewer Than 150 Things

Here are 3 ideas for you to get started with extreme minimalism, aka the practice of owning only 15–150 physical things.

Enjoy!

I.

Know your "Why."

When you decide to get rid of most of your physical belongings, you can expect some serious pushback from your family and your peers.

Consumerism is so deeply ingrained in our culture, that it borders on sacrilege to question it.

So, steel your resolve.

First, remind yourself that there is nothing "extreme" about extreme minimalism. For 300,000 years, every human on this planet was an extreme minimalist. As hunter-gatherers constantly on the move, we could carry no more than a few clothes, tools, and weapons.

Second, even today about 85% of the world lives under conditions akin to extreme minimalism. It is just our conceited belief in the West that having a house full of stuff is what should be considered "normal."

Third, the manufacturing of consumer goods is responsible for about 42% of all greenhouse gases. Our shopping sprees are really suicide attacks.

Fourth, you won't believe how much your lives get convoluted by the things you own. The endless buying decisions, questions of storage, the upkeep, etc. It is really how they say — "The things you own end up owning you."

But when you get rid of all that stuff, you will free up massive amounts of mental bandwidth. It will make you feel unburdened. It will also give you more time to pursue your passions in life.

II.

Marie Condo and other mainstream minimalists have pushed the idea that you should take inventory first.

You are supposed to go through all of your stuff, look at each item, and decide if it "sparks joy."

I say nonsense.

The average person owns thousands if not tens of thousands of items. If you plan on picking up every single one and pondering what emotional value this thing holds for your life, you have already lost. The task will be so daunting, that you will shortly give up.

The smart way is to approach it the other way around.

Sit down with yourself and make a list of the 15–150 essentials that you can't live without.

Keep those. Throw everything else away.

So, instead of making thousands of different decisions, you have now reduced the cognitive workload to a few dozen decisions.

Anybody can manage that.

III.

Do a test drive.

I understand that extreme minimalism can seem scary. Getting rid of your stuff feels like losing yourself (that is how much our identities are tied into the physical things we own).

To counteract that, don't get rid of your stuff right away.

Instead, get a bunch of moving boxes.

Now, take one or two boxes and put them apart from the rest.

These are your "to keep" boxes. Here, you place the 15–150 items that you decided on keeping earlier.

Now, all the rest of your stuff goes into the remaining boxes. These are your "to toss away" boxes. Seal these boxes with parcel tape and put them away in a corner.

From this moment on, you are an extreme minimalist on probation, so to speak.

You get to experience what it feels like to have zero clutter and extreme mental focus without having to deal with the anxiety of throwing your stuff away.

Also, it's a great way to validate your "to keep" list. Often, it will turn out that certain items you planned on keeping were not as essential as you had thought. Conversely, there might be some items that you stored away which in fact you want to keep.

Try this for 1–2 months. After that time, living without clutter will have become your new default. Now, the idea of going back to your convoluted consumerist life will give you the jitters.

You will dump the contents of your "toss way away" boxes without a second thought.

What is your take on extreme minimalism? Are you intrigued by it? Is it all hogwash to you? Let me know! I love to hear from subscribers and reply to every message.

Until next week,

Niels