Not just simplifying raises this issue. One of my early Wise Bread articles was going to be on frugality as a tactic rather than a goal—except that I realized that it was a goal for many of my readers.

After a bit of thought, I realized that was a legitimate perception. Frugality isn’t just a way to live more gently on the planet, frugality is living more gently on the planet. It isn’t just a way to align your spending with your values, it is aligning your spending with your values.

None of which keeps it from also being a valid tactic for getting what you want out of life.

@Philip Brewer – Two points. 1) Minimalism is not necessarily the same as frugality which again is not necessarily the same as minimizing resource consumption. I see how they could be aligned though which leads me to 2) That popular values for their own sake (religion) really is the best way to change compared to policy making or inventing technology. On this site, the goal is minimizing resource waste and the carrot is financial independence, but I never really thought of using a more spiritual selling point. This is probably due to different personalities pursuing the same goal.

“I will hopefully have moved on to making things…”. You’re too modest, Jacob–this blog is a “thing” of much value and little waste that you’ve been “making” for quite some time. Likewise, so your book will be, surely.

BTW, I am against throwing out or giving away items just to get rid of them (unless you can not fit them in a new living arrangement). I’m more of the opinion that if you have it already and you don’t use it you might as well keep it just in case you need it. Just do not go out and buy something that you do not need or that you can do without. Here is an example: I have one of those 199 cent can openers. This Christmas my mom bought and gifted me a fairly nice can opener. However, I did not get rid of the old can opener. Instead, I simply put it in the drawer (as I had extra space there) for when this new one breaks so in the future I do not need to go buy a new one. However, if I were to move into a camper I would probably get rid of the extra one as there would be no room for it. Someone might tell my that I should get rid of my extra can opener anyways to simplify my life. However, I think I should hold on to it as a store of wealth ans as way of being frugal in the future as it costs me nothing to keep. =P

@SAHMCFO – In chapter 3 of the book, I claim it can. I gotta finish this thing.

@Jacob:

I’m with you. Frugality, simplicity, and sustainability are all different things, even though the simple choice is often more frugal and more sustainable. (And, in fact, I’ll usually pick the simple choice over a frugal choice, especially if the “frugal” choice entails extra risk or requires that I commit my future time and attention.)

I’m a minimalist moving around countries (Egypt for a few years right now) but am definitey moving into the maintenance realm…. I’m a little behind you it seems 🙂

For me simplifying is going back to basic. This is when we eliminate unnecessary things caused by over-sophistication by common persons. Being minimal is different for me, because it may miss out things that are important, unlike simplifying that only eliminates things that are considered waste.

Is simplifying the same as becomming a minimalist? I guess I don’t see them as the same thing. My goal right now is to simplify my life but our family would never be seen as minimalists. For example, one of my goals is to shop 4 times per year at the local wholesale club for 3 months worth of staples (paper products, flour, sugar, coffee, cereals, soap, etc.) and only shop weekly at the local grocer for meat, produce and dairy. No one who saw me coming out of the wholesale club would call me a minimalist. But reducing big shopping trips to 4 days per year really frees up my time and simplifies my life.

To me simplifying is reducing the mental clutter, while minimizing reduces the physical clutter. I suppose reducing what you own, and what you do, to the things that really serve your needs accomplishes both things.

Interesting post and great comments!

To me, the point of this blog is contained in the title of this web site: EARLY RETIREMENT.

The normal thinking on early retirement is to somehow get a huge pile of money at a young age so you can continue a hedonistic lifestyle despite quitting your job. This is a pipe dream and will not happen for most people.

The realistic (though difficult) way for most people to retire early is to increase their savings and reduce their expenses through simplifying their lifestyle. Part of simplification is having only enough stuff to meet your needs. Stuff costs money to get, keep and maintain and having excess stuff will delay your “retirement.”

Once you realize this, you have to decide if you want the ‘stuff’ more than you want the freedom.

I wanted the freedom and so I started simplifying my life about 15+ years ago after I read ‘Your Money or Your Life.’

As I got rid of stuff, I saw that simplifying is not a form of deprivation, poverty and misery, as popular marketing and consumerism would have you believe. Instead, simplifying my life IMPROVED the quality of my life, as has been discussed at length on this blog.

To get back to the point of this blog, the goal of simplifying is to reduce expenses and increase savings (capital) so you can ‘retire’ early. Everyone will hit their goal of “retirement” at a different place based on their income and their needs.

To me, the point is to move toward the goal of freedom intentionally and thoughtfully rather than just blindly accepting what THE MAN tells you about how to live (consume, consume, consume!!!).

In other words, simply put, the less stuff you need, the less capital you’ll need. Also, the more self-reliant you become (fixing and making things yourself), the less capital you’ll need. They go hand in hand.

As you simplify, you’ll get more time to get the skills you need to fix and make things and so you’ll need less capital. So, simplifying is a self-reinforcing process like losing weight where you get more energy as you lose more weight so you feel better and you can do more stuff and lose more weight!

If simplifying becomes the goal (the ‘end’), then it’s not really about retiring early; it’s about seeing how little you can get by with (aka “minimalism”).

There’s nothing wrong with a minimalist goal, as far as I’m concerned, it’s just not what the title of this blog is about, to me.

I have never really been a fan of minimalism, but I separate minimalism from simplifying. I agree with the idea that stuff is okay if it has a purpose. Or if you value it. It’s the senseless hoarding of stuff that is a problem; balance is what we should all be striving for.

As I have moved into making things for myself with the goal firmly on self-empowerment and independence from the marketplace (for making things also becomes a mania for some people), it has become clear to me that what is really important is the respect we have for the things that we own.

When I have spent alot of time and poured my creativity and heart into knitting a dress for myself, I automatically hold that item as a treasure and as special. Therefore I am more careful with it than I am with something I have just paid for. The paid time lacks the history of love and care — which I am equating with respect here.

Years ago when I read through Wiccan thought (because I mostly have to read and understand about everything) I remember a tenet that the items used in their ceremonies needed to be made or gifted — not just purchased from a store.

In the context of my experience with making my dresses the sense of this tenet makes a degree of sense to me in ways it did not make sense when I initially read it.