9 Reasons Minimalism Works for a Low-Waste Lifestyle

Minimalism works wonder for people who are looking to live a low-waste lifestyle.

Of course, a minimalist may have a wasteful lifestyle, and hoarders can have low-waste lifestyles by holding on to everything.

However, environmentally-conscious people often realize they are part of the over-consumption problem and choose to live more minimally.

Then there are those like me, minimalist-wannabes who learn about the impact over-consumption has on the planet as they become more conscious of what things represent.

Not surprising, since environmentalism and minimalism both get you thinking about things and over-consumption. That is why mindfulness helps to bring about a low-waste lifestyle.

Here are 9 reasons minimalism and a low-waste lifestyle are perfect together.

1. Minimalists guard against impulse buys

We check our impulses every time the desire to buy something comes up. We put things in our online shopping cart, then remove it after much consideration. Advertisement doesn’t have a strong hold on us because we know things can own us if we’re not careful. When we waited to pay for something we’re buying, we are wary of things sitting on their shelves in reaching distance. We’re simply not that into buying things anymore. We know we already have what we need. For the most part.

2. We don’t hog our things

We give excess away. This means that someone out there has a chance to buy these items secondhand and not have to incur environmental and personal expenses. We don’t believe in having a garage full of items “just in case” we need them one day. In fact, if we haven’t use something for 6 months, we would consider giving it away.

3. Everything we own has to add value to our lives

We’re so particular with the things we keep or buy, we really evaluate them. Because of this constant honing of object evaluation, it is hard to fool us into buying something not functional. I basically check out reviews every time I had to buy something. As a minimalist, the last thing I want is to buy something that doesn’t even work well. This leads us back to point 1 – we keep our impulse buys in check.

4. We prefer things with multiple functions

I love my swiss-army knife. I received it as a gift from a friend years ago. It contained small knives I can use as a penknife or a letter opener, a reusable toothpick, a handy tweezer, a bottle opener and an appendage I can’t figure out. That’s 4 things I wouldn’t need to buy anymore.

We also enjoy having fewer clothes that goes well together in different combinations, so we don’t have to have a whole bunch of clothes. That’s how we get awesome pictures of capsule wardrobes.

5. We focus on quality and purchase things we love

Here is a wonderful side effect of having lesser – you free up more cash for finer things. A minimalist doesn’t need 5 different backpacks for different occasions, we only need one sensible backpack. This means we can invest in a better one. Since we don’t like a ton of possessions, we only buy things that adds value to our life and that which we really like.

Our things tend to last longer and endure the passing of trends.

6. Presents aren’t our thing.

If you’re a minimalist, chances are you don’t feel a need to participate in the gifting ritual. Gift-giving is nice, but over-doing it (like in the case of a “shower”) becomes a problem. It becomes wasteful. In addition to the presents itself, consider the amount of paper, ribbon and bags used to dress them up!

Lesser lavish gifting rituals = lesser waste.

7. We don’t need as much space

Minimalists have the ability to live in smaller spaces that takes lesser resources to build, maintain, heat or cool down. We will never need storage facilities too.

8. We travel light and don’t believe in a ton of souvenirs. Hell, we don’t even want to print photographs

I know many people who pull off month-long trips with just a carry-on. Flying is a very carbon intensive activity. If everyone traveled lighter, perhaps more fuel can be saved. On a vacation, we don’t like to buy souvenirs. If we have to, we carefully curate what is worth buying. Anyway, most of the souvenirs aren’t made locally anymore, unless you went to China. :p

When we get back from our vacations, we don’t print the photographs, because that creates potential clutter. So we save on film, ink and logistics.

9. We know that the truly important things aren’t things.

They are the people, animals and experience in our lives. These “things” are package-free.

I think you get the idea. We are mindful about consumption. Even though this mindfulness didn’t necessarily arise out of a desire to protect the environment, it achieves a similar result. The lesser we buy, the lesser we waste. The key to over-consumption is to reduce and watch our consumption. While it doesn’t have a direct effect on our plastic habits, it helps to reduce the scale.

Minimalism enthusiasts, do you agree with my post?
If you’re an environmentalist, did you find yourself inclining towards minimalism?
If you’re just passing by, I hope this gets you curious about both lifestyles.
Do share your experience with me!