Now that we have lived in our house for a year and a half, it seems like every cupboard and closet needs to be decluttered and reorganized. I just went through the children’s books last week and have two big boxes of books to donate.
I have been thinking lately about where I lie on the spectrum between being a minimalist and a hoarder.
The post below was originally shared in May 2015, but I wanted to share it again since it’s what I’ve been mulling over lately.
What do hoarders and minimalists have in common?
Admittedly not a lot. In fact they are pretty much at opposite ends of the “stuff” spectrum. The lifestyle of a hoarder would drive a minimalist insane. Likewise, a true pack rat would go bonkers in a minimalist’s world.
Hoarders and minimalists have at least one thing in common: Frugality.
By definition, frugal is:
Economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful
Not all hoarders and minimalists are frugal.
While individual cases and motives vary, I think the mentalities behind hoarding and minimalism both demonstrate key components of frugality.
The Frugal Hoarder
Painting the image of a hoarder (or “pack rat” to put it more gently) isn’t hard, thanks to television’s exposure through shows like Hoarders
Frugal hoarders accumulate stuff that they feel may possibly be useful to themselves or others at some time in the future. They have a difficult time getting rid of anything because they are afraid they will want or need the item in the future.
Whether it was given to them for free or purchased on a great deal, frugal pack rats take pride in how little it cost them to acquire the goods. The low price itself is often the sole justification for bringing the items home.
Looking at the definition above, frugal hoarders feel that getting rid of something that could possibly be useful would be wasteful. They believe that saving stuff is saving money.
The Frugal Minimalist
Minimalists hit frugality from a different angle. Instead of focusing intensely on the economical expenditure, they are economical in the use of things. Minimalism, as far as stuff is concerned, is defined by William Morris’s quote, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
Minimalists are also not wasteful, another classic component of frugality’s definition. Instead of preventing waste by saving everything like a pack rat, minimalists avoid acquiring things that would not be used. To a minimalist, having something that isn’t useful is wasteful, not only because of the money spent, but also the space it takes up, the maintenance costs and opportunity cost (what else your money and space could be doing).
Frugal minimalists save money by just not buying much. Their purchases are intentional and well thought-out. They believe they are saving money by not saving stuff.
Where are you on the spectrum?
Most people aren’t one extreme or the other. We all have different priorities and tendencies, but we probably lean one way or the other.
You might be a frugal hoarder if…
…you find yourself justifying clearance purchases with “I might need this someday.”
…you can find plenty to buy at any given garage sale.
…you buy more at the thrift store than you donate.
…you buy multiples because the deal is just “too good.”
…people call you when they are moving or downsizing to see if you want their stuff.
…you hang onto your children’s outgrown clothes for potential future children.
You might be a frugal minimalist if…
…you get rid of potentially useful things to save space.
…you shop with a list and stick to it.
…you donate more to the thrift store than you buy.
…you only buy what you absolutely are sure that you need.
…you love giving away useful items to friends.
…you pass along baby clothes right after a child outgrows them.
I would say (and my husband would agree) that I lean toward the hoarder side of frugality (and his tool collection would reveal the same thing about him).
For example, my newborn daughter is wearing clothes that my 7-year-old daughter wore seven years ago. Those clothes have traveled 3,500 miles with us in those seven years. Thinking about the space that they took up for those seven years and the effort of moving them across the country twice, makes the minimalist mindset sound appealing.
Still, I have a hard time passing up “free” things that may be of use in the future, even if I have to store them. And when it comes to food, I believe in being prepared, which is why I prefer to call it stocking up rather than hoarding.
If you are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with all of the stuff in your house or you feel like you’re always cleaning but nothing ever seems clean, then you probably have a clutter problem. If you’ve tried to declutter in the past but have gotten burned out, then Step-by-Step Decluttering will be great for you! After listening to the audio-book, I was totally encouraged and motivated to get to work. Sarah gives clear methods and strategies to work through the decluttering process without feeling overwhelmed.
How about you?
- What kind of frugal are you?
- Have you had experience moving to a different spot on the frugality spectrum?
I think a good term for me is an accidental minimalist. I recently learned what that term means and realized that I have been 90% of the way there for several years almost exclusively based on following solid personal finance advice. I probably still lacked learning the lesson of how to be content which I think is the highest goal of minimalism. Sure, having less stuff in my apartment makes me feel more clear and less anxious. Its easier to clean. I can accomplish what I need to accomplish with the least resistance possible. I have a large collection of books that I want to be better at making a habit and I think that if something has sentimental value or just is something you enjoy owning, you shouldn’t deprive yourself. Just don’t get carried away with consumerism. I’ve never needed very many things to be happy. I think experiences are the “things” you will regret not having done in your old age. The hedonic treadmill is very real so learning to be content with less is a kind of preventative strategy that will absolutely save money and be a valuable lesson in the long run. There’s nothing wrong with being frugal. I guess “saving money by not buying stuff” is one way to put it. Time is money as they say. So you just have to figure out how much money your time is worth and that’s a personal thing. I would rather buy whatever new relatively cheap thing than dig through all the closets til I find it. I’ve already made my life easier just getting rid of the clothes that I never wore. I think the time that getting rid of stuff starts to make your life feel worse instead of better, you know you’ve reached “enough.”
I feel like nowadays hoarder has this huge stigma, many don’t want to admit it. But almost everyone was 8n depression era times.
All the hoarders I know are very frugal, and went thru a time of extended jobloss/etc.
There was a decade of my life i would not buy new socks, financial instability and such. I rememberthinking, it just has one hole, it still works. My brother’s sneakers had holes in them, and he hid it from my parents because money was so tight.
As our financial situation/job security improved, I found myself finally getting rid of stuff (might be useful oneday things)
But I feel like it’s kinda a privilege to be a minimalist. (Or just like living on the edge!)
I think most Americans were on the saveitforoneday side thru history, but 2 things have changed significantly overthe last century.
1. The price of goods, as a percentage of income, has decreased drastically. I can get an entire wardrobe at the thriftstore, with a days worth of a laborers wages, but a laborers family in would have scrimped to save up for a winter coat.
Just looking at improvements in efficiency of manufacturing of goods in the last century is huge.
2. Land and home space/rent (per square ft) as a percentage of income, has gone way way way up. Even 30 yrs ago, what a piece of land ora house cost vs average 8nc9me, was way way cheaper.
So as the cost of goods (relative to income ) drops, and the cost of living space (relative to income) rises, you now see the hoarding tendencies turing into livingspace choked with maybeusefuloneday things.
E.g. It was a lot harder to choke out your farmhouse in the 1930s with stuff.
Much like America’s obesity problems, many of our ancestors were used to the fast offset model, because there waS a good bit of famine, where now there needs to be a readjustment, because food is more plentiful now.
Likewise, many of us hoardershaveto readjust and realize the cost of space means a lot more than it did in the past.
For me, its also about trusting God will take care of me. That I need to be able to let stuff go, and trust He’ll provide even if things go south and unemployment rears its head again.
But I think that saving some things does make sense for some people.
Its about when the hoard starts taking a toll on daily life or mental health, which is a different place for everyone. Some find that sweetspot with a stockpile, others need bare walls.
Tons of autocorrect here. Not used to smartphones!
*Feast or famine model
I think that I am both. Sometimes, I will keep a book because I feel like it will come in handy someday. At other times, I will get rid of everything we have not spent in a couple of months to free up space.
We definitely still lean minimalist. We’ll be making the move out West 5 weeks from tomorrow to our 10th home in 10 years of marriage. Everything our family of 5 is taking with us will fit in a 208 cube foot Uhaul trailer and the back of our van.
For me, it depends on which side of the bed I wake up on. Some days in the complete hoarder and others I swing to the minimalist side of the spectrum.
It seems I have a frugality identity crisis! Lol.
I’m closer to minimalist. I’m really good about not buying useless stuff and keeping things tidy, but when it comes to blankets and anything that would be considered memorabilia I CANNOT handle losing those things. Then only way I’ll get rid of a blanket is it it’s too old or worn to be useful. I predict when I have children I’ll be pretty minimalist as well, I hate baby clutter.
What a great post! I feel like I am a mix of both. I am not a minimalist in all areas of my life but I have become more of one in the past three years.
I am on the minimalist side. I grew up in a house where my Mom kept everything and things got passed down and sometimes up between the 7 children. I kept everything too until my oldest and I moved for me to attend graduate school 10 years ago. All the stuff was stressing me out so we got rid of most of it. Since I got married 7 years ago we’ve lived in 7 places, #8 is coming up on the 1st of June. Last week we moved almost everything the 5 of us own into a 8 by 10 by 6 storage unit, with plenty of space leftover. We had a 2 week gap between our old lease ending and the new one beginning.
I have characteristics of both ends of the spectrum. I kept all the clothes and baby gear from my now 2 year old daughter, in case we have another girl. But when it comes to purchasing new things, i have a really hard time with it, because i worry that its just a waste of money, but once i acquire something its hard for me to ever get rid of it.
for me it depends on what the item is, I think… but majority of the time I’d definitely say I lean toward the minimalist end of things. I tend to think “the more I have the more I have to take care of…” lol and I can’t stand clutter taking up space… I use the 6 months to a year rule…. if I haven’t used it, worn it, messed with it etc. then it got to go… hahahaha
lol!! I tell my husband that if I die first he will become a hoarder! After 18 years of marriage and 6 children it is clear that he is on the hoarder (pack rat) side of frugality and I am on the minimalist side of frugality. Thankfully we are both frugal! In 7 weeks we are selling our home of 12 yrs and buying a new (bigger) home. I’m pitching stuff out like crazy (NOT worth storing or moving it!) and he is guarding his garage and workroom from me. 😀
Keeping three broken snowblowers for parts for the one that works is something really poor people do (in NH anyways). I used to clean houses and I always marveled at the lack of stuff the rich people had, because they were secure that they if they needed something they could just go get it. Thanks for posting. Hello from Thrifty Thursday.
I would like to say I’m a minimalist. Unfortunately my shed and storage cupboards would betray me.
I don’t stockpile ‘just in case’. I am very good at getting rid of clothes that no longer fit, baby items we no longer need, books we no longer read, etc. I very rarely buy from thrift shops, garage sales, or clearance sales unless it’s something I know we’ll need. But . . . . My kids wear a uniform to school; a couple of times a year the school will have swaps tables where you can drop off things that don’t fit your kids and pick up uniforms in the next size up, and so I’ve managed to get uniforms for my kids pretty much until they finish primary school. (My kids are in grades 1 and 3.) I have Christmas presents for everyone but my immediate family through 2016 (and I’ve got quite a few things tucked away for the kids for 2016 too.) I will buy food and toiletries in bulk if the price is right. When it became clear last December that I was going to lose my job I went right out and bought Valentine gifts and Christmas gifts for my kids to give to their classmates until they’re out of primary school. Etc.
I do keep it all fairly organised. Everything is boxed up and labelled and out of the way – even if you saw the shed you wouldn’t think we were packrats. We don’t look like hoarders, with piles of stuff everywhere. And it is all stuff that we will, eventually, use and pass on. Still – it’s something I have to watch in myself.
Definitely on the side of frugal minimalist. I can’t stand clutter and get rid of it quickly. But this can backfire, as I’ve gotten rid of things that, down the line, I probably should’ve kept. Still, those are rare, and I’m glad I’m minimalist. The less I need, the less I spend 🙂
We are on the same page on this one! I’ve been holding on to my 4 year old daughter’s baby clothes because we still plan to have 1-2 more children within the next couple of years. If one of them is a girl, then I would like to have free clothes in good condition to put her in. If they are both boys, then I will eventually get rid of them after we are done having kids. I also stockpile food and have a gift closet. I only buy clearance items and shop sales when things are 50% off or more. If I’m going to purchase something to add to the gift closet I absolutely have to know who it’s for and for what occasion (birthday, christmas). If I like something but can’t think who to give it to, then I do not buy it.
I am going to have to say that I probably lean toward the minimalist side of things these days. I was more on the pack rat side years ago, but now, I have found myself wanting things (not needing them, but simply wanting them) and not feeling the need whatsoever to bring them home because questions like…
Where would I put that?
Do I really NEED that?
Is that only good for one thing?
…come into my head and keep me in line.
In your example with the children’s clothing, I would have donated those to a thrift store long ago. Seven years is too long for me to hold onto something like that. But, there’s nothing against stocking up when something is on sale. I have 3 or 4 bottles of laundry detergent in my hall closet for a household of two because we’ll use it eventually, and it doesn’t take up that much space so I understand both sides.
Interesting question! I think that I am a minimalist when it comes to decorating and my personal wardrobe. However, I do keep all of my kids’ clothes for the next in line! I also like to stock up on groceries when they are on sale at rock-bottom prices. I guess I tend to be more severe on myself and my needs but make sure that my kids have plenty!
I’m a recovering hoarder. I come from a household where toilet paper rolls and scrap fabric is saved for “projects”. As an adult, w’ve moved 5 times in the last 6 years and added a second kid in that time. All my baby clothes get past down to my nieces. My youngest baby is 3.5, I may or may not be done having kids but we have 0 left for a baby. I’m pretty relentless about decluttering. We move again in a month (another cross country move, they’ve all been cross country moves) and I live strictly by this William Morris quote “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” My house probably still would look like a hoarder house to a minimalist though.
I am definitely a minimalist — both by nature, and then nature got exacerbated when I lived in 11 apartments during 11 years in New York (really. Long story.) However, if my life circumstances were different, I could see myself having gone in the hoarder direction — for example, if I’d intended to have lots of kids, I’d definitely be saving everything for hand-me-downs even if it meant hauling it across the country. I don’t need much for just me, but big families always seem to use everything up eventually.
I’m actually a little bit of both. I will keep things that might be potentially useful, but I go on occasional purges and get rid of things that haven’t lived up to their potential. Last night my husband asked if I wanted to keep a plastic jar his trail mix came in and I had to tell him, “Don’t ask me that question if you don’t want that jar taking up space for the next several months.” He promptly threw it away.
I am the frugal hoarder, and my husband is too. We have things we haven’t used in 10 years, but we won’t get rid of them in case we need them. Your right, we just call it stockpiling to make ourselves feel better. 🙂