“Cherishing what you have, not want, is the key to contentment” So runs the headline to an article on page 4 of today’s Courier Mail, Brisbane’s daily newspaper. What a revelation!!
So the mainstream media are beginning to pick up on what many of us already know, you cannot buy happiness.
Will we begin to see people trying to outdo each other in the simplicity stakes – sort of a reverse ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ or will they really understand that simplicity takes a range of guises and it is definitely not a competition?
Is voluntary simplicity the realm of those who can afford to make the choice?
Let me know what you think of this article.
I would also like to say a huge welcome to those of you who have visited today because of the link Rhonda posted at Down to Earth. I hope you will find something here that is of interest and that you consider coming back and perhaps joining as a follower.
Have a great weekend, whatever you are doing.
organised castle 
Absolutely. I often think that “professional minimalism” is just the reverse of KUWTJ and that’s why I have a hard time reading some of the more popular professional minimalist blogs anymore. But I’m also guilty myself of getting rid of stuff just for the sake of getting rid of stuff. It ends up defeating the purpose of me trying to be more minimalistic. I’m still obsessed with stuff if I’m obsessed with trying to get rid of it!
I understand what you mean about the ‘professional minimalist blogs’. Some are a bit too slick for my liking. It is difficult to find a balance with your stuff isn’t it? I don’t make a great production of decluttering or counting items etc. I just keep a bag on the back of the door of my sewing room and if I come across anything that no longer serves a useful purpose then it goes in the bag. When the bag is full, it goes to the op shop.
Simplicity does look different from person to person and situation to situation. I don’t think that simplicity is only for those who can afford it. How do you see it as a situation only available for some?
Simplifying my life gave me less need for money. I can live on much less now. Even for those who have a mortgage or other expense they can’t reduce, simplifying other areas of life such as eating more home cooked meals over take-out will save them a lot of money each month. Buying second hand clothes as well over new will do the same.
I agree with everything you said, however, I find some people who are constantly struggling to make ends meet can be a little resentful of those who are reasonably well-off and choose simplicity. It is as though they feel that they have no choice but to live a hand-to-mouth existence and barely get by and that those those who choose voluntary simplicity are mocking them.
I get that, it’s one thing to choose it, it’s another to feel you have no choice, therefore it’s forced on you.
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