minimal

posted on July 17, 2024

i hate spending money unnecessarily, especially on stuff that’s purely for entertainment. i’m a fairly anxious person so i’ve always saved most of the money i made (when possible), having the safety of a bank account just calms me.

when buying physical things, i value endurance a lot. like, if it has moving parts or stuff that wears out, i want them to be replaceable. fyi in the EU they’re passing a law that phones/tablets MUST have replaceable batteries by 2027, afaik. that’s an awesome thing. a lot of times we throw away perfectly functioning electronics that just have a battery that died out.

apart from highly valuing endurance, i also try to have few things. going back to the saving money part, i feel good if i know i can replace everything whenever it breaks down.

i was trying to explain this to a friend today, that I guess every commercialized item has a certain minimum price threshold where value and price meet. for example, for a phone, the cheap ones can be unusable but the price is… low. the mid tier ones are good and the price is average. and the top tier ones are slightly better but the price is exorbitant.

i guess what im trying to say is, it pays off in the long term to spend a little more upfront and have something that works well and lasts a decent amount of time, instead of spending less upfront but having to replace it sooner and/or have a shittier experience with it.

i dont have many things, i guess apart from electronics (which i also use for work, like desktop/laptop/phone/tablet plus headphones and accessories) i have a single dslr camera with two lenses and a yamaha acoustic guitar. i… really can’t think of anything else. i guess some clothes, which to my detriment, i wear until they’re basically falling apart. sometimes i ask my grandma to try to repair them…

few years ago i had even less stuff. apart from the bulky stuff like the desktop and monitors, basically all of my life possessions fitted inside of an eastpak travelpack, which is basically a small luggage sized backpack. yup, it actually felt good knowing i was that… unencumbered? it felt liberating.

anyways, i guess im trying to explain how i balance the triangle of being stingy / minimalist / still wanting to enjoy life : )