5 Simple Minimalist Habits That Can Make You Rich

I’m on day 57 out of my 90-day spending fast. So far I have saved $1,927 just by doing little things. For example, I haven’t spent money on new clothes, we haven’t eaten out, we’re cutting down on electricity, and we use our pellet stove to keep warm more often since the price of oil has gone up.

Minimalism and doing less have led to many positive things in my life. I’ve raised my income, lowered my expenses, and it helped with investing.

Here are five simple minimalist habits that have really improved my finances, and my life, and kind of made me wealthy:

1. Productive hobbies

In order to grow my income so I could save and then invest, I needed to earn more. I don’t care about money all that much or buying more and better stuff. But what I did care about was the freedom that money can actually buy.

But I didn’t have that many skills. I noticed that what I did in my free time really added a lot to my life. I don’t want to sound like hustle culture, but I took a lot of things that I was super excited about and monetized them.

What you do at night and on the weekends will help determine the rest of your life. Many people won’t try stuff because they’re tired after their day job but if you ever want to leave that day job, you need to do something else.

That’s why I work on finding hobbies that are somewhat productive. I play pickleball to keep me active, I make sourdough pizza dough from scratch to save us money, and Meredith makes jewelry she can sell.

It’s like turning life into a game and getting paid for it which is super rewarding.

2. Tricking myself into having self-discipline

It takes a lot of self-control and self-discipline to save money to start a business, stay in shape, and eat right. I see myself as lazy so I have to trick myself into self-control.

So, I go to the gym three times a week for 45 minutes and have been doing so for years. Now I’m to the point where I can’t stop going to the gym because my body will start to ache and I’ll feel anxious and antsy.

I started out by making a simple commitment to go for 90 days and I stuck to it and became just part of who I am.

I’ve tricked myself into eating healthy by starting for 90 days. If you cut out sugar for 90 days and then have it again, it won’t taste as good and you’ll notice how sluggish it makes you feel.

3. Creativity

I can’t draw well, but I am pretty creative and that is a minimalist principle. Creativity to me is this idea of doing more with less. If there’s a way to do something everyone is doing, I question if there’s a way I can do it more efficiently and productively.

This kind of thinking has saved me money and freed up a ton of time. Like with any big expense, we assume there’s got to be a better, cheaper way to do it.

For example, when we needed a new washer and dryer, we found brand-new appliances that were dinged for 50 percent off. Meredith buys expensive shoes for a few bucks at thrift stores. It’s our way of having high-quality stuff while saving money.

4. Focusing on less

Most of us have heard that the average millionaire has seven streams of income. That doesn’t mean having seven jobs at the same time. Since discovering minimalism, I discovered that most of those people gained their money through one thing and then they diversified into other things.

Once I realized that, I took all the energy that I was putting into many different things and put it all into one thing. For me, at first, that was real estate. Then I shifted my focus to YouTube.

We all try to go an inch deep and a mile wide and we burn out. Go a mile deep and an inch wide and be an expert in your area, that’s where exponential growth comes from. You never know if you could have done that thing you wanted to do if you never give it your full 100 percent shot.

5. Understanding true wealth

This is where minimalism has really helped me. I used to have the mindset of wanting more–more money and a bigger promotion to get more clothes, a nicer car, and a bigger house.

Then I started to notice there are people making half a million dollars a year working 100 hours a week and they’re not enjoying their family. They have huge houses, nice cars, and this lifestyle but I don’t need all the money in the world if that means I have to lose a lot of my freedom for it.

There’s a quote I love that says “Don’t sacrifice what you have for what you don’t need!”

If you have enough to be happy to survive because your expenses are low and your income doesn’t rely on working constantly, then you don’t need more, more, more. You can be happy with what you already have.

Do you really want to sacrifice your dreams, your family, and your free time in order to have a nicer house or car just because you’re making more money? It’s not a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

Instead, I’m focusing on understanding and pursuing true wealth which is more freedom to me. It offers me more options which is what most people do not have.

Minimalist habits

So that’s how I have the time to work on hobbies I love, spend time with my family, and really live a lifestyle by design, not by default. I want to look forward to every Monday morning instead of dreading it.

What do you think about my minimalist habits? Do you think minimalism can make you rich? Comment below to let me know.