My Minimalist Journey – Part 5

July 25, 2023

Minimalism lesson: Stop saving for “rainy days” that don’t come.

Minimalism means so many different things to so many different people. I’m definitely not an extreme minimalist and likely never will be, but I am trying to be more minimalist in my mindset. One of my biggest hurdles is the “someday” mindset – I tend to save things for some unknown, far away day when I might need it more than I do today. I didn’t even realize that’s what I was doing until I read a finance article about emergency funds. The article said that many people create emergency funds and never use them. It went on to say that “emergencies” can include good things, like paying to attend a friend’s wedding or some other celebration. This blew my mind… because I was one of the people that had created an untouchable emergency fund. IN FACT, I went into debt to pay for attending a friend’s wedding without ever considering that I could tap into my emergency fund. I had put my emergency fund on such a pedestal that it was untouchable.

I realized I was also doing this with my household stuff. I was storing extras for “someday special.” I was even avoiding opening disposable cleaning wipes that I bought 4 years ago because I didn’t “really need” to yet. What!?!? I had to get out of my “for emergencies only” mentality because there is no impending emergency. If I ran out of disposable cleaning wipes – guess what! – I’ve already proved I don’t need them because I’ve been doing everything besides opening them already! 

Now, I’ve opened every canister. There is one in each bathroom, one under the kitchen sink, and one in the laundry room. I use them to wipe up any little spills, sanitize the door handles, wipe up messes from my overenthusiastic toddler’s bathroom trip, wipe the dust buildup off the back of the toilets, and wipe down the fronts of my kitchen cabinets. My house is actually getting cleaned because I stopped saving my “rainy day” stash, and started actually using them for the very purpose they were designed to fulfill. 

This is all part of a scarcity mindset, and I’m learning so much about myself and how I live by understanding that my cynicism actually stems from this mentality.

Do you have something you’re saving for a “rainy day” that may never come? I know I’m not the only one that has fallen into this trap, and it blows my mind that my usually logical brain has rationalized so much of this scarcity mentality. It’s okay if you realize you’ve been saving in vain! You are not alone!