Looking at my amazing consumption bill, I found that there were no big items around me, and finally realized that just spending money can't make me happy.
This is my latest spending bill.
Someone asked me, "What is the meaning of minimalist life?" I want to say that this feeling is wonderful. After minimalism, I get more lasting happiness besides consumption, and I hope to share it with you.
1 Ability to solve problems
In the consumerism system, we tend to use consumption to solve problems. If you have poor hair quality, you can buy good shampoo, and if you want to look thin, you can buy a skirt to cover your meat. But this can't solve the fundamental problem. If the hair quality is poor, I will reduce dyeing, adjust my work and rest, eat healthy food, eat walnuts, black sesame seeds and so on to raise my hair. If I want to look thin, I will do aerobics and exercise with Liu Genghong.
Instead of solving the problem with consumption, it can help me get to the heart of the problem. Let me see, is there any other way to solve the problem besides shopping? ?
Have freedom.
In the past, it may cost 10 thousand yuan to buy clothes a year, but now it only costs 2,000 yuan, saving not only 8,000 yuan, but also the energy and time I need to pay behind this 8,000 yuan. For example, if my daily salary is 200 yuan, then I want to buy a dress from 500 yuan, which means I have to work for two and a half days. Everything you want to buy but don't know if it is particularly needed can be converted in this way. If it is worth it, that's what you really want. If it's not worth it, then you may not?
Low material desire = I have more time, energy and freedom, and I won't be trapped by work, and I don't have to kill myself because I want too much material.
In fact, I used to be a very dedicated person. I used to have a job that was a single day off, but I took two days off a month for performance. Every day except sleeping is work, so I have no time to spend with my family. I also replied to the customer's information when I was eating. I look sallow and exhausted. It happened that my mother was in poor health that year, so I left my job to take care of her. Now think about it, after all, work is for a better life, but if
After I understand, the current job competition will not affect me. He'll let him do it. I won't do it anyway. I quit the competition of consumerism, no longer define myself with brand labels like Audi Dior, and no longer define my life with objects.
Getting rid of the expectation of public success, the end of my life struggle has changed from a pile of consumer goods to enjoying everyday life and experiencing the fine details of the moment. I can also do what I want, play games, read books, exercise and make videos. How can life be boring? I can make money to buy the illusion created by consumerism, and what I leave behind may be fleeting. ?
3 expand the radius of happiness?
I remember switching from Nokia Keyphone to IPHONE4S in my junior year, and I was really happy for several months. That intergenerational upgrade experience really produced a lot of dopamine! Since then, I have never felt so happy because I changed my mobile phone.
When the sense of surprise is gone, dopamine is gone, and blind impulse consumption is gone. For a short period of happiness, dopamine will be fleeting.
But why are we still keen on buying in buy buy? Because the stimulation of dopamine will temporarily paralyze us and make us ignore things that are beneficial to us for a long time, such as health, savings and rest. Interest. ?
I didn't have time to enjoy life before, so I had to spend money to comfort myself during my busy work. Now I feel that I don't have to earn so much money to fill my consumption desire, and I don't have to work so hard. I used to spend all my work time on things I am interested in, so besides spending money, I now have many other ways to get dopamine, such as exercise, reading, making videos and playing games, which can make me happy. ?
4 abandon the heart of difference
After being involved in the torrent of consumerism, it is easy to define others and yourself by things. People with glamorous appearance will give in by three points, and people in rags will be disdainful, but in fact, everyone's personality is equal, and a person in trouble will also have noble character.
2 1, 10, there is a news that a takeaway brother climbed the stairs with his bare hands to save a 4-year-old girl. Did you watch the news? In the secular eyes, he may feel that he belongs to the lower class in society, but he saved the little girl's life instead. Do you really want to say that he is not noble because of his humble position?
Obviously not, and the source of this difference is to define people's class by material standards.
What brand of clothes to wear, what price car to drive, what job to do, and how big house to live in cannot be the labels that define this person. The only difference between us lies in personal cognition, character and morality.
I don't want to be a caring person, and I don't want others to see me through matter, and I don't want to define others by matter. Once I abandoned this material scale, my heart of difference disappeared. The disappearance of the heart of difference is also my highlight this year, and it is also the reason why I like myself better.
A stronger sense of purpose?
The book "The Greedy Dopamine" mentioned that dopamine has two circuits, one is the desire circuit and the other is the control circuit.
Then I will reduce the dopamine desire circuit by buying things, and I will use the dopamine control circuit. For example, my current goal is to achieve financial freedom before the age of 45, and the subscription of the entire platform will reach 50,000. I have these two long-term goals that pull me, and my small decisions in life revolve around these two goals. Most of my energy and attention will be devoted to the sub-tasks under these two goals, and I will directly abandon the unimportant things that cannot serve these two goals. For example, ineffective social interaction, brushing an audio and video for a long time.
6 the possibility of financial freedom
There is a formula for financial freedom, that is, 4%-5% of total assets is equal to your annual expenditure, and you are financially free. According to my original consumption standard, a family should spend at least 200 thousand a year. Then financial freedom needs at least 5 million. Now the consumption level has dropped, and the annual household expenditure has dropped to 60,000. After I stop working, I have to pay for future insurance and inflation myself. Even if the annual household expenditure is10000 to120000, Brother Liu and I need 2.5 to 3 million to be financially free. Compared with the original reduction of 2 million, according to the income of both of us, it is equivalent to working less for nearly ten years. Wouldn't it be better to save more than ten years to see the world?
We thought that the money we spent was just money, but in fact it was life. A skirt with a unit price of 300 and an hourly salary of 50 is equivalent to 6 hours of energy time and 6 hours of life. When buying each item, think about how many lives this item can be converted into, whether it is worth paying, and it may be more leisurely when spending. ?
No longer rely on buying to get the pleasure of life, the meaning of my life. The meaning of work is no longer just to buy something, and my happiness is no longer attached to an object, but it is much easier.
Of course, I'm not saying that I won't spend, but I will be vigilant before spending. Now I have more important links to maintain than linking life with various substances, and I am with my close friends, partners and family. The traces left on me by nature, music, books and movies can bring me greater pleasure.