HackMake

Minimal Is Not (Necessarily) Frugal

Randy Murray:

Living a minimal life doesn’t have to mean not owning things. It can mean, and I choose it to mean, owning only the things that matter.

For me, there’s no reward in being uncomfortable for the sake of living a minimal life. I find that having less, but better made, more purposeful things does make my life better and freer.

Nicely put. There’s value in taking an active role in the things you own rather than just having stuff. My quality of life has most drastically increased by the things which I’ve added to my life rather than taken away. Removing the useless and the broken to make room for what matters and the better is important.


“Frugal” to me doesn’t mean being cheap. It means being mindful of the value of something, from the cost of it in dollars, the longterm cognitive cost of owning it, and the return for me in how something helps improve my life. Sometimes the most expensive thing costs me the least amount of stress and attention over its life and that lets me live mine.