A lot of people are turning to ‘extreme’ minimalism, and there are some great content online. Here’s a list of YouTubers I previously posted elsewhere, please add to it.
- 🇬🇧 Lost Yet Free - old series of videos about ‘bum bag travel’, thought-provoking but limited, definitely a gateway to zero bagging.
- 🇳🇱 Anja’s Art World - Really interesting videos with nice music
- 🇯🇵 Aki (Samurai Matcha)- A minimalist who is a school teacher living in a small village in Japan
- 🇳🇬 Mayo Uruk - Inspiring vlogger living in a small village in Nigeria
- 🇯🇵One Minimal Life - London based vlogger, calming music, not very extreme but very inspiring
- 🇺🇸 Timothy Ward - American guy marching to his own beat, very engaging with viewers
- 🇷🇺 Victoria Terekhina - Started as a vlog about Minimalism, now more general but very interesting
- 🇰🇪 Simply Fatima Amiri- Kenyan rural minimalist, really interesting videos, different culture but many similarities, particularly in outlook
- 🇬🇧 Sage Life Minimalism - British lady that seems to be starting out on her extreme minimalism journey
- 🇺🇦 Victoria Vlasenko - Some nice videos, generally self-improvement based but some interesting thoughts on Minimalism
- 🇩🇪 Undine Almani - Long term minimalist from Germany, occasionally discusses Extreme Minimalism
- 🇺🇸 Rob Greenfield - Eco-conscious activist, has a few videos (mainly outside his channel, but linked) about his Extreme Minimalist, Homesteading lifestyle
- 🇺🇸 Crystalline - More a wellness channel but with some nice walkthroughs and extreme declutters
- 🌍Trying Hard Minimalist Extreme Minimalist, based in the UK, former hoarder. Really nice walk-throughs.
- 🇦🇺Shireen - Aussie extreme minimalist, focuses on simple living and finances.
- 🇺🇸 Minimally Michele - Online journal, focus is on wellness and living light.
- 🇵🇹 Lusa Silva - Interesting videos, zero-bag travelling extreme minimalist lady from Portugal.
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My gut reaction is that I just don’t see the benefit of extreme minimalism. For me, minimalism is a tool to live a more peaceful life. Extreme minimalism seems more like a challenge or discipline that would create stress. Is this the draw? To test yourself on how little you can do with? Having to be resourceful, ingenuitive and persevere through difficulty?
I’m genuinely asking, I’d love to hear from some folks who derive benefit or satisfaction from this. What draws you? What are you seeking?
I disagree. “Extreme” minimalism is by far the most lucrative, if you’re someone in my position. It’s an 80/20 thing - the first 80% of the climb gets you only 20% of the benefits. It’s not about “how little you can do with” or “perseverance” or the stuff at all, I think that’s really a misconception.
When you get to the point where all of your shit is in a backpack or you eat only whole foods or you have exactly 100 items or whatever, you start to really FEEL the impact of having more financial resources, having more geographical freedom, having more time, and being less psychologically tied down. You feel stupid for living in such a big house, or for going to McDonalds every week, or for spending every Saturday on Netflix, or for never bothering to apply for other jobs, and you get pissed at your past self for all of that waste, but that “wtf do I do now” is where things get interesting.
You get to this point where you’re… I dunno, bored I guess? because all of those meaningless placeholders in your life are gone, and you genuinely don’t want them back, so you start to delve into things that have always been lingering in the back of your mind, and all of a sudden they actually start to happen and gain momentum. You also start to trust yourself a lot more and are more comfortable being unconventional because hey, it got you this far. People go in different directions from there - the travel/digital nomad/move to NYC thing is a commonly discussed route, but I don’t think that’s everyone. The only overarching sentiment in those subcommunities is “this is MY life, it’s all the things I personally dreamed of, and I’m in control of it”. Not perfect by any stretch, but satisfying and unwasted.
Most people who get into minimalism never go further than throwing out some stuff and getting some food for thought. They have a new awareness surrounding frivolous spending and the excesses of life, but that’s about it. That has some value, but it only just skims the surface of the larger “minimalism” iceberg, which at its core is just a tool to combat risk aversion and to encourage people to actually take some risks and try to live their best life. Most people regret what they didn’t do because they prioritized comfort and convenience and familiarity, because our brains are built to be more risk averse than is optimal in modern society.
Granted, I think everyone sits on a spectrum of how open they are to change and how much they crave new experiences and “richness”, as it were (in psychology it falls under “openness”). I think that dictates, to a large degree, whether people find minimalism appealing and are receptive to it. BUT I did find it a bit insulting when would people just write it off as “fitting everything in a backpack cuz you can” or “stupid” or even “just doing it for clicks”, because fuck them, how would they know? As with so many things, a subset of that comes from a place of resentment or regret or jealousy.
Also, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t feel stuck, they ARE stuck. They come to minimalism to try to escape from something inescapable. That comes from things like being in poverty, having children that you didn’t want, being in debt, being physically sick, and any number of other things. For those people… yeah, you can pare down to a backpack and that won’t get rid of anything. Minimalism is great, but life isn’t a Hollywood movie, and not everyone has a happy beginning, middle, or end. Minimalism can help you take a risk, but it can’t fix you.
Fantastic response, whilst I don’t agree with everything Is say you’re pretty much on target.
When you get to the point where all of your shit is in a backpack or you eat only whole foods or you have exactly 100 items or whatever, you start to really FEEL the impact of having more financial resources, having more geographical freedom, having more time, and being less psychologically tied down
It is the result or realisation of owning just what you really want and need and it being so little. The possibilities expand and you realise how much stuff you wanted or owned was effectively noise. This of course leads to one being even more intent with theirselves which can be a little unnerving. However life is much better and more enjoyable as a result.
Curious what you disagree with? Just wondering because of course my exact experience and perception isn’t going to match up with that of everyone else, so it’s interesting to compare notes.
I imagine part of it is promoting their business if they do run it as one. Extreme content gets more clicks, so you need to be as extremely minimalist as you can to funnel potential customers into your business. You need to give people something to aspire to so they look at your blog, course, whatever else.
I view ‘extreme’ Minimalism as branding or a deliberate way to differentiate what would have been just ‘minimalist lifestyle’ 10 or so years ago against what is a heavily commercialised trend now.
The benefits are basically what is normally espoused about a minimalist life: clarity, mindful living, better financial management, flow, agility, and peacefulness.
It is a mindset largely. I own more a backpacks worth of stuff, although what I own is valued, used, and maintainable.
To quote Francine Jay:
In general, all the “things” in my life can be replaced; and in some cases, I may not even bother to replace them.
I’m fascinated by extreme minimalism, but not sure it’s for me. I’ll watch these as inspiration, tho.
I subscribed to some of these. They are all women though. Not sure if by design or if you just happened to randomly prefer women’s channels.