I am a marketer and a minimalist.

In fact I became a minimalist to become a marketer.

I had to adopt a minimalist philosophy if I could ever seriously consider becoming my own boss and starting my own company.

If I had not removed all excess from my life I would have continued working at my management job.

And although I enjoyed working with the people at my job, it took away valuable time with my daughters in a very critical time of their childhood.

By the time I quit my job I had a reliable Honda Civic that was paid off.

My rent was reasonable and my other monthly expenses were as low as I could get them. SUPER LOW!

I stopped buying unnecessary things, even those that I loved.

In return I got back my sanity and my time. I started to appreciate my life and those around me much more than ever before.

Minimalism During the Holidays

These are very tough times in our world and our country. Very tough. Just turn on your television for examples.

People are having to do more with less while every government entity is reaching in their pockets to tax them more to fill the gap in their own budgets.

Add on to that inflation making everything more expensive and their dollars being able to buy less and it makes my heart sink for some families.

Then we arrive to this time of the year where excess is everywhere. People will take on more debt to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and bury themselves even deeper in a hole. (People are already camping out 5 days before Black Friday at Best Buy)

A hole that is already 6 feet deep for some.

This is capitalism. This is what makes America beautiful.

I am all for people spending money and paying taxes to keep our country going.

But at what cost? 

When will we have enough junk?

When will we stop spending money on the newest gadget that we will likely not be using in a years time?

When will we start appreciating the people in our lives and cherish the time that we have with them?

I used to hate working during the holidays  at the grocery stores.

People are the meanest and rudest during this time of the year which really had me confused when I was a young lad.

It didn’t make sense to me back then, but it makes sense now.