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> The modern minimalism movement ... ... is an oxymoron. It is plenty obvious from a quick scan of https://reddit.com/r/minimalism https://reddit.com/r/minima

> The modern minimalism movement ... ... is an oxymoron. It is plenty obvious from a quick scan of https://reddit.com/r/minimalism https://reddit.com/r/minimalism where they struggle with reconciling all different interpretations of minimalism on daily basis. For some it's asceticism, for others it's having just one Rolex instead of 10 Seikos. There's also a separate circus from the "Help, my SO wants to buy a 2nd fork!" variety. There's no single prominent movement, it's very much all over the place and to each his own.

imgabe 10y ago
The problem I had with /r/minimalism is that it's more focused on the aesthetic movement rather than the lifestyle movement. A 4,000sf house with sparse furniture and clean straight lines is minimalist in an aesthetic sense, but not really in the sense of owning only exactly what you need to do what you want and no more. The two meanings of minimalism seem to create a lot confusion and conflict about whether a given thing is "minimalist".
- huhtenberg 10y ago
  > not really in the sense of owning only exactly what you need to do what you want and no more It's one and the same really. Once you have a bit more money the pragmatic live-in-a-shoebox minimalism tends to transform into the "aesthetic" variety - you still own a bare minimum that makes you happy, but you can now afford a better quality of the same. Be it a larger place or a more expensive pair of jeans.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    But a larger place is by definition not the bare minimum - you have more square footage than you need.
    - huhtenberg 10y ago
      For bare minimum you can sleep on a park bench :) "Need" is subjective and the rest follows from there.
lamacase 10y ago
From the article: >Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. The movement involves reflecting on your personal values, so of course it's going to have almost as many expressions as there are people doing it.
- matwood 10y ago
  I would add that it helps people not just to think about things adding value, but also add costs. It's the old Fight Club adage about "the things you own, own you", and "only when you have nothing, can you do anything." While it can be taken to the extreme, the underlying premise is true. Buy a new car and you're going to be worried about taking care of it. Buy a used car and you're a bit less worried b/c it already has some scratches. Don't buy a car at all, and you're never worried about the car (maybe how to get places if you don't live in a city...) The goal should be to only add things to your life where the value is more than the costs. One situation where people have huge differing opinions is kids. Kids probably cost more than anything else someone can obtain in life. They are expensive money wise, time wise, and emotionally, but for some the value is huge, and others not so much.

imgabe 10y ago

The problem I had with /r/minimalism is that it's more focused on the aesthetic movement rather than the lifestyle movement. A 4,000sf house with sparse furniture and clean straight lines is minimalist in an aesthetic sense, but not really in the sense of owning only exactly what you need to do what you want and no more. The two meanings of minimalism seem to create a lot confusion and conflict about whether a given thing is "minimalist".

huhtenberg 10y ago
> not really in the sense of owning only exactly what you need to do what you want and no more It's one and the same really. Once you have a bit more money the pragmatic live-in-a-shoebox minimalism tends to transform into the "aesthetic" variety - you still own a bare minimum that makes you happy, but you can now afford a better quality of the same. Be it a larger place or a more expensive pair of jeans.
- icebraining 10y ago
  But a larger place is by definition not the bare minimum - you have more square footage than you need.
  - huhtenberg 10y ago
    For bare minimum you can sleep on a park bench :) "Need" is subjective and the rest follows from there.

lamacase 10y ago

From the article: >Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. The movement involves reflecting on your personal values, so of course it's going to have almost as many expressions as there are people doing it.

matwood 10y ago
I would add that it helps people not just to think about things adding value, but also add costs. It's the old Fight Club adage about "the things you own, own you", and "only when you have nothing, can you do anything." While it can be taken to the extreme, the underlying premise is true. Buy a new car and you're going to be worried about taking care of it. Buy a used car and you're a bit less worried b/c it already has some scratches. Don't buy a car at all, and you're never worried about the car (maybe how to get places if you don't live in a city...) The goal should be to only add things to your life where the value is more than the costs. One situation where people have huge differing opinions is kids. Kids probably cost more than anything else someone can obtain in life. They are expensive money wise, time wise, and emotionally, but for some the value is huge, and others not so much.