All of that is fine, I agree, but his statement was stronger than "minimalism might cost more if you do it a certain way", it was "saving money is not a legitim

All of that is fine, I agree, but his statement was stronger than "minimalism might cost more if you do it a certain way", it was "saving money is not a legitimate motivation for minimalism". The latter is what I disagree with. This is running the risk of turning into semantic wanking over the meaning of "minimalism", so I'm going to shut up now.