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The Minimalists
The Minimalists are Emmy-nominated Netflix stars and New York Times–bestselling authors Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Alongside their podcast cohost, T.K. Coleman, this simple-living trio helps millions of people eliminate clutter and live meaningfully with less. Learn More.

Consumption Is Not the Problem

We all need some stuff. Many of us have taken it too far, though: the average American household contains more than 300,000 possessions.

We accumulate more than we need hoping it’ll make us happy someday. It won’t—we know this. Needing more will always lead to a pall of desire until, ultimately, we feel trapped by consumption.

But consumption isn’t the problem—compulsory consumption is. Purchasing more stuff to make us happy—adhering to a broken template—is the real issue.

The solution is to consume deliberately—to ignore the inane advertisements so we can determine what we need based on our lives, not on what we’ve been told.

We’re all different: what we need is different for each of us.