Now that you've gotten rid of all your stuff, here's what can spark your joy

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." - Will Rogers

So in the modern world we're supposed to work hard, earn money, and then buy happiness. Sounds good, I mean what better way to spend our money than on our happiness and that of those around us? The problem is that we are terrible happiness investors.

We buy products thinking they will increase our well-being but most of our belongings lose their luster within hours of being unpackaged. So what do we do? We go out and buy more things to fill the human shaped hole in our hearts.

How can we be so foolish? Well marketers are very smart. They know that the utility of their product does not have enough value to make a profit so they need to imbue their 'good' with magical powers that help you signal to other people some kind of trait or virtue. We don't just buy things, we buy stories that help use define one of our own most valuable resources; our own stories. Our image. Our reputation.

"We are living in an era of woke capitalism where companies pretend to care about social justice to sell products to people who pretend to hate capitalism." - Clay Routledge

A Nike t-shirt or a Gillette razor doesn't just cover my back and shave my face, it demonstrates the character that I want to present to the world. And the value of that added on story is built directly into the price of the product. We pay extra for it. In fact, sometimes the idea that we paid extra for it is exactly what we're paying for in the first place. What does it show to my peers that I dropped a superfluous $80 on sneakers to get the newest Jordans or that I spend 50% more on my lettuce because it's supposedly better for the environment. We make very conspicuous purchases to use some company's brand to define your personal 'brand' and to improve our status. Geoffrey Miller puts it this way, "conspicuously displayed aesthetic taste is a convenient, visible way for people to display their deeper personality traits." But once the purchase has been made and the object ages a bit it often no longer serves its story telling purpose and needs to be replaced.


In any event, the point is we buy a lot of stuff and it doesn't make us happy longer term. Luckily for us, people like Marie Kondo and Josh Becker come along and give a convincing argument of why and how we should get rid of the crap so that we can live our lives.

Speaking of living our lives though...  What do we do with ourselves once we've decluttered that one time. How can we protect ourselves from the wily and compelling stories of marketing and media? What does a minimalist do for fun?

For this I recommend a list that was an appendage in a book called "Spent" by evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller. He argues that homo sapiens have been having their "joy sparked" by some naturally occurring pleasures for so long that they have become ingrained in our DNA to be much more satisfying for a much longer time than anything Apple or Burberry could sell us.

by David Sipress

Here is his Natural-Living Test. The idea is that you should at least score 100 (although I'm pretty sure this isn't a measure that has been normed in anyway. 100 is just a ballpark minimal threshold)

In the last 30 days how many times have you:

• rocked a newborn baby to sleep
• made up a story and told it a child
• felt the sunrise warm your face
• satisfied your hunger by eating a ripe fruit\
• satisfied your thirst by drinking cool water
• shown courage in protecting a child from danger
• shown leadership and resourcefulness in an emergency
• shared a meal with parents,, siblings, or close relatives
• gossiped with an old friend
• made a new friend
• made something beautiful and gave it to someone
• repaired something that was broken
• improved a skill through diligent practice
• learned something new about a plant or animal near you
• changed your mind on something important because of new evidence
• followed advice from someone older than you
• taught a useful skill or fact to someone younger than you
• petted a furry animal like a dog, cat, or monkey
• worked with clay, earth, stone, wood, or fiber
• comforted someone who was dying
• walked over a hill and across a stream
• identified a bird by its song
• played a significant role in a local ritual, festival, drama, or party
• played a team sport
• made a physical effort to achieve a collective goal with others
• sustained silent eye contact with someone to show affection
• shamed someone for behaving badly for the greater good
• resolved a serious argument using humour, self control, or empathy
• sang, danced, or played instruments with friends
• made friends laugh out loud
• reached mutual orgasm with a sexual partner
• experienced sublime beauty that made your hair stand on end
• experienced an oceanic sense of oneness with the cosmos that made you think, "this is how church should feel"
• applied the golden rule by helping someone in need
• warmed yourself by an open fire under the stars

I don't think this list is exhaustive and he wrote it over ten years ago. I'd be curious if he or you had anything to add to it. I think its fantastic that people are getting rid of the anxiety inducing clutter in their homes but when you are considering what to add to your life now that you have so much time and space and energy... consider this list.