u/Majestic_Reply9704

I feel like there’s a side of adulting/finances nobody talks about.

A lot of budgeting advice is aimed at people cutting back on optional spending: shopping, bars, takeout, impulse buys, etc. But what about people whose “extra” costs are unavoidable?

I got so deep into minimalist/frugal mindsets that now I question even basic necessities because I’m hyper-aware of every pound leaving my account. And when you’re disabled or have medical needs, sometimes there’s no “just spend less” solution. If you need a wheelchair, medication, medical equipment, or even a bigger bag to carry it all, you just *have* to pay for it.

I rarely see people talk about how exhausting it is to spend money only on necessities and still feel like you can’t get ahead or properly enjoy life.

Sorry if a more appropriate place for this would be a disability community or something, but I also figured that since its about adult life, money, budgeting, ect. That it still fits.

I’m trying to consume more consciously for a lot of reasons, and if you’re in this subreddit, I’m guessing many of you probably are too, so I won’t go into all of that here.

Byt what I’m struggling with is finding the balance between conscious consumption and completely depriving myself of joy.

For example, I like plants, and I feel like I can justify owning them for a bunch of reasons, some can be practical:

vegetables, fruit, medicinal plants like aloe vera or eucalyptus, and even 'decorative' plants make me happy because they improve my space, make the air quality feel fresher.

The problem is that I overthink every purchase connected to them.

If I need a plant pot, I’ll spend hours trying to figure out: what size is best, what material is most practical, whether drainage is necessary, whether I should use a nursery pot inside a decorative pot or drill holes into a decorative pot and use a tray, what soil mix is best, ect.

Eventually I get so overwhelmed trying to make the “right” decision that I give up entirely and just don’t get the plant at all.

To me, that *was* the point of minimalism and conscious consumerism: being intentional about what you bring into your life instead of buying things impulsively.

But weirdly, when I’ve mentioned this in minimalism spaces before, some people reacted very negatively. A few basically said I was “wasting time” by thinking so hard about purchases and that you should just buy things if you want them.

That confused me, because I thought conscious consumption *was* about thinking carefully before buying things.

So I guess my question is:

Do you think conscious consumerism is actually about intentional decision-making and carefully considering purchases? Or am I misunderstanding the concept entirely?

And does anyone else get so overwhelmed trying to make the “best” or most responsible choice that it sometimes stops you from buying anything at all? I just don't want to buy something that wasn't the smartest decision, only having to buy even *more* things later to make up for it.

I also don’t want to fall back into old habits from when I was younger, where I’d suddenly become obsessed with a new hobby, research everything about it, buy all the equipment immediately, and then barely use any of it before moving on to the next thing.

Looking back, I accumulated a lot of stuff that I never properly used, and now as an adult I cringe at how wasteful that was. At the time it felt normal to me, but now I’m much more aware of conscious consumption and I really don’t want to repeat those patterns.

So I think a lot of my overthinking comes from trying to make sure I genuinely want something and won’t just fall back into impulsive habits again. Maybe it’s overkill, but I can at least understand where it comes from.

So basically, due to my current living situation, my pantry, cleaning supplies, hobby supplies, bedding, toiletries, coats, shoes, clothes, ornaments, and basically anything else that you could think of. Live in one room, with me.

Like as in... my bedroom that I sleep in. So... I have done a massive declutter, but now I just need to organize everything.... and maybe even somehow get rid of a little more? And make it work.

I would really like to move out soon (I bet you're wondering why, lol) and I was kinda just coming on here hoping for some advice as to what to do with my space.

I'm happy to go into more specifics on certain things if that helps, but I just want my space to help me feel sane, and I would like for moving to be as painless as possible... if everything is already organized, and I have less stuff, then I can only hope that it'd be made easier.

I just feel like my collection is huge right now, and I feel like it would be less stressful if I just had less. But at the same time, I don't think I want to get rid of any, so I'm really torn on what to do. If anybody has any advice as to if they've had the downsides their collection themselves or for really any reason, maybe you could let me know what your process was and how it went, what you'd recommend, and so on and so forth, as to how to deal with what I feel like is having too many.

I’m moving out soon, and I know that this might sound silly, but... the thought of having a place that just looks like a standard 'grown up' apartment, honestly makes me cringe a little.

Not because adulthood itself scares me, exactly, but because I don’t want my home to feel cold, generic, or like I’m role-playing as an adult version of myself, rather than making my space feel catered to me.

I don’t want the default grey sofa/white walls/everything-looking-the-same vibe. Just because that’s what most apartments are built around...

I want my space to feel comforting, personal, safe, and genuinely *me* not like I’m trying to force myself into some intimidating idea of adulthood.

It’s hard to explain, but I’m scared of ending up in a space that feels vacant instead of lived-in. Does anyone else feel this way?

Idk how to go my whole life growing up in one place, for another to feel like home. I'm torn between thinking that I should hold minimalist ideals, and that a bright, open space would make me feel happy, and like I can breathe.

And then, feeling like it would feel vacant and lonely... I don't want my home to feel like a void, i want it to feel like a home.

I just feel really intimidated, and I genuinely don't have any idea as to how I would go about doing that. Any advice would be appreciated. :)

This is also sort of part of the same question, but a little bit different. Does anybody else also feel like you can only handle living in a really small space?

I genuinely wouldn't know what to do if I was in a place that was massive... or tiny.

I feel like having to let go of everything I own and that living out of a shoe box would drive me crazy... but I also feel like living in a very large space would make me feel equally as insane... sorry if I'm just sounding picky now. 😅

But idk what to do, or how to feel...

So basically, due to my current living situation, my pantry, cleaning supplies, hobby supplies, bedding, toiletries, coats, shoes, clothes, ornaments, and basically anything else that you could think of. Live in one room, with me.

Like as in... my bedroom that I sleep in. So... I have done a massive declutter, but now I just need to organize everything.... and maybe even somehow get rid of a little more? And make it work.

I would really like to move out soon (I bet you're wondering why, lol) and I was kinda just coming on here hoping for some advice as to what to do with my space.

I'm happy to go into more specifics on certain things if that helps, but I just want my space to help me feel sane, and I would like for moving to be as painless as possible... if everything is already organized, and I have less stuff, then I can only hope that it'd be made easier.

So basically what the title says, somehow, I've deleted about 10,000 photos and videos, and probably over 1,000 emails, and unsubrcribed and/or blocked a bunch of email providers.

And I haven't accumulated anything new, AND I've deleted spam, and I've gone into my trash and deleted everything from there...

And yet I'm now at full capacity on storage space, when I wasnt a few weeks ago... how?

Can someone please tell me what to do to get space back... I'm deleting about 400 photos and emails every single day, and yet I'm still not getting any space back... what on earth, should I do?

So... I am in fact an adult female, but I see everyone's living spaces on here and... my room feels like a cluttered child's by comparison.

So basically... I have some things from childhood. About 40 soft toys/teddies/plushies. Some figures, toys, dolls, action figures, ect.

And though I do want to declutter most of them, and pop a few in a memory box maybe? I see everyone else's spaces that I love, and they're SO minimal. But thats a huge part as to why I love them!

So, I guess I'm just thinking, 'how do I make my space look more like that, without getting rid of completely everything?' So thats kinda what I'm here to ask.

I even looked into statistics that said that only about 40% of women aged I think that it was 16-25 have a soft toy anyways, and that was one, not in the current space that they're living in... and kept from childhood. So now I feel really immature.

Idk... I just feel like my space looks babyish, and I want it to feel more mature. Even growing up and seeing friends rooms, they just didnt have toys, or they were at the very least, packed away.

Making their room look so good... I just have too much stuff, and I don't like it :/

Any advice would be appreciated. And yes, I don't buy any 'Kids stuff' anymore, and I have been actively organizing and decluttering it to make it look better, *and* I have asked people to not buy me anything like it either. 👍

So basically, I've been collecting Rainbow High dolls for quite a while now. My only issue is basically at one point I went a little bit overboard and bought too many, and now I'm a little bit overwhelmed with the amount that I have.

With everything in my life at the moment, I'm trying to condense everything down to only the absolute core things that I love.

If something is meh or just okay, it's not enough for me to actually have in my space and want to keep it, because my space is very limited.

I just was wondering how do other people go about collecting them?

Are you a completionist, and so say, for example, you get one of the rainbow divas, you need to have all three? If you have dolls from series 1, do you have to have all of series 1 and so on and so forth?

It's also a bit difficult because I sometimes customise them. So as someone that kind of used them as a canvas, it's a lot easier to buy a lot more that I think maybe I don't like all the things about because I could change those things.