Selling all your stuff is fun, at least it was both times we did it. You learn new stuff each time, and when you do need to purchase stuff you know of better purchasing methods like Thrift Shops, or finding ways to re-purpose stuff, for that matter. But sometimes it pays to not actually sell all your stuff – sort of – especially when that stuff provides you with some amazing life experiences. So yeah, sometimes it’s okay to keep stuff.

Recently, I was asked about some popular minimalists and their take on minimalism. I said I didn’t exactly subscribe to their “methods”, but said “to each their own” and then offered my two cents about our minimalist lifestyle – we promote doing more stuff with less stuff.

For us, experiencing more stuff involves less stuff, and it works for us. Living with less has allowed us to see and do so much more because we’ve stayed light. That being said, if I still enjoyed playing golf, I’d have golf clubs. If I still played hockey, I’d have equipment and continue playing. If I were a skateboarder, snowboarder, wakeboarder, kiteboarder, or water-boarder, I’d likely have a board for each said boarding occasions.

The same can be said about many people’s hobbies. As I’ve said to others, if you enjoy making crafts, don’t toss your hot-glue gun because someone said you can only have X items to be a “minimalist”. That’s just silly. If it gives you enjoyment, and others get enjoyment from your creations, why give it up? In these cases, it’s okay to keep stuff.

It can be a fine line between a hobby and hoarding these days, though. And sometimes this happens; You went wakeboarding one time on vacation and LOVED it, so you went out and bought a wakeboard…but have since only wakeboarded twice…in the last three years…and you live in a part of the world where you have to drive several hours to find decent wakeboarding spots…but you don’t have a friend with a boat (a major requirement of wakeboarding). This is one of those situations where it’s not okay to keep stuff. You’ve made a silly purchase you need to learn from.

It’s okay to keep stuff sometimes, just go easy on the purchasing of new stuff – find used stuff whenever possible. If you’re starting a new hobby, before purchasing all the necessary necessities, try waiting a while to see if the hobby sticks or you outgrow it.

A minimalist lifestyle isn’t all about tossing out clothes because you can only have X number to live with to be part of some elite minimalist club. Nor is it all about living in X number of square feet, or being off-grid. It’s especially not about forcing any of your minimalist values onto family members. And nor is about selling all your stuff so you can go gallivanting around enjoying unique life experiences (because that take on minimalist is ours, get your own!)

In fact, finding your own unique path to your own minimalist lifestyle is part of the journey, so if part of that journey requires it, than it’s okay to keep stuff.

Now go sell all your stuff, except your wakeboard, obviously!