- [Announcer] Thanks to NordVPN
for sponsoring this video and offering you a special deal if you go to NordVPN.com/wheezywaiter. I'll talk about them later, as well as make 21 puns
from the word Nord. You don't wanna miss this, and Nord-o I. That was an example of a pun. Now, onward to minimalism,
and is it a cult? - (laughs) That's a really good question. It depends on who you ask.
- Yeah. - Oh, Marie Kondo. If I love these headphones, I should put it against your heart and ah, I love these headphones. I don't like the word
minimalism, because it's an -ism. (organ synth music) - Minimalism. - Minimalism. - Minimalism. - Minimalism. - The Google Dictionary
defines minimalism as a trend in sculpture and painting that arose in the 1950. Nope, that's not it. Definition number two, an avant-garde movement
in music that could. No, that's not it either. I'm talking about that
trend that's happening. Tiny houses, blogging about backpacking, blogging about vlack
packing, living out of vans, Marie Kondo, "Tidying Up". It's everywhere these days. More like maximalism, you
know what I mean? (laughs) Ugh, sorry. All right. In this video, we're gonna figure out why people like it so much. But first, we gotta define it, 'cause it's kinda hard to figure out what the definition is. These two popular podcasting dudes, who call themselves The Minimalists have a definition of
minimalism on their website, a tool to rid yourself of life's excess in favor of focusing on what's important, so you can find happiness,
fulfillment, and freedom! And this guy, Matt
D'Avella made a documentary about those two dudes called "Minimalism," a documentary about the important things. And he is a minimalist
himself, and a YouTuber. (grunts) YouTubers, you know what I mean? We should stop looking at
each other's schedules. - Yeah, dude. I've noticed that two or three times where we come out with
the same exact video within a couple days of each other. I told you that's 'cause
I tapped your phone line. - Right, yeah. You say you're a minimalist, right? - That's how I introduce
myself to everybody-- - Yeah, everybody you meet, the first thing you say.
- Yeah - It looks clutter-free over there, right? Looks pretty good? - It looks pretty good! I see like one or two
things on every shelf. This is what I do, I just, I'm like up-and-coming Marie Kondo. The idea with minimalism is just to be very intentional with the things that you bring into your life. So it often starts with the stuff. Is it something worth keeping? But I think it also can be applied to other areas of your
life, like relationships. If you have toxic relationships, you can certainly be
intentional about those. - So what if I do have a lot
of stuff I don't care about? What's the harm? - If having a cluttered home and having stuff all over
the place all the time does not bother you or
your significant other, which i think is important to mention, I'm from the perspective of that's great. I'm not gonna go to your house, and take your stuff away from you. I think that people have this kind of reaction to minimalism. It can sound a little bit intimidating. - Therefore I have a plan
to workshop a solution. The term itself elicits
the wrong idea sometimes, so I came up with a list
of different terms for it. - Oh great! - Intentional liver? How does that sound to you? - It sounds like, uh, like a body part. - Is that so bad? - Not really, no. - Happiness from things detacher - (laughs) is that all
one word or is that-- - Well, you could
hyphenate it if you want-- - From a branding perspective,
you got some problems. It's hard to remember because
I've already forgotten it. - You'll have the same problem
with the next one which is Thing Thinker Abouter. (laughs) Enough-ist. - Enoughist. (laughs) That's cute I like that!
(bell dinging) - Just in case you still don't understand what minimalism is, here are a few more attempts to define it from two of my three favorite
people, me and my wife. The third favorite is Ada, our daughter, but I was unable to get a hold of her publicist for an interview. Anyway! Removing the clutter in your life so that you discover what you truly value - Having everything you need that adds value to your life and nothing more. - All right, all right, all right all right, all right. Definitions made. Now let's start a list of reasons why people like minimalism. First, we're going to start with a few very practical, concrete, hit the side of your hand
onto your other hand, reasons. - I am first and foremost an aesthetic minimalist. I like furniture with clean lines, I don't like a ton of
like bold, bright colors, trinkets and tchotchkes, unless they make me feel really happy - One, aesthetically pleasing. It's just a personal taste kind of thing. You'll find all sorts of
minimalism porn all over the Pintrest-sphere, the
Insta-blams and the You-tubs. It just looks nice to some people. That's it, simple. Two, it just friggin' saves space. A few years, ago I followed
a couple of engaging online personalities through their minimalism journey, and this was a big part of it. Again, it was me and my wife. We went through a phase where we got rid of a lot of stuff. I wrote a goal, declutter physical stuff. It is improving our lives. Right, Chyna? - [Chyna] oh yeah! - It reduces stress! Often, we keep things around just in case, as a reminder of something
that we're going to do later. Then, it eventually becomes a reminder that we are not doing
the thing we want to do. Like say you want to take up sewing, and you buy a sewing machine
and then you never use it and then you look at it and you're like, "Oh, I wish I sewed more,
but I don't have time" - [Chyna] We were living
in a really small apartment it didn't seem like we
had that much stuff, but we really did. - [Craig] Hot cocoa, best
by December 14th, 2012! - [Chyna] Hot cocoa, best
by December 5th, 2012. We're getting rid of this ottoman here. Bought it before we
moved to this apartment, and I liked it in our last apartment, but it doesn't fit in this apartment because our living room
is only seven feet wide. - [Craig] Oh. - Thank you. Thank you for
being a good ottoman, I guess. - Now that we live in a
house that we bought... - I want basically everything that we own to have a place that it
can go to be put away. If all the closets in our home and all the drawers and all
the cabinets are filled, then we don't have room for more stuff. - Three, this is a big one, and we're gonna be on this
one for a little while, helps remind you what matters. Not just minimizing
what you have, it's also minimizing what you want,
according to Matt D'Avella. - I had to get the house, I had to get the car so then I could prove to everybody else and
also to prove to myself that I was successful, that I had done something with my life. When I found out about minimalism, it was this wake-up call like, hey you don't have to do that, you could choose to be content and choose to be happy right now. I had a family that cared about me, I had really challenging work, I wasn't making tons of money but I had a lot to be
thankful for and grateful for and if I was unhappy that was just myself getting in my own way. - But there's also extreme
versions of minimalism that can help you get
perspective during tough times. These are the sexy ones,
the ones that are you know, a crazy story that you tell
people around the water, do people talk about around
water coolers anymore? Maybe the kombucha spout? It's sort of a way to reset. The Minimalists themselves,
one of them anyway, went through a divorce I think. It's true, in 2009, sadly, his mother died and he went through a
divorce in the same month. This caused him to question
everything in his life and to completely start over. And this guy James Altucher
from the beginning of the video who said this. - I don't like the word minimalism because it's an -ism. - He's an entrepreneur,
blogger, podcaster, author guy who was in my home buying video wearing the same clothes
because I interviewed him about both things in one sitting. Well he went through a very crazy journey. - But I'll describe
what I did and you could tell me if it's minimalist or not. Several years ago I called
someone who helps me with a lot of errands. Her name's Lisa. And I said "I'm going away for a week. "Go to my house, throw everything out. "Keep it, give it away, sell it, "whatever you want." My last marriage had ended
and it was a good way for me to just not have to
think about too many things. I go on a trip to California. I only had one carry-on bag with me. She told me later it
took her all seven days. She had to rent an 18-wheeler truck. Her whole family, husband,
two teenage kids, and all her nephews, every day, go to my house. The police were constantly
circling the block. She threw everything out. I land back in New York and
I really do have nothing. So I stay at an Airbnb, then I stay in another
Airbnb, and another. If I ever bought anything, I had to throw something
out that was in my bag. That's how I lived for almost four years. That sounds like minimalism. - And did it work? - Yeah I mean sometimes people say to me, "Oh, you must have been so happy, "you must have felt so free." No, not really, I missed things. I threw out things that I missed. Happiness is not the only good emotion. You can't feel that all the time or else there's no value in earning it. I don't like being happy every day. Isn't it nice on like a foggy day, drizzle pelting the
window, and you're thinking about when your children,
when they were kids, and you don't really have
those mementos anymore, you just have memories. And you feel melancholy. That's not necessarily a bad feeling. We've demonized it to be bad. I didn't feel depressed though and I didn't feel angry at myself. I didn't regret anything. And I felt less anxiety. It wasn't like I was hopeless, I was very functional and productive but just this area of my life, I kind of needed to take a break. - But I know a lot of
you are probably thinking but it also sounds expensive. - Some of the Airbnbs were cheaper per day than the apartment I'm living in now and some of them were more expensive. People say, oh, is it
expensive to eat out? Not necessarily. When you cook a lot, well you have to buy all the dishes, all sorts
of cooking equipment, time going grocery shopping,
extra spices, snacks and other stuff that you
never truly finished. My grandfather willed me his coriander and it's still not empty! I didn't buy a car, I didn't
have to buy any furniture. I just look around this place. I had to buy things. I had to buy lots of little things to recreate my life to
become an adult again. I only buy things I love now. When I remember as a kid I
loved playing arcade games so I bought my favorite arcade game. I remember I loved that book and I love to reread books, so I'll buy this book now. I got sick of reading digitally. It has to be something I
really really want and love or else my gut instinct
now is to say no to all the barrage of advertisements
raining down on us. - Now I actually found a
lot of his story inspiring and relatable but I'm part
of the core demographic. Now here's the part of the
video where we complicate the idea of minimalism. Ahh, nuance.
(distorted low pitched moan) Why can't there be a
perfect solution that solves 100% of the problems
for 100% of the people 100% of the time! It's time to acknowledge
the next thing on the list for why people like minimalism. That's an irrelevant question, bucko, liking's got nothing to do with it. They have to do it or they can't. Tiny homes have become really popular. Popular videos on YouTube about people living out of their vans. I don't think that's just because they've had some sort of awakening and they're trying to discover who they are. It's also money. - Why in the heck do you
live in a van, Jannelle? Long story short, basically, it's just because I
don't want to pay rent. - For me it was more like
a financial decision. I think this is just a way for people to survive and to get ahead. - We come from a place of privilege. We don't need to hold on to certain things because we can afford to replace them if we find need of them again. - Minimalism tries to encourage
buying more valuable items you can keep for a long
time but some people can't even afford them. - There are certainly a lot of people who can see the negative in minimalism, is that it's a first-world
problem that it's like "oh my god poor you, you've
got too much stuff" (laughs) and I understand why
people might think that but at the same time it's
like really at the core of it we're trying, anybody who's
practicing minimalism is just trying to find
happiness for themselves and for their families. - Okay, to complicate it
even further let's move to the next thing on the list, something that James said
at the end of his story that's relevant here. - My gut instinct now is to
say no to all the barrage of advertisements raining down on us. - Five, fight mindless consumerism. - The impulse to get away from mindless consumerism is always gonna be healthy. - Whoa another person, who's that?! - Chelsea Fagan, founder and host of the personal finance blog
and vlog, The Financial Diet. And she was also in my
home buying video wearing the same clothes because
I interviewed her about both things in the same sitting. - People feel rightly disgusted by the throwaway consumerism
that surrounds them in basically every choice
they make every day. - One-click shopping, Black Friday consumerism
has grown every single year and continues to do so. - Personally I hate people in companies telling me what to do,
which is why I fight it by talking to a bunch of
people about what I should do and putting it together
in a video to tell you what to do. And pay for it with
advertising and a sponsor later in this video. - Ugh,
(fog horn blows) working within a system to
critique that very system is complicated
(sad trombone descending) and the irony isn't lost on me but I'm doing the very best I can, ahh! Okay let's move on from that
and complicate it further. Six, it's trendy and an
entertaining challenge. - Most of the minimalist
influencers, they're internet creators. They have to stand out. Rise to the top of, you
know, search results, proving how good you
are, how far you can go, show their living room
with like three items in it and talk about how they
live on almost nothing, which is entertaining, I guess, and which is a cool lifestyle. But it's extremely
inaccessible to most people. - True! Though I think a lot of minimalist influencers'
intentions are good. It is entertaining and fun
to see how far you can go and I don't know if
that's necessarily useful. That isn't everybody but it is
a reason to like minimalism. Hopefully not the only
reason for some people. Moving on. Number seven, it fixes
environmental and economic problems. About 100 corporations
are responsible for around 70% of carbon emissions. Obviously some of their
activities are going to be driven by our consumer choices, but a lot of what they
do and don't do are going to be more based on
things like regulations and the kind of incentives
that are imposed on them. - How much effect an individual's
or a movement's actions have is up for debate. Nice civil debate in the comments. I personally believe that
an individual's actions can help. A little bit of help
is a little bit of help and it could lead to a big a bit of help as long as we remember that
it's not the only answer. - So minimalism provides
a really self-contained, clear-cut answer that makes you feel like you've achieved something, which you have, but also feels like you've done the work. - When there's more and
different work to be done. Okay moving on to the last reason. Eight, it's kind of the
way you are, or whatever. Now in the past I have acquired
things that I didn't need but not that many and that's because I'm not that sentimental about things except for a few. Like this eagle I got from
the crash course series I did. I like to punch.
(thuds) And this painted glass rainbow art that I won in a festival. Minimize this, Murdock!!
(maniacal laughing) (coughing) But more crucially why
I don't acquire things, I hate shopping, never liked it. I just want to stay home
and play video games and watch TV shows that I
download from the internet and hide from a box in my house. That's kind of where I'm at
with minimalism right now. We don't really think about
it, we've just developed habits of acquiring things we need or want, and getting rid of stuff we don't. And overall just trying to be
less wasteful, like all the challenges I've been going through. The minimalist phase we
went through years ago just helped us develop what
we consider good habits. The idea of minimalism is
very healthy and very good for a certain group of people (laughs) but it's also not a universal thing and I don't think anyone
should feel bad if they're not, if they don't feel like they ascribe or a part of this minimalist thing. - No, do what works for you. - Yeah. Yeah. - Yeah! - And now I'd like to
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I'd like to tell you about. The organization Save the
Children, they contacted me because my birthday is
coming up on October 5th and they're celebrating their 100th year of working around the
world to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn, and protection from harm every day and in times of crisis. They sent me a party box with a bunch of fun stuff
in it and a picture of Isah. He's a six-year-old from Mali. His birthday is also October
5th and he'll be turning seven. This is a big deal because many children do not reach this milestone. In Mali, 103 children out of 1,000 die before their fifth birthday from things that are preventable, diarrhea, malaria from mosquito bites, a cough that turns into pneumonia. Save the Children hopes
to inspire people to donate their birthdays for kids. $100 could provide training
for two health workers to go and help hundreds of
children survive childhood. There's a link down there
to celebrate my birthday and/or yours by donating. (party horns blowing) (paper shuffling) (party popper exploding) (slow party horn blowing) Thank you for watching. I do "Why Do People Like"
videos all the time. There's a playlist. And YouTube thinks you'll like that video and you can subscribe by clicking there and hit the bell! I don't know why there's a bell and also a subscribe button but if you do both then you're definitely gonna get notified when I make a new video. And I do a daily vlog every
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I was fully expecting this video to be one second long (as a joke).