20 Great Quotes About Living Simply That Will Inspire You!

A lot of people in the minimalist world have these amazing stories of getting rid of 75% of their possessions and pursuing the minimalist lifestyle after traveling down the consumer highway for the first part of their life.

I don’t have a story quite like that because I started out pretty simply. I did get rid of some stuff but not TONS of stuff.

For me, it was mostly a mindset shift. I was a consumer in my thinking and the minimalist lifestyle grew on me.

I wish I had found it sooner and I wish I knew then what I know now. That’s why I am sending these 20 quotes about living simply to my younger self. Maybe they can inspire you too!

What I Want For You

I am hoping these 20 quotes about living simply can help you to avoid the clutter in the first place. A big part of why I wanted to start this blog started with a conversation I had with my sister-in-law who was trying to save up money for a place in Southern California before she could get married.

My old sage married lady self told her something like this:

“Just start. Start simple and grow together. There will be ups and downs, you might live in a studio apartment for years like me and your brother, but you will start and you will learn and that’s the fun part. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect.”

I hope that I can help young women, and young couples to start their lives simply so that they can focus on what actually matters in life instead of waiting for the perfect financial situation to give them the American dream so that they can keep up with the Joneses.

Frankly, you don’t need all the stuff to chase your dreams, be happy, and live your life! You need a lot less than you think to get started.

Quotes About Living Simply and Going for Your Goals!

When I was younger I wish I knew that each day mattered. I wasted so much time doing the mundane hoping that someday I would have enough money, experience, and confidence to chase my dreams.

Back then I wish I had heard these quotes about living simply and going for my goals. It would have saved me a lot of time. I would have started writing sooner. Maybe I would have felt like it was possible to make things happen much sooner than I did. I hope these simple life quotes help you live simply and work towards the goals in your heart.

“People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life.”

John C. Maxwell

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.”

Thoreau

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Annie Dillard

“What you are looking for is not out there. It is in you.”

Unknown

“If the grass is greener on the other side…Stop staring, stop comparing, stop complaining. Start watering the grass you are standing on.”

Angel Chernoff

Quotes on Simple Living and How You View Money

It’s an undeniable fact of life that we need money. I’m not going to say it’s not. But a lot of us sit around feeling broke while we waste money every day without knowing it.

I know that as a young person I bought a lot of stupid stuff that didn’t take me toward my goals. That stuff robbed the me I am today of money I could be using to do the things I dream of doing.

I wish these quotes about living simply had kept my view on money and how I spent it in its proper place. All that money I spent on random junk like cute shirts and random pop culture junk is gone now, and so is the stuff. It didn’t mean that much to me in the first place. I wish I’d taken that money to Italy instead.

Quotes:

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

Thoreau

“I make myself rich by making my wants few.”

Thoreau

“Instead of figuring out how to make ends meet, work on having fewer ends.”

Courtney Carver

“The less stuff you need, the less you spend. The less you spend, the less you have to work and the more you can enjoy life.”

Donna Smallin Kuper

Quotes on Simple Living and Your Stuff

Don’t get me wrong. We all like stuff. But we live in a society that tells us “The guy who dies with the most stuff wins.” And that’s just not true. The guy with the most stuff is usually the guy with the most debt, the most stress, and the fewest friends.

When I was younger I liked stuff more than I do now. Now I can see through those lies. But I wish I had heard these quotes about living simply back then. I never had a crazy amount of stuff but I think these quotes would have helped me avoid purchases I later regretted.

Now that I’ve decluttered my home I try really hard not to buy things that I can see decluttering in the near future. That just makes me feel lousy. I also try to buy less stuff now because I’ve realized that stuff doesn’t make me happy. It just ties me down.

Quotes:

“Our things are like roommates except we pay their rent.”

Fumio Sasaki

“People always think bigger is better when in fact we only stand in one square foot at a time.”

Anonymous

“The less you own the less that owns you.”

Unknown

“Minimalism is the intentional promotion of things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.”

Joshua Becker

“Noticing what you love will help you release what you don’t.”

Courtney Carver

“Maybe the life you’ve always wanted is buried under everything you own.”

Joshua Becker

Quotes About Simple Living Guiding Your Life

A simple life isn’t just about having less stuff and saving money though. Living a simple life is a recipe for a full life. At the end of our life, we don’t want to be that guy with the “most stuff”. We want to have lots of wonderful memories that we made with lots of wonderful friends and family!

What we really want out of life isn’t anything we can buy. We want experiences and love! And most of all, we don’t want to say we missed all the beauty because we were too busy accumulating junk.

I love these simple life quotes because they give us permission to have a simple life, enjoy the small things, and have great adventures that make our dreams come true!

Quotes:

“Just act normal. That’s crazy enough.”

Dutch saying

“Edit your life frequently and ruthlessly. It’s your masterpiece after all.”

Nathan Morris

“The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.”

Joshua Becker

“Don’t confuse simple living with an easy life. It’s simply where the adventure begins. It’s were we find purpose and in turn, the capacity to find what makes us come alive.”

Rachelle Crawford

“Some of the old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Find Quotes About Simple Living That Inspire You!

I know I said these simple life quotes were for my younger self but I am still glad I found them when I did. Like I told my sister-in-law, who is now happily married, just start. It’s never too late to start living a simple life. I hope these simple living quotes inspire you to start living simply too!

I have always loved quotes. It feels so good to hear the words of your heart come from someone else. It means that you are not alone. Your experience belongs to the great human experience. And the thing is, being a human isn’t that hard. We all want a simple life and that’s why these 20 quotes just skim the surface of all the beautiful inspiring quotes about living a simple life that are out there!

Do you have any simple living quotes you love? Please share them in the comments below!

Do You Want to Start Living the Simple Life?

There is really no reason not to start enjoying simple living! Now is the time to try the minimalist lifestyle! Learn why minimalism is good for your mental health and relationships, how it can transform your finances, so you can start having more energy and time for the things that matter!

But what if simplifying your life sounds like an overwhelming task?

If you want to simplify your life but the big bad word MINIMALISM scares you let me help! I wrote Doable Simplicity (Minimalism For Normal People) to help you get the inspiration you need to simplify your life and then take solid steps that make the minimalist lifestyle doable for you!