Some people choose their lifestyle in extremes: minimalism and maximalism. Minimalism comes from the idea that less is more. It is removing the excess and using only the things you really need. By doing so, important elements stand out more. On the other hand, maximalism is the opposite. It is to collect things like souvenirs and fill every space with interest and variety. It is then the counterpart of minimalism in which “more is more”.
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Discussion Questions:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
- What are the pros and cons of a maximalist lifestyle?
- If you were to choose between the two, which would you prefer?
- Describe your home design and lifestyle practices.
- In your country, are people more maximalist or minimalist?
20 replies on “Extreme Homes of Maximalists and Minimalists”
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
The main advantage is that it allows you to have a more relaxed and tidy life, you have to make less effort to find your things and less stuff to clean and keep in their place. For me there are not disadvantages of minimalist lifestyle, but it´s difficult to follow it strictly in a consumer society.
2. What are the pros and cons of a maximalist lifestyle?
I don´t find any advantage in a maximalist lifestyle, but I think that it´s easy to have a tendency to embrace this lifestyle because we are totally surrounded by advertising that make us to buy more things than we really need.
3. If you were to choose between the two, which would you prefer?
I´d prefer minimalist lifestyle without any doubt but I recognize that it´s harder to follow it than it seems to be.
4. Describe your home design and lifestyle practices.
I recently move to my current house so I got read off old staff and started my new life with less things than I used to have. All the rooms are painted in white and the furniture is soft gray color. The main space is the living room which is an open space with a lot of light.
5. In your country, are people more maximalist or minimalist?
I think that old people are mainly maximalist, they gather thing throughout their lives. Instead young people are more minimalist, in part due to the economic situation that makes more difficult to afford to buy a lot of stuff, only the essential.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
I guess that a big advantage is that you can clean and order your home quickly. You haven’t got things in the middle that make you to move them or take care about details, like canddles or photo frames, which use to collect dust. Probably, it is also cheap because you don’t collect several things, just the ones that you need. On the other hand, a con could be that (at least in my case) you don’t feel at home: if I see the video, the minimalist home makes me feel that she has just rent the house and she needs to include some personal details but she won’t do it, she likes it as it is.
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1.What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
I think that the main advantage of a minimalist lifestyle is that it helps you to focus on what really matters. It makes you get rid of the unnecesary stuff, so it can help you to live a peaceful life. It also will save you money and time.
As a disadvantages, I belive that it could be difficult to put it into practice, and some people could misunderstand the main ideas of this lifestyle and think that it means living with nothing.
2.What are the pros and cons of a maximalist lifestyle?
For me it is difficult to find any advantage of a maximalist lifestyle, because once you realise the benefits of minimalism and how maximalist is taking your money and time, you change the way you see stuff.
3.If you were to choose between the two, which would you prefer?
I have a very clear opinion: I prefer minimalism. I have experience both sides, and I see way more benefits in the idea of keeping only the stuff that you need and makes you happy.
I believe that many people sees minimalism as a radical idea, but it has a lot of forms, and it is no needed to have as few objects as the lady in the video. You can life in a minimalist way being concious of your stuff, and I definitely think that it is a best idea.
4.Describe your home design and lifestyle practices.
I try to have a house that gives me peaceful feelings, and I believe that minimalism is closer to this idea than maximalism. I also think that having less stuff in a house makes it easier to be cleaned.
I not sure if I am a minimalist but I try to keep my house free of unnecesary stuff. In recent years this style of houses has become a trend, which I am very happy about.
5.In your country, are people more maximalist or minimalist?
It depends on the age. Older people tends to be more materialist, but in younger generations you can find both extremes of the concept: people that loves stuff and people that wants to live a life without all of this materialism habits.
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1.What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
There are several advantages in a minimalist lifestyle. The biggest one is related with the planet. People who follow a minimalist lifestyle tends to consume less, therefore they generate less pollution and waste less raw materials and energy. Considering the negative consequences of the global warming, moving into minimalist life standards is more than necessary four human survival.
On the other hand, it is not a lifestyle for everybody. For instance, it could be difficult for a family with babies or children to be minimalist because they need to warranty them a minimum level of comfort and that suppose to buy a lot of children’s accesories, toys, waste more energy, etc.
2.What are the pros and cons of a maximalist lifestyle?
In my humble opinion, a maximalist lifestyle has more disadvantages than advantages. In addition to the consequences for the planet, to keep a maximalist house tidy up is a hard work. The less stuff, the easier to clean.
If I have to mention an advantage, a maximalist lifestyle can be a god investment. If the economic situation is uncertain and to invest your money in stocks or banks can be risky, you can invest in antiques, paintings or other staff, which value can increase with time.
3.If you were to choose between the two, which would you prefer?
Without any kind of doubt, I will chose a minimalist lifestyle. As I mentioned before, is more functional and better for the planet. Actually, I would recommend to adquire minimalist lifestyle patters for everybody.
4.Describe your home design and lifestyle practices.
We try to keep my home as functional as we can.
We chose the optimal furnitures in order to organize each space correctly, but tried to keep a sense of the esthetics.
We also try to apply energy-saving habits, like using led bulbs, isolated windows, etc.
5.In your country, are people more maximalist or minimalist?
There is not a main tendency in Spain. As a rule, elder people tend to be more maximalist. For instance, my mum loves the excessively ornate decorations, useless forniture, coloured paintings, etc.
Luckilly, although our society is not into a fully minimalist lifestyle, we are adding valuable minimalist habits.
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* What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
In my humble opinion, minimalism has its benefits like avoiding the excesses of consumerism that have plagued Western societies during the last four decades. It focuses your life on your values and persuades you from living a live-to-work life. I highly appreciate a way of life that makes a shift from owning as much as you can to a I own what I need mindset. Additionally, movings are much easier when you’re not a maximalist.
On the other hand, I don’t feel comfortable when I can’t allow myself to go a weekend out without having done the laundry because, for instance, I don’t have more socks or underwear. To add another detail, when it comes to vinyl records or books, I have a collector mindset, which is exactly the opposite of the minimalism mottos.
Going a step further, even when it could be a subtle detail, there is a legion of merchants who sell minimalism like if it was snake-oil, what makes me try to keep minimalists at an arm’s length.
* What are the pros and cons of a maximalist lifestyle?
Based on the video explanation, maximalist lifestyle doesn’t fit really well for me. I find obsessive the way he decors his house, owning as much as furniture or paintings as he can without defining a style or predefine how it will be, there is no little details, at all. And I really love the “devil is in the details” concept.
As pros, I find the lack of self-limitation a big point. Not necessarily less important, is the ability to define you own style without the simplicity of grey scales as in contrast to the minimalism way fo life.
* If you were to choose between the two, which would you prefer?
If I have to choose between the extremes, I choose a “rational” maximalism. The perfect idea would be not to overrate the “as much as you can” concept, but focusing on quality-over-quantity and not limiting myself in vinyl records, books or clothes collection.
* Describe your home design and lifestyle practices.
I am in the process of tiying the knot with the bank, so I’m currently in the process of designing my future house. I do not have a clear idea of how I will definitely design it but I do have some influences that I will explain: I’m a lover of MCM furniture, some op-art and space-age design for lamps. I still have no idea on how to mix them and get the perfect combination.
Anyway, I can be a bit more specific on my lifestyle practices, I do like to own a big comfortable couch in which I can relax watching any Netflix TV show with a big TV and a big table. I do like big living rooms where you feel it is not full packed.
When it comes to toilets, there are only two details I would like to have: free room for the washing machine and a shower plate instead of a bathtub.
In bedrooms my idea is to have a big enough bed, a lot of storage space in wardrobes. I dislike the idea of reading or working in the bedroom. Apart from bed and wardrobe, I will only have an armchair, to wear myself comfortable enough.
In kitchens, I am a big fan of as big as you can, having a table, all the devices you can and a pantry to store food.
If I could afford to have a studio to work from home, or do my own labs, this would be a big bonus point, but it has to wait. Instead, this will have to go on the living room. Going a step further, I would love to have a room as library with my whole books and vinyl records collection.
I will additionally give a bonus point to terraces or patios to fill it with plants for relaxing, chairs to sunbath and give a walk in the middle of the morning when doing a break of working.
* In your country, are people more maximalist or minimalist?
Based on my experience and the people I know, Spanish population tends to be more of a kind of maximalists, except some urban young adults, that change their mentality after having to do house movings. In fact, they don’t use to follow Marie Kondo’s ideas in such a profound way. Instead, they only own what they need or minimize the amount of stuff they have. I would add that houses size in cities, help to minimize the stuff you own, as an average house in Madrid could be a bit more than fourty square meters.
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
I would say that the main advantage is about less time spent on cleaning and tiding the house. On the other hand, one could think that there’s no ties that link yourself to your household or there’s no sense of belonging.
What are the pros and cons of a maximalist lifestyle?
Regarding the maximalist house, its main pro could be the feeling of being in a tiny museum with lots of figures and ornaments everywhere, but also it could be its main con because too much visual elements could be overwhelming and too heavy for the eye.
If you were to choose between the two, which would you prefer?
I’d like to prefer a mid-point between these two, but if I have to, I’d rather go for a maximalist style since I see too sad to live in a house that seems there’s lost furniture during an hypothetical house move.
Describe your home design and lifestyle practices.
As I said above I tend to be in the mid-point, I neither have too much figures nor ornaments. Nonetheless, I have a cabinet full of souvenirs that I like to call as “my little museum”.
In your country, are people more maximalist or minimalist?
I would say that in Spain people tends to accumulate their life experiences in shelves, so their visits could see where the hosts were or what they pretend to be. However, up to now I haven’t seen no house as overwhelming or as empty as in the video.
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I would say that the main advantage is about less time spent on cleaning and tiding the house. On the other hand, one could think that there’s no ties that link yourself to your household or there’s no sense of belonging.
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
In my own experience a minimalist style brings calm and peace of mind. In addition, a space with few things is easier to clean and tidy which saves us time. Another advantage is that we can save the money we don´t spend on buying purely decorative or useless stuff.
On the other hand, I think the main disadvantage is that sometimes, we may need something and not have it, so we have to buy it and start to accumulate things.
2. What are the pros and cons of a maximalist lifestyle?
In my opinion the main con of a maximalist lifestyle could lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed, a lack of space. We also have to take into account the waste of time to clean and tidy all the things and, of course, the waste of money in buying stuff.
However, one of the pros is that some people need buying and collect things to be happy and keep their memories alive.
3. If you were to choose between the two, which would you prefer?
I prefer a minimalist lifestyle but if I´m honest, I love buying technological devices and clothing so I´m starting to accumulate unnecessary things at home.
4. Describe your home design and lifestyle practices.
I live in a medium sized flat where there is little furniture and all of it, is white or grey because I always wanted to live in a minimalist place. But as I said before, I usually buy many things and consequently, my minimalist home is becoming into a flea market.
5. In your country, are people more maximalist or minimalist?
In my opinion, young people are minimalist but when they get older or/and extend the family, they become maximalist.
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1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a minimalist lifestyle?
I think that minimalist style has a lot of advantages than the maximalist style. For example, you can appreciate more your things as your clothes, your electronics gadgets, your home, etc. You give less important material things, so you live less worries if they broke or lost. One disadvantage is, for example, that maybe you need something, or you want something to wear one day to go a special place y you haven´t got. But, if you are a minimalist person I am sure that you say: don’t matter I wear the clothes what I have in my wardrobe.
Other advantage is that you lost less time to decide what clothes you wear, you’ll find your thing before because you have less furniture, etc.
2. What are the pros and cons of a maximalist lifestyle?
I don’t see a lot of advantages in maximalist lifestyle. You spend too money in buy things that you don’t need, or you don’t use enough time. Maybe, you have more memories about when you buy things, for example, one place, one trip, etc. But you store it a never more see or use it again.
3. If you were to choose between the two, which would you prefer?
I prefer minimalist. I think you need few things to live correctly and comfortably. You only have one body, so why do you want hundreds of t-shirts, shoes, etc? Also, perhaps, you are very worried for your material things. I think that is more important the immaterial things as meet a friends, take a coffee or beer with some friends, the experience of one trip, adventures plans, etc.
4. Describe your home design and lifestyle practices.
My house is simple, although I have more things than I need, I try only buy things that I need. I try to think if something I want buy, truly I need, and I’ll use it. I prefer save money to spend in a travel or an experience that I remember later.
5. In your country, are people more maximalist or minimalist?
Yes, in general, because each people is different, I think that in Spain people are maximalist. I think it’s a cultural thought that more is better and for this, the people work harder to buy a lot of things. In some cases, it’s only for seems.
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Answer 1: I prefer minimalist so I find more advantages that disvantages. To mention some of them:
It is easy to detach material things, you don’t miss furniture or things and you can value more what you have. On the other hand, sometimes you can need something that you probably don’t have or you will have less memories associated to spaces or things.
Answer 2: In my point or view, in the middle will be the virtue so depends on your lifestyle, activities or dreams the maximalist could be a good option. For example I love fashion so I aware I have more clothes and accessories that really I could need!
But it is true that you have more that you need, it is posible you can’t appreciate them properly.
Answer 3: without doubt I prefer minimalist lifestyle, overall in terms of decoration and home.
Answer 4: I live in a small flat in the center of the city with only funcional and essential furniture and things but I would like to have more meters to be more comfortable when you have to stay more time at home.
Answer 5: In my opinion depends of your personality but in general I think older people tends to be more maximalist and accumulate more things along their lives than new generations that usually be minimalist.
Great job discussing what you think are the benefits of a minimalist lifestyle. Kindly take a look at some minor corrections in a few of your phrases/sentences:
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I consider myself as a minimalist person, so I find more advantages to a minimalist lifestyle than maximalist one. Fisrtly, you do not need a very big house to stay in, since you can live with the essential. Besides, all your stuffs will be tidy and it will be easier to find what you need because there will not be many places to look for them. Finally, the time spent to clean the house will be less than in a big one since you will not have much furniture or decoration. On the contrary, living in a minimalist lifestyle implies that you need to sacrify somethings; for instance, on having a reduced space it will be more difficult for you to invite your friends or family at home since maybe, you don’t have enough cutlery, tableware or simply chairs to sit down.
When I was a child my mother liked to have a lot of furniture and decoration around the house. It was very uncomfortable because you needed to walk carefully to not hit you with anything. In addition, we spent hours cleaning the house every week, and when we lost things and it was very difficult to find them. I was conviced that when I had my own house I would only buy what I needed to live.
I am very practical person and before buying something I think twice the use I am going to give it. Right now, I feel comfortable because my house is free of needless stuffs and I can walk without fear to hit me with a table or chair.
What you have is an interesting lifestyle. Thank you for sharing your experience being a minimalist. Here is one sentence you can express better:
I am very practical person and before buying something I think twice the use I am going to give it.
> I am a very practical person and before buying something, I think carefully about the use I am going to have for it. or … I think carefully about how I am going to make use of it.
Excellent job! Keep it up.