“In my corporate job I frittered away money resulting in keeping me trapped doing work I didn’t love,” said Lucia Knight who set up her our business a couple of years ago.
When she realised that her happiness wasn’t coming from her corporate pay-check, she changed her life mindset and started saving money by spending mindfully.
By reducing consumerism Knight was able to save enough to invest in starting her own career change consultancy for mid-lifer.
During that time the mum-of-two also put the family home on the market.
“It took a year to sell and we kept downsizing and minimalising our stuff joyfully. We then moved to a new house with less stuff and we love it,” she adds.
This how Midlifestuck, a career satisfaction coaching business, was created.
Knight, from Guildford, Surrey, combines her psychology MSc and her 20 years corporate head-hunting experience to help individuals over 40 to design more satisfaction into their work.
“Sometimes it's a complete career change, sometimes just a few big tweaks can turn it around,” she said.
Inspired by The Minimalists and Marie Kondo, the family of four have undergone a whole re-vamp of their spending habits over the last four years.
Knight said that time pressured and ill-planned shopping at Waitrose on the way home from work was a big spending in the family.
Time management allowed them to save at least £100 per week on shopping as well as eating out.
To cut on impulsive purchase, before buying anything they ask themselves if they really need it and buy better quality for it to last longer.
Organisation around the family’s schedule allowed Knight to save “a fortune” on childcare and she worked from 8 am to 4 pm and evenings.
Minimalism is often portrayed as a method but it isn’t just about getting rid of your belongings and live in an almost empty space that looks like those over exposed Instagram pictures.
But there is a whole philosophy behind it and minimalism is motivated by a different mindset.
Building your own business is giving yourself some freedom in a sense.
Free to manage your finance, you are independent and you are not suppressed by someone’s rules.
So becoming your own boss and creating your own business is a great start to becoming minimalist.
Knight doesn’t see minimalism and thoughtful spending as a sacrifice: “I see it as taking necessary actions and prioritising to allow me to build my business and keep doing work that I love.”