At first blush, it would seem that the purchase of a timeshare is an example of self-indulgence and not one of minimalism. Indeed, it may well be self-indulgent, but that does not preclude the purchase from being frugal and an example of living life minimally.
Minimalism focuses upon eliminating the excesses in life in order to more thoroughly savour the richness of that life. Consider how an art gallery displays its valuable works of art. Rather than crowd items together like a garage sale table, each piece is featured individually, with an abundance of white space between the displays. The gallery does not hide the pieces, or conceal them in clutter. Minimalism, too, seeks to get rid of the material and emotional clutter, and enable us to focus on the valuable parts of our life.
For some of us, that valuable part may be our vacation time.
But is a timeshare an example of frivolous spending? In some cases, again, yes. But, with recent improvements to the time share industry, a wealth of economical (is that an oxymoron) vacations are available to enjoy.
We have purchased a couple of time shares, yet live, in every other aspect, minimally. We view our timeshare purchase as an act of frugal living, as well.
For under $8,000, we are able to gain access to several thousand resorts and hotels, worldwide. For under $200 per year, we can stay for a week or more at high-quality locations. This is less than we would pay for an apartment in our home city, or a motel in any en route town. So, purely on the benefit-per-dollar basis, we are acting in an economically responsible manner.
Similarly, our resorts all include full kitchen facilities, so I am able to cook in the suites, prepare healthy meals, and forego the cost of expensive restaurant fare. This, too, is budgeting responsibly.
It is easy to be narcissistic in regard to purchasing time shares, however. We know people who have invested many tens of thousands of dollars on expensive resorts, and fail to use the benefits frugally.
On the other hand, we regularly use last call vacations, which afford us even better savings. Our extra vacations and off-season travel plans mean further benefit for the cost. But this requires careful strategizing in order to yield the maximum benefits.
In years when we do not use our actual timeshare weeks, we are not required to pay the maintenance fees (which we carefully calculated into the ongoing costs of our time share purchase). Although it is emotionally tough to give up that “free” week, we recognize that it is only free if we do not pay the annual fee associated with it.
It is vital, though, in deciding on a time share purchase, that you shop around, and not be caught up in the “this time only” sales hype. Look to less popular resorts that are highly rated. They often have lower buy-in costs. Look to low maintenance fees. For example, Las Vegas resorts generally are cheaper to maintain than Florida ones. Look for others’ reviews, too, to see if you are missing a key bit of information.
Regardless, though, it is easy to disregard time shares as a viable minimalist’s vacation option. While time shares do not form the bulk of our vacation experience, they are significant, and economical. Avoid the dieter’s dilemma: it’s not what you eat, but how much. In the case of a minimalistic approach to time shares, it’s not how much you own, but how you digest it.
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