My wife and I live in a pretty garden apartment that’s almost entirely devoid of furniture. The closest things we have are a bamboo laptop table and two single camping mattresses.
At our ages — 57 and 60 — we’re expected to invest in matching La-Z-Boys and TV trays, but we spend most of our time on the floor on yoga mats. Honestly, we’ve never been happier.
If you’d told me this was what the future held for us back when we were lounging on our L-shaped couch in 2020, I’d have suggested you reduce the strength of your edibles. As much as we still dream about that comfortable couch, though, we wouldn’t take it back.
Life without furniture comes with an array of benefits, both expected and unexpected, and they’re not worth trading for modern-day creature comforts.
Adopting a minimalist lifestyle made us open to new and different ways of living
Ever since inadvertently becoming minimalists in 2008, we’ve made a point of engaging in lifestyle experiments, but it had never occurred to us to eschew furniture.
Then, I listened to a podcast about furniture-free living. I was immediately intrigued, but my wife wasn’t as easily convinced.
The idea wasn’t one we could entertain anyway, since we were about to move to a fully-furnished cottage in the middle of nowhere. Life has a way of giving you what you need, though, and the country wasn’t for us.
Five months later, we were back in Cape Town’s city bowl, on the hunt for new digs.
Finding an almost-empty apartment to rent felt like our sign to give furniture-free living a try
When a stunning, affordable, and unfurnished apartment showed up in my inbox, I took it as a sign that it was time to give furniture-free living a try.
The lush, bee-friendly garden with a towering pine tree won my wife over immediately. I didn’t even have to say a word; I suspect she’d have agreed even if it meant sleeping outside in a tent.
We made some mistakes at first. Initially, we bought a cheap, low-level futon to sleep on, but it proved a poor choice for our backs, and we soon ditched it in favor of our camping mattresses.
Our intention was always to buy a tatami sleeping mat down the line, but our frugal “if it ain’t broke” selves keep deferring the purchase.
Right from the get-go, we both loved hanging out on the floor, and it just felt right.
This lifestyle comes with several benefits
Within about a month, we began to feel physically stronger — probably because we were constantly getting up and down from floor level and forced to work on our posture.
Without a cushy office chair to sink into for hours at a stretch, we’re naturally reminded to change position or get up and move.
Plus, our balance has improved because we’ve trained ourselves to get up and sit down without the help of our hands. We can also sit unsupported for extended periods.
Practically, no furniture makes moving homes — something we’ve done more than once in the past few years — a breeze. It makes sense for us to live in a way that supports our perpetual desire for change.
With nothing to move, housework is also ridiculously easy. Plus, our apartment always looks neat.
Probably the best benefit, though, is that our quirky rescue kitty seems to love our furniture-free life. He prefers to tunnel under our legs rather than sit on our laps — and being on the floor gives him a lot of chances to do this.
It’s not for everyone, and that’s OK
When we tell people about our lifestyle, the same concern always comes up: How do you entertain? The truth is, we don’t.
This way of life isn’t for everyone, and the last thing we’d want is to make our guests feel uncomfortable. So, we’ve found middle ground by meeting for walks or going out for coffee or a meal. It might not work for everyone, but it works for us.
Ironically, our next lifestyle experiment — which we’re tentatively planning for late 2026 — means going back to a bed and couch, but only because you can’t do without either when you live in a van.
Well, technically you could … but even we’re not up for that level of discomfort.
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