Gift ideas for the minimalist (that isn’t a gift card)

Gift giving is hard. But what do you get a minimalist?

We’ve spent the better portion of the past two years working on living a minimalist lifestyle in order to adapt to the life of a digital nomad. While constantly changing locations and environments, we’ve found it’s so much easier to do so with less.

Every time the holidays come around the corner, our families have a hard time finding a a practical gift that is still thoughtful. While we always say “we don’t want anything!” sometimes during the holidays that just doesn’t cut it with our families.

As we’ve been drafting our own wish list this year for the holidays, we are sharing a roundup of the top items we’ve been loving and found extremely useful for us as work in progress “minimal digital nomads” and may be helpful in your gift giving this year.

These gifts also don’t require shipping, so even if you may have forgotten someone on your gift list or procrastinated a bit on your gift shopping, this can be a great option for you too!

Gift idea #1: Masterclass subscription

Typically at $180 per year, Masterclass has been actively adding more variety of courses from top professors including Sara Blakely, Founder and CEO of Spanx to Gordan Ramsey on lessons for cooking. I personally have loved Anna Wintour’s fashion course and Ron Finley’s on “Gangster Gardening”. This is a great gift for the digital nomad in your life who may have down time on planes and while traveling (there is a offline feature so you can download courses).

Gift idea #2: Duolingo subscription

Have a world traveler you know? Duolingo is an AMAZING app to pick up a new language or brush up on an old one. We tried Duolingo Free for a few weeks and ended up upgrading to the Plus version. Duolingo Plus is totally worth the price of $120 per year for a family of 6! You can test out of lessons without using points, don’t have a limit on mistakes, and less ads to make the most of your time.

Gift idea #3: Costco membership

Okay… so even though we may consider ourselves on the journey to minimalism, Costco is still an essential part of our lives which may seem contradictory. Over this year. we’ve found Costco to be our go-to spot to upgrade our gadgets at an extremely cost effective price (we bought our GoPro from Costco), get equipment for whatever adventure we need (for example our membership came in handy during Alaska when we needed bear spray and warmer jackets), and for supplements and fresh fruit at a reasonable price to stay healthy on the road. BONUS: Costco memberships are global so no matter where in the world, it’s a great spot to have handy internationally – we used Costco almost weekly while in Mexico City!

Gift idea #4: CLEAR membership

Have a frequent flyer in your life? CLEAR has become an essential for us to enjoy our travel days. At major airports, most people have TSA-Pre now so lines there can be longer than normal. With CLEAR and don’t have to fuss with your boarding pass because the scanning to pass through security is biometric fingerprint or eye scans. Try CLEAR for two months FREE with our referral link and see for yourself to take the stress out of travel.

Gift idea #5: Calm app

I’ve taken up meditation over the past few months and the Calm app is one of my favorites to keep up the habit of a daily practice. This is great for someone just starting out meditating and may need some extra prompts and guided meditations. They even have guided meditations from well known athletes like Lebron James and others. Kick start your own meditation journey with my 30-day guest pass to explore the app and all it has to offer.

Gift idea #6: Medium membership

I’ve recently started writing and publishing to Medium again and have loved it! Medium is such a great way to learn more about a variety of topics including self improvement, productivity, and psychology. Medium memberships are $50 annually which include unlimited access to articles, and makes for a great affordable gift for the digital nomad.

Gift idea #7: Readwise membership

If the digital nomad in your life has a Kindle, then this may be the perfect gift for them! Readwise is a service that helps you extract highlights and notes from many apps including Kindle and resurfaces old highlights and notes you’ve taken straight to your email.

Gift idea #8: Audible subscription

If your minimalist loves audiobooks, this is a perfect option for them. Currently Audible is running a holiday deal of 46% off your first 4 months your Audible subscription. For long road trips or car rides, we’ve found audiobooks are one of our favorite ways to keep our reading up while being able to multi-task.

—

Get our latest posts, travel hacks, reflections, and exclusive content reserved for our newsletter subscribers by joining our mailing list.