I'm a minimalist. I ride my bike to work, and everywhere else. I use it for exercise, too. In my room all I have is my clothes, my computer and a bed -- A hand-me-down bed. I hardly have any material possessions, besides those things. I find that minimalism keeps my life extremely simple and easy to manage. I find that there's just too much shit in the world. Like, I mean shit. I watch a little bit of T.V. and all I see is shit. Advertisements, buy this, buy that, this is good, this will work for you, etc. I think there's a culture in the U.S. where we MUST have everything. It sad, consumerism. I'm sure most people can go on with their daily lives without all the shit trinkets they keep. It goes without saying that minimalism has helped me in my finances. I used to buy shit all the time, but after become more minimalist, I just funnel whatever I would have spent on crap I didn't need over to my retirement accounts.
I'm the same way as you when it comes to buying things, though I do have a penchant for books and vinyl records. I would much rather spend my money traveling and doing different things around the country and world as opposed to purchasing material items.