We live in what can be noted as the most prominent era in history. Convenience, technology, education, sciences, communication and many other areas all contribute to what is seemingly a very prosperous time to live. At face value if we analyze all these areas separately, there is no denying that these fields are all growing. We collectively know more and have more than any other generation in human history, however, more does not always equal better. “Technology” and “convenience” have made a vast amount of “things” available, couple that with “advertising”, “human habits” and other modern idiosyncrasies and we can begin to experience clutter, hoarding and a number of other undesirable issues. Minimalist living recognizes and addresses the affliction of “more”, let’s see how…
Living as a minimalist has many benefits both mentally and
physically. In short, minimalist living is about reducing and downsizing what you
consume and own. It is like physical
exercise because you are never finished, it is a continuous process and it is a
lifestyle.
Minimalist living is exactly as its labeled; simpler
living, less consumption, less clutter, and a process of letting go. Minimalist living is about minimalism and can
be applied to both your lifestyle and environment. Whether you are downsizing and reducing the
number of items you own or are decorating your entire home or apartment, or simply
reorganizing a single room such as the living room or bedroom, minimalism is gaining
popularity.
Minimalism can also influence your accessories and fashion style but in general most people begin their minimalist journey by focusing on reducing their attachment to possessions. It’s easy to start here because many of us can identify with having too many things. While not everyone is rich with a vast collection of precious items that has surmounted in to piles of luxury organized throughout our living area, many average people still have a lot of stuff. In fact, average people tend to save stuff as they move through life for the following 2 reasons:
- If something is in good working order, why discard it? It does not make good sense to discard working items.
- If you have lost interest in a possession, save it because your interest may strengthen again over time and you will regret discarding it.
These are good realistic reasons to base a decision on whether or not to discard something, but unfortunately you can easily see how your collection of stuff can start to expand significantly given even a few short years. Just take a few moments to review the items you own and have collected over time. How much of your stuff do you actually use? Do you have duplicate or redundant items? Do you save your possessions indefinitely?
Technique to Start Your Minimalism Journey
To assess your situation, sometimes it is helpful to just relax and take time to look around your living quarters and notice what is going on. In this case of “minimalist living” we are trying to reduce what we have, but why? Review and analyze your possessions, just ask the following questions:
- How many things do I have?
- Are these things necessary?
- Do I need more or less of these things?
- Do I have duplicate items?
- Do I use all my possessions?
Use this is a starting point to analyze and take stock of “what you need” and “what you use”. By honestly answering and assessing these questions you can begin to realize how minimalist living can help improve your life. By answering or at least reviewing these questions we can begin the journey of minimalism by planning and physically de-cluttering our lives. There is stress, cost and effort associated with having “more” things in your life. The more you have, the more “time”, “money” and “effort” is required to manage or acquire the “stuff”. Humans are good at creating habits, mostly if the habit you are developing is easy, like “not doing anything”. In the case of saving all your possessions, you may have developed a habit of “not cleaning out your closets” or “not cleaning your garage” because it is simple and easy not to do something. You may initially believe that you are not exerting much time, money or effort on managing and acquiring your stuff, you may be correct because you are just used to the process of “not doing anything” with old stuff and effortlessly “buying new stuff” without much thought either. This process will eventually catch up to you. Just like your body and mind becomes conditioned and used to exercise or laziness, the same is true with all our habits, they become second nature. You may just be well adjusted to your situation regarding your stuff.
The habit of saving stuff has become so prolific that once our primary living space has been consumed with stuff, instead of downsizing and realizing the root cause of the issue and then addressing the issue, we continue the cycle by renting additional storage space!
Begin assessing your situation by mentally sifting through all your possessions in the following categories:
- Clothes
- Toys
- Books
- Electronics & Technology
- Documents
- Subscriptions and Services
- Living Quarters
Simply start to categorize and quantify these items in a straight forward manner to help determine their value and necessity. Do not over analyze; instead, try to figure this out without emotion and quickly make a decision. If for example we begin to analyze “clothing”, start by reviewing your closets and draws. You may have separate areas for storing seasonal clothing so be certain to take all your locations in to consideration. Many people tend to keep a lot of clothing that they no longer use so this may be the easiest category to begin with. One of the quickest ways to work through this category is to ask “Have I worn this article of clothing in the past year?” If the Answer is “no” then seriously consider removing it from your closet or draw and prepare to donate it to charity, give it to a friend or discard it in the trash. If you are a parent, repeat this process not only for yourself, but for every child in your family.
The decisions with clothing can be made quickly, If clothes no longer fit or are no longer in style then it is easy to make a “keep” or “discard” decision. You can continue to fine tune the decision-making process by next analyzing the amount and types of clothing. Maybe you have 10 pairs of shoes and 10 pairs of jeans. Try to remove worn items from rotation or make a decision to boldly reduce the number items down to 7 pairs regardless of their condition. After running through this process, you may find yourself with many bags of clothing that you no longer “need”.
You can now rinse and repeat this process with other categories such as:
- Toys
- Books
- Electronics & Technology
- Documents
- Subscriptions and Services
Toys can occupy a significant amount of space in your living quarters especially if your family includes children. Review your items at least once a year to determine if you should keep the toy.
- Is it being used?
- How often is it being used?
- Are there duplicate items?
- Are there worn, dirty or broken items?
If you are dealing with a large number of toys then maybe you can base your decision to discard the toy based on the age or type of toy. If for example you have 20 balls, chose to discard based on how worn out or dirty the ball is. Or simply cut the number in half regardless of the circumstances. Pick 10 of the 20 balls to save at random, just chose 10 to save. You can also set aside the games that are broken or missing pieces.
Books are easy to collect and can take up a lot of room. Books can add a nice look and add to the style or décor of your living area, but they can cause clutter too, especially if you have got in to the habit of saving all of your books. Start the reduction process by removing all books you are certain you will never use again. You can easily donate your books to used book stores or give them away to friends. An alternative to physical books are “electronically” formatted books that you can either read on your computer or specialized electronic reading devices. Electronic book collections are easy to store and do not create any clutter.
Old electronics and technology is another area that when left unchecked can easily start to stockpile. VHS machines and tapes, cellular phones, old computers, cameras and gaming consoles are a few items that we tend to save. Honesty, removing these items should be a straight forward process. The technology is old and will not realistically be used again. The decision to discard and remove the item from you living quarters should be quick and easy. The only consideration should be your privacy, be certain that you have no personal information on your devices before you discard or recycle them.
Documents can take up a lot of space and become difficult to manage over time as the number of documents you save increases. Documents can include items such as bills, receipts, owner’s manuals and other written materials and notes. One can easily fill many drawers full of paper over the course of a few years. The easiest way to reduce document clutter is to scan the material into electronic format and store them on your computer. Once a document is stored electronically, the task of collecting and organizing these materials is greatly reduced. It is much easier to save 10,000 pages on a computer compared to physically storing paper in a cabinet or drawer. Once a document is stored electronically you can search for and refer to the content very easily.
Subscriptions and services are another area that may not add physical clutter to your life but can waste time and collectively add up to a noticeable recurring expense. These subscriptions and services creep up everywhere.
- Internet access
- Cable TV
- Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube TV, Hulu, Sling, HBO Now
- Mobile \ Cellular device plans
While these services can offer value and convenience, they can also add up expense wise and consume a lot of your time. It makes sense to periodically review your recurring services and subscriptions and maybe remove a few to see if you can survive without them. Don’t worry, you can easily add them back in to your life if necessary.
Living Quarters would be considered your primary residence. There are 2 areas where minimalism can affect your living quarters:
- If you do not have many things, it may be realistic notion to downsize you residence to a smaller sized location
- Once you have removed clutter from your residence you can redecorate with minimalism in mind
Downsizing your residence may seem less daunting once you reduce your number of possessions and realize you have more free space. Realistically, while you may not magically have only a suitcase sized amount of possessions left over after removing the clutter from your current living quarters, you will have less stuff to worry about. Even if you are not exactly ready to downsize your living arrangements from 2500 square feet down to 800 square feet, you can at least start to entertain the idea and start visualizing your options. You start with baby steps on your minimalism journey; begin with your closets and eventually, after some practice, work on your living quarters.
Whether you are moving to a new location or simply fine tuning your current space, minimalist décor has become popular too. There are no hard and fast rules with minimalist decorating but the goal is to create an un-cluttered, welcoming, cozy and practical environment. The good news is that “this is not very specific and wide open to interpretation”, the bad news is that “this is not very specific and wide open to interpretation”. Just think “simple”, “practical” and “clean” and that is all you need to concern yourself with when decorating any room.
So, minimalist living and downsizing is not so much a single event but instead a process and lifestyle. The essence of minimalist living and downsizing is basically “simplifying”. Start by recognizing and identifying all the “stuff” you own and begin a process of detachment from your stuff. Start where you feel most capable and work yourself in to the more difficult areas. Begin by cleaning your closets or your garage if that seems like the easiest place to start. While working through the easier tasks, you will build confidence and momentum, and eventually you will be able to better handle the seemingly more difficult tasks of reducing and downsizing. Keep it up and soon you will be professional minimalist!