Minimalism is the ability to do more with less. It’s about owning less, spending less, and wasting less time. Minimalism aims to help you live a happier life by streamlining your possessions, relationships, and time commitments so that you can focus on the things that really matter to you.
What is Minimalism?
It’s important to define what minimalism is before you start on this journey. The definition of a minimalist is someone who lives with the least amount of things possible to meet their needs. It’s not a lifestyle choice, it’s a way of living that focuses on removing physical and mental clutter from your life.
Minimalism also has many benefits, including:
- Finding more time for yourself in your day-to-day life
- Reducing stress levels by not having as much stuff weighing you down
- Having less stuff taking up space in your home or apartment
How to Minimize Your Life
- Start small.
- Pick one room in your house or apartment to start with, and work from there. If you have a lot of stuff, it might be overwhelming to try and tackle multiple rooms at once. Take it little by little.
- Make a plan, and stick to it! It’s easy to get off track when decluttering—especially if there are lots of things involved (like an entire house). Having a plan helps keep you focused on what needs done today, not next week or even tomorrow! Just staying on track will help prevent the feeling of overwhelm from taking over when things get tough.
- Be patient! It takes time for new habits to become second nature—and changing some old ones can be downright difficult at first! Keep reminding yourself why this is important for your wellbeing: The more clutter-free space around us makes us happier and healthier as humans beings; therefore having less stuff is literally good for our mental health!”
Minimizing Your Possessions
- Make a list of things you don’t need.
- Throw away the things on your list that you don’t need.
- Store the things you keep in an organized way to ensure they don’t get lost or damaged.
- Don’t buy anything else until everything has been stored and organized.
Minimizing Your Relationships
- Relationships can be draining.
- Limit your connections to a few close friends and family.
- Don’t let yourself get sucked into toxic relationships.
- Find ways to disconnect from work, even if you have to carve out some time for yourself each day. It’s easier than you think!
Minimizing Your Time Commitments
The first step in minimizing your time commitments is to listen to yourself. Listen to your body and mind, and then make a list of the things you want to do in your life. Then prioritize that list. What’s most important? What can be cut out altogether? And what can be minimized?
The key here is listening to yourself—and doing what feels right for you.
Minimizing Your Spending
The first step to minimizing your life is to minimize your spending. Finding ways to save money and cut back on unnecessary spending will not only help you achieve a smaller carbon footprint, but also make it easier for you to live a minimalist lifestyle.
Let’s start with the obvious: stop spending money on things that aren’t necessary. You don’t need expensive clothes or jewelry if you do laundry once every three weeks, or fancy dinners out when there are plenty of free dinner recipes online, or expensive beauty products if all they’re doing is covering up blemishes instead of treating them properly. The same goes for services like Uber and Lyft—if public transportation works just as well in your area, then use public transportation! These kinds of things add up quickly over time and can tip the scales towards being able to afford something more important like healthcare insurance down the road if it comes down to choosing between those two options (and believe me when I say this has happened).
Another place where people tend to waste large amounts of money is through subscriptions: magazine subscriptions (which often cost upwards $100 per year), gym memberships ($80-200+ per month), Netflix ($13-$15/mo.), Spotify ($9-$14/mo.), Hulu ($7-$12/mo.), Amazon Prime Video ($8-$120/yr), etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam…
You don’t have to live in a tiny apartment and own only 10 things, but maybe you’d enjoy your life more if you did.
You don’t have to live in a tiny apartment and own only 10 things, but maybe you’d enjoy your life more if you did.
I’m not saying you should get rid of all your stuff and live like a monk. You can still have a good life if you have lots of stuff, but it might be more stressful than it’s worth. Maybe the idea of clearing out your closets makes you anxious? That’s OK! Not every minimalist needs to be an extreme minimalist (and some people who are extreme minimalists may not even like the label). But if living with less sounds appealing to you—or just freeing up some time—here are some ideas on how to do so while still feeling comfortable:
Conclusion
Minimalism is a great philosophy to live by, and it can be fun. You don’t have to become a minimalist overnight if this isn’t your jam, but if you feel like life is getting out of control and you want to simplify it somehow, then this post is for you! Take these steps slowly and remember that minimalism doesn’t mean giving up everything. It just means finding out what’s important to you and cutting back on everything else so that those things are easier to focus on.
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