If you’re like me, you have probably being seeing all the hype over the past few years about minimalism and this idea of “less is more”, and you want in.
I’ve been slowly getting into a more minimal lifestyle over time and while I am far from perfect at this point, there is a lot that I have learned, and to be honest, a lot of clarity and happiness I have gained from living a less cluttered life.
So if you’re wanting to jump into this lifestyle, look no further.
I have laid out 8 tips below to help you get started!
1. Know that you don’t have to do everything at once.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the idea that in order for us to succeed at something, we have to be perfect at it right away.
But once you understand that progress is better than perfection, you’ll be a lot happier, and a lot closer to achieving your goals.
I don’t know about you, but when I set a new goal, it usually takes me forever to start making progress because I spend so much time at the beginning trying to come up with a plan to do everything perfectly right away.
Don’t get caught up with the quantity. Be concerned with the quality.
Even just taking one area of your life to practice minimalism is HUGE when in comes to our overall well-being.
2. De-clutter your home + make your space feel more minimal and freeing.
This is an amazing starting point for beginning a more minimal lifestyle.
Not only is clutter the opposite of minimal, but it also is super bad for our mental health.
Clutter weighs us down, in more way than one.
The first thing we need to do in order to have a more minimal home is to get rid of the things we don’t need.
Think about it- if you didn’t have all the clutter in your house, how much time would you save?
How much easier would it be to find the things you’re looking for, or to keep track of what you have?
3. Make sure everything in your home has its place.
This is super important. Give everything in your home a designated space to live.
You’d be surprised how much this not only helps with keeping your space tidy and neat, but also helps to keep you less stressed out.
4. Decide to stop buying (or even buy less) of things you don’t need.
I’ll say it- we as humans consume too much stuff.
Society thrives off of us seeing something that looks like it would make our lives better, going out and buying it, and then in two weeks, we’ve completely forgotten about that new thing and the cycle starts all over again.
The only thing that can stop us from this vicious cycle is realizing that we don’t actually need as much as we think we do.
Often these material items we buy don’t actually improve the quality of our lives.
Once we decide to stop buying unnecessary things, we have more space in our lives for more important things.
And we often end up way happier.
5. Buy better products.
Break up with fast fashion. Do it.
When you need to buy something, don’t just buy what is most convenient.
Do some research, find what version of the product you need is going to be made the best, will last you longest, and in the long run, will save you both money and time.
You might be thinking “yeah I wish I could do that, but I usually buy whatever is cheapest due to my limited budget.”
And trust me, as someone who has lived paycheck to paycheck for most of my adult life, I totally understand that.
But let me paint a picture for you.
Every time I need a new pair of jeans, I go to the same fast fashion stores and I buy the most frugal pair of jeans I can find, usually the ones that cost around $30 or less.
I wear them for maybe a couple months, and then they are done for.
So then I go out and buy another pair of these cheap jeans and the cycle continues.
Something I’ve learned to do instead is to save up a little bit of money and invest in a more durable, well made pair of jeans.
This will cost me a little bit more, but the jeans will also last waaaay longer.
So in turn, I am saving myself money in the long run by investing in good quality products from the beginning.
This totally doesn’t just apply to clothing, but I think that fast fashion is something that is a big part of a lot of our lives, so it’s important to think about.
6. Declutter your mind!!!
This is just as important as decluttering your home.
Minimalism isn’t just about having less physical junk, it’s also about having less mental junk.
You can have the cleanest and tidiest and most simple home in the world, but if your mind is full of clutter, your life will still be pretty chaotic.
It’s super important that we take moments often to really clear out what’s in our heads.
One of the ways we can do this, which I highly suggest, is to do a brain dump as often as you feel needed.
There are several ways you can go about this.
If you’re looking for a more organized approach, there are several journaling templates and ideas on Pinterest.
If you’d rather just keep it simple, you can just find a journal and write down every single thing that is in your brain, get it all out.
Or if you are more of a talker, find a friend or family member (or a pet works too), and just ask them to listen while you let everything out.
This might sound crazy, but last week I asked my husband if he would sit and listen while I do a brain dump, and he did.
And afterwards, let me tell ya, I felt more free than I had felt in a loooong time.
I woke up the next morning with so much excitement and I just felt so light and happy.
It was one of the best days I had had in a super long time, all because I was able to de-clutter my mind.
7. Learn what fulfills you (not material items)
In order to find happiness in this new minimal life we have created for ourselves, we need to figure out what it is that makes us feel fulfilled and happy.
We need to replace the joy we once got from material items with less concrete things.
So figure out what makes you feel happy.
If you got joy from going on big shopping trips before, find something you replace that feeling.
It could be something like having coffee with a friend, or gardening or reading a book, or volunteering at a non-profit.
Whatever your new found joys may be, fill your time with those things.
8. Going forward, keep a mental list of your needs versus your wants.
Once you get sort of a blank slate set up for your new minimal lifestyle, with a decluttered home and a decluttered mind, it’s important how you’ll live going forward.
In order to avoid re-cluttering, it’s helpful to keep a mental list of what your needs are versus and what your wants are.
By doing this, it’ll be easier to assess which things are actually worth buying when you’re tempted.
Minimalism isn’t an all-at-once thing that can be achieved in the matter of a day.
It’s a process, and it’s important to remember that progress is always better than perfection.
I hope these steps have helped you to see that minimalism is possible for you, and that soon you’ll be on your way to a ‘Less is More’ lifestyle!
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