Living a minimalist lifestyle may seem like a far-fetched, non-existent concept for you but actually may be just the thing you need in life.
It requires a major life analysis – i.e. taking a step back and looking at your life from a birds eye view and looking at all the negative and positive aspects of your life. If it helps, you can even do a mind map or list to visualise the different areas of your life.
Look at what gives you value in life and what doesn’t, and then set steps to eliminate those negative influences and maximise on the positive aspects of life.
That’s what minimalism is.
If you’re interested to know more about starting a hygge lifestyle, have a read of this.
What do minimalists do?
Minimalists follow the rule of ‘less is more.’ They live life with intention and focus on staying present in life and appreciating every aspect of it, no matter how small it is.
They choose to value having meaningful experiences over materialistic items, they choose to live life the way they want and not follow a set routine, buy things that they actually really want, and use their time wisely to do things they want to do.
So, all in all there are many benefits in following a minimalist lifestyle; you would be saving time, money, stress and reducing negative experiences. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Following a minimalist style isn’t a trend, its a way of life that’s designed to make things easier for you.
Hopefully, that’s made the whole concept of minimalism less daunting for you. And by no means are you expected to jump straight in and remove things from your life immediately. Like every life change, it will be a process and you need to go through it slowly.
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What does a minimalist lifestyle look like?
Beginning a simple minimalist lifestyle doesn’t mean you need to throw out all of your clothes and belongings, it means you remove all of the things in life that inconvenience you or prevent you from being your best self.
There are no rules, and everyone will begin it in their own way and may practice it differently too. There is no ‘look’ you need to achieve. You can have neutral tones in your home and be a minimalist, and similarly you can have bright colours in your interior décor and be a minimalist.
The ultimate goal is to create a better quality of life.
Here are some ideas to help you get thinking about what to cut back and what to keep.
Minimalist lifestyle tips
1. Cut down on beauty products
It has become extremely common in the beauty industry to have cupboards stacked with cosmetics that you barely use and skincare products that form part of your ten-step night time routine.
And there’s still probably more products after that.
Cut down your products and keep what is essential. Buy things that you have researched into and know you will need.
I completely understand the whole aspect of wanting to trying new things out and experimenting but just like you don’t buy every single outfit or item that you want to buy as soon as it comes out, you should practice doing the same with your cosmetic products.
Because girl, they ain’t cheap either.
You can save a lot of money and space, and also reduce a lot of waste. Make up products usually expire after a few years so focus on using your things before buying many more things.
2. Focus on a few activities at a time and give your full attention
… Enter mindfulness.
To start a minimalist lifestyle and begin the rule of ‘less is more’, you need to appreciate all the things around you no matter how big or small they are.
To do this, start being present in events. Don’t go on your phone and don’t look at something that takes your attention away from whatever you are doing.
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3. Clear out your things – extra notebooks
Spend an afternoon going through your things and getting rid of/ donating unnecessary things like unused notebooks, books, clothing or other items you don’t use or need anymore.
Collect them in bags and then tidy up what you still have and put them away neatly.
4. Minimise your home décor
As well as clearing out unnecessary things, minimise your home décor!
Do you really need those five candles on your table or will one be enough? Can you reduce the number of pillows you have on your sofa?
This isn’t about creating a certain aesthetic (you know the whole neutral, planty thing that is often associated with how a minimalistic home looks), its about making your space more free and spacious which will in turn will give you more space to think.
If you want to know how to know how to improve your mental health through home décor, you’re going to want to read this!
5. Shop quality pieces, don’t buy in quantity
It is extremely easy to go crazy when there’s a major sale or something that you wanted has gone down in price.
Shopping can often be an experience where you live in the moment – ‘I like this, I want this, I’m buying this.’ ‘This is cheap, I want this, I’m buying this.’
But, take a step back and think, do you actually want this? It might suit someone else but will it suit you? Is it necessary? Do you already have something like it?
Buy quality, staple pieces that are timeless and which you can mix and match in different ways.
6. Minimise your finances
That subheading doesn’t really make sense, but what it means is to cut meaningless expenses, to learn how to organise your finances so that you are always on top of it, save money, create an emergency fund etc.
It sounds like a lot (and not minimalistic at all), but once you stop spending money on unnecessary things you’ll realise you have a lot of money left over to save an invest.
7. Help the earth!
Starting with small changes (like keeping a glass bottle instead of buying and throwing plastic bottles away every week), start to give back to the world around you.
Minimalism embraces all the little things in life; it inspires mindfulness and intentional living. So live with intention and help the Earth out.
8. Give Everything a Place
Designate a place for your books, stationary and other things.
The best way to stay tidy and reduce clutter is to give everything a place.
9. Invest in EXPERIENCES
I think this is my favourite point on the list.
Evaluate life and minimise things you don’t like doing and maximise on things you do like doing.
Simple things like scrolling on your phone that you do minutes at a time can add up to hours by the end of the day. With those hours, you could have had some great experiences with your friends/ family.
Also, stop doing things you don’t like doing but felt pressured to do before. What’s the point of wasting that time when you could have done something that you genuinely enjoy?
10. Less focus on material possessions
Following on from the point above, focus less on material things and use that money to have meaningful experiences.
At the end of the day, it is the memories that you look back to fondly.
11. Stop multi tasking (outside of work)
People look at multi-tasking as a great skill to have; but while it may be useful at work, doing it outside of work makes you more prone to being distracted and having a small attention span.
It also stops you from experiencing something fully.
Unless, you have something urgent to do, focus on one task at a time. Make your tea and be present, and have dinner without having to watch something.
12. Gratitude journal
Gratitude journals are extremely useful ways of staying present, and of course being grateful for what you have!
Practicing gratitude is what will help you appreciate the small things and give meaning to life. Writing it down so that you can look back at it will remind you of all that you have.
Here’s some journal prompts for self love you can use.
How do you start a minimalist lifestyle?
Here are three quick tips:
- Don’t drastically change your life. Add minimalism slowly into your life, for example you could start by clearing out a draw of unused things.
- Spend a day going through your things. A great way to get into the mood of minimalism is to change your surroundings. This doesn’t mean that once you have cleared out all the extra things in your house, you must now become a strict minimalist. Its just a good way of getting you motivated.
- Do a ‘life’ overview. Make a mind map or list of the different areas of your life and list out all of the positive and negative aspects of it. Then, think of ways you can do more of the positive things and less of the negative things.
I hope from this post, that you have first understood that having a minimalist lifestyle isn’t something that you must follow strictly and secondly, that once you make a mess or buy a lot of things it isn’t over.
You can have aspects of a minimalist lifestyle in your life, and eventually you may think that it really suits your lifestyle and you want to look into it further.
The third thing I hope you have taken away from this is that practicing minimalism can change your life in a really great way. It makes you more present and aware of life, and less attached to materialistic possessions (which will eventually go away).
