Part of this lifestyle trend known as the “minimalist movement” is being able to declutter your life whether it is in lifestyle habits or your possessions. Today, we share 5 minimalist living tips for living a more minimal and happy life.
It’s not a perfect concept and it’s entirely up to you on have you perceive it—your own idea of living minimally.
No one lives exactly the same and no one is exactly like you. Your mileage may vary.
Take some time to understand the concept of living minimally. Go with the flow of things and don’t force it.
Below are 5 minimalist living tips to begin living a minimalist lifestyle.
1. Have a minimalist approach to life
First, you have to ask yourself: “Why do I want to live a more minimal life?”
Perhaps it’s because of the constant distractions and feeling of anxiety that you sense in your life that has left you feeling overwhelmed, confused, and mentally exhausted. Tired.
Another reason people begin their minimalist journey is that they feel controlled by their possessions.
Buying too much of something that you don’t need or exhaustedly working your entire life for something that is of less value than what you really perceive it to be.
Whatever the reason, make it a clear goal.
I mention here on why I want to begin living a minimalist lifestyle. Write it down and repeat it. By identifying your goal beforehand, you’re able to picture the lifestyle that you’re trying to achieve.
2. Begin by cleaning your room
Of course, the idea of being a minimalist is to declutter every area of your home. Which is a seemingly difficult task if you aren’t a tidy person to begin with. So here’s a no-brainer tip on to start living a simple and clutter-free life:
Clean your room and tidy your bed. Everyday.
Take one action at a time.
Start by organizing your desk and storing away things that you don’t use often. A problem that I would have at my desk is leaving office supplies such as staplers and calculators lying around after using them.
A great idea is to invest in a good, multi-purpose desk organizer that will allow you to store multiple items in its various compartments.
Have a multi-purpose desk organizer in my office and bedroom allowed to free up desk space and having every tool in one corner is extremely convenient.
One of the most useful minimalist living tips and most often heard is to tidy your bed. As simple as it may sound, this is the most worthwhile task that will get you closer to living a minimalist lifestyle.
You probably heard it a dozen times in Ted talks on Youtube or from motivational speakers.
Tidying up one’s bed in the crack of dawn with tired eyes and a cant-be-bothered mentality is refreshing—well, in the long run.
You may not notice it at first but once you get into the habit of tidying up your bed every morning, it will become a habit. A habit that will turn into a lifestyle. It’s just one of life’s simple lifestyle strategies that’s efficient and gets the job done.
3. Buy things of more value
Being a minimalist shouldn’t mean that you have shunned yourself from making purchases and that you should only live with the bare minimum.
A great idea is to make purchases that have a multi-purpose value to them. An example would be a spork (a spoon and fork contraption that I haven’t seen since grade school) since the spork serves its purpose as a spoon and fork you’ll save space in your cabinet and have less cleaning to do!
A more useful example would be a multi-purpose, minimalist nightstand. Such a nightstand would have a built-in alarm clock and lamp, which is already eliminating 2 items from your checklist to serve as one multi-functioning device.
A minimalist alarm clock also gets the job done.
Clean, sleek and just a perfect minimal clock that looks absolutely stunning in a bedroom.
4. Less is more mentality – donate stuff you don’t need
In addition to decluttering every area of your home and storing things away that you probably won’t need or use is to donate them.
You can donate clothes that have been collecting dust in your closet or that one multi-color flamingo suit/dress that you would only wear once every five years.
I for one, am a collector and hoarder of old electronic devices that I have stored in various corners of my home. It’s good a good idea to donate these items that you don’t need, you’ll see free up space in your home that you probably never knew existed.
Part of having a simple minimalist home is to understand the concept of less is more and you can apply that idea directly to your home.
Take, for example, a Japanese minimalist home design:
Out of the many things that we can learn from Japanese culture is their traditional and minimalist home decor. Japanese interior design isn’t flashy or extravagant.
Instead, it’s elegant, appealing and provides you with a warm sense of welcome. A very simple, yet satisfying and comforting way to live.
5. Don’t let your material possessions own you
Living as a minimalist paves the path of detaching yourself from the what you own and will own.
Realizing that real happiness doesn’t come from material possessions and made-up fantasies.
Understanding that anything other than internal happiness is a temporary source of happiness. This is a refreshing reminder that what truly makes us happy are ourselves and our experiences.
This is a great start for you to begin living a minimalist lifestyle.
Understand these 5 minimalist living tips will allow you to begin living a minimalist lifestyle. Life is more simple when you live simply.