Stripping Yourself for a Minimalist Lifestyle
Following my post on Less is More, I’ve been thinking harder about getting rid of the clutter I’ve accumulated over the 27 years of my existence on this planet. While I value the sentimental value and the memories that each possession gives me, I live a very mobile life in the city and we have moved from one house to another since I was very young. My father is an itinerant minister of a Protestant church in Northern Luzon, after all. So we were part of all the moving he had to do.
The minimalist lifestyle has a number of big benefits!
More space–for your efficiency and effectiveness. A hard drive with only a handful of MB left will run really slow. To optimize speed and computing power, your computer needs to have wide space for the processes it needs to calculate.
Less spending. When you live the minimalist lifestyle, you don’t need to buy a lot of things to show off to your friends. Less spending also means more money for your savings account.
Loving what you truly have. When you have a handful of possessions, you will recognize their value and love them for all that they’re worth. A single pair of shoes is worth more than a hundred pairs!
Being free from the tyranny of a consumerist and materialistic lifestyle. You don’t have to keep up with the “Joneses.” No need to worry about where to put your gazillion stuff.
From a clutter-full and stressful lifetyle, how do you make the move to a minimalist one?
The basic answer is to strip yourself and aim for the bare necessities strewn with a few of your wants and affordable luxuries. But this is easier said than done, right?It begins with the mind. Train yourself not to desire too many things. Clarify your values, your vision for yourself, your goals and what you want to achieve in this life. What do you need to get that? What do you really need to accomplish that? List down those things. Anything else is optional and can be discarded.
De-clutter your room, your wardrobe and your desk. If you’re an average guy, you may have quite a lot of clutter and mess in your room and most probably in your life. De-cluttering your mind and your life may be a bit challenging so it’s better to start with something tangible and something you can control.
Go get a trash bag as you organize and de-clutter your room and everything in it. Anything that you don’t need now and in the next year should go into the trash bag. It can be painful. But you’re taking an important step towards a better lifestyle. Look at the trashbag when you’re done. You can donate some of your clothes, books and other things to charity or have a garage sale. You can even help other people that way.
Put everything in their proper place. If you have a small apartment, you can be creative and manipulate furniture and space to achieve a minimalist look. You need to read a bit on minimalist home design to achieve this though. When your apartment has plenty of space, the eyes could relax and you may create more breathing space.
Before buying anything, ask yourself if you truly, really, absolutely need it! Sure, you may cut yourself some slack every now and then. But the point is, don’t start accumulating books you won’t read. Gadgets you will not really use. Food you won’t really eat (unless you want to grow heavier).
The minimalist lifestyle is an anti-consumerist statement. You don’t want to just join the masses of people who keep on accumulating stuff and clutter in their lives. Being minimal also frees you up for efficiency and effectiveness in your work, personal life and other pursuits.
Websites and blogs on the minimalist lifestyle:
The Minimalist Lifestyle by the Frugal Bachelor
How to Maintain a Sustainable Minimalist Lifestyle by Ehow.com
Live the Minimalist Lifestyle by Ecollow.com
Live a Minimalist Lifestyle by 43things.com
Why the Minimalist Lifestyle Appeals to Me by BeingFrugal.net
Becoming Minimalist
The Everyday Minimalist
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