Decluttering and Minimalism

When it comes to living away from your parents, the choice to tidy up is really your own. It’s then you can objectively weigh the pros and cons of accumulating items you’ve collected over the years.

With the end of Covid work Regulations, I am back out to work physically everyday. Most of the time getting ready for work is spent just trying to find something to wear. I’ve seriously been in need of finding a way to reduce the time spent getting ready! Like you, organising that entails categorically folding is pointless since it’s a matter of time before the chaos ensues.

I stumbled across the concept of Minimalism years ago when I was reading someone’s blog. The concept was definitely something that appealed to me. Reducing the options to ONLY what you need. Minimalism isn’t just reducing the amount of stuff you own, it's far bigger than that.

According to minimalists.com, Minimalism is “a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom”

It’s a mental parallel to help one to get rid of discontent, reclaim time enabling us to pursue passions, live in the present and contribute beyond ourselves.

In essence, by consuming less, we create more….

I wish to share four pointers for beginners who may wish to attempt this new lifestyle:

1.Write a Vision for your new minimalist self.

Identifying all the ways you can benefit by living more simply. For eg., Unable to sleep properly at night because of stress, need more time to travel. Jotting these down will help you focus on the reasons to following through on the plan.

2. Have a clean slate.

Have a walk through your home with a box for the purpose of tossing duplicate items and items that you don’t honestly use often. If you don’t use it, lose it! These can include DVDs, copies of the same book, etc. Then place the box out of sight for 30 days, if nothing was needed, the items should be given away.

3. Set-apart a clutter-free zone.

Start with a counter-top and use this as the inspiration to live with less. Once you see the rewards of this space, enlarge the area to eventually be a room. Once you find yourself enjoying that space, you will feel inspired to expand the area.

4. Challenge yourself to minimise your items to a particular area or space.

You can choose a couple drawers, a closet or shelf and challenge yourself to only have items kept in that area. You will have to carefully select items that are most needed.