Hi there! Today I would like to talk about the first steps to minimalism lifestyle. What is minimalism?! It’s a way of living where you focusing on less quantity and more quality.
My journey with minimalism philosophy started during the pandemic. I was watching different videos on YouTube and listening to audiobooks. From those videos, I started to pay attention that a lot of minimalist people don’t possess a lot of things in their lives to name a few of them, furniture, clothes, objects, books, or just things that we would like to store in our houses.
Our house is our temple! The way we take care of our physical house the same we take care of our inner-house. It’s our reflection! Every time I would watch a video I always felt connected with the idea of the space to be spacious and organized. I always liked the big spaces.
My room is the medium size it has a double twin bed, a quite big desk, drawer, chair, and small shelves. After watching a few channels as a result I looked at my room. As a result, I realized I have too much furniture, books, just stuff that I don’t really use. So I started slowly from my wardrobe, clothes, and shoes that over time I would look at it saying “maybe I will need it next time” but deep inside I knew that I haven’t worn these clothes for more than 1 year or even more. So I started to declutter!
I didn’t realize how my bathroom was cluttered with lotions, creams, makeup, nail polish, etc. Often we buy things just for a short period of time until we find something new to stimulate us. Finally, I kept only lotions and cosmetics that are made from organic ingredients and essential oils.
My next step was my home accessories, curtains, sheets, pillowcases, covers, books, Cds, papers. I had so many bedding set up it looked like I had 5 bedroom apartment. I ended up having 3 setups, the rest – Let go. Then I went into my jewelry section, keeping only that are made from natural material or culture, then books section keeping only the unique one and letting go that is similar or only good for one time, my paper section – old notes, works, drafts, business cards. Since everything is online now I try to have less paper and also keep the environment clean.
My third step was my kitchen. I like ceramics and different shapes of bowls and pots. In this section, I had to be also honest about what do I want to keep and which bowls, cups do I actually use and which just collect the dust. I kept only ones that are made from wood or have a unique shape. The next step was cleaning my spices, teas, and herb section. Organizing them in each personal jar instead of plastic bags or some random storage.
My final step was to make space in my room. I unbuilt my desk and all the office accessories. So now when I work on my computer I do it on the floor or in the kitchen if I need a real table. My next goal is my bed. But slowly.
By the end of 3rd day, I had so many bags and I knew more will come. Honestly, it felt really good to let go of things. And I knew that this journey was only the beginning since I touched only the “physical house” the next work was connected with my “inner house” my mind, body, and soul. Since we live in the world of consumerism we consume things that we actually sometimes don’t even need to have in our life. Physical decluttering is halfway. Most of the time the consumerism mode is more emotional than physical.
One time I was in the store trying to choose running shorts. The store had so many options that I couldn’t decide. I had 3 pairs of shorts that I liked. In the middle of the process, I realized that I was in consumerism mode not even paying attention or remembering that I just decluttered my whole wardrobe. The idea of decluttering your space is actually to have free space and not to buy or have things that won’t be in use. If you think about when you go outside all you can see on the streets is stores, bars, stores again, restaurants, groceries, so you can buy things. That actually puts you in a mode of consuming things. Buying only things that a necessary. It’s not about quantity it’s about quality.
To conclude, I would like to highlight a very important aspect when we are practicing minimalism. Is to have sympathy for yourself and others around you. In this case, I would encourage us to be patient with ourselves first. It is okay to have things work one day and the other day is completely out of schedule. The idea is to keep trying and going forward. Enjoy the process because of itis your best teacher that can reveal a lot about yourself that sometimes we don’t even pay attention to.
closet
clothes
shoes
accessories
lotions
facial tonics
oils
female products
towels
small mirrors
makeup
books
notes
notebooks
journals/newspapers
business cards
flyers
cd’s
pots
cups
bowls
plates
pans
towels
Bedding
Towels
Cleaning
Plastic bottles/containers
Have Fun! By letting go of something old we are welcoming something new!