Thoughts on Minimalism

Minimalism is a subject that has gained attention recently and I have found it creating a massive impact, not only on the way I live my life, but also how I think about my possessions. For this reason, I wanted to share my thoughts on what minimalism means to me, the process I went through and some tips for anyone looking for advice on where to start.

When people hear the word 'minimalism' they usually imagine a bedroom from Ikea and people throwing away their prized possessions, but that's not necessarily the case. For many people, minimalism is simply the ideology of only having the possessions that you require in life, making your life simpler and easier. This usually starts by refining the things that you own, for most people living in a world surrounded by products. What is not commonly discussed is this process, refining things that aren't physical (I'll discuss this later), and the way you perceive your possessions after doing so.

Refining your possessions

This doesn't just involve throwing away your unrequired belongings but can also cover the obtaining of possessions. The goal here being to have the smallest number of things that you require to serve a purpose or multiple purposes.

There are many ways one can go about doing so, depending on what is best for you, but I would recommend starting by laying out everything that you own in a clear space. This will help you visualize what you own and how much you have accumulated overtime. Next, organise everything into piles of :

• Throw away / rubbish / I have no idea what this is
• Not sure
• Keep / Required / Use on a regular basis

I'm guessing I don't have to tell you what to do with the throw away pile, but for the rest its down to you. If you have a lot of spare time on your hands go ahead and purge through your 'not sure' pile, taking your time to really assess everything and ask yourself: do I need this? When was the last time I used/wore this? But for those who don't have the time, refining your things doesn't have to happen in a day. Just take the time to look at what you own and see if it serves a purpose or if it's being used.

* Please do not forget that although you may not need these possessions anymore, some people might have a use for them so donate up! *

Some people like to refine section by section e.g. (clothes, books, etc.) but it's up to you.

Obtaining possessions

Seemingly a backwards aspect of minimalism, obtaining the right possessions is just as important as removing the wrong ones. Having belongings that are of good quality can save you time by doing their job correctly and not having to buy replacements. Also, making sure where possible to have things that can serve a multitude of purposes, say having a pair of shoes that can suit multiple occasions for example.

Refining Everything Digital

Not everything you own is physical and having clutter in the devices that you use regularly can be distracting, making it difficult to achieve what you intended to do in the first place. Here are some tips and changes that I have made myself to improve my use of digital devices.

Music

Having your music on different platforms and in a playlist entitled '20th birthday party' can make it time consuming to just listen to music. I personally keep my music on Spotify in separated genres playlists and in a current favourites playlist that I update frequently.

Emails

Removing those subscribed mailing lists and spam may seem like a tedious task but is worth doing to stop get notified every time some website has a sale. If you can't be bothered with this, you can always just create a fresh new email for all important | work mail and keep your old email for junk.

Files

Labelling my files, sorting through bookmarks on my browser and deleting random files that have no use makes it easier to know exactly where something is. This can help keep your work organised. The same goes for photos.

Phone

I don't know if its just me but seeing a phone with 6 pages of cluttered apps drives me crazy. Have what you need organised and put the stuff you hardly use in folders or use the search tool, they have these features for a reason!

Living a minimalistic lifestyle

After all the purging, there isn't some sort of magical minimalistic enlightenment that happens. Minimalism is a way of living, changing your thought process to be less wasteful and to really think about whether you really need that new phone or pair of jeans.

It is also about valuing the things that you already own with more passion, which seems to happen naturally when you own less, having one pair of headphones rather than five or one phone charger rather than seven gazillion makes you re-evaluate the way you treat it and its purpose.

Seeking Further Info?

There has been a lot of great books written on minimalism which share their own thoughts on the matter, most notably KonMari by Marie Kondo. Another to check out is A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto.

There is also a great community of people who pursue minimalism, such as the subreddit /r/minimalism and YouTube channels like Matt D'Avella's and HueGuh.

Final Thoughts

Something that I have learnt through my own journey is that your home doesn't have to look picture perfect and doesn't always have to be crystal clean with none of your possessions lying around. Simply just owning less things will prevent this from happening in the first place and when it does it will be the things you care about.

For me, minimalism removes distractions and allows me to be a better me.

Lastly, you don't have to get rid of or replace anything if you don't want to, just becoming more aware of the things that inhabit your life and how you value them can make a difference.