When I decided to move flat again this year, I had to face the decision to either opt for once more renting a small flat or go bigger. I decided to go for the first option. And part of the reason why is that I have come to love my studio apartment for the reason that it simply does not allow you to hoard. I probably will never be one of these super minimalist people living with nothing but the necessities. Because in truth I do love me my fancy bits and pieces way too much. However, I have truly come to appreciate a more minimalistic life in the past few months and here’s why.
My path towards a more minimalist life
- Decluttering your surroundings is the best method to declutter your brain too
- Owning lots of things does not lead to happiness – period
- If you own less, you actually use and appreciate the things you do have more
- It saves money (and makes money if you sell)
- Getting dressed in the morning is much easier when you only own clothes you like
- I want to make more conscious decisions when buying, rather than numbing my pain with retail therapy
- Its good for my mental health and helps me to slow down
To me, living a more minimalist life does not mean getting rid of everything I own and reducing my belongings to five to ten products. When I travel home for the holidays, however, I only need one suitcase worth of clothes, personal belongings, and toiletry and usually do not miss a single item. So why do I need a million bits and pieces back at home if I obviously have no desire to use them when I’m with my parents?
Things I got rid of/sold in the past few weeks:
- Clothes I never wear or only wore once
- Books I only read once
- Apps on my phone I do not need
- Social accounts I set up because I was curious but never got around to actually using
- Beauty products I do not like or suit
- Random interior pieces that do not fit my style anymore and were hoarded in a box under my bed for years
- Any duplicate items I owned
- Office supplies I do not use anymore
- Jewelry I never wear (nor has a memory tied to it)
- About 200 Postcards I collected in my teenage years when I couldn’t afford to travel and forced each and everyone to send me one
With every piece I threw in the trash, sold or donated, I felt a weight lift off my shoulder. The less stuffed my wardrobe was with items I wore only once or bought for a certain event, the more freedom and fun I had in choosing outfits in the morning. The fewer beauty products I had, the more I wanted to use what’s in stock.
I realized, that over the time, the things I had collected started to suffocate me. Owning all that stuff just did not feel right to me anymore. Especially as a blogger, you seem to accumulate loads of crap over the time – all those goodie-bags filled with products you may never use – all those press samples that you are being sent. Do not get me wrong, I do love and appreciate this privilege. However, at a certain point having every lipstick color twice does not feel good anymore. It simply keeps you from using lipstick at all.
Looking into the future…
I must admit I had been really drastic with getting rid of things when I moved in February. However, I do feel like there is loads to get rid of still. My next project is the kitchen and its 3698 pieces of Tupperware I never use. Or that cupboard that you just cram everything into and shut asap after. I’m definitely guilty of that. I won’t say how easy it is to just not go shopping. Because man do I love a good zara pop-in. I try to think about each purchase more, though. And not go too crazy in interior shops – they sure are my weak spot.
At the moment I’m starting to read into the minimalist life on the net, in podcasts, as well as books. If you have any resources to bury myself in, I most definitely would recommend a little nudge in the right direction.
* pictures via unsplash
