I love simple.
I would love to eliminate about 50% of my remaining possessions. Most of it is junk sitting on a shelf that I tell myself I will use again that I probably will not. Truth be told, if someone stole it (this refers to about 50% of my stuff) I wouldn’t notice for a long time, if ever. So why do I have it?
In the midst of our over-abundance of everything, I am longing for simplicity. I love my coat that goes with dress pants as well as jeans. I love Gmail because it simplified my email management. I love ING because it made my banking easy.
I am a work in progress. I have areas of my life that I am proud of my successes in simplicity (simplifying my closet) and others that are still quite a mess. But, it is a fun journey that is worth traveling.
I always thought that freedom came as a result of many options. I am finding myself feeling more liberated as I ELIMINATE my options. I don’t really understand it yet, but I like it.
Here are my 3 rules as a beginner minimalist:
1. Evaluate your possessions that sit on shelves. Think about how often you will realistically need the item. Think about how much it will cost to replace it if needed. Throw/give the stuff away.
2. Find a place for everything. Keys, pots and pans, neck-ties, toothbrushes. It all needs a home.
3. Enjoy what you have. Get rid of the junk and really enjoy those few items that are worthy to remain in your possession.
Living the simple life
I don’t think I am alone in desiring less when our world is screaming, “more, more, more.” Lynnae wrote about why she likes the minimalist life, Leo wrote a book about it, and I seem to be hearing people talk about it a lot lately.
What about you? Is LESS the new MORE?
Join our discussion about downsizing and simplifying in the forums
Related posts:
- Tiny house living anyone?
- “The art of living easily as to money is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means.”
- The Bible on healthy living
- What the Bible says about Healthy Living Giveaway
- Upside Living in a Downside Economy Review
- How does your cost of living compare to other cities?
- Switching to Mac from PC
- “Real Simple” magazine subscription giveaway
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
When I spring clean my house . If it has sat in my house unused for a year, it’s gone or placed on craigslist
Snowblowers & generators are exempt.
I love the idea of simplifying. When my wife and I moved, we donated or dumped like half of our possessions. It felt really good. Sometimes things can just start to weigh you down.
@Tippy
That is a good rule of thumb for most things – I still find things that I tell myself I will need “someday” – the problem is that I don’t think “someday” will ever come
@Peter
ahhhhhh. It does feel good, doesn’t it?
Oh man, if only I could dump half the stuff in our house. For instance, there’s this heavy kid’s desk we salvaged from next to a dumpster like 5 years ago. We don’t use it except to sit junk on (or in its drawers). But NOOOOO, the wife won’t allow it (cause it’s all her papers).
This is so true – I’m really starting to understand what is meant when people say “we don’t own stuff, it owns us.”
Here’s an idea – take all your junk and sell it in a yard sale. Take the money you make from the yard sale and *if* you ever actually need to use something that you got rid of, you’ll have a little fund to buy one again. In the meantime, you house is less cluttered and other people that feel like they need some of your stuff are able to buy it at your yard sale for very little $$.
@john
Great idea!! I can think of a few ways I could implement something like that right now…
thanks for sharing!!
We give stuff to the Salvation Army and keep the receipts. Our tax guy is able to deduct all the contributions. It is amazing how much stuff we gave away last year. What we received in tax benefits far out weighed what we would have received from a garage sale.
A good rule for clothes or toys is if you buy something new than you need go get rid of something. This rule keeps our closet managable. The rule also keeps the kids rooms from become to cluttered with old toys.
Yeah, less is the new more, at least for me. I’ve been on a simplifying kick lately (could have something to do with me re-reading Thoreau last month) but I’ve really been enjoying the process. Whether it’s hunting for things around the house that I can get rid of or just thinking about ways to use less – it’s really been enlightening and fun.
you can add me to the list of people who have begun talking about. memorial day, 2008.
I just looked around my house the other day and realized what a pain it will be when we move again. I have at least 5 different coats, each one goes better with certain shoes, pants, etc. I would have a really hard time getting rid of anything. The one thing I did is turn all my hangers around the wrong way. When I wear something, I hang it up the right way. After a full year, anything still on a wrong way hanger goes to the salvation army.
People continuously relate their lives to what they own. The typical standard in the US is to have a family of 2.5 kids, a house that measures 2,500 sq/ft, and a brand new SUV in the garage. The United States has become a nation of consumers, and if people quit consuming the economy fails. A lot more people are now looking back and wondering, do I really need that snow cone machine? We spend more money on junk then any nation in the world. There was a time in America that people bought new shoes because their old ones wore out! It is refreshing to hear that you are doubting your own consumerism and want to change you practices.
I think the first step is the most important.
Many people feel as though EVERYTHING is important, and then they can’t figure out why it won’t fit in their home.
Honestly, you have to evaluate your possessions and RANK THEM.
Set priorities about what you really love and don’t love, cull through those collections and only keep your favourites.
Only then, will everything be able to slowly fit back into your home.
It’s not that people need more space, they just need less stuff.