I love when people do “Ask Me Anything” question boxes on Instagram. It’s fun to get to know more or less random facts about people or what they think about a topic. For this blog series, I will be responding to some questions that folks have asked me in the past few months. There is a variety of topics like decluttering, planning, homeschooling, and more. In this blog post, I will respond to this question about living minimally:
How do you declutter when you are already living minimally?
Quick Response
Well, the short non-response is that I’m not the right person to ask. I’m not already living minimally.
A More Thoughtful Response
If someone is already living minimally, I assume there is not too much clutter, and if there is, they will be able to declutter very quickly. But clutter happens because that’s life. Whether you’re the person bringing items into the house, or someone else who lives there, stuff is just part of life. For someone who is living minimally, it would be more of a matter of just doing a quick declutter and possibly tidying up things that may be laying around.
Other thoughts on Living Minimally
I used to think that living minimally was out of reach. Who lives like that? But as I listened to learn, I found that the minimalistic lifestyle is not what most people think. It is about the stuff and it is also not about the stuff. Living minimally is more about doing more and having more of what you enjoy and want in your life. Part of that is getting rid of the excess. It does not mean getting rid of it all. Some minimalists do but not all.
Conclusion
I don’t know if we will be minimalists in the sense that our home will be void of extra things that aren’t needed. We have lots of hobbies. While we aren’t gifted at gift-giving, we’ve learned to enjoy the gifts that we receive from others. I’d love to minimize my digital files some more and be more intentional about the relationships I form. There are lots of pros to minimizing the amount of stuff in our home but I don’t think we need to make it an intense life goal that consumes us. Decluttering and tidying are a whole lot easier when we are living minimally.
Are you a minimalist? Do you know anyone who is a minimalist? What do you think are some benefits to living minimally? Would you want to live minimally?
Related:
- Blog Post: Start Here by The Minimalists
- Try it: Play the 30-Day Minimalism Game by The Minimalists
- Blog Post: What is Minimalism? by Becoming Minimalist
- Blog Post: The Declutter Community hosted by me!
- Blog Post: My Favorite Decluttering Resources
- Recommended Book: *Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff by Myquillyn Smith
- Book: *Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport (I haven’t read this one but have heard good things.)
*Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a tiny percentage if you make a purchase through my link at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure policy here.