Why I'm Embracing the Minimalist Lifestyle

About two years ago, it occurred to me that I had a problem. After each school year, I would have to pack up my dorm room and bring everything home for the summer. After doing this a couple times, I realized that my room at home got more and more crowded with each move. I would take clothes to my dorm, get more space in my closet, and then when I brought everything back, my closet was so stuffed I couldn’t fit everything into it. It got pretty bad.

Then one day, I came across a book called The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I started to read it and I was instantly drawn in to the concept of “minimalism.” If you’ve never heard of the book, the author created a decluttering process called the “KonMari Method,” where you declutter your items by category and in a specific order (Clothes first, then books, papers, and “komono” or miscellaneous items are last). With this process, you pick up each item and ask yourself, “does this spark joy?” This is how you determine which items to keep and which ones to get rid of.

I’ll admit, I’ve yet to make it all the way through the process. It takes a lot of time and can be very overwhelming. I’ll also admit that I’m still a beginner to the whole “minimalism” thing. My room at home is far from where I would like it to be, but I’m constantly working on it.

So why did I choose minimalism? To me, minimalism isn’t about getting rid of almost everything you own. To me, minimalism is all about keeping the things that “spark joy” and getting rid of the rest. Don’t get me wrong, I love looking at all the minimal room inspiration on Pinterest, but I’m not going to sacrifice the things I like just for the aesthetic.

I realized a big problem of mine is that I own too many things, and I keep accumulating more as time goes on. Do I really need ten or more Bath and Body Works lotions if I hardly use them? Or do I really need to keep stocking up on their candles if I have yet to use up all of the ones I bought two years ago? No. I came to the conclusion that I was buying more things than I would ever have the time to use up.

By embracing a minimalist lifestyle, you need to be thinking about things on a deeper level before you even buy them. Ask yourself, “Do I really need this? Do I already have too many of this item? Is this something I will use a lot?” If not, you probably don’t need to buy it. By following this mindset, you’re giving yourself less things to have to declutter in the future.

On another note, being a more conscious consumer will also help the environment. Buying less things means less things that will end up in a landfill or have to be taken care of later on. So if you like to be environmentally friendly, keep that in mind.

I like to declutter my stuff every couple of months, or when the seasons change. This minimalist mindset will also come in handy when I move out into my own place. Why take everything with you to a new place if you could get rid of some stuff beforehand and make the moving process so much easier?!

Decluttering if something that always relieves stress for me. You can’t beat that feeling when you take a load of stuff to a donation drop-off. Why keep hanging onto things that you no longer use or enjoy? They’ll just be sitting there taking up space if you don’t get rid of them.

If minimalism is something you’re interested in, I HIGHLY recommend reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. If you aren’t into reading, she also has a Netflix show called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. Less: A Visual Guide to Minimalism is also a quick read with lots of photos that I highly recommend.

Comment below and let me know if minimalism interests you, or where you are on your own minimalism journey!

Until next time,