10 Ways to Become a Minimalist

I recently read somewhere online that people in western Europe own 10'000 things on average. If you think about it, that really isn't very much. (You could also compare it to a developing country in African where some people can count their belongings on ten fingers.) We should all strive to own less. I wrote a post last week about my experience with minimalism and how it has been the best stress reliever that I have discovered yet. Own less, experience life more...that is my new motto!

Here's how you can do it too:

1.  Throw away the half used lotions, shampoos, and soaps that you don't use in your bathroom.
(You can also do this with pens, pencils, dog toys, kids toys...etc.)
2.  Burn your candles, don't save them for special occasions.
3.   Put DVD and CD contents onto a hard-drive and give away the hard copies.
4.   Limit sentimental things to 1 box.
5.   Stop stocking up on stuff, only buy what you need.
6.   Keep your two best sheet sets, get rid of the rest. (same with towels)
7.   Get rid of old t-shirts, socks, and underwear. (Why do you keep those anyway??)
8.   Limit kitchen items to one set:
(one set of pots: small, medium, large, 1 muffin tin, 1 cookie sheet, 2 mixing bowls. You DON'T need more than that unless you are running a restaurant.)
9.   Cancel cable, sell the TV. (You can watch news/tv online.)
10.    Don't keep books, donate or sell them when you are finished reading. (You can also borrow, trade, and/or use the library. I am a huge fan of trading. Nothing brings more joy than trading one good book for another.)

Helpful hints:
-Stop thinking you might need something for later. Instead go outside, experience life, explore. You don't need anything for that.
-Tell yourself that you will be just fine without 'said item' that you are debating getting rid of. If you don't use it regularly, then you probably don't need it, and won't miss it.
-The less you own, the less that owns you. You will feel more free!

A Minimalist Lifestyle will help you:

• Become more creative
• Get outside more
• Have a clearer mind
• Consume less
• Focus on what's important
• Save more money
• Live with intention

 Some great articles and resources:

-A great article: Living with Less, A Lot Less
-Great for motivation, especially his facebook page: Becoming Minimalist
-Less on minimalism, more on zen. Still good stuff though: Zen Habits
  

A Minimalist Lifestyle

This picture is of our bedroom. Yes, we have a dresser and a closet, but this is basically it.

I have had a few small bouts of living a minimalist lifestyle, like living in a 200 square foot studio apartment in South Korea, but not until this year have I purposely wanted to live that lifestyle. Since getting married, (about 3 years ago) Andy and I have moved apartments or houses roughly 10 times. That means that on average, we have moved about every 4 months for the last 3 years. What can I say, we like to keep things interesting!

After Andy and I eloped for our marriage, we had a wedding party for all of our friends and family to help us celebrate. When we invited people we specifically said 'no gifts', we didn't want to acquire more things. It was a simple start to a marriage with plenty of kitchen utensils and not much else. That was how we liked it though. I mean, what else do you need in life?! With each move that we made, we acquired more "stuff". Building a life with another person quickly adds up to a lot of "stuff".

Society tells us we need a couch to sit on, a TV to watch, fancy serving trays for parties, and a bookshelf full of books. This is all consumerism and marketing at its best. Society has marked holidays, weddings, having babies, and birthdays as times that you should BUY and give. There is less emphasis these days on just enjoying each others company and being together. We are addicted to buying and owning things. With tv, newspapers, magazines, and society norms all telling us to buy and accumulate more, we are not only wasting our money, but our time. "Things" require maintenance. Maintenance takes away from time and enjoying life. The more you have, the more of your time it takes, the less you enjoy and appreciate other people and life itself. However, the less you have, the more you can get out to enjoy life and loved ones. (My soapbox speech of the day.)

Moving to California at the end of December was our 10th (or 11th, I can't remember) time moving since we were married. It was our largest and most stressful move yet. We moved all the way across the country, from Virginia to California...right through a Midwestern snow storm none the less. We also rented the largest moving truck, 16 feet long. As we drove across the country, I stressed about our stuff getting tossed around the back of the moving truck. I stressed about how we were going to unload our moving truck up 3 flights of stairs into our new apartment. I stressed that our apartment wouldn't be large enough (2 bedrooms) to fit our stuff. It was one stress on top of another, all brought on by our "stuff".

Despite my stresses, everything worked out. It was not fun though! We parked our moving truck in the middle of the street all day while just Andy and I moved our belongings up 3 flights of stairs. We ended up hiring some guys to help us and by the end of the day everything was successfully in our apartment. I was so stressed and tired of all the "stuff" we owned, that I just about lost it. I told Andy I was at the end of my rope and that if we didn't get rid of at least half of our stuff I was going to lose it. So we did just that.

Andy and I spent the first week in our new apartment sorting through our stuff. We quickly discovered that the majority of our things were either useless, or duplicates. So out they went! We were able to whittle our things down to half the amount of what we moved with. And...we are still getting rid of things. At the end of each week, we have another bag or box of things to go. With each box that we get rid of I feel lighter, more positive, and more happy. It is wonderful! We are also discovering that the less we own, the more we get out and do things. We have adventures and truly enjoy life because nothing is keeping us at home.

I hate that it took us 3 years of accumulating things and 10 times of moving to discover how wonderful it is to live a minimalist lifestyle. I am happy however, that we have finally reached this point, and we will continue to have even less in the following months. What a sigh or relief. It has been the best stress reducer that I have discovered yet!

In a future post I will give tips on how to become more minimalist.

Simple, Classy, Coffee & Wine Stand

One of my new years goals was/is to live a more minimalist lifestyle. I am gradually minimizing and organizing the things that we have around our apartment. Andy and I initially did a huge purge of our things when we moved in, so now it is mainly down to organizing.

We have this small Ikea kitchen cart that has been used in the kitchen for a variety of things in the past. We have stored fruit and veggies on the bottom shelves, while using the top for food prep to maximize space in the kitchen. In our current kitchen we don't need it for that, so we put it to better use. We created a coffee and wine stand.

Rather than crowding our already crowded cabinets with our coffee stuff, we now have a special place for it. The mugs and bean grinder go on the bottom, while our french press sits on the top. There are also sweeteners and tea on the top for preparing your tea or coffee however you like it. Not only is this convenient, but it frees up some counter space and is an attractive way to serve coffee and tea.

The middle shelf on our kitchen cart is reserved for wine and wine glasses. The wine rack that we had been using didn't always fit the width of our wine bottles (frustrating!), so we decided to keep them on the kitchen cart instead. Out of convenience, our wine glasses slowly started to pile up on the kitchen cart as well, so we decided to make a spot for them. We bought a wine glass rack from Ikea and installed it underneath the top of the kitchen cart. That way our stemmed wine glasses could slide right on. Then, we screwed in some wire cooling racks to the sides of the kitchen cart, so that the wine bottles or glasses wouldn't fall out.

Now we have a simple, yet classy way to store and serve our wine and coffee items. Keeping them out and away from the kitchen also frees up more space in the kitchen and keeps things from getting cluttered. Things look and feel more minimalist in our kitchen/dining area all because of this simple coffee and wine stand. How do you keep things simple and organized in your kitchen?