Now I want to start this off by saying there are no rules to minimalism.
The minimalists define it as “Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.”
Joshua Becker defines it as “minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it. It is a life that forces intentionality. And as a result, it forces improvements in almost all aspects of your life.”
For me I define it as “buying and using only the things that you need, removing the things that you don’t in order to give yourself freedom from overwhelm to focus on what really matters.”
So I am 15 months deep into this journey at the time of this post (April 2019) and I thought it would be interesting to let you know what I have gotten rid of so far.
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- 2 piece dining hutch and all of the fancy dishes inside
- 4 dressers (repurposed one from using it for clothes to using it for kids craft supplies, games and the few fancy dishes I have left, and got rid of the other 3)
- 9 square cubicle bookshelf that held kids books and toys
- 1 extra night table we had in our master bedroom for storage
- all of our baby stuff
- probably about 4 van loads full of clothes. My husband and I each have 25 hangers and a few small drawers.
- toys, lots of toys.
- almost all of our adult books I have about 10-15 left and switched to kindle reading
- many of the kids books we have 2 shelves now instead of 9
- a ton of beauty products, make up etc
- 5 boxes full of picture frames that used to be on the walls (collage walls)
- tupperware – we keep it simple now with just a few pieces
- shoes – we each have 6-7 pairs – 1 pair of boots, 2 pairs of sandals, 1 pair of dress shoes, 1 pair of causal shoes, 1 pair of athlectic (gym)shoes
- 1 laundry basket – simplified the amount of clothes and our laundry system
- main dishes we each have 2 of each thing (plates, bowls, cups, utensils and a few extra pieces for when we have guests in to eat
- home decor (no more knick knacks – we just have a couple memorable pieces left
- seasonal tableware – no more Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, valentines day, Halloween tableware left
- Totes of storage – we have very few small totes in the garage with Christmas decor, Easter decor, small amount of baby stuff, memorbilia and my husbands tools/work equipment. We got ride of atleast 10 totes.
- Our only storage area under our stairs used to be full of totes, now it houses our suitcases, steam cleaner for the carpets and a little play area for the kids.
As I have said many times before this is a journey and I just keep going room by room and minimizing the access. It gets a little easier every time and what I thought we still needed last round will often make it to the donate pile this round.
Freedom from overwhelm is what this gives me. Time to do what I really want to do, to enjoy my life instead of managing my stuff. I am really loving my journey to being a minimalist. I hope this post inspires you and shows you that you really can live with less and be happier!
Trying to live a more minimalist life has brought so much clarity and joy to my life. I have been on a minimalism journey for 15 months now. I am sharing my minimalism journey on youtube. I share my tips I have learned for decluttering and simple living on my journey to a minimalist lifestyle. #minimalism #minimalismjourney