7 STEPS TO BECOMING A MINIMALIST

People often come to my house and comment that it's so clean.  Let me be clear, it's not really all that clean.  But, it is tidy.  I don't have a lot of clutter so that's a good start.  Each morning, I make the bed and spend a few minutes walking around the house, putting things back where they go.  So, although it's usually pretty dusty and needs to be vacuumed, most people don't notice (or don't tell me).  No matter who you are, you can live like this!  All you need to do is work towards becoming more of a minimalist.  You don't have to go crazy and live out of a backpack, but you can survive with less stuff.  Much less stuff.  Less stuff means less clutter.  Less clutter means less clean up.  Less clean up means more life.  It takes hard work on the front in and consistency afterwards, but once you minimize you'll feel much more peaceful at home.  Ready to try it out?  Here are my 7 steps to becoming a minimalist:

1.  Get rid of your collections.  If it's not being used, it's not really useful.  Do you have that collection displayed somewhere and you just absolutely love to look at it each day?  Most likely you don't and it's all just in a box somewhere collecting dust.  Toss it.  If you can't bare to toss it because it's sentimental, then take it out, use it and enjoy it!  There's no use to have it otherwise.

2.  Get rid of old and broken stuff.  Check your food, toiletries and cleaning supplies for their expiration date.  If it's expired or you haven't used it in 3 months to a year, toss it out.  Chances are, it won't taste good or the rancid chemicals will do serious damage.  Google how long make up lasts.  Chances are, you need to throw out all of it and start fresh.  Also, toss out anything that's broken (you most likely aren't ever going to get around to fixing it).  If you want to get it fixed, give yourself a time limit like "if it isn't fixed by this Saturday, it's going into the trash or donation box".

3.  Get rid of clothes, purses and jewelry.  If it's old, torn, mis-shaped, discolored, stretched, shrunk, pulled, too small, too big, not flattering or a bad color, toss it out.  If it's perfect and like new, but you don't like it, toss it.  Only keep things that you use and wear regularly and that you love and feel great in.

4.  Get rid of unnecessary items.  Buttons.  Dry pens.  Old chargers.  Unfinished craft projects.  Items you could borrow when you need it once every 5 years.  Items you haven't used in a year.  Things that have duplicates.  Stuff that doesn't fit in the living space.  And for the record, don't keep anything that you wouldn't buy again now.  Don't keep items just because there is space and you think that something needs to fill it.  Every wall doesn't need a piece of furniture.  Learn to be ok with empty spaces.  It will be good for you, I promise!

5.  Get rid of storage containers.  If you have storage to store your things, then you have too much stuff.  Toss the storage containers.  And consider tossing the stored items if they fall into any of the above 1-4.  Chances are if you look at a container or box and have no idea what's in it, then you can get rid of everything inside.  Once you open it up, you are going to remember all that stuff and find reasons to keep each thing that you haven't used in years.  Be careful!

6.  Call in reinforcements.  If you don't have it in you to be a cut-throat, you might want to call one in.  You know that friend or family member who will throw out and give everything away?  Call them and I bet they'd love to come over and help you.  Don't have someone?  Get on Pinterest and type in "minimalist" or other key words that will bring up lists of what to throw out.  There are some great resources and ideas to get you motivated.

7.  Realize that this is forever.  You aren't going to clean out your entire house, kick back and relax away the rest of your days.  Ok, maybe you can chill out for a few weeks.  But, once you do that too long, you're going to notice little piles here and there and before you know it, it's a year later and you'd never know that you worked so hard to become a minimalist.  Just like working out consistently keeps a fit body, cleaning out and tidying up consistently keeps a minimalist home.  You're going to have to work at it daily.

If you are reading this blog, you most likely have more than you actually need.  That's a great place to start!  Begin cleaning out today.  You'll probably have truckloads to donate and trash at first, but it will eventually slow down.  Make it your goal to continue to take a bag to donate or trash each time you fill it up.  The more you do it, the better you'll feel.  It make take weeks, months and even up to a year to get your home to where you want it to be.  But, it will all be worth it.  Imagine your clutter free, tidy home and how much more relaxing your downtime will be.  Also, no more worrying about someone randomly dropping by.  At that point, your house will always be clutter free, tidy and ready for surprise guests!  Life's already stressful enough.  Being a minimalist reduces so much of that.