It’s easy to accumulate things you don’t need, whether it be clutter in your home, files on your desktop screen, or receipts and rewards cards in your wallet. However, many argue that living a more minimalist lifestyle can generate significant benefits in one’s life, such as reduced stress, improved finances, and increased organization. Taking a more minimalist approach toward life doesn’t come overnight, but taking small steps toward decluttering aspects of your life can be a good place to start.
Live in the Moment
Holding on to items that are no longer needed is something that prevents many individuals from living a more minimalist lifestyle. Often papers, notes, and smaller items tend to build up and create the greatest appearance of clutter in a home or at a desk at work. In this way, it might be best to start by tackling a mountain of to-do lists that have been put off for weeks or a stack of receipts from budgeting. Cutting down on clutter where it tends to build up, whether it be a desk, a junk drawer, a closet, or elsewhere, is a great place to start.
When sorting through cluttered spaces, asking yourself a few questions can be helpful in determining whether something can be discarded or consolidated:
- “When is the last time I used this?”
- “Do I really need this?”
- “Can these items be consolidated to take up less space?”
- “What role does this item play in my life?”
Your answers to these questions will help you decide what you should keep and what you should get rid of. For instance, the mountain of to-do lists can be consolidated into a simple, sturdy planner, and the receipts can be recorded in a notebook. By getting rid of the smaller things that build up and create the appearance of chaos and clutter will begin to disappear from your life, causing stress levels to decrease.
Develop Clear Goals for Decluttering
Another important aspect of becoming more minimalistic is developing clear goals for eliminating clutter in your life and holding yourself accountable for it. One easy way to do this is finding a well-crafted notebook that will withstand wear and tear, preferably with stable backing to keep it from sliding around on a surface and getting lost in the clutter. Begin by listing what you would like to accomplish with your decluttering project, and then track your progress each day to ensure you are making steps toward minimalizing excess items, increasing the organization of your spaces at home and work.
Prioritize Quality Over Quantity
Finally, rearranging your priorities is the last element of beginning a more minimalist lifestyle. The main change of focus with making a more minimalist approach is to prioritize quality over quantity. This means buying things that will last, which allows for buying fewer of them. Take the example of the planner to reduce clutter that comes along with to-do lists. If you buy one with a sturdy cover and plenty of writing space and spend a little more, you will save money in the end for not having to replace it more than once before the year is over due to wear and tear that comes with toting it around. This supports the idea of a more minimalist lifestyle by decreasing clutter and saving money. With finding more ways to cut excess, developing clear decluttering goals, and reducing the buildup of unnecessary items, you will begin making steps toward a more minimalistic lifestyle in no time.
The sturdy, simple Minimalist planners from datebookstore.com support the approach outlined in the steps above, allowing even the most cluttered individuals to become more minimalistic.