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The 5 Best Articles On Minimalism

I’m really into this new minimalism trend. I hope it becomes a lifestyle for most people and doesn’t fade. I support buying less things of greater quality and creating less waste. The shift from rapid consumerism to buying fewer quality goods makes me very happy!

Before we bought our house, we knew that we wanted to buy small and only buy what we need to furnish it. We carefully thought out each purchase here, buying gently used goods when we could (our couch from Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore is the perfect example of this) or saving up for slightly better quality goods. I tried to avoid the dollar store with its throwaway quality and we slowly built up what we own. Josh and I also knew that we wanted to start paying attention to how much garbage we produce. We have used less plastic lately and the city’s compost program has been a godsend.

I’ve been obsessed with the idea of having less for a long time and was overjoyed when the KonMari method and the documentary, simply titled “Minimalism”, became popular. Now you find it as a buzzword in a lot of social media feeds and it is all over my Pinterest page. I’ve read a lot of articles on the subject, and here are some of the best that I’ve found:

1. Yes, I’m A Minimalist. No, I’m Not Getting Rid Of That. By Jessica Rose Williams.  This blog post is terrific and echoes the sentiments of “The Minimalists”, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. All of them say something to the effect of ‘find your passions, keep that and spend money on quality goods in that category’. For Jessica, it’s quality clothing, makeup, and travel. In their documentary, Joshua and Ryan say it isn’t about getting rid of all of your stuff but getting rid of the stuff that isn’t important to you. Keep your books if you love reading all of them, but get rid of the knick-knacks cluttering up that same bookshelf, for example. This blog post says it a lot more eloquently. Check it out: https://www.jessicarosewilliams.com/yes-im-minimalist-no-im-not-getting-rid/

 

2. 7 Tips For Living a Minimalist Lifestyle. By Gypsy Soul blogger, Gina Caro. I love this article because she defines what minimalism means to her and follows it up with steps you can take to give it a try, with links to expand on those ideas. I loved the simple step-by-step approach, as well as the idea to reuse items you have for more useful purposes rather than tossing them. Creating garbage isn’t the goal here either! Here is the link: http://www.gypsysoul.co.uk/7-tips-for-living-a-minimalist-lifestyle/

 

 

 3. Why Highly Sensitive People Need Minimalism by Simply Lionheart Life, Melissa. This one has a special place in my heart because I am a Highly Sensitive Person and my kids are Highly Sensitive Children. This one really hit home for me. You may discover something about yourself when you read this one and be inspired to declutter and minimize! Read it here: http://simplelionheartlife.com/highly-sensitive-people-need-minimalism/

 

 

 

 

4. Minimalism for Messy People on Make Stuff Pretty. A creative soul has projects on the go – just the nature of being creative means you have a lot of little craft stuff to put somewhere and you unintentionally hoard little scraps of yarn or paper for imagined future projects. If you are this person, and I am, then this blog post gets you. I loved this approach to it and her casual voice. You can find it at this link: http://www.makestuffpretty.com/home/minimalism-messy-people-decluttering-101/

 

 

 

5. How I Use Mind Mapping to Declutter My Brain on Red & Honey with Beth Ricci. This one is for your brain!! I read this a long time ago but I didn’t start using this method. Now I regret it and I intend to start this next week. A  decluttered brain is a happy one and I bet I start sleeping better! I even have a brand new notebook perfect for the job. This concept of mapping out what your thoughts or goals on paper is simple but genius. I won’t do it justice, so you’ll just have to check it out here: https://redandhoney.com/use-mind-mapping-help-declutter-brain/.

These inspired me completely! I have some more work to do on this house- we moved a lot of stuff in “just in case”, so I needed some inspo to tackle those boxes and corners. These articles did the trick. I have one more thing to share before you go. I found a blog called Frugaling that curated some TED talks on minimalism. I enjoyed them and wanted to share that link here: http://frugaling.org/8-ted-talks-will-inspire-become-minimalist/ .

 

Happy reading and watching!

 

I hope these helped you decide if minimalism is for you. 

If you are decluttering, I would love to hear your stories below! 

 

More reading from my blog:

Capsule Wardrobe: Attempt #3

Living Room Reveal

The Konmari Method and Saving Money

 

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