As people become aware of minimalism, they naturally become curious about practicing it themselves. People are beginning to recognize that they’re living in a cycle of meeting societal expectations and consumerism, which ultimately leaves us feeling unsatisfied. More and more people are beginning to seek satisfaction through experience and quality of life, rather than through material possessions or hitting milestones. Having said all that, one question remains: “How do I start a minimalist lifestyle?“. We’ll discuss a few ways you can start practicing minimalism right now!
Starting a minimalist lifestyle is simpler than it sounds. Below is a list of things you can start doing today! As to whether or not it’s easy, that’s a different story – that will come down to dedication and making lifestyle changes:
- Become self-aware of your urges to buy things or live a particular lifestyle. To do this…
- Explore the real reasons you want a material possession or status. Is it to gain acceptance? To meet someone else’s expectations? Is your sense of self-worth dependent on it?
- Become aware of unnecessary wastes of money and if you have any in your life.
- Consider things you aren’t using and donate or sell them.
- Get the full use out of possessions you own.
- Seek out quality, both in purchases and in experiences.
Below is a detailed explanation of each of these points.
1. Become Self-Aware
Do you consider yourself a shopper? Do you always want the next new thing? Its possible that, like nearly ALL humans, you’re running on the ‘Hedonic Treadmill‘ – a natural cycle of feeling bored or unfulfilled, then being inspired to achieve a goal or obtain a possession, then reaching that goal and feeling happiness, only to return to boredom again.
Once you recognize this tendency in yourself, it can be disheartening. Much of our lives can be centered around seeking out external satisfaction. But there’s good news. We MUST become self-aware before pursuing minimalism, because we will only stick to it once we have solid footing to stand on. If becoming a minimalist was like building a house, self-awareness is the foundation.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself in order to become self aware:
- Have you ever felt that once you get a job, promotion, house, car, etc. you can ‘finally be happy‘?
- Does your job pay well but leave you unhappy? Is this accepted because the money is good, or the title is regarded?
- Does owning big name brands mean something to you?
- Are there celebrities or wealthy people you wish to emulate?
- Does buying the latest gadget or clothes make you happy?
- Do you find yourself frequently browsing online stores and brand name websites?
- How important is spending a lot of money on events like birthday parties, weddings, baby showers, etc.?
- Do you put a lot of effort into maintaining an appearance on social media?
Asking yourself these questions will bring about self-awareness, which is critical to practicing minimalism.
2. Explore Your Motives
Based on the questions in the previous section, it’s equally important to explore why you feel compelled to live a certain way and buy things.
According to PBS, children form most of their money habits by age SEVEN. That’s only in first or second grade. Therefore, you can start this self-examination by looking back to childhood.
Another critical period to examine is your teenage years. This article written by the Dept. Of Health & Human Services discusses the affects of peer pressure on teenage behavior. This can include use of drugs, drinking alcohol, buying clothing, diet, activities and more.
To examine your own reasons, consider the following:
- If you don’t make a certain amount of money or achieve a particular status, do you consider yourself a failure?
- Do you find yourself wondering what others think about you?
- If your job pays well but makes you unhappy, what would you tell someone else to do in your shoes?
- Are there people in your life that put pressure on you?
- What do you think buying something new will bring to you?
- What do you think about your own worth?
- Does browsing social media make you feel bad about yourself?
- On the flip side, does praise on social media – on a photo or post – give you a rush of good feelings?
- What do you think you’d feel like if you had what celebrities have?
Finding out the root cause of your desires and tendencies is incredibly important to bringing minimalism into your life.
3. Be Aware Of Common Wastes Of Money
We recently posted an article to our site titled “Unnecessary Wastes Of Money – The 15 Biggest“. We recommend you browse this article, as we break down how much the average American spends on various expenses each year.
Here are a few examples of common wastes of cash:
- Credit card interest
- Not paying yourself first (saving/investing)
- Expensive restaurants
- Owning or renting too big of a place
- Buying brand new cars & having car payments
- Exercise equipment and unused gym memberships
- Clubs, bars and alcohol
Fear not, the most people grapple with at least a few of these things!
4. Get Rid Of Extra Stuff
There are many rules of thumb to follow when it comes to owning extra things.
In your house or apartment, do you have rooms that don’t get used? Have you not walked into one in days, weeks or even months? If so, you can probably live just fine in a smaller place.
If you do have rooms that don’t get used, are they furnished? That furniture is probably not necessary.
How about clothes? If your wardrobe or closet is busting at the seams, there’s just no way you need all of those clothes. You may WANT to have them, but you definitely don’t need them. Minimalism is all about only having what you need.
The same can be said about electronics, appliances and sporting goods. If they’re covered in dust or haven’t moved in ages, they’re not needed.
5. Get Full Use Out Of Your Possessions
There are celebrities out there who boast that they wear a pair of shoes or article of clothing only once. Don’t be like them – this is silly. Wear your clothes and shoes until they can’t be used anymore.
Check out this article written by Consumer Reports – keeping up with maintenance and choosing reliable models can help a car coast past 200,000 miles. Given that the average American puts less than 14,000 miles per year on their car, that’s nearly 15 years that a car can last from new.
Check out this article published by This Old House about how long appliances, fixtures and materials should last around the house.
Similarly, furniture should also last for many years of regular use, too.
An easy way to practice minimalism is to maintain and keep what you buy to get the maximum use out of it, rather than replacing things when they aren’t shiny and new anymore.
6. Seek Out Quality
Quality comes in many forms, and we should seek it out above all else.
When it comes to buying material things, quality items last a lot longer and perform better over time, too. While it may seem that buying cheaper things will save money, they’ll need to be replaced a lot sooner and won’t function as well. Take a pair of dress shoes for example. A high-quality pair may cost $250, while a cheap pair may be $50-60. With regular use, the cheaper pair may need to be replaced within a year, but the expensive pair can last for 3, 5 or even 10 years and look much better the whole time.
When it comes to friendships, look for people who share similar outlooks on life. People who pressure you to take part in bad habits or discourage you from your goals are not going to provide any value or quality to your life.
When it comes to your time, are you wasting hours in traffic, working in a toxic environment and generally participating in the rat race? While these things are necessary sometimes, it’s equally important to consider the opportunity cost of spending your time this way: is your fitness and health suffering? Are you missing time with your family or pursuing things you love to do? Time is the one thing we can never get more of – we can only make the best of the time we have.
In Conclusion
It can be frustrating and disheartening to recognize patterns that we’re caught up in. But there’s good news – when it comes to minimalism, the first step is to realize this! From there, it gets easier.
Hopefully you’ve found this article helpful and informative. Going forwards, you now have the knowledge required to introduce minimalism in your life, and make choices that support the practice!