Every day I look at my to-do list and it just seems like a pile of things I was supposed to get done but never did in the preceding weeks. Even though we live in a fairly small home, it always seems like there’s more work to be done on it and more stuff that continues to fill it. Even though we have our finances in fairly good order, it always seems like there are more bills to pay and more papers to organize. Minimalism just seems so out of reach.

Some days I just feel so overwhelmed about what’s not getting done, that I end up getting paralyzed and instead let the piles of things to do get bigger!

The Answer: Minimalism

For this reason, over the past couple of weeks, I chose to delve deep into the world of minimalism and do a detox of “stuff” to see how it would affect my cluttered mind. To best educate me on this way of living, I turned first to Francine Jay’s “The Joy of Less.”

Not only was it an enjoyable read, but it was also incredibly insightful and changed my perspective on several things. Firstly, that owning things means more work!

I had never thought of it quite that way before. I’ve always been fairly frugal in what I decided to spend money on, but that same frugality has caused me to hold onto things much longer than needed. Which, ultimately can have the same effect on the amount of clutter in my home.

Seems pretty obvious right? I guess sometimes it just takes the right book to kick yourself into gear.

Less Stuff Means More Freedom

One big takeaway from the way Francine lives her life is that she simplifies by not creating more work for herself. How, you ask?

By owning less.

Because she doesn’t own as much “stuff” she isn’t burdened with the work required to maintain the functionality of the item, fix it when it breaks, or replace it when needed. She also doesn’t have to make extra space for the item.

Great examples of this?

Instead of choosing to buy books and then have to store them on her bookshelves, Francine rents books from the library ( I proudly also chose to rent her book from the library and now don’t have to find space for another book on my bookshelf!).

Another example she uses is taking advantage of services provided by communities by visiting museums, rather than trying to curate and maintain art pieces in your own home.

Other great choices include getting a gym membership rather than having to maintain an at-home gym. Renting ATV’s, boats, trucks, or other outdoor recreational supplies are also great alternatives to having to burden yourself with paying for the extra room to store these items, and with the extra work to maintain them.

Basically, if there is an opportunity to rent, rather than own an item—take full advantage of it.

Having Less Helps the Environment

I love that Francine’s passion for the environment and desire to be a responsible inhabitant of it also comes through in her book.

She talks about how important it is to live gracefully on this planet and leave as little of a footprint as possible by choosing not to be a “consumer.”

So much of marketing is aimed at getting us to consume more, but we should remember that their motivation is making money, while our motivation should be living a simpler, happier, more meaningful life.

We can do this by choosing to recycle those goods we no longer need and give them a second life and chance to be useful to someone in need. These items would be a part of what she calls your “transfer” pile (meaning it’s neither something you want to “trash,” or “treasure”).

You can either choose to give the item to someone you know personally that you know would enjoy it, or take it to your nearest donation center (Salvation Army and Goodwill are great options).

If you ask for a receipt, you can even use these charitable donations as tax deductions.

You can feel good knowing you’re not just adding something to a landfill, reducing the footprint you leave on the environment.

Minimalism Apps/Resources

A great suggestion she makes is opting out of junk mail to avoid paper waste. There are several ways to do this. To stop junk mail, you can go to DMAchoice.org. To opt-out of pre-approved credit or insurance offers, you can go to https://www.optoutprescreen.com/. If you find apps easier, they have one called PaperKarma that allows you to snap a picture of the mail you want to opt-out of and send it in.

There’s also a great app for helping you make the healthiest product choices, called “EWG Healthy Living.” With this app, you can scan and browse products to see their score (from 1-10, 1 being the best) to tell you how safe and healthy the product is. You’ll have to give it a try!

Summary

Thanks to Francine’s advice, I’ve been much more conscious about the purchases I’m making—how they’re being sourced or manufactured, and the responsibility I will need to take in seeing that item through all stages of its life (making sure to recycle it if possible). 

I’ve already begun to feel the burden of things lighten and can think more clearly and positively about what I want to accomplish in life.  

What Do You Think About Minimalism?

Do you have a favorite way to declutter? What tools and resources have helped you? What benefits have you seen from decluttering your life? Make sure to leave a comment in the ‘comments’ section to let us know! Don’t forget to read about our KonMari challenge HERE!