Trying Minimalism

Over the past year or so, I have had frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. Not necessarily overwhelmed with my job or lack of time like in the past, but overwhelmed by clutter and "stuff". During this same time period, I had been contemplating on how to ‘downsize’ and realized my overall discontentment with life stemmed from the stuff that enslaved me. The idea of practicing minimalism struck a harmonious chord of uplifting magnitude within me.The idea of minimalistic living has been around for roughly 10 years in the mainstream, but many cultures and populations have instinctively been practicing this way of life much longer. What is minimalism? Although many think minimalism is about getting rid of most material possessions, it is more of a process to eliminate excess and only keep what has value and meaning to you personally. It’s about limiting the consumer mentality and freeing up time and space for what is truly meaningful such as, relationships and experiences. Everyone’s picture of minimalism will be different.I know I am not alone in this quest and witness many Americans be overtaken by consumerism and materialism. Why do you think the Netflix show called “Tidying Up” with Marie Kondo is so popular and her book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” has sold millions of copies? Because everyone is feeling overwhelmed by living the materialistic American Dream. Overbuying, overspending, living in debt and unhappy.I certainly don’t consider myself an over-spender and we are not in debt (anymore, thankfully). However, we have accumulated “stuff” over the past 10 years of living in the same house. Purging unwanted and unloved items was easy in years past because we moved about every 2-3 years and when you have to pack all your belongings by yourself and unpack, you come to be quite skilled at tossing and donating items.Now as I embark on this practice of minimalism, I have begun to work on small areas of my life so I don’t get overwhelmed with all I need to do. For example, I did start with all my clothes drawers and employed the KonMari method. In doing so I cleared out 2 garbage bags of clothes and had an empty drawer. Bit by bit I am going through my closet as well. I don’t have the mental fortitude to empty all contents of my closet on my bed like Marie suggests, but my piece by piece method has produced another 2 garbage bags of items (clothes, purses and shoes). I’m still not where I want to be on the clothes but feel better seeing what I have to wear now.The next area in which is a constant struggle for me is paper- receipts, bills, documents, etc. I have a large, two drawer file cabinet full of organized folders of paper documents. Joshua Fields Millburn of The Minimalist said something in the book “Everything that Remains” that made me rethink self-labeling as an “organized” person, as wrong. He states that there is no difference between hoarders and those of us who neatly organize our junk in bins and containers. I felt like he was describing me. So, each day this week, I have scanned several folders of contents and I’m slowly on the road to becoming “paperless” and saving everything electronically with the goal of getting rid of the file cabinet all together.This weekend, my husband has agreed to help me tackle the garage. Like most American’s, our garages are no longer used to store our cars. Instead they are jammed packed with junk and ancillary stuff. It may even become a “catch all” area in some families since they have either depleted any space inside the house or don’t have a designated place for it. We have agreed to sell several items that are only collecting dust in the garage, such as; a fishing kayak, a kayak rack, golf clubs, and maybe my treadmill which I do use at least once a week. (The garage was Joshua Becker’s epiphany moment which lead him to minimalism- www.becomingminimalist.com )

Finally, to reduce my consumption, I am trying a few 30-day challenges. This month I have vowed to spend zero dollars on clothing and zero dollars on take out lunches, which means I need to be diligent in packing my lunch.

I am anticipating joy and freedom through this process of minimalism. It certainly is a process and I trust my ideals of what minimalism is for me, will be shaped over time. As Joshua Fields Millburn says in his blog, “Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from overwhelm. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around.”  www.theminimalist.com