As life becomes increasingly hectic, more and more people are looking to simplify their lives. This might be partly due to a backlash against the consumerist mindset of wanting to acquire as much as possible and partly due to a desire to make more time to relax and enjoy experiences rather than looking after stuff.
There is a proliferation of blogs and books about minimalist living and a search on Pinterest or Instagram will show how popular minimalism and decluttering has become.
What is minimalism?
There are a variety of definitions for minimalism but it is generally considered to mean living simply, with fewer possessions. Obviously this is relative and everyone will have their own view on what minimalistic living is. For some it is managing with the least possible possessions, for others it is just removing all the superfluous clutter from their lives.
Why is it so popular?
One reason that is often cited for living more simply is that when you have few possessions instead of taking care of all your stuff you can focus on doing more of what you’d like to do. Housework, for instance, takes a lot less time when you don’t have a lot of clutter around, and if just have a few simple pieces of furniture it is even quicker.
The more things you have the more time and money you have to spend looking after them, cleaning them, repairing them, etc. So paring it back to just what you need will mean less work and more time to relax or have fun, not to mention more money to spend on doing what you love.
A less cluttered environment also tends to be less stressful. The more things you have around you the more distracted you are likely to be and will probably find it harder to relax. A lot of the stuff we have in our homes is there not because we actually want it, love it and use it. Rather a lot of our belongings are only there because we are keeping them ‘just in case’, we received them as gifts and feel obligated to keep them, or they were only bought because they were a bargain. Getting rid of the things you don’t really want or need means that you will only be surrounded by the things you really love and use and this makes for a much more calming and positive environment.
How to declutter
If the idea of living more simply and without a lot of extraneous clutter appeals to you, then here are some tips for decluttering your home.
- First of all stop buying new things – have a rule of one in two out until you get on top of your clutter, then switch to a one in one out rule.
- Tackle one room at a time – if you try to do the whole house at once it can be a bit overwhelming.
- Have a box/bag for things to donate, put back things you are keeping and then make a pile of the junk you are going to get rid of.
- Don’t confuse organising with decluttering – rearranging your stuff so that it’s tidier isn’t decluttering, you need to actually get rid of stuff so that you don’t end up organising it again in another few months when it gets out of hand again.
- Decide to only keep things that you use regularly and that you really love.
- Anything that hasn’t been used for a year should definitely go, as well as anything broken. If you were planning to fix it then give yourself a deadline and if it’s not fixed by then it goes.
Once you’ve decided what to get rid of you might be overwhelmed by the big pile you need to get rid of. There’s no need though – Junk Hunters can make it easy for you by picking it up from your home and we’re cheaper than using a skip. We also recycle everything possible so you don’t need to worry about unnecessary waste going to landfill. Find out more about our residential waste collection service and get started with your decluttering right away. A calmer, less cluttered environment and simpler life are just around the corner.