10 Minimalist Tips for Beginners
How to get started with minimalism? If you’re wondering how to pare down your possessions, own less stuff, simplify your life and start living a minimalist lifestyle, this is a guide for you.
Minimalism helps remove the excess stuff in your life so you can focus your time, money and energy on the things you value most.
Living a minimalist lifestyle gives you more time, energy, money and space in all areas of your life.
You will enjoy life more by owning fewer possessions at home. There are many benefits of living with less: less clutter, more space, less cleaning, less maintenance, less stress, fewer expenses, less distraction, more time and clarity of mind, etc.
Minimalism is more than just decluttering. By clearing every aspect of your life, there will be more physical and mental space for you to relax and enjoy, and freedom to do what you want in your life.
What is a minimalist lifestyle?
Minimalism is a style that has been around for decades, or even longer, but it only became a popular lifestyle choice in recent years.
A minimalist lifestyle is a way of living with less. Minimalism is the practice of removing unnecessary stuff and extra clutter from one’s life in order to live more simply and deliberately.
The idea is by simplifying our lives and get rid of things that don’t serve our purposes or make us happy so that we can focus on what is important in our lives.
Minimalist living is not about being poor or depriving yourself of anything, it’s about only having what you need and love in your life.
Nowadays, many of us live in excess. We constantly receive lots of commercial messages, advertisements, and promotions telling us to buy this and that. End up we have more clothes than we need, more furniture than we need, more gadgets than we need, etc. Unfortunately, this can also lead to clutter, debt, and stress.
In a time where we have more distractions than ever, minimalism is a way to get rid of all the noise and make space to focus on our priorities.
Keep in mind that minimalism is different for everyone. Your values and focus are different from mine. So your minimalist lifestyle can be totally different from mine.
The main concept of minimalism is about living intentionally by removing the excess stuff that does not align with our goals and values so we can make room for space and freedom.
Simplifying life brings us joy and freedom. Looking to start living a more minimal lifestyle? Here are ten practical minimalism tips for beginners.
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10 Tips on Becoming a Minimalist
1// Create a minimalist wardrobe
Do you find yourself having an overstuffed closet and feeling like you have nothing to wear? If yes, it’s time to declutter and simplify your wardrobe.
Building your own minimalist wardrobe is one of the best ways to start living a minimalist lifestyle. Most minimalists love simple wardrobes.
There are so many benefits of a minimalist wardrobe. It helps to save time and money. You’ll be happy with what you have in your closet.
Downsizing your wardrobe helps you get dressed faster in the morning. No need to waste time and no more frustration as you no longer need to dig through the dresser to get an outfit that suits you.
You’ll feel confident in your clothes because they all fit you and speak your personal style.
You’ll also find yourself spending less money on clothes because you know what you have in your closet.
Declutter your closets and be ruthless when decluttering clothes. Letting go of clothes and accessories that don’t fit you anymore.
Any items that you haven’t worn in the past year also need to go. Only keep the pieces that you love and wear.
2// Get rid of extra kitchen gadgets
Minimalist living is all about getting rid of the excess in our life. How many times have you been stressed out by a cluttered home? Especially a cluttered kitchen that we always stay around there.
A cluttered countertop or messy cupboards costs you more time to look for things you need and make it difficult to clean and tidy.
Kitchen gadgets can take up a lot of space. Declutter your kitchen by getting rid of unnecessary or extra kitchen items.
When you got too much stuff, pare down the items and decide what you really need.
Do you need 20 coffee mugs? 3 whisks? 3 can openers? Declutter duplicates of the utensils and keep your favorite one. Donate or put away any small appliances you don’t use regularly.
Decluttering by getting rid of unnecessary items can reduce the stress level for most of us. And it helps cleaning and organizing so much easier.
Minimalism involves living with things you absolutely need or love. By getting rid of stuff you don’t need, you will have more energy and room for things that truly matter.
Related Decluttering Tips:
How to Declutter When You’re Overwhelmed by a Messy House
3// Minimize your possessions
Once you start decluttering your closets and kitchen, you’ll begin to experience the benefits of minimalist living.
You’ll love the clutter-free spaces, love the things you use, and enjoy every moment there. You’ll be excited to declutter more things around your house.
We have a decluttering checklist of 100 Easy things to get rid of that will help you get started with minimalism.
Decluttering is hard in the beginning, here are a few more decluttering strategies when you’re struggling to declutter:
How to Get Motivated to Declutter Your Home
16 Five-Minute Decluttering Tasks You Can Do Today
4// Reduce paper clutter
It’s very common to see piles of paper in many households. Papers can be a big visual clutter that drains out your energy. You may even have to spend extra time looking for papers when you’re in need.
Quickly sort through your paper clutter from any flat surfaces like the kitchen counter, dining table, office desk, entryway table, floors, etc. For any important documents that need to be filed, keep them on a pile and schedule a day to file them.
For those papers which has personal information, you need to shred them before they go.
Toss out all those random papers, old magazines, newspapers, receipts (not for tax purposes), greeting cards, etc. into recycled or trash.
Use a minimalist approach to paperwork. Deal with papers immediately when you bring them home. And go paperless as much as possible.
The minimalist habit that I’m adopting for years is to take a minute to go through the mail once I get back home. Toss any flyers and junk mail immediately into recycle bin.
For anything that needs to follow up (pay bills, file documents, etc), I put them in my pending file and deal with them on the weekend.
Sign up for receiving e-statements from the banks and e-bills from utility companies. This helps to reduce papers coming into your home.
To be honest, boxes of paper documents and boxes holding memorabilia can take up space, collect dust and clutter your home. If you don’t try to eliminate the clutter, you need to take much more time to clean, dust and organize.
Use a scanner or take out your smartphone and use the scanning app to scan the hardcopy documents. Save files to the cloud like Google Drive or Dropbox or store them on an external hard drive. (Always keep the original of any important documents.)
Let go of sentimental items (old photos, letters, cards, toys, trophies, children’s artwork, etc) by taking photos to keep the memories. Of course, you can still keep some of them if you have space.
Scanning documents or taking photos of sentimental objects, and storing them digitally helps to save physical storage space in your home and you can access them anytime, anywhere for a quick reference.
5// Simplify and organize your home
Finding ways to organize your home help you save time and money. When you have an uncluttered and organized home, you don’t need to waste time finding things or buying things you already have.
One of the best ways to stay organized is to keep things in the right places, not on flat surfaces. Just like papers go into folders or recycle, dirty clothes in the hampers, not on the floor.
Keeping the flat surfaces clear and uncluttered makes home cleaning easier. You will feel calmer and more productive.
Related Simplifying Home post:
5 Easy Ways to Simplify Your Home
6// Simplify your meals
After a long day at work, cooking dinner may not be a favorite thing to do. Ordering take-out sounds much easier but it can cost money when you review your expenses in a month.
When we talk about minimalism, we focus on minimizing our stuff and keeping things simple. Simplifying meals not only helps us save money but also allows us to eat healthier.
Create your weekly meal plans and stick to them. Choose simple recipes and plan ahead of time. Nothing fancy, but simple and tasty.
There are some easy ways to simplify your meals. Start simplifying your eating habit and meal planning routine to embrace a way of simpler living.
Want to save time in the kitchen? Start with batch cooking. I love to cook once and eat triple. That means I cook a triple batch and refrigerate/freeze the rest for the week.
When I cook the meat in bulk, the main dish is ready and I can easily add veggies and pasta/rice for a complete meal. It’s easy, simple, and healthy.
Embracing a minimalist approach to simple eating and creating a meal plan routine will make your life easier. It also helps to reduce stress and money spent on grocery too.
7// Declutter your mind
A cluttered mind can usually come from clinging to the past, focusing on negative thoughts and worries, a cluttered home or workspace, or even a long list of tasks.
Mental clutter can drain your energy and make you feel overwhelmed and stressed. Minimalism can improve your mental health.
Declutter your mind to free up mental space helps to regain your focus. You can do this by being intentional about the things you value most and eliminating anything that distracts you.
Keeping a journal and writing out your thoughts and worries.
Writing things down and prioritizing your tasks and time that align with your goals can eliminate unnecessary tasks. You will feel calmer, and gain more inner peace and clarity.
While you’re removing the physical clutter at home, decluttering your brain is equally important. By removing the daily distractions, you can stay focused on the important things that are worth your time and energy.
8// Declutter your schedule
Are you feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by an overflowing schedule? Rushing from here and there, unfinished tasks, commitments?
If you say yes, you have too much on your plate. Let’s be real, you cannot do everything you want. They can run out of your energy and add stress to your life.
It’s time to declutter your calendar and create a minimalist schedule. Track your time and schedule time for things that align with your life goals.
When you plan your tasks, you need to know your priorities. Look over your calendar, and remove the excess tasks and activities that don’t serve the purpose so you can focus on the goals that you value most.
Simplify your schedule to bring balance to your days. With that said, you need to intentionally schedule time for your work and personal life.
Ask yourself what is most important in your life. Set your top priorities and make decisions accordingly.
9// Use up what you already have before buying a new one
Minimalism can be different things for different people. But the goal is almost the same: removing the excess stuff so you can make time, money and energy for what matters most in your life.
Living a minimalist life is all about intentional living. For example, creating intentional shopping habits help you be more intentional about what you purchase and how you spend the money.
While we are getting rid of extras, be mindful of what you’re bringing home. Stop buying more things than you need and think twice before you make a purchase.
Learn how to shop like a minimalist. Use up what you have before buying new things. It might be hard at first but it’s so worth trying.
Plan your purchases and stop impulse buying also help you stick to your budget, save money, and reduce waste.
10// Value experiences over material things
Being a minimalist, I value experiences rather than material things. Experiences are intangible. Vacations, movies, sporting events, attending a workshop, etc. that promotes long-lasting happiness and memories.
Minimalism and saving money always go hand in hand. When you apply the minimalist approach to personal finance and are intentional with your money, you’ll find yourself saving more money by cutting the expenses of things that don’t serve a purpose.
A minimal lifestyle affects all aspects of your life. When you choose to live with less, you realize you don’t need as many material goods as you thought.
Final Thoughts:
Whether you are interested in minimalism as a lifestyle or just a new way to live, I hope the above minimalist tips have given you some helpful insight into minimalist living.
Live more simply: committing to living with less stuff and decluttering more often can be challenging to start with. However, you can break the process down into little steps, and you will be able to find your inner minimalist!
Here are some minimalism resources and inspiration that can help you get started on your minimalist journey:
Develop a Minimalist Mindset – How to Think Like a Minimalist
7 Minimalist Habits that I’ve Learned from Living in a Small House
25 Easy Ways to Simplify and Organize Your Life
