Archive for the Minimalism Category

Organizing Versus Decluttering

By on January 12, 2018   /   Minimalism   /   3 Comments
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There seems to be a constant debate on organizing versus decluttering. Which one is more important? Should I organize, declutter, or both? This is my experience with organizing and decluttering.

I used to spend hours every week watching organizing videos. I would be amazed and so satisfied watching people organize the contents of their closet or storage cabinets into neat, clear plastic tubs, complete with lids and cute labels. Watching these videos would make me so motivated to go get my own organizing tubs and move all of my belongings into clearly labeled containers, where everything has it’s place.

Organized Versus Decluttered

The idea of organizing all of my stuff seemed like so much fun, and I started to use my coupons (I was also into couponing) to buy organizing bins and drawer sets for my cabinets. I organized all of my bulk toothpaste, extra deodorants, and even put all of the clothes I hardly wear in a cute box to put up in the attic. I organized a box of scarves, a box of spare shoes, and I even organized all of my books from college into a box with a label to put in the garage.

I soon realized the problem with my organizing spree. I was simply organizing all of the stuff I wasn’t using. I didn’t need fifty tubs of toothpaste or thirty Bath and Body Works shower gels. I didn’t need that box of clothes that I never wore, or my books from college.

Soon after my organizing spree, I found minimalism. At this point, I turned my focus from organizing to decluttering. I stopped with the couponing madness, and I stopped buying more stuff. I started working my way through the stuff that I had, and gave some of it away. Eventually, the storage and organizing containers became useless. I didn’t have stuff to fill them anymore, so they got donated along with a lot of the stuff in them.

This experience taught me that decluttering should always come before organizing. For the majority of my organizing phase, organizing was just tidying up the stuff I wasn’t using or didn’t need to begin with. Though organizing can feel productive and look pretty, now I much prefer the minimalist look of clean, clear homes with only the essentials and nothing more.

Organized Versus Decluttered

Living this way has opened my mind and schedule, so that I have the time to be doing things that really light me up and make me feel alive. I have time for all of my many hobbies and goals. And I can tell you, organizing isn’t one of those hobbies anymore.

Your Turn!

  • Do you prefer organizing or decluttering?
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Mistakes I Made While Decluttering

By on January 5, 2018   /   Minimalism   /   Leave a comment
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A few years ago, I went on a massive decluttering spree. I had decided to become a minimalist, so naturally, the first step was decluttering my one bedroom apartment. Though I eventually got it right, I made my fair share of mistakes along the way. These are three mistakes I made while decluttering.

Overthinking The Process

Decluttering can be overwhelming at first. Looking at the piles of stuff forced into my closet, my overflowing drawers, and the insane amount of excess I had, it was hard to imagine having a decluttered and clean home. I was hesitant to start decluttering because it just seemed like so much work. I stayed stuck in this state of analysis paralysis for a good amount of time before I finally made a plan and took some action.

Mistakes I Made While Decluttering

Trying To Do It All At Once

When I finally made the decision to just go for it, I made a plan, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work. But I soon realized that even after getting rid of half my shoes or my over filled dresser, I still had more shoes and clothes that I could get rid of. After the initial decluttering, I knew that one round wasn’t enough. I ended up doing a total of three waves of decluttering, getting rid of more things each time.

Organizing the Clutter

After a couple of waves of decluttering, I decided that what I really needed was an organizational system. I picked up some boxes from work and organized a lot of my belongings into different boxes, and then moved them into my garage. I had boxes for college books (in case I wanted to read them again, even though I hadn’t touched them in over 5 years), excess dishes, extra blankets, and off season clothes. I even had a box of snow clothing – I hadn’t gone snowboarding in over four years, and I lived in California. I was proud to have all of these things organized.

Six months later, it came time to move out. When I went in to my garage, I wondered why the heck I kept all of this stuff. I took all of it to Goodwill, and haven’t needed any of it since.

Mistakes I Made While Decluttering

These are just three of the many mistakes I made while decluttering. Sign up to get the Decluttering Checklist so you don’t make the same mistakes I made. Getting rid of excess can be a long journey, but the end result can be life changing.

Your Turn!

  • What mistakes did you make while decluttering?

 

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Minimalism And Single Tasking: Why It’s Important and How to Start

By on December 20, 2017   /   Minimalism   /   2 Comments
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One of the most common questions I get in job interviews is that one about multitasking. In our productivity-driven society, multitasking is king. After some research, I’ve found that multitasking is actually one of the worst ways to be productive. Minimalism helped me learn about single tasking – and why it’s important to adopt a more single-task outlook.

Minimalism and Single Minded Focus

Single Tasking is More Efficient

The human brain can only focus on one task at a time. Your focus is kind of like a pie chart – you can focus on one major thing at a time, and the rest of that chart is filled with automatic activities like walking or chewing gum. When you multitask, you are actually never fully getting in the zone of the project you are working on.

Multitasking is actually just continually switching between projects. When you are constantly switching gears, you are actually wasting time and energy on the transition between these projects. By working on one thing at a time (and in batches, like paying all of your bills at once), you’ll actually be more productive and efficient.

Single Tasking Creates Less Mistakes

When you focus on one task at a time, you’re less likely to make mistakes. Focusing on one task at a time, which is the brain’s preferred method, you will be less distracted and therefore less likely to make mistakes.

By constantly switching between tasks, you can create up to 40% loss in productivity. When I learned this, I was immediately drawn to single tasking. Now, I work much more intentionally. Not only am I happier this way, I’m more productive and I’m getting my work done so much faster.

Minimalism and Single Tasking

Single Tasking Is Less Stressful

When I’m focusing on multiple projects at once, I tend to get a bit stressed and I notice my heart rate start to pick up. Turns out I’m not alone, as it’s been shown that multitasking can cause an increase in heart rate and stress.

Switching between many projects at once can cause me to feel overwhelmed and unequipped. When I started single tasking, I was able to tackle more work in a shorter period of time. This helped decrease the amount of time I spend working (as a digital nomad, I make an income per project, not per hour), which gave me more time to do things I like to do – hiking, photography, and spending time with loved ones.

Adopting single tasking into my life helped so much. I’ve been more productive, happier, and had more free time than ever after adopting single tasking into my life. Single tasking is just one of the many ways that minimalism has improved my life.

Your Turn!

  • Has minimalism drawn you to a more single minded focus?
  • How many tabs do you have open on your browser right now?
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Why Minimalism Isn’t About Stuff

By on December 13, 2017   /   Minimalism   /   2 Comments
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I became a minimalist because the idea of having a clean and clear home and mind was appealing to me. Once I got past the decluttering stage, I was able to see that getting rid of stuff was the easy part. When you have a clean and clear house, that is when the real magic starts to happen.

Why Minimalism Isn't About Stuff

Gaining Clarity

The first major change I noticed when adopting a minimalist lifestyle was the amount of mental clarity I gained. I didn’t have to think so much about what I wanted to wear in the morning, I didn’t have to keep a running to do list in my head anymore – because my life had become simpler. I had a streamlined schedule.

After the mental clarity came, I started to realize that while I was working full time and living a minimalist lifestyle (aka I had quit my nasty weekly shopping trips), I was able to save a LOT of money every month. I wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck anymore. Before changing my lifestyle, I had become stagnant in my life. I had a good job, I was able to afford my rent, and I did pretty much whatever I wanted. Enter financial freedom.

Living in Alignment With Values

When I realized that I was accidentally saving a ton of money, my dreams of buying a brand new Audi went out the window, and in came bigger dreams. I wanted to travel the world and I wanted to write. I knew I didn’t want to stay in my windowless office, creating Excel spreadsheets that I wasn’t sure anyone even looked at.

why minimalism isnt about stuffFollowing the minimalist movement, I realized that I had a lot more choices in my life than I ever thought possible. Being financially free gave me the opportunity to follow whatever dream I could dream up. I had time to figure out what I wanted in my life, how I wanted to live, and how to spend the resources that I had – and I became much more intentional with those resources.

I started spending my time and money in ways that aligned with my values. I strengthened my pact to live my life creating minimal damage to the environment. I learned more about living a sustainable life, I saved up $12k so that I could travel for a year, and I learned about working visas so that I could continue traveling after my savings ran out. I learned about long term plans to create my own business online and spent more time working on learning about photography, which was an undeveloped passion before minimalism.

Unexpected Benefits

When I turned to minimalism, it was largely due to not wanting to spend my weekends knee-deep in laundry. What I got from minimalism was so much more than doing my two loads of laundry per week now – I’ve been traveling for two years, I’ve visited 25 countries, I’ve worked abroad, I’ve met people who’ve changed my life, and I’ve changed myself.

I’ve done something that made me feel better than any change in diet could, something better than simply getting out of debt or decluttering my house. I’ve become intentional about how I spend my resources that I get in this short life. I’ve chosen exactly how I want to spend my time and money, and following through with that has given me the chance to follow my dreams and live more than I could have ever imagined.

Your Turn!

  • How has minimalism affected your life?
  • What benefits have you noticed from adopting a minimalist lifestyle?
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Five Tips for A Mindful Home

By on December 6, 2017   /   Minimalism   /   Leave a comment
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Living a nomadic lifestyle means that I live in a lot of different homes. My home can change weekly – which has given me the opportunity to figure out exactly what works (and what doesn’t) in making a mindful and simple home just that, a “home.” These are five tips for a mindful and simple home.Tips for a Mindful Home

Keep Only What Adds Value

By surrounding yourself with things that add value to your life – in terms of usefulness or beauty, you are creating a more mindful home. When the clutter is cleared away, your home will become fresh, clear and a place of serenity and happiness. I like to keep my surroundings ultra minimal, and make sure everything that I keep has a purpose, and that I use it often.

Be Picky

I am pretty picky about the clothes I wear and the people I hang out with, so why wouldn’t I be picky with the stuff I surround myself with? I chose to keep my belongings in tip-top shape, and purchase high quality electronics and equipment that I’ll use daily.

Make Your Bed

Minimalists aren’t always clean. But making sure that your bed is easy to make ensures that you’ll actually do it. I like to minimize my blankets and throw pillows on my bed, so that I just have to pull up a duvet cover and viola – the bed is made. Making your bed is step one in being productive for the day.

Tips for a Mindful Home

Pay Attention To Noises

I have always been super sensitive to noise. The sound of a television in the next room drives me absolutely up the wall. I much prefer sounds of classical music or even silence. I have noticed that I am much more productive, happy, and positive when I’m surrounded by uplifting sounds or silence.

Clean Up

A clean home equals a clear mind, right? I notice a huge difference in my mental clarity when my home and area is clean and tidy. Minimalism makes my life so much easier in terms of cleaning. I hardly ever have to dedicate more than 20 or 30 mins of time to cleaning – and when I do dedicate time to cleaning, it is always only to deep clean.

These are five simple tips that have helped me enjoy my living space a bit more, even if that space does change regularly.

Your Turn!

  • Which tip would make the biggest impact for you?
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