What does it mean to live a “minimalist” lifestyle?
“I am a minimalist. I like saying the most with the least.” ― Bob Newhart
A minimalist lifestyle is a way of living that focuses on simplicity, reducing clutter, and living with only the essentials. Minimalism is not just about decluttering your physical space, but it also encompasses simplifying your life in all aspects, including your finances, relationships, and daily routines.
The Benefits of a Minimalist Lifestyle
Living a minimalist lifestyle has many benefits. Here are some of the most significant advantages:
Less Stress
Minimalism can help reduce stress levels by simplifying your life. With fewer possessions, you have less to worry about and can focus on the things that matter most to you. You can also free up time and mental space by eliminating unnecessary tasks and commitments.
More Financial Freedom
Minimalism can also help you save money and reduce debt. By purchasing only what you need and eliminating the desire for material possessions, you can save money and use it for experiences or investments that are more meaningful to you.
Improved Relationships
Minimalism can help improve your relationships by allowing you to focus on the people and experiences that are important to you. By eliminating distractions and simplifying your life, you can spend more quality time with loved ones and build stronger connections.
How to Adopt a Minimalist Lifestyle
Adopting a minimalist lifestyle may seem challenging, but it is easier than you think. Here are some tips to help you get started:
Declutter Your Home
The first step to living a minimalist lifestyle is to declutter your home. Get rid of any items that you no longer need or use. Start with one room at a time and be ruthless in your decluttering. If an item does not bring you joy or serve a purpose, it is time to let it go.
Simplify Your Finances
To simplify your finances, you can start by creating a budget and sticking to it. Eliminate any unnecessary expenses and focus on saving money. Consider downsizing your home or car to reduce your expenses even further.
Simplify Your Schedule
To simplify your schedule, start by eliminating any unnecessary commitments or tasks. Focus on the activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. Learn to say no to things that do not align with your values or goals.
That’s it in a nutshell
A minimalist lifestyle can help you live a simpler, more fulfilling life. By focusing on the things that matter most to you and eliminating distractions, you can reduce stress, save money, and improve your relationships. Start by decluttering your home, simplifying your finances, and streamlining your schedule. Embrace minimalism and enjoy the benefits of a simpler life.
Advice for boomers ready to unload family treasures
If you are blessed with parents who are still living, now may be a good time to discuss how you plan to handle their belongings once they pass away. It’s not an easy discussion, but it is an important one. I wish I’d been able to have those talks with my parents, but sadly, they both died rather suddenly from a rapidly growing, insidious cancer, within six months of one another. They lived just down the street from me and I became their caregiver. Caring for their basic needs became a full-time job and it never really occurred to me to discuss this while all of our energy was focused on helping them to just make it through another day.
They had “everything” written in their Trust, which was a huge leather-bound binder, and they really believed that’s all I would need in order to handle their estate upon their passing. According to them, their affairs were in order.
Having a Trust is absolutely essential and I recommend all Boomers have one and that you be sure to discuss it with your loved ones. The Trust documents certainly relieved a great deal of pressure for me as we went through the process of settling their estate. But it is literally the tip of the ice burg when you find yourself in this position. It’s difficult to describe it because you’re in mourning. It’s one of the worst times in your life to have to make important decisions.
Once the “big” stuff is handled, the house, cars, etc., you are left with a lifetime of “STUFF” which needs to be dealt with. And guess what? NOBODY wants the prized possessions of your parents, not even you or your children.
Many boomers are charged with having to dispose of your parents belongings. Once you’ve been through this process, you realize how important it is to get your stuff in order. Don’t repeat this process with your children or family members. Start now. Go through one drawer, cupboard, closet at a time. If something is valuable to you, ask your family members if they would like to have it and make a note of it in your Trust binder. Here are a few simple ways to begin the process.
Steps to Begin Decluttering Your Home
Dedicate some time to focus on decluttering
Organizing and straightening up your space takes time. If you’re ready to make some real progress on decluttering your home, schedule a block of time to get started. Make it a priority and stick to it.
Keep only what you’ve used in the last year
Do yourself a favor right now and let go of the mindset “maybe I could use this item in the future.” That kind of thinking isn’t going to work if you want to make your home clutter-free. If you haven’t used an item in the last year, it needs to go to a local donation center or to the curbside in your big trash can.
The timeframe of a year works well because it gives you opportunities to make decisions about seasonal decorations and other rarely used items. Over the course of a year, you will have the opportunity to use every item in your home. If you don’t use something during this time, it’s time to simplify.
One is good, so more is better? No, get rid of duplicate items
If you have multiples of an item (unless we’re talking practical storage items like batteries or lightbulbs) then it needs to go. Sometimes we forget we have something, so we buy it again. I will have my son, Ryan Robinson, address his particular topic in a guest post one day. He has first-hand experience with this issue from having to settle his father’s affairs.
Sometimes we upgrade, but still hold onto a less-useful, lower-quality item.
Why do we do that? It makes no sense to keep the inferior item if we replaced it intentionally. This is especially true when it comes to decluttering and organizing your closets and drawers. Trust me, you do not need ten grey sweatshirts. Sort through your multiples—pants, tops, shoes, and other items. Decide what fits well and which items are in good shape. Keep the best of and donate or trash the rest.
Create a designated spot for items you keep
Everything needs a home. EVERYTHING. Even if it’s going in a drawer. Use containers for drawer organization to help you maximize your storage space. Create ways to house and hold all the stuff you want to keep. And remember, if you don’t use it, toss it.If it’s a product which has expired, toss it.
Cut back on paper clutter by digitalizing your photos
We all have hundreds, if not thousands of photos. Here’s the good news. We live in a day and age where we can store all of them on our computers and in cloud storage.It may be a bit frightening to discard those treasured items, especially if you’re new to digital storage, but once you see how much it cuts back on paper clutter, you’ll be convinced.
It is very time consuming in the beginning if you have lots of photos, but I find that I actually look at the photos more often now that they are digitized. I scanned or took a picture of the original photos and stored them in a “family album” on my computer and backed it up to the cloud. This way, all of us may access them anytime we like. The best part is that I no longer have to store bulky photo albums and/or boxloads of old photos.
Decluttering your home is just the first step. Keeping your home organized and decluttered is where the real challenge comes in. With a little self-discipline, you can train yourself to take the extra step to return an item to it’s “home” immediately after you use it.
Shift your mindset to simplicity and incorporate simple living into your daily life. Remember, less is more. More time, more space, more peace. I am doing this because it makes our life better. Everything in our home enriches our life. A side benefit, which is huge, is that our children will be eternally grateful to us for having the foresight to create a simple life so that they won’t have a huge mess on their hands when our time comes. Hopefully this will help you get started and in my next post, I’ll explore this topic in more detail.
I described what it means to be a “Boomer,” but what exactly is a Minimalist? Minimalism is about having a clear understanding of what you value most in your life and removing anything that distracts you from it. This can mean identifying things that take up your valuable time and space, then intentionally removing these things in your life that get in the way of what you value most.
Basically, minimalism is being intentional with the way you live your life. Allowing what aligns with your most important values will help you live a more joyful life.
Using this definition, minimalism looks different for everyone. If you ask fifty different people to describe what is minimalism using this definition, you will end up with fifty different descriptions.
Since our values are personal and unique to each of us, this allows you to create whatever works best for you. The only key is that you decide what is most important to you, and then remove anything that doesn’t line up with and support your values.
A Few Common Misconceptions– What Minimalism Is Not
There are a lot of common misconceptions about minimalism. Ideas that make minimalism seem hard to relate to, undesirable or out of reach for the average person. By addressing some common misconceptions, I hope to show you that minimalism is attainable for and can benefit anyone.
ONE: Minimalism is about getting rid of everything you own
A big part of minimalism is about removing things from your life. But the focus of minimalism shouldn’t be on what you are getting rid of. Rather, the focus should be on the benefits of letting go of the things that don’t bring value to your life. Instead of focusing on what you’re getting rid of, focus on what minimalism gives you more of. More time, more space, more joy, more freedom. Minimalism is not about deprivation. It is about intentionally choosing to live with less in order to free up the time and space to do more of what you enjoy.
TWO:Minimalism is so rigid it makes life harder
A common misconception is that minimalism makes life harder because you live with so little. That being a minimalist means getting rid of everything but the essentials, including things that make life more convenient.
Life as a minimalist is simpler in many ways. You spend less time cleaning, looking for things, and maintaining and organizing your stuff. After adopting a minimalist mindset, many people see those things they thought made life easier, are actually robbing them of their time and energy.
Minimalism is not about getting rid of something if you use it often and it makes your life easier. It’s about getting rid of the things that aren’t used or needed and are just cluttering your home.
THREE:Minimalism only applies to your stuff
Getting rid of the excess stuff in your life is a big part of the process in the beginning. But “stuff” is only one part of minimalism. In fact, a big part of embracing a minimalist lifestyle is changing how you think about the “stuff” in your life. It’s more about learning to challenge and change your relationship with what you own and why you own it. Once you have started living with this idea, you will see that a minimalist lifestyle goes far beyond just decluttering your house. It can be applied to how you spend your time, what you eat, how you exercise, how you budget your money, and many other aspects of your life.
FOUR: You can’t have collections or hobbies if you are a minimalist
Another common misconception is that minimalism means you can’t keep the things you love. Or you can’t have a collection that brings you joy or a hobby that requires equipment or supplies. Again, minimalism doesn’t mean you have to get rid of everything you own. It simply means being intentional about what you keep.
The key is moderation. Rather than having several collections, decide to keep one or two you really enjoy. That might mean narrowing your collection down to only the best pieces so you can enjoy each of those pieces and not lose them in an overgrown collection. For example, I love crosses. They bring me joy. I designated a small wall in my home to display them and it’s in an area in which I spend a lot of time.
If you have a hobby that requires equipment or supplies, designate a space to keep your supplies and be intentional about limiting what you keep to that space. Inventory what you have and keep only the supplies you will use, rather than stockpiling supplies that are never used. This saves you time, space and money.
FIVE:Minimalism is simply a tool, not the end goal
Minimalism isn’t about owning less for the sake of less. Instead, it is a tool that can help you create the life you want and give yourself the freedom to live that life. It’s a tool to help you live intentionally, so you can focus your time, space, energy and attention on what matters most to you.
At the end of the day, minimalism is just living simply. You’ll find that you have what you need and you will actually use what you have. My motto has always been, “If I haven’t touched it in a year, I sure don’t need it!”
Now that I’ve embraced minimalistic living, I have no trouble getting rid of items I don’t need and it feels great.
In my next piece, I want to discuss the peace of mind a minimalistic lifestyle brings not only to you, but to your adult children and other family members. If you’ve ever had to deal with the distribution of your parent’s or another loved one’s estate, you will definitely want to join in on this discussion.
