Minimalism is a wonderful way of making sure that your life is heading in the direction you want it to, with plenty of time, space and freedom for honouring the things that matter most to you. Here are 18 minimalist lifestyle tips and ideas on how to embrace minimalist living every day.
THE MINIMALIST LIFESTYLE
The minimalist lifestyle isn’t something that you can achieve overnight. It takes time to make changes, to keep those changes up and let them settle in, especially when life throws temptations and obstacles at you every day!
The minimalist lifestyle is a long-term shift, made up of small, daily actions and decisions about what you let into your life and what you keep out. That’s why it’s a lifestyle, not just a project that you can do once and tick off.
Today I’m sharing some minimalist lifestyle tips to help you embrace minimalist living in your own daily life.
EXPLORING MINIMALISM
To give you a little background, I thought it might be helpful to quickly share my own journey to a more minimalist life. I use the term minimalist here, but in other articles on my blog, you’ll find that I write about decluttering or simplifying life. The labels are different but the principles are the same.
- Identify the clutter and why you’re holding on to it
- Decide what’s important and a priority in your life
- Remove the clutter that takes you away from those priorities
- Make intentional, mindful decisions that keep you aligned with your priorities every day.
Sometimes people start by decluttering their homes. Others start by making a list of what’s important to them in life and gradually saying no to things that don’t serve them – in their schedule, mind, finances and so on.
Whichever way you approach decluttering, simplifying and minimalism, there are no rights or wrongs. You find your own version of minimalism and your own way of embracing and expressing it.
Your path will be as unique as you are but as long as you arrive at a point where your life is full of life and not full of clutter, then you’ll be right where you need to be… and you’ll keep learning and changing and evolving as time goes by. Here are some gentle reminders about minimalism that you might like to read.
MY MINIMALIST JOURNEY
So, back to how I became minimalist and my starting point was my clothes. When my children were little, I struggled with my mornings.
They were frantic, frazzled and stressful. I arrived at work, having done the school run and all the morning chaos that led up to it, looking like something the cat had dragged in! I felt I looked unprofessional, ill-prepared and not like my positive, energetic self.
I decided to make some changes and getting my wardrobe in order was my first step.
I cleared out the stuff that took up space but I didn’t ever wear. I kept the pieces I loved and felt good in and gradually put together a small wardrobe of clothes that went together easily and fitted my lifestyle. It made getting dressed quicker and feeling great about myself and the day ahead much easier.
Bingo! If this was what a minimalist wardrobe could do for me, I could only wonder at what a minimalist lifestyle might do for my family and I!
Slowly but surely, I adopted the same minimalist principles in other areas of my life and that’s how I became minimalist. In slow, gradual steps, that felt right to me for the right reasons and I learnt many lessons from minimalism along the way.
I naturally began to choose less of so many things and in turn this gave me more of so much else – the things that money and stuff could never provide in the same way. I had more calm, ease, freedom, self-confidence, zest for life and more time for family, friends and myself.
EMBRACING THE MINIMALIST LIFESTYLE EVERY DAY
Those first steps towards minimalism weren’t without a hitch and I made plenty of false starts. I blamed lack of time, lack of motivation, my hoarder husband and kids with too many toys. I worried about what other people would think or say.
For many years I struggled to say no in case I missed out on something. I tried to do it all until I discovered that my body and brain were telling me they couldn’t keep up and to slow down instead.
I felt a failure until I realised that I was measuring success using the wrong unit of measurement. To this day, I still find meditation difficult because my mind defaults to busy. I need to practice meditation more!
However, the minimalist lifestyle is a life of learning and questioning. Life evolves and we change so it’s only natural that our priorities shift too.
Looking back on what I’ve learnt and what I write about, I’ve been able to identify some of the key elements of the minimalist lifestyle that stand out to me. I’m sharing them here in case they might help you understand minimalism for yourself.
Whilst not a short-cut to the minimalist lifestyle, they’re some pointers to help you move in the right direction, hopefully with a few less false starts than I made in the beginning!
MINIMALIST LIFESTYLE TIPS TO HELP YOU GET STARTED
Here are 18 minimalist lifestyle tips to help you embrace minimalist living in your everyday life. I hope you enjoy the ideas and if you’d like, take on board and try out the suggestions that feel right to you.
1. Learn to say no
A small but powerful word. Practice saying no to things you don’t want to do. Say no to yourself when you feel you’re being pulled off course. Say no to unhealthy habits, negative mindsets and limiting beliefs.
Saying no gets easier with practice, and, in some cases, it doesn’t mean no forever. It could just mean no, not at this time.
2. Listen to your heart
Instead of listening to the noise of the outside world, listen to what you (really) want. What lifts you up, what makes you happy, what lights you up. Find time and space to follow your heart.
You might enjoy this article I wrote from a personal perspective about minimalism and happiness.
3. Check-in with yourself regularly
Take note of what you’re feeling. Are you happy, sad, anxious, frustrated, excited, fed up? What triggers these emotions and when exactly do you feel them?
Do more of the things that bring a positive energy and a sense of comfort, peace and wellbeing and try to do less of the things that give you bring you down, stress you out or generate negative vibes.
Trust your instinct and listen to your gut. Minimalism can help you find time and space to do just that when busy life drowns out these quiet voices and intuition.
4. Clear your surfaces
Keep on top of those clutter-hotspots. Horizontal flat surfaces like table-tops, worksurfaces, counters, even stairs and floors are all clutter magnets. Do a daily quick sweep and keep them clear.
Minimalist homes have less clutter and they often feel more open and spacious, even if they’re still limited on size!
Decluttering your surfaces gives a clearer line of sight as you look around your home and might help you feel a sense of calm, space and peaceful sanctuary.
5. Shop less
Get rid of excess store and credit cards. Shop when you need but not to fill an emotional void or the only thing to do on a rainy day.
Perhaps you could explore other ways to spend your time, save money for something special, avoid debt and prioritise life over stuff.
That’s not to underestimate the challenges of compulsive shopping, impulse buying or spending beyond our means. Minimalism is more about questioning our patterns of behaviour and seeing if there’s anything we can do to find a different way.
Less shopping, consumption and waste also means that minimalism helps the environment too.
6. Own less stuff
Stop buying things you don’t need. Decide how much of anything in your home is enough. Donate, recycle, or throw away the rest. Commit to filling your home with less stuff and less stress and owning less in general.
An interesting way of working out if it’s time to own less stuff, is to think about the messages your stuff is sending out to you. Fumio Sasaki calls this your ‘silent to do list’.
Everything in your home requires something of you. Is your stuff demanding too much of your time and attention? If so, perhaps it’s time to explore reducing your clutter and what it needs of you.
7. Create a calm home
Busy, cluttered homes not only look busy and cluttered but they feel like that too. Home is where the heart is and it’s where most of us spend our time. Here are 20 tips on creating a calm and peaceful home.
8. Make cleaning easier
Looking after your home needn’t be time-consuming or drain your energy. Try these minimalist cleaning routines to help you spend less time cleaning so you can get on with other things!
9. Celebrate blank space
This could be space in your clutter-free home or space in your clutter-free schedule. Blank space doesn’t need to be filled.
A minimalist schedule is all about understanding trade-offs. You can’t say yes to everything but saying yes to one thing will mean no to something else, so it’s a question of what’s most important to you at the time.
Perhaps blank space is what your body and brain needs to recharge from your busy life?
10. Set meaningful goals
Goals that don’t align with your life and what you want from it make for a cluttered mind. Make sure that your goals are meaningful and support you to get the most out of life.
Goal-setting is a great way of making the most of our life and getting clear on what direction you’d like to take. You might enjoy this article on minimalist goals for some more ideas about minimalist goal-setting.
11. Invest in memories and experiences
The minimalist lifestyle encourages one to buy less and own less but this doesn’t mean don’t spend money where it matters.
Create memories and live fully in the present by making the most of experiences and activities that give you joy and happiness. Explore what makes you feel fulfilled and content.
A minimalist life is about valuing experiences over material possessions, personal growth and broadening your horizons in both your heart and mind.
12. Give everything a home
Decluttering your home is one thing, but the clutter soon builds up again. Decide where you’re going to keep things when not in use so they can be stored away instead of being left out.
Clutter can easily make your space feel busy, distracting and even stressful. It removes the focus from enjoying your home and the people in it.
A home with fewer possessions is more spacious, more calming, and more focused on the people who live inside it.
Joshua Becker
13. Clutter that you can’t see
Minimalist living isn’t just about the clutter that trips you up. Clutter can invade our homes and life in many different ways, including the things that aren’t actual things.
As an example, here are some tips to avoid the build-up of mental clutter that fogs our brains and prevents us thinking clearly.
14. Be mindful and present
When you’re busy dealing with all the things that a busy, overstuffed life needs of you, it’s all too easy to forget to appreciate what you have right now.
Minimalist living encourages you to define your priorities in the here and now and, in doing so, you learn to be present and engaged.
Avoid multi-tasking, adding too many things to your To Do list, overbooking and overstretching yourself. Be mindful and aware of what you’re doing and where you are.
The past is gone, the future is unknown. The present is with us, right now.
15. Address your mindset
How you think about things determines how you feel about them. In turn, how you feel about things often determines the decisions and actions you take and make.
Here are some essential mindsets to help you get the most out of life and fully embrace who you’re meant to be.
Minimalism isn’t just about your stuff. It’s about your approach to life and what adds true meaning and intention in making it the best it can be.
16. Find value in doing less
Being busy isn’t a badge of honour. Slow down, heed the warning signs of being too busy and discover what you can learn and achieve by actually doing less.
17. Don’t keep clothes that make you feel bad
If you open your wardrobe, are you greeted by jeans that no longer fit or heels you don’t have occasion to wear any more?
Your clothes should make you and your body feel loved and special. Get rid of clothes that make you feel anything less (same goes for things other than clothes!).
18. Stop trying to follow a rule-book
Minimalist living is whatever you want it to be. If limiting your wardrobe to less than 30 pieces or never keeping a spare set of bedlinen doesn’t feel right, then don’t.
Ignore the myths that tell you minimalism is about no furniture, never spending money or scrapping your TV.
Minimalism is a state of mind rather than a measure of how much you own.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
I hope you enjoyed this article. Leave a comment below if you have any other minimalist lifestyle tips to share that might help others embrace the less is more lifestyle!
Antonia Colins is the creator of Balance Through Simplicity, a website helping busy people declutter their home and life and live more intentionally. She has over 20 years of personal and professional experience in juggling work and family life and supporting individuals to remain independent and enjoy their home more. In her spare time, you can find Antonia walking, reading or planning her next travel adventure! She lives in the UK with her husband and teenage kids. Get your free Declutter Starter Kit.