18 MINIMALIST LIFESTYLE TIPS: HOW TO EMBRACE MINIMALIST LIVING EVERY DAY

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.

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH A MINIMALIST LIFESTYLE

So, we’ve looked at a few minimalist lifestyle tips and I very briefly shared my story of how I got started with minimalism, but what about if you want to try it for yourself? Exactly how and where do you begin? Simplifying life isn’t always as easy as we think!

I would suggest that the first place you start is by working out WHY.

Why do you want to simplify your life? Why do you want to do it now? What do you hope to change and what do you hope your life will be like after?

Answering these questions will help you discover your why. And, when you know your why, the HOW usually falls into place.

If you’d like to explore your ‘why’ then you might enjoy Simplify Your Life. It’s a guide and workbook to help you get clear on your own why, what holds you back, what motivates and lights you up and how simplicity can create space and freedom for you to make those changes.

It’s packed with practical tips and soul-searching questions to really get to the root of what you want from life and how to go about getting it.

Learn more about Simplify Your Life.

The next step after clarifying why you want to simplify life is to make a few changes, step-by-step.

The first place most of us start is with our homes. Start small, start easy but make that start! Try decluttering the bathroom, or your bedroom. A place that you’ll be able to see a difference in a relatively short period of time. Work up to bigger, more complicated spaces only when you’ve practiced your decluttering skills.

Further reading: How to declutter your home and life

RESOURCES ON MINIMALIST LIVING

Here are some other helpful minimalist lifestyle tips and ideas:

• 3 Gentle Things to Try if You’re Not Sure Minimalism is For You
• The Minimalist Mindset – How to Think Like a Minimalist
• Unexpected and Life-Changing Benefits of Minimalism
• How to Decide What to Keep and What to Get Rid Of
• 100 Things to Get Rid of Right Now
• What is Minimalism and a Few Things It’s Not!

A FREE DOWNLOAD…

Decluttering can be tough for some of us. To make it easier and also to help you identify the clutter in other areas of your life (rather than just your home), you might like to get your free copy of my Declutter Starter Kit.

We’ll explore how decluttering is the first step towards a simpler, intentional and minimalist life – that’s not daunting or extreme, but realistic for most of us!

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I’m Antonia and on this blog I share practical inspiration to simplify your home, time and life. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest! You can also subscribe to Balance Through Simplicity and receive regular simplicity tips straight to your inbox for free. Make sure you never miss an article plus you’ll get a copy of my free Declutter Starter Kit as a welcome gift!