Tips in Minimalism
Life has become overly complicated. While the internet makes our lives easier for some aspects, it complicates further for others. For instance, we now have more people to interact with, and we feel obligated to give up some of our time for them. People have bigger houses now which means they can accumulate more items to add to their already hectic lives. Use these tips to approach your life in a more minimalist fashion.
If you are spending most of your time on the internet, you should evaluate how it is helping your life.
If you feel overwhelmed, it is probably not helping. Therefore, you need to determine who is truly important that you are connecting with. It’s not necessary to answer every question or speak with everyone who interacts with you.
You should also evaluate what kinds of activities you are doing online.
If you are chatting on Facebook or other social media channels and are not attending to more important items, like spending time with family, you should reduce your time on social media, or even on the internet itself. The internet can be incredibly useful but can also be a huge waste of time.
If you are someone who collects items and doesn’t get rid of much, you need to determine which of those items are the most important.
You should get rid of the items that don’t make the list. You don’t have to throw those unimportant items out. You could hold a garage sale or sell those items online to pick up some extra cash. A good rule-of-thumb is if you haven’t used something for over six months, it’s not important.
Learn to help other people.
This act of kindness not only helps others, but it puts your life into perspective. You will learn that material possessions are not the most important factor. The primary purpose of helping people should not be to put your life in perspective. It should be because those people need help. However, you will gain a good perspective on this activity naturally.
Taking a minimalist approach to your life helps you to be flexible.
You will learn to value the most important aspects of your life and shed those that are unimportant. When a change occurs, you will be prepared on how to deal with that change by asking if it is important.
Teach your children to embrace minimalism.
It’s much easier to accept this way of life when people learn it early. It will become part of their personalities rather than trying to unlearn bad habits. This will teach them how to accept change easier.
Know that having more material items does not equate to happiness.
In fact, it can make your life more complicated by having more items to fix. Most people don’t use much of what they own, but the clutter factor remains. When you have less clutter, you will be less stressed out on average.
Actionable Tips for Minimalism
Get rid of items that are not important
Hold a yard sale once every quarter to get rid of items you feel are not important. When you go through your items, determine what you haven’t accessed in over two years. Then, work back to items you haven’t used in six months. If a yard sale doesn’t work for you, sell the items on eBay. Do this once a month instead of quarterly.
Keep, sell and trash
Take the advice of the television show Clean Sweep. The advice suggested creating three large bins and labeling them. Label the bins Keep, Sell, and Trash. Then separate your items into these bins. If the Sell and Trash bins are empty, redo the process until they are full.
Reduce the use of internet
Commit to giving up one hour a day of internet time. If you normally spend four hours each day on the internet, only spend three. Spend this time with family and have them reduce their internet time as well.
