Minimalism and Lifestyle
Minimalism – The Key Principles of a Simple Lifestyle
For individuals who are looking to live a more sustainable life, minimalism is something that more and more people are starting to research and consider. Minimalism doesn’t necessarily mean selling all of your possessions and living in an empty house. Instead, it can just be about living a more mindful and intentional life. Today we’re going to discover the key principles of minimalism and how it can help you to live a more simple and sustainable life
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What is Minimalism?
Before we go any further, let’s take a look at what minimalism is. Minimalism is a practice that can assist you with finding more freedom in your life. For most individuals, the first step towards minimalism is reducing the number of possessions they own. However, from there, it can also include digital minimalism, financial minimalism, and being more intentional with how you spend your time. Minimalism helps people gain back their time and energy and spend their lives more intentionally. It can also decrease your impact on the environment and help you to escape the consumer culture that so many of us find ourselves trapped in.
What are the Benefits of Minimalism?
For anyone looking to live a simpler life, there’s no denying that minimalism might be the way to go. The great thing about minimalism is that it can be completely tailored to your preferences. There’s no right or wrong way to do minimalism, and these are just a few of the key benefits you might experience when you start to simplify your life:
- Find time and energy for what’s really important in your life – Instead of spending your life tidying your home or doing tasks you don’t enjoy, you’ll be able to focus on your family, friends, and passions.
- Focus on your health – If you find that your health and wellbeing are always put last, minimalism will help you to reassess your priorities. With less clutter, you’ll find that your stress levels reduce and that your mental health improves. You’ll have more time to spend exercising and enjoying the simple pleasures in life.
- Minimize your impact on the environment – When we start to purchase fewer products and buy in a more intentional manner, we can reduce our impact on the environment. When you are purchasing less each month or year, it’s easier to spend your money on sustainable solutions.
- Saves you money – Ultimately, one of the top benefits of minimalism is saving money. When you start to simplify your life, you’ll realize that you don’t need as much as you once thought you did. You can use this to help save you money or reduce the number of hours you work each week to live a more balanced life.
Top Tips for Adopting a Minimalist Lifestyle
After seeing the benefits of minimalism, you are no doubt wondering how you can get started. Let’s take a look at a few of our top tips for adopting a minimalist lifestyle.
Reduce the Number of Belongings in Your Home
The first step towards becoming a minimalist is to reduce the number of belongings in your home. We are by no means suggesting that you remove everything from your house in one go, but instead take it slowly to achieve this goal. For example, one weekend, you could start work on creating a minimalist bedroom before moving on to the kitchen next. You’ll find that decluttering soon becomes very addictive, and you’ll immediately see the benefits of creating a more calm and welcoming living environment.
Invest in Sustainable Products
When you do need to repurchase items in the future, we always recommend shopping for sustainable and reusable products. For example, refillable water bottles and coffee cups can help to save the environment each time you enjoy your favorite drink. Here at EkoBleu, we offer a wide range of clothing that’s designed to reduce our carbon footprint while also offering high-quality clothing items that you’ll enjoy wearing for many years to come.
Spend Money on Experiences
When it comes to birthdays and the holiday season, this can be one of the toughest times of the year as a new minimalist. Instead of wasting money on gifts that will be forgotten in a few months’ time, spend money on experiences. Your family and friends will love having a day out to look forward to or a gift card to spend at their favorite restaurant. This is a much more intentional way to spend your money and will give you all something to enjoy together as a family in the future.
Regularly Reassess Your Life
At the start of your minimalism journey, we recommend you take the time to consider your core values. You should be aiming to live your life in alignment with these every day, which is the goal of minimalism. Every so often, we encourage you to revisit your goals and reassess how you are doing in your minimalism journey. This can help to keep you on track and ensure you are still living in a sustainable and simplified way.
Create a 12-Month Rule
While we don’t believe minimalism needs to have hundreds of rules, we do recommend adopting the 12-month rule. If you haven’t used something in the last 12 months, it’s time for it to go. This can be applied to almost anything in life, and it’s a great way to get rid of unnecessary clothing, decorations, and books that are just cluttering up your home.
There’s no denying that our lives are sometimes incredibly complex in this modern day. Minimalism is the tool that many of us need to simplify our lives and focus our time and energy on the things that really matter in life. If you find yourself frustrated with how cluttered your home is on a daily basis, consider starting a minimalism challenge to reduce your belongings. In the future, we encourage you only to make intentional purchases and support sustainable businesses such as EkoBleu, which can help you on your minimalism journey.
