I don’t know if anyone else watches the decluttering and minimalism videos on YouTube, but I have been for years. I love the movie The Minimalists and I am so interested in the idea of minimalism. Although… I am not a minimalist and I may not ever be. BUT I am pairing down on the things I own and it’s a continual process for me. I was a very messy, very cluttery child growing up and I still can be at times. I wanted to blog about the types of decluttering that I have done and maybe it will inspire you to do the same.

I did the Minimalist Challenge 2 years ago. You take 1 month and get rid of items every day. Day 1, get rid of 1 item, day 2, 2. So on and so forth by the end of the month you will have gotten rid of almost 500 items. I did this and it was exciting but I have since accumulated more things. I started decluttering again this summer and continue to do so. I also have greatly reduced my shopping habits. I just learned about a capsule wardrobe and creating a clothing module. It kind of blew my mind.

One kind of lazy way to organize is what I call the Box Method. If you have a problem area or entire room, just put the cluttered items in a box. This gives you instant gratification of seeing what it looks like without all the clutter and now the clutter is conveniently in one box for you to declutter whenever you want and in front of the TV or listening to a podcast perhaps. There are the popular ones like the Kondo Method and the methods suggested by The Minimalists, which are both amazing. Another one I thought of was think of a closet that has become a messy problem. Think about what it would feel like to throw away every single content in that closet. Don’t go through anything, don’t save anything. Just get rid of it. I’m not saying to actually do this necessarily, but thinking of this made me feel less attached to my material items and to see the potential of what it could be like to have significantly less things.

It seems like the less material goods I have, the more freedom, and more life I allow in. Seeing extreme minimalist videos has been highly enlightening. I come from being raised to accumulate as much stuff as possible, and if it’s on sale, then you’ve got to have it! The extreme minimalists have taught me that you only need a certain amount of shirts, pants, socks, etc. It doesn’t have to be an infinite never-ending black hole of accumulation, that ends up in my closet. I believe this old way of thinking is deeply rooted in a mindset of lack. Fearing that someday you might not be able to get that T-shirt or any T-shirt, makes us want to cling on to and hoard as much as we possibly can. As soon as you realize you not only have enough but you are enough, then you don’t need to endlessly consume anymore. I am switching my thought process from fear based to, I have all I need, and I’ll take better care of what I’ve got.