How I Am Working Towards Living a Minimalist Lifestyle
Minimalism. What do you think about when you hear that word? A hippie or hipster living in a tiny house? Someone with no furniture in their house? Marie Kondo and the KonMari method?
I used to have preconceived notions about what minimalism is and guess what, people define minimalism differently. I’m sure some of you have seen that documentary, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (available on Netflix), and have strong opinions. Whether you agree or not, I believe you have to define and practice minimalism in your own way.
I will be honest with you. I do not plan to live in a tiny home (as tempting as it would be for not having to clean a lot!). I love quality things and little luxuries in life. I can’t go live in the woods or go years without buying a single thing.
At the same time, I really love the idea of buying less but better. That is my first step towards living a minimalist lifestyle. It’s not about depriving yourself of things you want or need. To me, it’s about thinking about each item’s functionality and how it fits into what you already have and own. My husband I started to really think more deeply about this last year because we caught ourselves buying things almost every weekend. We would also go buy clothes and justify these shopping trips as being OK since they weren’t expensive items and were on sale. We also wanted to constantly upgrade our home decor just to keep it “fresh” and feeling new.
Result? We had piles of clothes sitting in the closet and unopened household items without knowing where to put them and when to use them.
The big realization came when we bought our first home together and we wanted to live differently and more frugally. We decided we wanted to keep our new home as minimal as possible and not buy anything new.
Here are some of the first steps we’ve taken so far to work towards living a minimalist lifestyle:
- Buy fewer but quality pieces (preferably with ethical clothing companies)
I didn’t really understand this before. When I would hear people talk about how money they spent on a plain white t-shirt, I gasped. I couldn’t imagine spending more than $5–10 from “fast fashion” places and just buy more as the shirts got worn out often. Then, I realized I was accumulating all these clothes that didn’t last long. I wanted to buy new and not wear it more than once or twice. I felt sick staring at my closet full of cheap shirts piled up.
I had always heard about Everlane and their radical transparency. Once I learned what Everlane’s mission is all about, I fell in love. My husband and I decided to donate most of our clothes and took our first step to shopping more responsibly. I am so glad we did because the difference in quality is unbelievable. Not only am I buying shirts that are well-made with natural fibers, but I am also supporting a business model that pays fair wages and is transparent with the costs of making each item.
Since doing so, we don’t shop much at all. We got all the classic, essential wardrobe pieces and realized we really don’t need more than that. We are now working towards building a capsule wardrobe (stay tuned!).
2. If you only need it once or twice, don’t buy. Borrow instead.
When we were settling into our new place, I realized we needed a lot of power tools to put things together. Boy, those tools are expensive and I HATED the idea of buying a power tool for $100-$150 for one-time use (yes, I know I am such a woman when it comes to tools). This is where we realized we would rather borrow to save money and storage!
As a matter of fact, this was the whole idea behind the usemy.xyz app, where it provides a marketplace for people to share and lend items they own for others to borrow for a fraction of the cost. The app is free and doesn’t take any money from the users. It creates a community marketplace where people can easily trade things they own and need. I often find myself borrowing things since we are new homeowners but realized we can also make some extra cash on the side by uploading things we’ve bought over the years that are just sitting in our storage. It’s super easy to use and you have nothing to lose, only to save or make money in the process!
3. Explore the pre-loved, vintage market.
This took me awhile to understand. I always thought: why would I wear something that other people wore and had before? The OCD in me told me that was just not cool but I realized there’s a much bigger picture here. I was in for some pleasant surprises. For example, as a luxury bag lover, I realized vintage Chanel bags are much better quality than new ones. I love the unique design and quality of vintage designer bags. Classic vintage bags are lifetime investments. They also have so much more history and stories behind them. How fabulous is that?!
Another reason to do this? You can reduce consumption. Millions of unworn clothing get thrown away every single year. We can be more responsible with our choices and not buy new things every season. Instead of following every trend, why not build your own classic style? Vintage market helps you do that by offering some classic pieces that never go out of style.
While I can never part with prints like stripes and polka dots, I am now mostly drawn to black and white pieces and other neutrals that never go out of style.
This is obviously still work in progress for me. I don’t think my habits can change overnight. Minimalism is like dieting in a way. You can’t completely get rid of everything overnight. It’s about taking small steps like reducing consumption, buying less but better, and decorating your home with classic, minimal and clean pieces. Create your own classic style. Don’t be a trend, be a classic.
I can’t wait to keep you posted on our journey as we strive to live a minimalist lifestyle, one step at a time. I hope you find what works best for you. Cheers!
