Minimalism:
How I Became Interested in Less
By: Meredith Miller
Published July 15, 2018
Before I can begin to explain how I started my journey towards minimalism, let me define what exactly “minimalism” is. As a pretty trendy word in 2018, a lot of people associate it with owning bare essentials to survive. While it’s true that minimalism is about owning what you need, it’s also about owning things that
bring you joy.
“There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.” -Jackie French Koller
Disgusted by how we live in an extremely materialistic society driven by the desire to have the best, wear the best, drive the best, and own the best – minimalism was like a breath of fresh air. I’d heard the term every now and then, but never really understood what it meant. It wasn’t until I watched the Netflix documentary “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things,” that I realized that it’s not just about owning less – it’s about simplifying what you own to items that bring you joy and add value to your life.
Check out my blog on Minimalism: Why Does Everything We Touch Turn to Gold
So I became interested. Although I live in a 1 bedroom apartment with no attic, garage, or extra storage unit, I had more stuff than I needed. The only problem was that I was not mentally and emotionally prepared to take on the task of parting with certain clothes, books, decorations, etc.. I didn’t know what to do next. And what do we do when we don’t know something? We Google it.
And answer, Google did. I was able to find an amazing book on “The Joy of Less” by Francine Jay, also known as Miss Minimalist. In her book, she simplifies minimizing into three steps: Preparing you mentally, Learning the STREAMLINE method, and then going Room By Room and decluttering.
I can not promote this book enough. Her STREAMLINE method is absolutely the most helpful way to getting into the mindset of a minimalist. It consists of:
Starting Over; Trash, Treasure or Transfer: Reason for Everything, Everything In Its Place; All Surfaces Clear; Modules; Limits; If One Comes In, One Goes Out; Narrow Down; and Everyday Maintenance.
Through her book, I realize that just because I got something somewhere special, does not necessarily mean that that item is adding value to my life. It’s hard in today’s society to accept that just because you may have a space, or perhaps your image, to fill – doesn’t mean that acquiring possessions will make you any happier. Check out my blog on Too Much Stuff to read more about stuff.
We don’t value what we own enough for those possessions to be enough or add value to our lives.
The thing to remember is that
minimalism is about keeping items that bring you joy every day.
It’s not about necessarily getting rid of everything you own. It is often said that today’s society is too materialistic; but the truth is, we’re not materialistic enough. We don’t value what we own enough for those possessions to be enough or add value to our lives.
As you all know ( or maybe you don’t), I love to travel. Randy, too. And the thought that I will leave you with today at the end of this post is inspired from The Joy of Less: Imagine all the items, every single one that is in your house. Imagine them all attached, on a rope, to you. Is that too much? How about imagining just the stuff in the room with you? Imagine you had to cart all this stuff around with you everywhere you went. It’d probably be easier to just stay in one spot, right? Having excess amounts of stuff weighs you down in one spot, both physically and emotionally. It promotes a stagnant, stationary lifestyle – and minimalism curbs that.
That’s how I became interested in less.
As always, thanks for reading. I’d love to hear about how you became interested in minimalism, so please feel free to share any personal stories or experiences in the comment section below. Check out my favorite podcast on how to find joy in less. Stay tuned for more on minimalism, and Happy Travels!
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I actually never thought about minimalism. Sometimes as a parent in this world we often think we need to have all these things even if there is no importance. Because some day there could be an importance for the items or things.But this blog has opened my mind. Do I really need it? And I think ur right, a lot of times I’d never consider moving into a new home because of all the things we have (clutter). As a family the things become even more. It had me think why buy my kids all the Christmas gifts we do? Instead why not go on a trip to some where or travel every year as a family instead of all the toys and crap???? It’s just tough because as a parent seeing there happy faces get those gifts is just priceless. The joy in there eyes. But wouldnt they also get joy in there eyes to see moutinas or pal tree etc…. This blog has gotten my brain going lol Thank u for opening minds with ur blog!!!!
Thank you, Amber! And I totally agree with you about having a hard time staying clutter free with kids – although we don’t have any, I see second hand from a lot of homes we go in how many toys a kid can have. You can give a child a toy, but they will eventually tire of that toy and then that’s when they get another toy, and so on and so forth. But giving someone an experience is an amazing gift, a memory that will last longer in their minds than any Christmas gift, ever! I’m glad that you were able to take so much away from this, thank you for commenting!
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