Ease Into Minimalism with this 7-Item Checklist

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You've been hearing a lot about minimalism, and you'd really love to make your life more manageable.  But isn't there some way to ease into it?  It seems crazy to just dump everything and go live in a tiny house.  You have a spouse (and he/she loves their stuff).  You have kids (and all of their stuff).  You have a job, or volunteer commitments, and you can't see yourself taking on the huge task of completely decluttering your home any time soon.

So what can you do if you want to try "minimalism lite"?  Is it even possible to enjoy some of the benefits without taking drastic steps?

Yes, and here's how.

7 steps to minimalism

▢  Declutter duplicates.

This is so simple, you can do it today.  Pare down your seven spatulas, three sets of measuring cups, and nineteen mugs.  Remove some of your twenty-three tee shirts.  Let go of a few "backup" flashlights.

Simply grab a box, walk through any room of your home (or open any closet, cupboard, or drawer) and start subtracting those extras.  You probably don't need four umbrellas or all of those extra towels, but someone else might be able to use them.

▢  Try a minimalist wardrobe.

Put together five or ten outfits for work (or your normal "public" activities), plus five outfits for leisure or at-home activities.  Choose your favorite high-quality, well-fitting stuff – the stuff you probably reach for all the time anyway!  Some pieces may appear in more than one outfit.  Don't forget the appropriate shoes and accessories.  Add a couple of options for nightwear, plus one or two dressier outfits, just in case.

You might notice that you gravitate toward certain styles, cuts, and colors.  You may already have bottoms, tops, and layering pieces that coordinate together and create the core of a minimalist wardrobe.

Now box up everything else, and live with what you've chosen for 30 days.

At the end of the month, ask yourself:  Were there pieces I wished for, or did I have enough?  Did I have some pieces I didn't wind up wearing?  Did I generally feel less stress about what I wore, or were there days I felt unhappy about my outfit?  Why was that?  How do I feel about donating the things I boxed up (except for seasonal items I might wear in a few months)?

Take what you learned from this experiment and use it to create another minimalist wardrobe for the next 30 days, using only (or at least mostly) what you already own.

Related article:  10 Fun, No-Risk Ways to Try a Minimalist Wardrobe Today

▢  Resist shopping.

Shopping is a habit and a pastime for many of us.  We're bored, so we browse online or in a store, and surprise, surprise – we find something to buy!  Our new acquisition gives us a brief high, which makes it likely we'll go shopping again, whether we need anything or not.

Try putting a moratorium on shopping (except for gas, basic groceries, and personal care items like shampoo and toothpaste) for a period of time.  Even one week can help you see how often you're tempted to shop and for what, and let you start practicing better methods for getting that little burst of dopamine, such as

• sipping on a caffeinated drink
• sitting in the sun
• exercising
• cuddling with a loved one (or even a pet)
• enjoying nature
• making a to-do list, and checking off each item you accomplish
• listening to music
• keeping a list of things you're grateful for
• learning something, such as a new word, a new recipe, or a clever life hack
• eating foods high in tyrosine (a chemical precursor to dopamine), such as almonds, apples, avocados, bananas, cheese, eggs, lentils, peanuts, or a bit of dark chocolate

After a while, it becomes quite pleasant to feel the urge to buy something new, resist it, and then watch the urge subside and disappear.  It makes you feel strong and in control.

▢  Minimize distraction.

We rush through life on auto-pilot, missing all of the details.  No wonder we can't remember what we did yesterday, let alone last week!  This makes us feel overwhelmed with tasks, and as if we're always running behind.

A little focus can really help.  This requires a bit slower pace, so think about one or two activities you can resign from, or at least pare back, and give yourself some breathing room.  Then practice doing one thing at a time, which lets you access your best ideas and energies during each task.  You'll see the quality of your work improve.

Finally, acknowledge that technology, while it may be a useful tool, is also a constant distraction.  Email, texts, news feeds, social media, and relentless ads tear our attention to shreds, and doomscrolling turns us into anxious, angry people with a habit of losing ourselves in overwhelming content.

Choose to avoid screens for at least the first 30 minutes of your day, and practice using your phone consciously, rather than compulsively.

Related article:  Enjoying Analog: How to Spend More Time in Real Life

▢  Start paying off debt.

It doesn't matter if you have $40,000 in debt because you bought a car or because you traveled around the world.  Debt is debt, and holds your future hostage to what you spent in the past.  Debt steals from your livelihood today and tomorrow.  And don't forget all the interest you have to pay, which increases the actual cost of everything you financed.

Start by adding all the money you've saved by not shopping (see "Resist shopping" above) to your monthly debt payments.

Related article:  How to Stop Making the Same Money Mistakes this Year

▢  Extend the life of your things.

You've started resisting the desire for that new handbag or cute seasonal dinnerware, so now you need to take better care of what you already own.  This starts with proper cleaning, storage, and maintenance, and extends to repair, reuse, and upcycling.

If you have the skills to sew on a button, darn your sweater, or paint your furniture, you might be doing this already.  Maybe you have a handy friend or relative who'll be happy to do a bicycle tune-up or help you tailor some thrift store clothes.  Or you can pay a professional to re-heel your shoes or refurbish your older laptop or phone.

Change your mindset, and let buying something new become a "last resort" behavior instead of your typical reaction to every need.  Get creative and refurbish, buy used, or borrow when you can.  Respect your useful possessions, reduce consumption, and benefit both your wallet and the environment.

▢  Stop sorting.

You don't have time or space to pull out all of your belongings and declutter by carefully handling and sorting each item, ala Marie Kondo's method.  So don't.  Try reverse decluttering instead.

Start by making a list, on paper or in the notes app on your phone, of the things you use daily or weekly.  Think about what's most necessary and what you turn to most often.  Instead of deciding what to get rid of, you're going to recognize what you need and want to keep.  The items that don't come to mind are candidates for decluttering.

Why does this work?  Reverse decluttering lets you focus on your essentials so that it's easier to trim the excess.  By thinking about what you'd choose for your home if you had to start furnishing from scratch (that blank piece of paper), you start to see what's really meaningful, and what's merely taking space.

If thinking about your entire house is too much work right now, start smaller.  Picture your empty kitchen and visualize the tools and appliances you'd need.  Or imagine the living room, your home office, the linen closet, or a bookshelf.

For more details about reverse decluttering, read this post.

A new life

If you gradually implement all of these steps, you'll be well on the road to a minimalist life.  The end result will be hugely different from where you are today, but without the overnight upheaval that so many people imagine is necessary.