Minimalism How To Decide What To Keep
Minimalism how deciding what to keep can be one of the most challenging parts of the beginning of a Minimalist Lifestyle. Learning to make thoughtful, intentional decisions is always worth the effort.
Allow me to teach you to easily learn how to decide what to keep when decluttering your life for better living.
What Is The Minimalist Lifestyle
How to decide what to keep will become your superpower. What is the Minimalist Lifestyle? The quote below describes what I believe is the perfect definition of a Minimalist Lifestyle.
“Minimalism is a tool that can assist you in finding freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from worry. Freedom from overwhelm. Freedom from guilt. Freedom from depression. Freedom from the trappings of the consumer culture we’ve built our lives around. Real freedom”.
I love that definition because it encompasses my very simple Minimalist Living style. I try to only live with what I need and almost nothing else. This can be very freeing.
For me it’s about the elegance of simplicity, avoiding unnecessary and extra thought. I truly love and embrace everything I own or else there would be a burden to own it.
I feel I do not suffer for not owning some things people believe to be common. I actually live lavishly in my mind because what I do own is of high quality and usually lasts a lifetime.
I believe this concept greatly contributes to my overall happiness because I don’t have the worry and stress that accompanies, shopping, storing, and managing a bunch of unnecessary possessions.
Take a look at your closets, basements, garages, attics, or storage units, and tell me if you agree with my comments above.
Minimalist Living gives me more time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. Whatever that is at any given moment and time.
What Is Decluttering
How To Decide What To Keep? As you’ve hopefully noticed, I believe that decluttering is about so much more than getting rid of stuff.
I believe it can be treated as a doorway to a new way of living and thinking. When you take the time to be intentional with what you choose to own, you also become intentional with what you choose to do.
What you do is how you live and how you live is who you are. Life-changing.
You may be looking to declutter items you have collected since childhood, declutter rooms full of items you purchased over the years and you have no idea why. It just simply may make sense at that time in your life. Nothing more.
The intentional choice to change your life is far more important than choosing the tool of decluttering to help you reach your goal.
People often find it difficult to get rid of items because they believe the items hold some sought of precious memories. Most of the time these are items you never use and barely even see.
Memories are never held within items, places, or things. They are held within you. They may help trigger the memories within. It may be better to find more healthy ways to trigger precious memories than hoarding and storing stuff.
Sometimes holding on to the past and avoiding change is more harmful and toxic than holding on to stuff. More often letting go of the past and creating new memories is the best way to go. What do you think?
Just imagine the possible new and exciting chapters you can create that will rival your past experiences and memories. We all struggle with getting rid of possessions because of the fear of letting go of the past.
How To Decide What To Keep
What is your goal? If keeping things in your life you consider important, that provide a measure of joy and comfort is a great place to start. That would ensure the decluttering process will be easy.
All that will be required is to move from room to room and pick those items out to survive the decluttering process. Right?
Once you complete that first round of decluttering from room to room you may realize many of those things may not hold the value you thought they did just minutes ago.
Do you really need all of those things you believe spark good memories? Are they essential or even functional? Do they make life more enjoyable or add to your overall well-being?
If not what is all of that clutter actually doing for you? Believe it or not, visual clutter can be harmful to you and your family mentally and emotionally.
Visual clutter is a form of pollution that can cause stress and make it more difficult to relax and be at peace in your own home.
Does a successful decluttering process begin by thinking in terms of what items are essential to your quality of life? This will instantly make your choices clearer and more refreshing.
Believe it or not, we really don’t have much time for the non-essential in our lives anyway. These are some of the questions I subconsciously ask myself when I come face to face with many of the items I own.
Think about it, there are only 168 hours in a whole week. Then it’s gone.
Have I used it in 3, 6, or 12 Months?
If I have not used it or enjoyed it recently it could end up on the chopping block eventually. Sometimes we get used to passing items in our living spaces that are just collecting dust.
This rule helps get rid of that stuff so you don’t have to dust and move it around when cleaning.
Does It Add Value or Improve My Life
I may not use an item often but it may add value or improve my life regularly. Some books are a good example of this. Books I re-read every few years.
I like boots but I only really only need one pair. Sometimes I have more than one pair but I try really hard to only own one pair but the extra pair serves a purpose.
I may not love the extra pair but they add value to my life and improve it.
Can It Easily Be Replaced?
I HATE keeping things around “just in case“. If I can easily purchase or borrow an item when I need it I will not keep one around “just in case” I need one. I would love to own a bread maker but I don’t make bread often enough and I do have access to one.
When traveling there are items it’s better to purchase when you get to your destination than to drag along with you. These items also exist in your everyday life.
Will I increase In Value?
Many of the items we own will increase in value but the overwhelming majority will not. We will need to be brutally honest with ourselves when determining the potential monetary value of the items we own.
You will never restore that rust bucket parked in the driveway to its original splendor. Think about selling, donating, or giving it away. Allow it to find a new home where it has a chance to bring joy to someone once again.
What do you own you believe will increase in value but probably will not?
Does It Hold Sentimental Value?
You like what you like and there is nothing wrong with that. You don’t need an excuse or a story. Just liking it should be good enough.
There are gifts and items that belonged to loved ones that may hold a special place in your life and that is great. You may not touch them for years or only once a year but when you do it’s magic.
You can’t beat that.
As long as the positives overwhelming outweighs the negatives there should be no problems. Just be honest with yourself you are giving these items a pass and there is no rhyme or reason for it.
Conclusion
One of the most challenging parts of the Minimalist Lifestyle is knowing what to keep and what to let go of. But learning to make thoughtful, intentional decisions is always worth the effort.
Let’s recap Minimalism and how to decide what to keep. When beginning Minimalism it’s a good idea to pause and reflect. Think about why you are contemplating doing what you are doing and what is the desired goal.
Set aside feeling, how much items cost, why you acquired them, and the like. These are some of the obstacles that will make it difficult to make rational decisions.
Creating defined boundaries will help to decide what to keep simple. Boundaries like why you will keep an item or the number of items you keep will be helpful. Be creative and create boundaries that will be helpful in your situation.
It is better to use your newly created boundaries to avoid having to make the same decisions over and over again with every item you come across.
Put any possible fears aside. There are no mistakes, every decision will be the correct decision. You will keep nothing just in case you may need or use it in the future.
Minimalism is how to decide what to keep there are no right or wrong decisions. There are just predictions. Roll with the best ones you can make and be happy.
Living a Minimalist Lifestyle should make your life easier. Enjoy the simplicity and enjoy life. Take My Challenge! Please allow me to Empower you and share how I Create A Freedom Lifestyle.
