My husband and I recently moved into a one bedroom apartment in Digby. In fact, it was on the same weekend as our wedding! Amazingly it was a fairly low stress weekend. It is partly because we kept the wedding small and simple, and partly because we don’t own much stuff. We had no kitchen implements for example. The other thing that caused it to be low stress was the generous efforts of my parents. They brought down a trailer load of my stuff from our family home. They made a significant contribution to keeping the move low stress.
Ever since we moved, I have been reflecting on the possessions that we have and wondering if there is a way to simplify even more. I went to the library and found a book called “The More of Less” by Joshua Becker (www.becomingminimalist.com). It is full of tips, tricks, and encouragement for developing a minimalist lifestyle. It highlights the benefits which include having more time and energy, more money, more generosity, more freedom, less stress, less distraction, less environmental impact, higher quality belongings, and more. The main idea is that the less possessions we own, the less burdened we are with organizing and maintaining them and the more time and freedom we have to focus on activities that bring us joy. We can still have all our necessities covered and even have toys, tools, and heirlooms. It’s just that we get rid of the clutter and the extras. I’ve been reading the book while sitting cross legged at our coffee table which is currently our main eating table. We have one arm chair, two desks, two folding chairs, one tall table which I use as a standing desk, an air mattress, and a set of drawers. That is all of our furniture. We’d like to have a book shelf, but do we really need it? I’ve been thinking about what we have as extras. We got three cutting boards for wedding presents, but they are all beautiful and needed. We have four sleeping bags of different sizes. We could probably get by with two. I recently got rid of a small rolling suitcase with corroded zippers. It seemed a shame to throw it out but it was not useful in its condition. I also threw out an old blanket, that was an easy one. Joshua gives some helpful tips for purging unwanted items. He says start in the areas that are the easiest, like in the kitchen or in the clothing closet. Get a box and just throw everything you don’t want in there. Sort it later. For items that are harder to sort, he says do an experiment. Put the items you think you might not need into a box, label it, and hide it away for 29 days. If you forget about the items and don’t use them it’s a good sign you don’t need them. It might be tempting to just haul things off to the garbage, but if we want to declutter in a green way we can consider donating, re-gifting, selling, and fixing. Purging can also apply to larger items like cars and houses. Do you really need two vehicles? Try an experiment by just driving one vehicle. We currently don’t have a car and we are getting by fine because our apartment is walking distance to all the necessities like grocery stores, laundromat, and the library. We may need to buy one in the future for work but for now it isn’t necessary. Sorting and purging is one thing but avoiding the accumulation of clutter is another. Joshua suggests dealing with paper clutter right away instead of letting it pile up. Tell family and friends about your minimalist lifestyle and give them a chance to get you gifts that you need instead of gifts that add to the clutter. Avoid shopping sprees for things you don’t really need, like new clothing. Be aware of ads on television and the internet that try to lure you into buying more by focusing on your insecurities. Once you have a clutter-free household, it liberates your energy to focus on the things in life that have meaning and purpose and that make you happy. Miguel and I are far from having a clutter free space but we can strive to only buy things that we really need. Little by little we can pick away at the paper clutter, consolidate boxes, and organize what we do have into cupboards and onto future shelves. Living a minimalist lifestyle is something to strive for that helps us to reduce our impact on the planet.
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AuthorMay is a sustainability coach, consultant, and gardener working in Nova Scotia. Archives
July 2023
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