Minimalism has a way of life being embraced by many, in many different ways. Some minimalists really stick to owning only what they need, while others have a different approach and try to live with less as much as possible. It’s a way of life that has become very attractive to those of us who live in a world where it is easy to accumulate belongings and where much of what we buy is throw away—even things that in past were not considered throw away are now easily disposed of, including clothing, items for the home like china and furniture. As the western world become more wealthy, buying new things to replace the old became the norm and as things were produced more cheaply, we all began to see things as something that we could throw away because they didn’t cost us much—and often were not of a quality standard to last a long time. So it makes sense that some came to the conclusion that it was wasteful to buy a surplus of items and throw away things on a cycle that repeated throughout their lifetimes.
It also makes sense that people began to embrace the idea of living with less. In fact, living with less can be liberating. When you have less possessions, you don’t have to worry about where you keep them. How you will organize them. It’s good for our mental health for our eyes not to see clutter everywhere—or to make constant decisions about where to keep things in our home. We all know that “decluttering” is a thing we do a lot of—I myself have. Some of it we do in an almost angry effort to get rid of stuff and get organized. Some we do more mindfully and intentionally. Some of us research how to be more minimal.
But what the past few years have demonstrated to me is that sometimes minimalism is wasteful. Which disappointed and confused me as I thought minimalism was partly about wasting less.
Declutter What You Don’t Need
Removing items from your home and life that you no longer need or use or have attachment to is what we do when we declutter. Marie Kondo talks about keeping only what brings you joy—and the things you will need for practical reasons, like a hammer. And while this sounds great, I have found it hard to declutter that thing as sometimes you do need it later. Of course, many of those things can easily be replaced with minimal cost, so it’s not a huge waste.
But, I found this practice to be wasteful. Over the past two to three years, I have renovated my home, moved into a new home and packed and de-cluttered and moved multiple times. And while it was good to let go of things–old clothes, books, kitchen items and goodness knows what else–at times I did find myself searching for items I had removed from my home and my life, and even replacing them.
Which led me to doubt the idea that the kind of minimalism that encourages you to declutter things because they can be replaced is a good practice. It removes things from your life and home, but does it encourage you to do so intentionally? Because things you declutter need to be removed carefully, and that’s problematic as sometimes we just want to declutter and get it over with. Decluttering is hard and is a huge chore.
Decluttering and Decision Fatigue
If you have ever heard of decision fatigue, then know that when you are decluttering, it really plays into your choices. But personally, I often do not give myself grace or time when decluttering. It’s a chore, and one I want done, and I imagine, many others are the same. We just want to get rid of the stuff and get organized and call it quits. But decision fatigue can factor into the choices we make and since we often declutter in one big go, making decision after decision–and I think it gets easy to make bad decisions. We either keep things we don’t really know what to do with, or throw it out and later have to replace it.
Decision fatigue has led to me doubt my choices, to keep things I didn’t need to, to throw away things I later regretted. So in this way, practicing minimalism became wasteful for me at times. I have no doubt that this happens to many who are trying to declutter and organize their homes.
How to Avoid Being Wasteful
I think the best way to avoid being wasteful when it comes to practicing minimalism, or decluttering is really taking your time. We all want to get the job of decluttering over and done with, but after three years of decluttering and organizing, I’m learning that to avoid being wasteful and to make decisions that suit you and your lifestyle, you actually really need to take your time and give yourself breaks. Giving yourself breaks not only allows you avoid decision fatigue, but allows you to reflect on the items you are keeping or not keeping. Personally, taking more time to consider things has allowed me to really re-evaluate my lifestyle, the home we have and what suits it and us and our life as a family, and I hope has helped me waste less in this latest move.
The truth is that decluttering and becoming minimal is a process that takes a lot of time–months, and it could be a year or more before the process is really done and your home and life is more minimalized.
Final Thoughts
I think it’s important to consider a number of things when we talk about being minimal, for example, what does minimal mean to us? Does it mean simply getting rid of old things we don’t want? Does it mean living with twenty items of clothing and not collecting things like books or Christmas decor? Does it mean organizing our homes? We have to have a clear idea of what minimalism means for us before diving into becoming more minimal. And we need to take our time.
I hope I can share more of my home set up and how I’m organizing and minimizing my life and home soon. I am not a minimalism expert, but I am someone who has tried to embrace the idea and I have seen pros and cons to the practice. Have you? Share your thoughts below!
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