A Minimalist Lifestyle can be so appealing.
Most of us yearn for a simple life and a minimalist lifestyle. After watching the likes of Marie Kondo showcasing how a minimalist lifestyle can make you feel happier and encourage your productivity, there is a lot to be said about stripping back your material goods.
Decluttering your home may at first seem overwhelming and emotional, but once you take the plunge, you’ll soon see the benefits. From reducing your amount of cleaning to freshening up your home, there’s a lot to like.
Minimalist Lifestyle
Not sure where to begin? Here’s our guide to help you achieve a minimalist lifestyle:
Minimalist Lifestyle – Start with your kitchen
Have you ever noticed how a pile of mail becomes a magnet for more clutter? For most of us, the kitchen is a quick target for materialising unnecessary mess. Keeping it tidy is a daily battle, and if you have kids, then it’s likely it’s an even harder place to keep in order!
With a few minor tweaks to your storage space, you can maximise your cabinet space and leave less room for clutter to build up on your surface areas. From mounting a rack onto the back of your cabinet or pantry door to installing a roll-out rack in a lower cupboard, you can quickly maximise cupboard space.
Finding simple solutions for all your bulky pots and pans is your next port of call. If you are lucky enough to have an island or enough wall space, you can turn your cooking equipment into a practical and inspiring display with S-hooks or mounting racks.
Spices, spices, everywhere!
Spices and herbs are space hoggers. Despite adding oomph to most dishes, all those tiny spice jars undeniably take up a lot of room.
With their long shelf lives, it’s easy to leave your spices lurking in the back of your cupboard. If it’s been there for longer than six months or passed its expiry – throw it out!
Organising your spices alphabetically into a spice rack will free up your cupboards and make them more accessible. If you want to go a step further: invest in uniform clear jars that come with customisable labels. That way, you can keep tabs on the spices you use more often and eliminate unnecessary waste.
Minimalist Lifestyle – Hello bathroom
Bathrooms are the spaces in our lives that can become cluttered without you noticing at first glance. Drawers are stuffed full of unused and forgotten lotions and potions. The super-cleaning toilet stick-on pads have leaked, and the mascara you used five years ago is right where you left it – at the bottom of the pile.
That ends now.
Pull everything out and look at the expiry dates. Some products will have sure signs of age due to discolouration or separation. Others you’ll have to look at the ‘6M’ or ‘12M’ mark and remember when you last used it. If you can’t remember – throw it out.
Easy access is key to a Minimalist Lifestyle
Stuffing your wardrobe or airing cupboards full of towels and linens is a pointless endeavour. Like many things, they get forgotten about and then subsequently rarely used. Bringing towels straight into your bathroom – draping them over towel rails or using quirky wooden crates or baskets make them serve a purpose beyond the cupboard.
Make your under the sink storage go further by taking advantage of the extra space. Label up stylish baskets, bins and stackable boxes to make your bathroom pop.
Head for your bedroom
Your bedroom should be a place of zen, peace and rest. Surrounding yourself with laundry piles and general clutter not only looks messy, but it can impact your sleep. So make room for you to feel free:
- Amp up your basket use: easy to place under a bedroom table; you can throw in all your blankets, pillows or laundry to maximise your sleeping space
- Under your bed: a great place for storing all your off-season clothing, bedding and accessories when you are limited with wardrobe space
- Throw away damaged goods: if there’s no easy fix to ripped clothes or brokes linen, chuck it out there is no room for broken stuff in your Minimalist Lifestyle
Increase productivity with a Minimalist Lifestyle
A cluttered office space often clutters your mind. With stacked up paperwork and books bursting off the shelves, it’s no wonder you’re struggling to get into the right headspace.
If you like the open shelf look, Melissa Picheny, founder of declutter+design, suggests “restricting non-book items to a maximum of three per shelf.” That way, you can concentrate on aesthetics over clutter.
Then there’s the avid reader whose bookshelves are bursting at the seams. Room to grow your collection is hard to come by, and the books you do own haven’t been touched for years. If that’s the case – there’s a local charity shop desperate for your less read volumes. Everything you want to come back to can be kept on an e-reader.
Untangle your power cords for a Minimalist Lifestyle
Staring at the infamous “spaghetti junction” just off the M6, you can easily see how the interchange got its namesake. Now take a look at your cables. Everything from chargers to lamp cords, wires to power sockets soon become an undesirable maze.
Investing in a cable box will instantly save you desk space and keep things tidy and secure. By adding a shelf with cable ports built in will also instantly organise your spiralling power cord collection.
Minimalist Lifestyle? Embrace your sofa again
Our refuge and place of comfort, your living room is the first place any guest goes to get a real impression of who you are. Coffee tables are a clear focal point but are often cluttered with coasters to magazines. However, keeping it as clear as possible will be an indicator that this is a “clutter-free” household.
Being inventive with how you utilise your living room space will add to the flow of the room. Try and mix up shapes to breathe more life into your space. From round side tables to versatile ottomans, the world’s your oyster.
Call on the professionals for help if you want to create a Minimalist Lifestyle
We are all emotional beings and it is easy to get sentimental about the things we own. Calling in the professionals will not only support your decluttering, but it will make letting go of the things you don’t use or need easier.
Whether you live in London and need a reputable London rubbish removal company or live deep in the Welsh countryside, your local experts will be keen to offer you the best service and advice in the industry.
Ready to refresh and declutter your home? Learning how to live a minimalist lifestyle not only makes your living space look great but it boosts your mental wellbeing too. Why not give it a try?
A minimalist lifestyle is just so good for your mental and physical life
