Living Consciously: The Minimalist House

Introduction

I used to be both intensely materialistic and a habitual hoarder! Things would just appear in my flat and stay there for months upon end. Not only that, but much of it would hold no use in my daily life. It would either be transferred from one place to another or just serve to take more of my attention from the areas of life I enjoy.

It almost felt as though the clutter that surrounded me gave off a negative energy that would decrease my motivation and eat away at my levels of productivity. The external state of my flat certainly had a detrimental effect on my internal state of mind.

Your life, Your decision

Before you decide whether or not to start applying a minimalist approach to your life, you should ask yourself what you are hoping to achieve from it. Make sure that the expected value you stand to gain outweighs the aspects of your life that you will inevitably lose.

Try putting together a picture of what your perfect day would look like – how much of your current lifestyle is included within it? How much of what you have in your home is just standing in the way of letting you get the most out of your life?

Implementing

I am more ruthless than most when it comes to applying the minimalist principles, but that’s because I feel like it adds significant value to practically every aspect of my life.

Many people’s idea of de-cluttering is to conceal items in drawers or to transfer them into the basement. This may work for you, but I feel it simply serves to push the problem further down the list of ‘things to do’ in our minds, and doesn’t truly give us that sense of freedom and opportunity. There is just no solution like approaching minimalism head-on and doing the job properly.

When deciding whether or not to remove an item from your life. Keep things simple. Ask yourself two simple questions:

Do I need it? Do I REALLY need it?

Take a look around you right now, how many items can you identify that truly add value to your everyday life? Take your time, experiment room by room and make sure you feel good about the results before taking a long-term approach to minimalism.

I would suggest that you keep any items that give you that ‘feel good factor’ yet may not provide a daily function. An example for me at the moment would be my keyboard. Although I rarely get time to practise due to my other interests, it gives me a positive feeling to think about how much I enjoy playing, so I see no reason to remove it from my life.

Expected results

You will likely find it both therapeutic and remedial. It will likely also serve to create a blank canvas from which you can make conscious decisions. You should get a feeling of satisfaction and calm, you will begin to be more productive and have the opportunity to generate or renew positive interests in your life. The change in lifestyle may also transpire into other areas of your life – one key value it has reinforced is the value of quality over quantity in my life.