Minimalism and decluttering has become a bit of a craze recently. What was perhaps a trait which was judged by people in the past, has now become trendy and cool.
“Clutter is the physical manifestation of unmade decisions fueled by procrastination”
I’m a bit of a hoarder. I don’t like throwing things away, and I buy plenty of things I don’t need. However, recently I’ve realised that needs to change!
The mentality towards not throwing things away stems from my attitude towards waste. I’ve always had the mind of an Accountant. I don’t like to waste money, and I don’t like to throw things away because of that. Even if I don’t use the item at all.
Somehow, I manage to convince myself that I need items, in order to get over my money-wastage mentality. If I NEED it, it isn’t wastage, right? WRONG! I have so many bits and bobs which just sit collecting dust in my house. I’m the worst for unnecessary clothes. My wardrobe is a mess…
Decluttering your home has the ability to boost your mood and clear anxiety from your life. My problem is that I am a procrastinator when it comes to tidying and trying to live with less stuff around me. The only time I am happy to tidy is when there’s something else I’m procrastinating from doing.
I work a pretty intense day job, so when I get home, the last thing I want to do is declutter. Then at the weekend, I want to just relax after a long week. Excuses? Probably…
There’s also the fact then when I do tidy, I feel as though everything becomes very untidy again very quickly. So, this is why I have set myself this challenge. I am going to try and live with less “stuff” in my life, and declutter everything around me.
This is going to be a 30 day challenge to myself that I am hoping will continue beyond the challenge. So, here is what I am going to focus on:
Clothing
As I said before, my wardrobe and drawers are just chaos. There’s very little system to it. Clothes just get washed, then chucked into a drawer, and usually barely folded.
The main issue here is that when all of my clothes are cleaned, there isn’t enough room for everything. So, I kind of rely on there being a steady pile of laundry to do. Therefore, some of it needs to go!
I want to slowly move towards a more minimalist wardrobe, with some key pieces, instead of having lots of different loud t shirts etc. So, over time I wish to just have well fitted and well made plain t shirts and jeans which can be paired with other items. This should make keeping everything organised far more simple. I believe this is called a “capsule wardrobe” in these trendy minimalism blogs.
Drawers
As mentioned above, I am really bad for folding the laundry. It may get folded, but then will get messed up when I am trying to drag a t shirt out from the bottom of a drawer.
So, in the next 30 days I am going to make a more conscious effort to be more careful with folding my clothes and keeping them organised in my drawers. I also hope to pair my socks! Anyone who knows me, knows I have a never ending supply of weird and wonderful socks. So many socks, so little time. I can never be bothered to pair them up unless the matching pair are staring me in the face.
Laundry
I’m terrible with the laundry. My girlfriend does most of the laundry, and I’ll maybe only help with taking it upstairs once a week. This is something that really needs to change. I am going to make a conscious effort to keep the flow of clean laundry going, and once some clothes are thrown out, I will easily be able to put it away.
My girlfriend will be thoroughly pleased if I can pull this off!
Stop Buying S***!
Despite the wastage mentality I mentioned before, I still buy a lot of crap. Amazon is just too convenient to quickly order things! So, I’m going to stick to the 1-week rule! If there’s something I want, I will add it to my shopping cart, and if after a week or two I still feel as though I need it, I’ll order it. If after a week I have forgotten about it, it gets removed from the shopping cart. Simple as that!
I have lots of things which need to be sold or given to charity shops around the house, and this will be a slow process over time.
Implementing the Plan to Become a Minimalist
So, that’s the plan. Hopefully I stick to it. I am going to do a weekly update throughout the 30 days, and the challenge will end on the 14th of April 2019! Subscribe and keep up to date with the Living With Less Stuff and Decluttering blog series!
