How to Become a Minimalist at Home and Live With Less?

If you want to simplify your life and live with less, living a minimalist lifestyle may be perfect for you. Making the switch to a minimalistic way of living can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. With a bit of planning and some simple adjustments, you can easily transition to a more minimalist lifestyle without changing your organization approach dramatically or getting rid of your treasured items. Let’s dive into how to become a minimalist step by step with these easy tips and tricks.

What is a Minimalist Lifestyle?

Although there can be many different ways to live a minimalist lifestyle, the desired results are relatively similar. How to become a minimalist at home often includes clearing clutter from your home, simplifying your life, regular organizing, and focusing on what is truly important to you. In short, you can define a minimalist lifestyle as living with less and enjoying life more. 

What are the benefits of living like a minimalist?

Many people can reduce the time and energy spent maintaining and reorganizing their lives with a minimalist lifestyle. Unlike regular cleaning and chores, incorporating a minimalist approach has short-term and longer-term benefits. It can help you declutter homes and systemize daily routines while also improving your mental health along the way. Here are the most common experiences and benefits of minimalist living:

• Saving money and resources

• Simplifying and decluttering your home

• Staying organized without draining energy levels

• Reducing stress and freeing up more time

• Having a more balanced and fulfilling life

Is switching to a minimalist lifestyle inconvenient?

Learning how to start minimalism is easier than we sometimes think. A lot of people do not know how to become a minimalist fast and give up on the journey because they think it is time-consuming, expensive, and a considerable inconvenience when you begin living a minimalist lifestyle. In reality, becoming a minimalist is an ongoing journey where you have control over each path you take towards living with less clutter and stress to hopefully lead to your ideal life. It is up to you where in your life you want to start and how much of a minimalistic approach you are comfortable taking. Many people find that even if they start their transition slowly, they notice significant improvements and begin benefitting from the results quickly. 

Do you have to say goodbye to your treasured possessions?

Transitioning to your minimalist lifestyle does not have to be restrictive and stressful. Instead, you can organize and neatly store your belongings in a secure and safe place. One of the most popular ways to do this is by using a self-storage locker or renting a portable storage container from a reliable storage company near you. This solution is also excellent for rotating any seasonal clothes or possessions. You may even decide to store your extra furniture and treasured material belongings, which are cluttering up your home but still hold significant emotional value. 

How To Live A Minimalist Life

Evaluate your current lifestyle and possessions

Take a moment to look at your current lifestyle and evaluate what is truly important to you. First, try thinking about what you need to live a happy and fulfilling life. Next, note what is unnecessarily cluttering up your schedule, taking up extra time, or contributing to your stress. Now zoom out and look around your home to see if you have collected anything over the years that you rarely use and is currently taking up valuable space in your home. Finally, don’t forget that donating, selling, repurposing, and putting things into storage can be great ways to remove clutter from your home without throwing away items that are still in good condition. 

Start by working on one aspect of your life

Once you’ve identified what is truly important to you, it is time to take action! Start by focusing on one area of your life at a time. This approach can help set a solid foundation if life gets super busy or you start feeling overwhelmed or stressed. For example, you could decide to begin by focusing on decluttering a specific room, or you could choose to create a simplified daily routine. It is critical to start with small baby steps to avoid overwhelming or burning yourself out at this stage in your journey. 

Declutter, donate & repurpose 

The three significant steps to minimalism are decluttering, donating, and repurposing your belongings. Living more minimally is easier once you declutter your life and analyze what items are most important to you. Let's start in your home's most cluttered area, i.e., your bedroom closet, kitchen cupboards, or storage room in the basement. Start by removing anything you want to donate, find the few things you want to repurpose and organize the items you want to keep. Decluttering these spaces will allow you to utilize your storage areas while maximizing space for the items you want to keep. 

Focus on experiences rather than material items

A significant part of learning how to be a minimalist is to focus on experiences when starting your minimalist journey. You do not need to go out and purchase things to create a minimalist home or lifestyle. Instead, get creative and repurpose what you already have. Remember, this is a journey, not a chore! Focus on investing your time and energy into activities and experiences that will enrich your life and create long-lasting happy memories for yourself and your loved ones. You could even invite your friend to help out or join you in transitioning to a minimalist lifestyle. 

Practicing minimalism when travelling

Minimalist lifestyle tips aren't just relevant at home, many practice the minimalist philosophy when packing for a vacation. Packing minimally is possible when following these few steps. First, you need to determine what items are essential to bring. If you are hesitant to pack something, leave it at home. Secondly, use packing cubes to utilize the space inside your suitcase. Preplan outfits to fill individual packing cubes to stay organized. Thirdly, leave room in your bag if you pick up a souvenir or two. Finally, use reusable travel-size bottles to avoid bringing large toiletry bottles. 

Create a realistic budget and be mindful of finances

You don’t have to create and follow a strict, unyielding budget. However, being mindful of your finances and following a realistic budget can help you save money and maintain the minimalist lifestyle you want. Taking on the “quality over quantity” mindset while also considering the long-term vs short-term value of this when shopping and before spending money is a fantastic way to help your future self maintain a minimalist lifestyle. Additionally, this strategy indirectly helps prevent new items from becoming new clutter in your home.

Tips for Maintaining a Minimalist Home

The difference between spring cleaning and living a minimalist life is how regularly and efficiently you reduce clutter, organize, and simplify your life. Focusing on decluttering one area of your home at a time, then revisiting each space monthly or seasonal. 

• Consider putting seasonal clothes and much-loved belongings into storage

• Have a garage sale, give away or donate the things you no longer use or need but are still in good condition

• Repurpose or find multiple uses for your belongings

• Find ways to make it fun and not just another chore

With the life-changing magic of tidying up and removing clutter from your home regularly, you will find that the idea of spring cleaning is no longer a vast time-consuming ordeal that leaves you drained and exhausted.

Conclusion

Transitioning to a minimalist lifestyle is easy to do with a bit of planning, and it does not require you to get rid of your much-loved clutter and belongings. Once you have started living a more minimalist lifestyle, you'll likely find that you have more time, money, and energy for the things that truly matter to you. As a result, you may discover you are happier and less stressed. 

You can rely on Make Space Storage to provide secure, affordable, and convenient storage solutions that meet your needs. Don’t hesitate to contact us today to learn more about our self-storage and portable storage container rental services. We are happy to help and hope you have found these minimalist living tips helpful as you take your first steps in your new lifestyle!