How Minimalism Has Changed Our Lives So Far:

I want to start by saying, thank you so much for all the love on my last post: I Think I’m a Buddhist?. I was very surprised at the response to it! I appreciate every single person that engages with my posts at all, so thank YOU!

My husband and I have been obsessed with Minimalism over the last year or so and we are starting to notice the benefits of it.

I believe sharing our positive experiences with minimalism so far may convince others to pursue it as well, you won’t regret it!

The Benefits of Minimalism we’ve already noticed:

• We spend way less money. This is because after you declutter your house of all the things you realize you’ve wasted money on, you’re not keen to do it again. It’s hard working through those feelings of guilt, shame, regret, grief, etc. but once you do, the skies clear & you’re ready to move on & not make the same mistakes again. We really pause before we buy anything now & usually end up not buying anything.
• We have more time. We didn’t really notice a lack of time, but who doesn’t want more of it? This is huge for people who feel like they don’t have enough hours in the day. We have more free time because, when your house has a minimal amount of stuff, it pretty much stays tidy & is much easier to clean. If it does get untidy, everything has a spot & it takes just 5-15 min to pick everything up & put it away. -There is less inventory to manage! We also don’t waste time looking for things anymore! Again, we know what we have & where it is.
• We feel less stressed. It is a proven fact that seeing clutter releases Cortisol (the stress hormone) into our brain! There is an idea that each item in our home sends out a message to us, which if you think about it, it’s true. Old clothes you can’t fit in might be saying: “Why can’t you fit in me? Why don’t you exercise more?” -causing guilt/shame, or a gift from a friend you never use may make you feel guilty every time you look at it. Isn’t it better to let those things go so that they can have a chance at a life where they’re actually used? & so they can no longer mock you. Having less stuff means you have less on your “silent to do list”, dishes can’t pile up for days if you only have enough for a day of meals, same can be said for laundry, & so much more. All of these reasons explain why it feels good to go on vacation & stay in a hotel or vacation home. There is no clutter, no items sending us negative messages, & no silent to do list (no laundry piling up screaming: You need to do me!). With that being said…
• We don’t feel like we need a vacation. We love our home. We don’t feel like we need to escape our home & forget about our to do list for a while. We’ve made our home functional & enjoyable, we always want to be home now.
• Increased focus. We no longer get distracted by the stuff around us or the “silent to do list”. Yeah, we need to do a load of laundry & dishes pretty much daily, but that’s about it, and those two things can become an easy habit very quickly. There is just less to focus on or remember to do. It’s wonderful.
• Our house stays clean & tidy. I’ve touched on why this is above, but I thought I should add it to the list. Again, it’s fast & easy to pick stuff up & to clean.
• We consume less, decreasing our carbon footprint & environmental impact! Now that we don’t buy things really, other than food, we’ve drastically reduced our consumption! Which is great for so many reasons.

I’m sure I could think of more, but these are the most prominent & important benefits we’ve experienced so far.

My favorite minimalism content people -link to my resources page.

Have you tried minimalism? How was it? Would you ever try being more minimalist? Why or why not?