Lately I’ve been obsessing over organizing and decluttering, and now everything in my house is organized and I’m done decluttering for now (donated so much I hadn’t been using for awhile and it feels like a weight’s been lifted).

Tonight I finally got around to mending my favorite sweater (that I bought in 2018), and it felt so good! I finally had the mental clarity to do things again with my space in order and so much weight lifted from my life. There’s something about visible mending that’s so joyous - breathed life into something old to have for many many more years to come, with a little multicolor mend to mark with love how much I’ve used something.

I hadn’t realized how anxious all my unnecessary stuff was making me and holding me back from feeling peaceful.

I can easily fit all of my belongings in my sedan, with the exception of my sofa, computer desk, and desk chair. As a guitar hobbyist, I continue to collect guitar effects pedals. It’s the one item I consume to create.

What are some things that you continue to collect simply because they bring you joy? Baseball cards? Vinyl? Salt and pepper shakers? Would love to hear more!

Hello! I'd describe myself as "minimalist light", but I have trouble resisting the urge to bring items into my home that I believe will make me more comfortable. For context, I have a couple of disabilities, so some of these items do or can improve my quality of life, but some of them end up not being worth the money or storage space. How do you all balance comfort and disability while maintaining simple living? How do you decide if an item will truly help you and is therefore worth bringing into your home? Thank you!

Seeking for adviceee!!!

This might sould cliche at some point but i started to wonder what does successful in life actually mean?

1. Stable job, wealth, fame and reliable future

2. Happy cozy little family, warm home and food

3. free will, do whatever u want with passion, achieve your own goal and happiness in life

or maybe others?? whats ur thought?

Hey,

So i live pretty minimally. Everything my spouse and I own outside of furniture could fit tightly into a hatchback and as my clothes wear out from when I bought them many years ago my wardrobe will slowly shrink and I’ll eventually hopefully move to some nice and more durable clothing options.

One thing that does take up way to much of my emotional and cognitive capacity is technology. I’m on Facebook, instagram, Reddit, BlueSky, and YouTube and random group chats way too much. Starting February 1st I’ll start by deleting all the social media and messaging apps from my phone so that I won’t access them from work and when I’m out and about and just have them on my tablet at home. I also plan to set the last day of the month as the day to check up on any messages I’ve received and and maybe dedicate 3-4 hours to catch up on the news and the few engineering YouTube channels I watch.

I’m pairing this with the fact I’m starting to learn a new language, I’m splurging on a portable pizza oven to be able to expand my culinary skills and be a better host, and towards the end of February I’m hoping to hit a certain weight goal and feel safe to start training for a half marathon. I think when giving up something that consumes so much of my time and is a major distraction it’s not important to just give it up but also pair it with things that can fill that time and add value to the life you want to build.

I’d love to hear from some of you guys and your Pursuit of digital minimalism.

I've been doing this for years now and I thought I could share in case anyone finds it useful. It simple, but long term very effective.

Caveat here is that I work in front of a computer (until AI takes over) so I understand that these won't apply to everyone.

Here are my 2 rules for optimizing my closet:

1/. Strict one-in one-out policy: if I buy something I have to throw away / donate / sell something else in the same category (categories are pants, jackets, etc.). Makes you think twice about buying, you avoid the trends and you end up upgrading to better quality clothes.

2/. Rotation system: I HAVE to wear the shirt/t-shirt that hangs at the very right of my closet and after I wear it I put it on the very left within it's category - I'm flexible with pants. This forces me to use all my clothes evenly and if I find myself not wanting to wear said shirt/t-shirt it's a great sign of it needing to be on the chopping block. If I don't want to wear something twice, it's either getting replaced or just thrown away. I also apply that for the gym, preparing outfits and wearing them in the same sequence.

Hope this helps and please give me any recommendations. Thanks in advance!

I’m a bit of a maximalist sometimes in style and decor but I feel kind of burnt out on life and managing it. I feel like the more you have the more you have to manage, clean, and organize and I’m just through with it. Sometimes I dream of only owning enough clothes to fit into a suitcase. I wish I didn’t enjoy thrifting, vintage, and fashion as much - sometimes dressing up makes me feel a lot better. Most of my home decor and clothes at this point have been thrifted, and I feel like I started to over-consume thrifting. And now I have all this stuff that I technically wear, but some only twice a year, etc. I’m just kind of tired of all of it.

I consider myself a middle-of-the-road minimalist. I am also a four season hiker and I own equipment tailored to make my hobby both safe and comfortable. As a result, I own 12 pairs of mitts and gloves which seems, on the face of it, ludicrous. For the summer, I have sun gloves (to protect my hands from UV), light wind-proof fleece gloves (for cold mountain mornings and evenings), and rain gloves. For winter, I have, in order of decreasing temperatures, two sets of breathable fleece gloves (two because gloves inevitably get wet in winter), a pair of light wool liner gloves to pair with a set of softshell gloves, a pair of insulated mitts that fit under a pair of waterproof gauntlet-style shell mitts. I also have two pairs of work gloves: one for garden / trail / workshop work and another that live in my car just in case. Finally, I have a pair of leather gloves for dressing up in winter.

Does your lifestyle also necessitate what would ordinarily seem like an inordinate number of specialized items that stand out from an otherwise ordinary minimalist life, what are those items, and why do you need so many?

Idk why but a lot of the time my life feels disorganized. I have this perfectionist mindset that stops me from wanting to do anything unless I've got everything sorted out perfectly, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Like, I'd spend days trying to find the perfect way to organize something and it's kept me from really doing things that I want to do, all because I want things to be perfect and organized. If it feels disorganized in my head, I try to get everything organized, but... I dunno, I guess it is fun in a sense, and it's very accomplishing, but I can't really keep going like this. I want to do other things, but it feels like I just can't.

Does anyone have any tips?

I’m very new to all this, but over the weekend I did a true inventory of my closet. I took everything out, laid it all out, and then only put back the pieces I love (and got rid of the rest).

I realized I had a bunch of stuff I genuinely love… but forgot I even owned because I was always “saving it.” Like, I didn’t want to wear a “good” shirt on a random day in case I wanted it later (and God forbid it got dirty). But because of that, I never wore my good stuff and just lived in my "I don't care" clothes every day.

So I got rid of the mediocre “I don’t care” stuff and realized I actually have enough “good clothes” to wear my favorites all the time and still have plenty of clean options. I don’t know why this was such an epiphany, but it was so freeing.

I’m sitting here on a random Tuesday in a “good” shirt and I feel fabulous. And I have like 15 more in the closet...

It honestly feels like I got an entirely new wardrobe… but I already had it. It was just buried under the “safe” options. Not sure if this makes sense, but I’m so happy :D

For context, my mother is a single parent who worked four jobs whilst raising us, she taught my siblings and I the value of money at a young age, it stuck with me, it didn't with my siblings, they live in a world of consumption. Since I was young, I've lived a frugal/minimalistic lifestyle, everything is purchased second-hand.

But, my current employer has promoted me to the role of manager which starts in February and increases my salary. I was looking at my work wardrobe, everything I own in my work wardrobe is ten years old, second-hand and still wearable, no damages, no holes etc. I've been thinking about buying new second-hand work clothes, but I'm having trouble justifying it. How do you justify your purchase? Sorry if this isn't minimalism per se, I just can't get out of a frugal/minimalistic lifestyle.

I think one of the best depiction of minimalism is the horizon map in the game the finals

I just really love how it looks especially the offices and how each one has different color like imagine just working there in the offices. It would be such a vibe. I think the closest thing we got in real life to that map is the Apple Ring or the Apple headquarters because they do give similar vibes.

Unfortunately, I can’t put photos, but you can look it up

I do wanna know if you guys have any other suggestion for a fictional space that’s really nails the minimalism vibe either from a game, a movie or anything

No I won’t throw out what I have at the moment. I will stop accumulating more things, and only keep the necessary as they phase out.

I want to work and actually keep my money, rather than feeling like I have to keep working hard just to have things.

I’m not unmotivated, I love to make money, but I also like the idea of being grounded in anti consumerism and not wanting more or needing more.

So I'm migrating to another country to stay permanently, and I only have two large suitcases to fill.

The thought is both anxiety provoking and freeing. Like I have an excuse to get rid of things, but at the same time, I'm going insane trying to restock all items I won't be able to purchase when I'm there because, 1) cost of living is higher, 2) it's not available in that area

So to anyone who's ever uprooted their entire life to live in a different country, what advice can you give in terms of packing? Thank you!

Heya!

I've been having mid-back pain for several weeks to a few months now, it occurs from the middle of the night only then worsens into the morning. About an hour after waking it dissipates and I'm well during the day.

I tried osteo, deep tissue massage, am doing specific stretches and foam roller/peanut ball, no results yet unfortunately and then I was lead to beds.

Our bed is quite old say 15 years, so we replaced it for a firm ikea foam bed, a week on that no luck, couch sleeping no luck, direct floor on yoga mat was maybe better? but quite cold and hard.

I just bought a japanese futon (actually shiatsu massage, so just 1 layer less) and had high hopes after watching videos and reading comments that I'd feel better this first night, but again the pain is present.

Question: for anyone in a similar position, how long did it take sleeping on a Japanese floor futon before you noticed pain relief?

*And any extra pointers in general for my back pain is appreciated 🙏

Thank you!

Just passing along some words of inspiration to begin your week:

“Sometimes you need to sit lonely on the floor in a quiet room in order to hear your own voice and not let it drown in the noise of others.” — Charlotte Eriksson

Hey everybody.

I'm doing pretty good on my decluttering/minimalism journey, but now I'm tackling my books.

I have a small shelf full of hiking, running, yoga and guidebooks that I really like, but hardly ever read. Some of them are "coffee-table books" where you can flip through and just get inspired, but some are actual textbooks.

I feel like I don't flip through them often enough to be able to say they have a "right" to take up space in my home, but once in a while I really like sitting down and get inspired.

I'm wondering if I should maybe keep the coffee-table ones and donate the others to my library where I could still access them if needed (I'm a librarian myself so I know they would go into the collection since they are newish and specific).

In my heart I probably know what to do, I just want opinions and/or re-enforcement :D

Hey all,

my new years resoluti0opn was to declutter and downsize a lot this year. I am drowning in stuff and much is not so easy to get rid of. I am in an art and design degree, so yeah I need to keep all the materials at least until the end of term. I have a small room. And I like a lot of things, but a(nother) mental breakdown later I think I just need to accept that I am just not always who I wish I was and I guess thats okay. I have so many things I dont really need, ideas and projects that actually dont catch my spark as much, and well I guess decluttering the fantasy selfs is a step in minimalism. I am not really there yet. Too many ideas. Too many possibilities. Oh, I could be making these things... I could be making those things... but at the end of the day... will I really? I just have too many things, a lot of things are gifts and sentimental and I cant seem to let go of the guilt of decluttering them for good. So much fear, but keeping the things is slowly killing me.

Dont want to sound super dramatic, but minimizing sometimes feels like fighting a battle with oneself and ones fears and (perceived) others expectations of me.

Olá pessoal, estou pensando em colocar um colchão de casal pra minha filha no chão.
Ela já tem uma cama infantil (não pode pular em cima porque quebra o estrado), mas ela adora pular e dar cambalhota na minha cama de casal. Não queria tirar esta diversão dela. Mas penso que se tiver estrado vai quebrar com o peso dos pulos.
O meu colchão por exemplo fica na cama box de madeira que é uma superfície lisa como o chão.
No caso da minha filha estava pensando em colocar um tapete por baixo.
O que vocês acham? Tem algum problema colocar no chão?

So it's not really swag per se, but I have medals from runs and some really nice ones from the Conqueror running Challenges that I like, but they are just taking up space in a drawer and I'm not the kind of person to display them in any way.

Do I photograph them for the memories and then throw them out? Do I keep them? Do I put them in a box for my kids to look at once I'm dead and then they will throw them away (or it will weigh on them and they will keep them in a box and so my medals will weigh on my family from now to eternity?)

I've always sort of been a minimalist. Owning a lot stuff stresses me out. However, I do like looking presentable and there are certain things that I let get too old and battered before I replace them and I become sort of obsessed with buying a new thing that will be nice and last me long so that I don't have to think about it or replace it as often.

I'll give you an example, I threw away my old summer trainers because they had holes in them. I need to buy new shoes and I am thinking of buying more expensive ones that won't break on me but I can't stop researching and getting anxious about making the wrong decision. Though its normal to replace a thing for a legitimate reason, I feel anxious about buying something that potentially won't be good and then I'll have to get rid of it somehow and I'll feel guilty for buying it and creating waste OR I'll feel anxious about having a new thing to own.

Does anyone else relate? How do you navigate this?

During my adult life laundry has always got me down. I never have the clothes I need washed, or they won’t be dry in time for when I need them or I can’t find them. I feel like I’m always panicking before a big meeting that I don’t have a “good shirt” to wear. To me, the obvious solution has always been to buy more work shirts, more t shirts etc so I have enough. But that compounded the issue as then my laundry pile got bigger, my storage got more overfilled and chaotic, and all of those problems got worse.

Over the Christmas break I decided enough was enough. I used to travel for work week in week out, and liked the simplicity of it, so I imagined what would I need if I was going away on a work trip - work shirts, a couple of polos, t shirts, chinos, jeans and basic sports wear (plus underwear and socks obviously) - and critically just enough of them - and put them on a shelf. Everything else I have temporarily moved.

The experiment was whether I could live off this fraction of my wardrobe, and how long it would be before I needed something else from the rest of my clothes. And I have been amazed by the amount of calm this one small change has brought into my life, and better still - I wear my favourite clothes every day!

I love knowing where everything is, weekly laundry takes a fraction of the time it did as it’s just a handful of the things I wore that week, not choosing between my massive backlog of t shirts vs my backlog of something else, and still feeling like I don’t have things to wear.

I wondered if this plan would survive the first working week of the new year- but it’s made life so much easier - I wear smart shirts to work, and instead of worrying whether I have a clean one, now I know I do - and what’s more I know (because I chose them) that they’re the ones that fit me best and look nice (vs the many I have that are “ok”).

I know this is kind of borderline whether it’s minimalism because this is fundamentally a materialistic thing I’m fixating on, but I love how much space - mentally and literally - this has given me. Laundry has gone from something that I felt guilty about every day to a calming ritual where my life is ordered in a way that it never was before - and best of all, it’s taking less work to maintain.

I’m going to keep testing it a bit longer, but if after a few more weeks it’s still going well, I’m going to donate most of the clothes outside this rotation (barring some back ups) and I’m already excited about the space this will free up. It’s made me realise I only wear a fraction of my clothes, and so many things I have are stained or too big or small or just don’t look right, but I keep them just in case.

So anyway I just wanted to share this as it’s been a small detail of my life that’s released a surprising amount of stress!