I decided to start something new called "my view on...".
This will be posts that will share my view on subjects that YOU my readers will ask about.... I already have a few for now but if you wish to ask me something or have an idea, do not hesitate, and you can leave it here in the comments or send me a PM through FB.
Someone asked me to share my views on the advantages of having less in order to help other give up their stuff...
Well this is interesting... when I first started being a minimalist, I had no idea what it would bring me or the advantages it would have but I felt like I had to do it... only a few months down the line, listening my inner voice and following the path, have I come across some potential advantages... some turned out to be right and others not so much... at least for me!
And this is why this chronic is called "my view on..." because I will give you a few advantages of having/owning less, decluttering, being a minimalist but these are advantages to me... and they may not work for you! What is in it for me may not be what is in it for you... but if there is at least one thing that I mention that is attractive to you, give it a try... and you may discover more advantages...
So here it is, my list of advantages of having less with a short explanation with each one of them.
1) Less cleaning up - I use to take 3h every Saturday to dust and clean all my home and belongings... that is without vacuuming which my husband was doing! We lived in a 2000 sq ft home... I now take about 20 minutes including cleaning the bathroom and he takes 30 minutes to vacuum... all in all, we are still more then 2h short of what we needed to do! This allows us to do something else on Saturday then clean the house!
2) I can really appreciate what I own - I use to have so much stuff that I didn't even have time to look/use all of it on a regular basis! I am talking here about decorations on walls and shelves, books, CDs, DVDs, games, clothes, toys, kitchen stuff, tools, hobby materials... and I am pretty sure I am forgetting something! Most of it was put away and I couldn't even see it! I had decorations for specific time of the year and I had to take time to rotate all of that... Now, everything I own is displayed. Period. Except for a few Christmas ornaments that are displayed only in November and December. But there are so few of it that they fit in a small box (and that it litterally takes 15 minutes to put up and 15 minutes to take down). When you come into my house, what you see is what you get! There is nothing else... and THAT feels amazing! I would say, that clothes included (according to season of course), I use 90% of my stuff 90% of the time! This is great... especially when you know that, for clothes for example, people wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time... what the h*** do they do with the rest of it?
3) I have more time in the morning - my mornings use to be filled with organizing a few things and figuring out what to wear... now I have nothing to organize and what to wear is so limited that I don't even have to think twice about it! Therefore, I can either, depending on the day, sleep in, discuss life with my son or do yoga/meditation. It's a much better start to my day then running around for no reasons!
4) Everything I own is my favorite things - I use to feel guilty for certain items/decorations/clothes that I would not use as often... I would feel like it was useless to own them but not use them, but yet, I could not part with them. Once I have decided to become minimalist, I decided to keep only my favorite items/decoration/clothes. Therefore I no longer feel guilty for abandoned stuff and all I use/wear are ALWAYS my favorite!!! Isn't that amazing???
5) You can sell whatever you no longer want/use and take the money towards debt or another objective - Of course, you'll never get back all you invested... and probably not even close! But I did it and so do many other minimalist... you sell stuff and then the money you get is used towards paying off debt, travelling, moving abroad... or whatever your dream is!
6) You can live in a much smaller space and save $ - decluttering has allows my husband, son and I to move from a 2000sq ft home into a 700 sq.ft home and still have room to breathe and lots of empty floor space!
7) You are no longer afraid of being robbed or loosing everything to a fire - because you know stuff is just stuff. This is one of the greatest lessons I have learned in that process. No matter where it comes from, how expensive it was, if it was inherited or not... it is JUST stuff and no matter how much you THINK it is attached to your memories, it is NOT! No object you give away or loose will take away your memory of the person who gave it to you... this is yours forever! The object doesn't have to be.
8) You can pack up and go easily - stuff ties us down... attach us to a home, a city, a country... or wherever it is we live... it is hard to move when you have days of packing and unpacking ahead of you - it makes you change your mind about the whole thing! When everything is packed in a day and unpacked in the same amount to time (and a day is a lot -probably more llike half a day for us if we all work on it!), you are more inclined to try new experiences, discover new places to live...
9) last but not least... YOU ARE FREE. The feeling of freedom that comes from owning less is hard to explain... but as you get rid of stuff, you feel lighter... less responsibilities... less attachment... more openness... more options... and that is simply AMAZING! Before I became a minimalist, my whole life was planned out, almost to the day I die, according to my stuff... without me realising it, I had planned my whole life around owning stuff, and them more stuff... Never had I realise that this stuff would not follow me after the day I die and dragging something all my life in order to have to part with it sometimes anyway was kind of silly... why bother (and don'T tell me you are keeping it for your kids cause how do you know they even want it or care for it?)??? I'd rather spent time with people, doing things, staring at the stars and gazing at the clouds then buy/use/store stuff and repeat... what defines my lise no longer is the stuff but rather the moments in life... and in order to create those moments I needed to part with the stuff... and I am so glad I did! Nothing is tying me down! Sky is the limit now!
I hope this helped...
And if it did not, this Zen proverb summarize very well what I am trying to say here:
"Let go or be dragged"
on that note,
love&peace,
nath
xox
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Wonderful post!!!
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