Life is messy! And not in a cute, catchy put it on a T-shirt way. It is literally, messy! Adding children to the mix and you’ve got a fun-house! So when I heard about the Minimalism Challenge, I knew I have to find a way to add minimalism to my life to find some version of organization.
I admit that writing this is embarrasing. Who wants their literal “dirty laundry” shared with everyone? Who wants the world to know that while it does appear that you have it together, you’ve got a closet full of… Everything.
There are all sorts of explanations, but the bottom line is, I have chosen to accept the mess around me and I am tired of it.
Over the last few months I have been working on finding ways to decrease the stuff in my family’s life and live with intentional simplicity. The 60 day minimalism challenge is what came out of that journey!
What is the Minimalist Challenge?
Minimalism is essentially living in a way that you only own the things that you absolutely need. Minimalism principles guide those who decide to live in this lifestyle to embrace intentional simplicity by putting less value on the things you own and more value on the intangible things in life. Some additional minimalist techniques include:
- Prioritize needs over wants
- Choose quality vs quantity
- Silence background noise
Learning how to embrace minimalism allows you to reap the benefits of living with less and experiencing more in the world around you. The minimalist approach to life gives you the freedom to live out your dreams by spending time doing the things you want to do and not focusing on earning status based on what society wants you to do.
Why do we need a minimalism challenge?
Decluttering your home and life is one of the most freeing exercises you’ll do in your lifetime, especially if you’ve lived in the same place a few years. The main reason is that as you declutter, you start feeling less anxious, more hopeful, and just lighter.
Psychological studies show that clutter is a leading cause of anxiety in most people, so it makes sense that tidying up and embracing minimalism will make you feel better.
Clutter, be it physical, digital, or even the clutter of ideas and dreams in our head, takes up room. It takes up physical space, digital space, and most importantly it takes up room in our brain to keep track of it all. Start thinking about how you can reduce that clutter to leave more mental space for the important thoughts.
Ultimately, for those of us who are busy moms, minimalism offers us an opportunity to create a life where we have much less to manage! When we decrease the things that we have to think about, clean up, or organize, we create more mental and time space for the things we want or need to do, like spending time stewarding our health with self-care.
Start with Mental Decluttering
As a society, we have taken to putting high worth on our things.
It isn’t intentional but in many instances we give our possessions emotional value and place importance to attaining things. I would go as far as to say that we gain joy, contentment, and “peace” from our stuff accumulation.
Understanding how to embrace minimalism does not mean you literally live a life with nothing. The minimalist approach to life simply says that we need to understand our purpose and values. We can not hold our things so tightly.
Why is this important to realize? Well I for one find that the state of my home, and the frequency of my impulse buying increases is directly related to the state of my mental or emotional health. If I am battling with a decision, or stressing about a situation, the clutter in my mind and heart manifests itself as clutter in my home. My physical environment is a manifestation of my internal environment.
A huge part of the Minimalism challenge is to mentally declutter. Try some of these minimalist mind-set techniques to help you reset your mind while you work on your physical clutter.
Ready to Begin the Minimalism Challenge?
After much research on several different de-cluttering plans, I’ve put together this printable minimalist challenge. It consists of a comprehensive 60 day list that will teach you how to become a minimalist step by step. The Minimalism challenge includes a companion journal to help you analyze the mental challenges that may be contributing to the clutter in your home.
The toolkit features:
- 60 Daily tasks to guide your decluttering journey
- 30+ Journal Prompts to examine the why behind your clutter
- Budgeting worksheets
- Cleaning checklists for day, month, and year to maintain clutter free living
In the guide you’ll get tips on becoming a minimalist and daily tasks to declutter your home and your life.
I would LOVE for you all to join me on this journey!
How do I start living a minimalist lifestyle?
If you are still on the fence about becoming a minimalist and wondering how to start minimalism in your life. Here are a few minimalist lifestyle tips you can incorporate into your life today.
- Examine circumstances and people in your life that increase stress. Be sure to include anything that increases your feelings of overwhelm. Consider how you might disengage in these circumstances or with these people. Focus on reducing ONE stressor at a time.
- Consider what brings you joy and what makes your heart smile. It could be spending time with your children or an old favorite hobby. Find ways to incorporate more time in your life for these activities.
- Regard your time as if it was pure gold. What do you do with most of your time? With whom do you spend the bulk of your life? Are you okay with that?
Journaling your answers to these questions can help you understand where your value lies and give you some guidance on where you would like your focus to be.
Understanding the minimalist approach to life from a biblical standpoint also helped me to really focus on and decide that I absolutely wanted to live a life of intentional simplicity.
Pingback: How to Start Decluttering When You're Overwhelmed - Mama Reflections