r/minimalism

My husband and I are currently on a ten day trip in the mountains as a much needed respite trip, while my SIL is in country to take care of my MIL(88) who lives with us. I am just overwhelmed by how much stuff we ended up packing.

We have rented a home, with a gorgeous view of the mountains, 18 minute drive to town, with a full kitchen but no washer and dryer. This resulted in us each packing a full duffle bag just with clothes so we don't have to spend too much time at the laundromat while we are here.

We also have some work to get done while we are here as well. My husband is rebuilding the website for the organization he volunteers with. I need to submit my intent to teach forms and contact department heads to keep an eye out for my submissions, due the last day of our trip. i2T submission window opened yesterday, the day we were traveling, and closes the day we leave. So my husband has his portable keyboard and tablet and I have my laptop bag and a folder full of notes.

We plan to do some hiking on the AT while we are here and I am using this time to gather new reference material for my Nature illustrations (I am a professional artist/arts instructor). My husband also enjoys sketching while we are out hiking, so we each have our hiking packs, hiking shoes, trekking poles, a couple of sketchbooks, our sketch-kits (pencils, ink pens, etc.) and a packable stool for sitting on trail.

The weather report calls for rain for a couple of days we are here so we also packed a cribbage board and a deck of cards, a book of card games/rules, my kindle, 2 paperbacks for him and my knitting.

Our 50 lb dog is with us as well. That meant packing another backpack (toys, food dishes, hiking harness etc.) plus his food bin, his crate, the matt for his crate and his blanket (his nickname is Linus due to him carrying his blanket around everywhere).

Our car felt stuffed to the brim.Three duffle bags, two backpacks, one laptop bag, one hiking pack, a crate, crate mat, blanket, dog food bin and two paper sacks of grocery items from home to see us through until we go to the market to shop. Plus a collapsible beach wagon to move it all easily.

These are times when I don't feel like much of a minimalist. It just felt so overwhelming.

My neck started hurting a few weeks ago. I think it's from staring at my phone too much. Checked my screen time and it was like 11 hours a day.

I started limiting myself. No phone in bed, no scrolling while eating, and I set a timer when I do use it. It was really tough at first.

Until a friend gave me a fishing rod as a gift a while back, and it just sat in the corner. Finally took it out and went to Decathlon to get the rest of the gear. It's nice having something to do with my free time that doesn't involve a screen.

I still go on my phone but it's different now. I watch a few videos about fishing tips or grab some gear when there's a sale on tiktok. That's about it. Having something I'm actually interested in doing made it way easier to stay off my phone. I think that's digital minimalism for me. Not quitting everything, just replacing the mindless stuff with something that matters more.

i've already gotten rid of a lot of stuff and the difference is noticeable, but i still feel like there is too much around me.

at this point i'm wondering if i'm focusing too much on the number of things instead of how i actually use my space. how do you know when you've decluttered enough?

We just moved into our house, and I feel like I’ve gotten stuck in this constant cycle of wanting to buy more, decorate more, change things, add another plant, find another piece of decor, etc.

The thing is**,** I have lots of plants, decor, furniture, pictures, and pretty much everything we actually need. There are definitely some things in the house that are temporary, like furniture/items we’re using in place of what we eventually want, to make do. but there’s absolutely no reason those things need to be replaced right now.

I’m just getting really sick of feeling like I’m constantly consuming or looking for the next thing to buy. I want to actually enjoy my home and everything I already own instead of constantly looking around and thinking about what I could add or change.

I still love decorating and obviously want to slowly make our house our own over time, but I don’t want my house to feel like I always need to be buying. for instance, we have a living room Rug from our last place, but it’s not ME anymore, so I want a new one that I love but this one works just fine for now..

Has anyone else gone through this? How did you get yourself out of mindset and actually become content with what you already have?

**my dad is very sick right now so I know I might do it as a distraction but I want to stop.

I’m trying to embark upon a minimalism journey, where I get rid of the inessential and only keep things that are sentimental ie trinkets and souvenirs that hold memories with my partner, and items I get use from regularly.

The conundrum I find myself in is wanting to maximise the cash amount I get from selling my stuff, but also clearing the stuff out to get more space and less clutter. I know essentially I want to have my cake and eat it here.

In some cases I don’t know what to price certain items at, in others I get a good amount of views/favourites but they don’t sell or receive offers. Some items get little to no views to which I’m not sure why.

I’ve set myself a deadline of 31st December to be shut of the stuff I don’t want to follow me into the next phase of my life so not in urgent need of getting rid of the stuff, but becoming somewhat impatient of things not selling.

Any tips, suggestions or thoughts much appreciated!

Thank you for your time.

So I've not finished watching the film but it struck me, how did the more extreme amongst you deal with Covid or in theory like the film if you suddenly ended up trapped inside? (Basic film premise, no internet, no outside communication, no tv or news, but electricity and water available, no forseeable help or ability to exit or order things, just what you have.)

I stopped watching and reading the news for about 7 months and I just realised I don’t need it anymore. Anyone else experienced this. I feel I gave more clarity.

**TLDR: There’s no feasible way for me to take most of my belongings with me so I need to find some kind of psychological strategy for letting go of them. It’s extra hard because I haven’t had much income for a while and I think I’m dealing with a scarcity mindset where I’m convinced I’ll never be able to buy/thrift new things if I get rid of the old ones.

I could really, really use advice from someone who’s been there before. The hardest things to accept that I can’t take with me are, in order:

-Books: Extremely heavy. I think I’ll only be able to carry ~3 with me at most but I have a bunch with sentimental value.

-Journals: I have ~10 notebooks, I think it goes without saying that the idea of parting with the only documentation of the past few years of my life is pretty painful.

- Some pieces of clothing I don’t wear that have personal history attached to them, I.e. I bought them during a significant time or were given them as gifts. I feel especially bad about some hand me down cashmere sweaters a family member gave me. I might ask if she wants them back.

-Apart from those I feel pretty OK about getting rid of most excess clothes and knickknacks. The getting rid of books and notebooks is the most challenging. To put it delicately, I have a difficult relationship with my parents and often get the impression that they treat me like I won’t amount to anything, and so having items related to my intelligence feel like proof that I have an inner life and am my own person.

I currently own five (two winter and three summer) and I'm thinking of getting rid of one of the summer sets for storage reasons. How many do you have?

edit to ask second follow up question, as I see a lot of people getting by with just one or two: how many do the people you know have and is it unusual to just have 1 or 2? I thought I was already very minimalist with 5 because my parents have 18 at last count.

I need your advice at my age where I'm having an identity crisis HAHA

Everything i own is in a 26sq ft bedroom.

I have roughly 160 items which doesn't seem like alot but alot of what i have is excessive redundancy such as 15 bags when i only use 2.

And it's not like what i own is expensive in terms of branded items as i don't have the money or care for anything like that.

But here i am with all this junk in such a tiny space.

I don't mind the number of things i own, it doesn't really mean much wheather you have 10,000 items or 1 item, what matters is your quality of life and well being.

For some they may see 160 items and say i wish i only had that much, which is valid, but when it comes to 50% of the 160 items being junk in excess that is when i start to look at my possessions with fustration because it isn't anything that brings me joy or purpose, instead these items are just that of a hoarder because they were just purchased to fill an unfillable void which items where never meant to fill in life.

So i plan to sell/donate atleast 80 items so that i am free of the excess, because having so much of one thing is not fulfilling its purpose and is just collecting dust.

I wasn’t always a minimalist. But over the last year or two I have discovered it, adopted it and trying to live up to it. Now my in laws have moved in with us temporarily and my MIL has a problem with the fact that I have so little of everything. She wants me to have more, but more. Multiple of each thing. I already have more than enough I feel. It’s annoying me to be pushed to consume more. I don’t know how to deal with this and explain my choices to her, get her onboard.

A thought I had that ties into minimalism:

If you’ve kept up with r/workstations , review YouTubers, gaming stuff, you will know there is a culture now of optimizing the vibe of your room/apartment and overall lifestyle with buying many gadgets, tech, wall art, gizmos, home theater setups, virtual reality headsets, vinyl player, racing car wheels, watch/EDC/sneaker collection, pimped out home gyms, pimped out Mac desktop or gaming rig with the RGB lighting, espresso machines, maximalist fashion, speakers, or a car collection.

Bored with iPhones so we’re getting iPods again, PSPs, CRT monitors, vintage consoles, polaroid cameras, and VHS cameras, the list goes on for whatever consumerism appears on your thumbnail that inspires lifestyle/taste upgrades.

This is a captive animal.

This animal is captive and is trying to make the most of their cell. In doing so, the captive animal is also digging themselves further into captivity and farther from freedom by trading currency (stored units of potential freedom/experiences) for items, as the items also weigh them down to their cell, they can’t choose to up and leave as easily without having much more to liquidate and taking up mental clutter. They also take on spiritual weight due to the attachment they can develop to their possessions.

“What you own ends up owning you.”

A pimped out gaming rig with ultrawide OLED monitor, nice mechanical keyboard, nice lighting and gadgets and a with shelves of dozens of books and items? You could’ve just had a kindle and laptop. Cloud game. (One time I don’t mind the whole “you will own nothing and be happy” thing.)

A steering wheel for race car games and a VR headset? Does it make your handcuffs more golden?

There might come a time in life when you choose to settle down and start building your nest. It’s fine. But the way I subscribe to minimalism is keeping a low profile and discarding even the impulse to accumulate what’s unnecessary.

Curations (I call it curations, not collections) happen here and there but it shouldn’t be to the idea of your potential freedom’s detriment, or you’re just trading steel handcuffs for golden ones. This affects you on a mental, physical, and spiritual level.

What does the animal that escaped captivity and reached the jungle own?

A personal item (like a backpack) that can fit a laptop, earbuds/, cables. Flip flops on the sides, and other miscellaneous small items to fill in (gaming controller, small fan, sunglasses, kindle, camera gear, lighter, portable charger, etc.)

A duffel bag/carryon that can fit underwear, socks, fragrance, toiletries, running shoes, hoodie/sweater, swimwear

Luggage with tshirts, a polo, athletic shorts, jeans, couple dressy shirts, chino or two, dressier sneakers, jacket or two, hobby gear

A timepiece on your wrist and phone, keys, wallet on your person. Of the items I’ve mentioned, feel free to splurge on quality. We are not restricting ourselves of quality or even luxury.

This core can be modified slightly in any way for more bulk or less bulk, more or less formality, your spin on it. Purchases do creep up, it inevitably happens. The wardrobe expands, you get a few more gadgets, build some curations.

With that said, I highly advise any possessions beyond this be for hobbies that make you PRODUCE or be active (a MIDI keyboard for music, painting gear and easel, guitar, skateboard, bike, camping gear, things of that nature). Get rid of excess hobby items/equipment if it has accumulated 3 years of dust.

Outside this core, do we really need more or are we trying to make our captivity less dreadful? We must understand that like a drug addict, our desire for more possessions thinking it will improve our lives beyond the core items I’ve listed and some exceptions is just digging us deeper into the cell we’re trying to distract ourselves from with more possessions. The goal should be to optimize our lifestyle, philosophy, and subsequent state of wellbeing to not need much more than this.

Let’s press PAUSE on further optimization of our cell, and take back our life by reducing our clutter to primarily that which we can easily bring with us in a personal item, duffel bag, and luggage + productive/active hobby gear if we wished to, for the principle that outside of this amount of items, we’re not really optimizing our lives tbh. We’re just making our handcuffs more golden, our cage more bearable. And it’s sinking us deeper into it. Gain experiences. Keep a low profile. Keep your possessions mobile, even if you’re not.

With that said, obviously you can still have enough furniture, lighting, cookware, and decor to bring your dwelling up to a hotel or furnished apartment standard, and a vehicle for transportation.

If I told you I’ll give you a 5 month vacation to a nice furnished condo in a city of your choosing anywhere around the globe for a year, or a cabin or wherever you’d like to stay, and you can switch locations as often as you want to another destination to live there, what are you packing for creature comforts while being nomadic? I don’t see why you’d need much more than that in general. Seek experiences, and you will see you don’t need anything more than this.

I doubt this post will resonate as much with older folk/ people more settled in which is fine, but I’m hoping I can reach the ones that resonate with this post

I really need some motivation. I am ready to part with a dozen or more bag of clothes, but I am feeling incredibly guilty about money I spent on the items. My instinct is to put everything on eBay or take it to buffalo exchange or something, but everyone around me just wants me to get it out asap. I’ve had garage sales before and it never makes much and it’s so hot out. I am ready to not have big piles everywhere, but getting tripped up on not getting a financial return. I feel sad.

Any motivation welcome

I’m a fairly extreme minimalist, but every now and then I’ll still have a day where I want to go out and maybe come home with something. So I got a new journal even though mine isn’t fully done, a book that I completely judged by the cover, and some fancy spiced peaches that came in a jar that would be perfect as a vase for flowers from my garden. The real treat was just being out and about with my fella [for whom I snagged a whole bunch of different types of hot sauce cause some things you can’t have too much of] .
It may seem a lil contradictory BUT I find that doing things like this eeeeevery now and then keeps things fresh, and reminds me to keep from spiraling into “counting my objects” and whatnot. Minimalism is an intention to lighten, not a rigid burden.

So
-how do yall treat yourselves? [even if there’s no gaining things]

-& how do yall keep from letting minimalism lead you rather than you leading it?

Edited to add- I don’t think counting your belongings = spiraling, I simply meant for me, it can feel that way and I lose the point.

So, I am 28 and apparently I'm going to live in my childhood home for the near future. I basically need to declutter a 3 floors 250m2 house. My parents both passed away recently and this is how it goes.

I wasn't a minimalist, not really, but I can't stand having so many objects around me - I don't need them and at the end of the day they don't even matter. I feel like I can't breathe. My parents definitely didn't know about swedish death cleaning and it shows.

Plus, I've adopted a large size dog from a shelter, he is coming in two weeks and he needs space.

Today is national holiday. Everything is closed, everybody is either away on vacation or busy. I literally have no excuses.

This is my accountability post, wish me luck

I’ve recently adopted a minimalist life style after being in the Army as I approach closer to retirement. The military has moved me over six or seven times throughout my career and I’ve always tried to have a “pack light” mentality. I am minimalist as it is, but the last of my totes has been a huge burden on my mind.

I currently have no spouse or kids and I have totes upon totes containing HUGE military awards, plaques and accolades throughout my career in the Army. I’ve never really been a person that attaches sentimental value to items; and I do not want to burden my mom and dad with all these awards that hold no real meaning or value to them. I had a tote containing my Drill Sergeant campaign hats that takes up so much space and I have the thought of just donating my campaign hats to a surplus store or getting rid of them entirely.

Has anyone had these thoughts as they neared retirement? Don’t get me wrong; I’ve appreciated every single friend that has bestowed these awards and plaques upon me but I just want to have a simple picture frame upon my wall denoting my 20 year served to this organization. Any advice or guidance is appreciated.

I’ve met some friends over the weekend who I haven’t seen for a year or two.

Catching up with their life and just listening to their empty talk made me realize that I like my quiet and simple life.

This reunion gave me a headache.

I had to listen to them but they were not much interest about how I’m even doing.

I think I just realized that I like distance even more and don’t want to be in their circle.

I love my life and I prefer to spend my time with my kid much more than some adult friends.

I'm middle age and have lived in a house with my spouse and children for almost two decades. I realized several months ago that I had accumulated a lot of things. I've been working towards simplifying and although am not quite a minimalist yet, am working my way there.

It's nice to wake up in the morning, walk to the main living area and see a solid 1/3 less stuff! I'm also making my way through more but have to start somewhere. I figure if it took 20 years to build clutter, taking several months to minimize is acceptable.

I'd been somewhat depressed and not loving life as well. Cleaning my surroundings has helped bring my baseline up a bit.

About the only thing I'm having trouble navigating is sentimental items. I love to cook and my grandparents gave me a couple of things I'm not sure I have space to store but don't want to part with.

Anyway, not quite a minimalist. Working my way there. Want to fit everything I own in a car again like I did when I moved out for the first time. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Im trying to declutter my make up bag but not sure what's essential really. Im new to make up at 23 years old so id like to hear your perspective.