‘5 steps to being a minimalist’ is usually a book title that tells you in pages and chapters how to do this. Here, we’re trying to do this in 5 steps summed up in one post. Why?? Good question. Everyone’s busy, you don’t want to read a book about it, you have other things on your mind like drinking 8 cups of water a day, reading the news, being a good human etc. All those things take a ton of work and let’s be honest, the average reader will skim a post looking for the goods. Here are 5 things you can do to be a minimalist:  

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1. Don’t buy things because you want them…buy things because you need them

This one doesn’t need much of an explanation right? Buy what you need and not what you want. You need food, water, shelter. Invest in your home, food, and utilities. Do you need a car where you live? Do you need the new PS5 gaming console (some would say this is a need but that depends on your daily life, if you’re a full time streamer then maybe!)? Do you need a 10th bra? You see where I’m headed here.

2. Be intentional

Everything in a minimalist household has a purpose and a use. Make sure that you use everything you have because in the end these are things you need and don’t necessarily want. Food is a big one that comes to mind, eat up all the food before you take a second trip to the grocery store, this can prevent waste and help the environment. If you need a new jacket, make sure its one you’ll use and this can be applied to many other items.

3. No duplicates where applicable

This is a harder point to explain because duplicates aren’t bad but when applied to things you don’t need duplicates of, they can create clutter. A good example are measuring cup sets. I noticed in many households (also my own) there were two sets of measuring cups. You know those 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup measures. That is a good example of something you don’t need two of. But do this at your own leisure there are many use cases I can think of where duplicates are of value, its about eliminating the duplicates that aren’t used.

4. Save space

Saving space is a huge part of this because having more space is one of the goals. Saving space can look like putting all your old CDs/DVDs in a case and recycling the covers, moving your old photos to digital copies and recycling the photos, buying new video games or even books as digital copies and not physical copies, recycling really old papers, donating the old box of yarn, and many more! Finding ways to save space and open up your home.

5. No one-use items

Lastly, don’t buy things that are a ‘one and done’ type of use. For instance paper towels are one time use and then thrown away, buy cloths instead. This applies to many things but use it as you see fit. Cling-wrap is one time use, buy containers instead. If you buy shoes, make sure you’ll wear them more than once and the list can go on and on.

Alrighty little fam, I summed up our minimalist items in 5 simple steps. I hope they’re helpful! I also struggled to find a 5th step, if any of the points seem off or weird just let me know here or send us an email/connect on social media and we can chat this out! Have a wonderful Friday friends!