Maintaining a Minimalist Lifestyle: Tips and Strategies for Reducing Clutter and Increasing Productivity

One of the most effective ways to maintain a minimalist lifestyle is by implementing strategies that prevent new clutter from entering your life. One such strategy is the "pause button." This involves pausing before buying something, giving yourself at least 24 hours to think about whether or not you really need it. In today's fast-paced society, it's easy to get sucked up into impulse buying, especially when there are sales or flashing lights enticing us to make a purchase on the spot. However, taking the time to pause and consider our purchases can have a significant impact on reducing clutter in our homes.

For instance, I had once accumulated a large collection of special occasion dresses that I wore only once and never again. Each dress held sentimental value and was expensive to buy, but they took up valuable space in my closet. To avoid this situation, I now look for alternative options for special occasions. Instead of buying new outfits, I rent them from local designers or stylists. This not only prevents me from accumulating unnecessary clutter but also allows me to experience the thrill of wearing a brand new outfit without the financial burden.

Another way to prevent clutter is by digitizing our lives. With the advancement of technology, it's now possible to receive digital versions of mail, books, and magazines. Many libraries offer e-book and audiobook rentals for free, making it an ideal option for those who want to reduce their paper clutter. Furthermore, scanning essential paperwork can also help declutter our homes. By using specialized scanners or apps that take pictures of documents, we can organize and sort our papers without having to physically handle them.

In addition to these strategies, maintaining a minimalist lifestyle requires discipline and self-control. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by creating a list of gifts that you want to receive during the holiday season. This ensures that whatever you're given is something you'll truly use and appreciate, rather than just accumulating unnecessary clutter in your home. By putting out a list, you can avoid the guilt associated with receiving gifts that don't suit your style or needs.

Another approach I take during the holidays is to ask for experiences instead of physical gifts. This not only reduces clutter but also creates lasting memories and joy. Instead of asking for new clothes or gadgets, my friends and family know to get me tickets to a concert, a weekend getaway, or a fun activity that we can enjoy together. Experiences tend to bring us more happiness than physical gifts, making it a win-win approach.

By implementing these strategies, you can maintain a minimalist lifestyle that reduces clutter and increases productivity. By pausing before buying, digitizing our lives, and asking for experiences instead of physical gifts, you can create a more organized and fulfilling life. Whether you're just starting out on your minimalism journey or looking to refine your approach, incorporating these tips into your daily routine can have a significant impact on reducing clutter and increasing joy in your life.

Tips for Managing Holiday Gifts

The holiday season is a time when we often receive gifts from friends and family. However, these gifts can quickly become clutter and junk in our homes if we're not careful. To avoid this, I recommend putting out a list of gifts that you want to receive during the holidays. This ensures that whatever you're given is something you'll truly use and appreciate.

Another approach I take is to ask for experiences instead of physical gifts. Instead of asking for new clothes or gadgets, my friends and family know to get me tickets to a concert, a weekend getaway, or a fun activity that we can enjoy together. Experiences tend to bring us more joy than physical gifts, making it a win-win approach.

Preventing Gift Guilt

One common problem during the holiday season is gift guilt. We often feel guilty about receiving gifts that don't suit our style or needs, especially if they're expensive or come from someone we love. To avoid this, I recommend creating a list of gifts that you want to receive during the holidays.

By putting out a list, you can ensure that whatever you're given is something you'll truly use and appreciate. This not only reduces clutter but also helps you avoid feelings of guilt or shame about receiving gifts that don't suit your style or needs.

Digitalizing Your Life

With the advancement of technology, it's now possible to receive digital versions of mail, books, and magazines. Many libraries offer e-book and audiobook rentals for free, making it an ideal option for those who want to reduce their paper clutter. Furthermore, scanning essential paperwork can also help declutter our homes.

By using specialized scanners or apps that take pictures of documents, we can organize and sort our papers without having to physically handle them. This not only reduces clutter but also saves time and effort in the long run.

The Pause Button: A Strategy for Reducing Clutter

One of the most effective ways to maintain a minimalist lifestyle is by implementing strategies that prevent new clutter from entering your life. One such strategy is the "pause button." This involves pausing before buying something, giving yourself at least 24 hours to think about whether or not you really need it.

By taking this approach, you can avoid impulse buying and reduce clutter in your home. It's a simple yet effective way to maintain a minimalist lifestyle that promotes productivity and reduces stress.

Conclusion

Maintaining a minimalist lifestyle requires discipline, self-control, and strategy. By implementing strategies such as the pause button, digitizing our lives, and asking for experiences instead of physical gifts, you can create a more organized and fulfilling life. Whether you're just starting out on your minimalism journey or looking to refine your approach, incorporating these tips into your daily routine can have a significant impact on reducing clutter and increasing joy in your life.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys and welcome back to my channel so if you've been with me for a while you know that I've done a lot of videos at this point on minimalism I do consider myself a minimalist I don't really like labels for me what that means is drastically reducing the clutter and in turn reducing the stress in my life so I'm going to be sharing with you guys some of my favorite hogs tips tricks things that I do to maintain a minimalist lifestyle hopefully you will find some of these helpful get some ideas from them some things you might find a little bit too extreme and that is totally fine I'm not telling you that you need to do these things these are just things that I have found work for me so let's go ahead and jump into it decluttering is an ongoing continual process it's not just something you do one time and your entire life is decluttered and you never have to worry about it again no matter what you do clutter is going to find its way into your life so something that Ryan and I started doing is we have to give away baskets in our house one that's upstairs and one that's downstairs I personally try to put one thing in the basket every day and when we have guests over I put those baskets by the front door I tell them that they are free to grab whatever they want and whatever isn't claimed then gets donated the next is the concept of one in one out specifically with clothing is how I apply this the most is I feel like clothing is something that really easily can get cluttered so the concept is really simple when you buy something new take out something old that is similar to it so if you find new pair of jeans look through the jeans you already have pick out a pair that you don't wear as much and put it in the donate thin another thing that applies to clothing and this is something that I only recently implemented and it has been so amazing at simplifying things and that is having a capsule wardrobe if you watch my recent pregnancy update video I talked about this in detail and I even show you what my capsule wardrobe is I basically have three categories of outfits that I wear I mix and match I keep it very simple and not only does it prevent clutter in my closet it also makes it so much easier and so much faster for me to get ready and the way that I keep things fun and spice it up is really with accessories and it's so easy to find cute accessories that are not offensive I get most of my earrings and jewelry and scarves and accessories and things like that from forever21 they have a lot of options they're really inexpensive I also want to share some tips for managing holiday gifts because those it could be a major source of clutter and things we've all been there where our grandma buys us like some ugly piece of wall art but we feel too guilty to tell her we don't like it so every time she comes over we have to pull it out of the garage hang it up and pretend like you just love it so to prevent gift guilt these are my two tips for the holidays the first is to put out a list that way you could be guaranteed that whatever you're receiving for the holidays it's something that you are actually going to use and that you actually want and it doesn't become a clutter or junk in your house the second tip is what I personally do I've been doing this for the past few years and I love this so much and that is asking for experiences of versus a physical gift so my friends and family know to get me something like a dinner or going to a picnic does it have to be something that costs a lot of money but just an experience that we can do together and I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that experiences tend to bring us more joy and happiness than physical gifts anyway so it's a win-win across the board this next one requires quite a bit of self-control but if you can implement it I'm telling you it is so impactful it has been for me at least and that is what I'm calling the pause button all you have to do is pause before buying I recommend at least 24 hours but if you can go longer than that the longer the better I personally try to wait at least a week think a lot of times it's really easy to get sucked up into impulse buying especially when there's a sale or flashing lights or you see something in a store and you don't take the time and perspective to see if it's something that you really are going to use and you really need so if you could just give yourself the discipline to pause before buying it will prevent a lot of unnecessary clutter coming into your life I notice in my closet I had so many beautiful special occasion dresses that I wore was and never wore again but I had a hard time getting rid of them just because of sentimental value and in most cases I spent a lot of money on them so now what I do for special occasions instead of buying a new outfit I always first look into renting an outfit and I love it because for every special occasion I get to look forward to wearing a brand new beautiful outfit and it prevents me from having a closet full of dresses that I'm never going to wear again my last tip today is preventing a paper clutter by digitizing your life there are a few different things I have to say here first look at the mail that you're getting and see if any of that could be sent to you electronically the next release to books and magazines at this point I think we all know about ebooks and audiobooks and even magazines now you can get digital so I recommend going digital wherever possible and at this point I've mentioned this a few times but you can use your local public library and rent ebooks and audiobooks through them so you can even do this for free and the last thing that I recommend is scanning your essential paperwork so look at the paperwork that you still have held onto for whatever reason and look into scanning it you can buy a special scanner or you can even use certain apps and just take pictures of the document and it will organize and sort your paperwork that way so you don't even need to deal with the scanner I will link down below some of the apps that I use alright guys so those are some of the main things that I do to maintain a minimalist lifestyle both in removing existing clutter and preventing new clutter from entering my life I really hope you enjoyed it if you did give this video a thumbs up also I recommend you watch a video I did recently and it is 5 ways to start decluttering now and I give very specific tips the things that you can remove from your home right away and start the declaring process so I will have that video linked down below and if you are new here I would love to have you as a subscriber to my channel I talk about minimalism organization cleaning DIY so if those are topics you're interested in I would love to have you as a subscriber and with all of that said thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you soon with a new video Ihey guys and welcome back to my channel so if you've been with me for a while you know that I've done a lot of videos at this point on minimalism I do consider myself a minimalist I don't really like labels for me what that means is drastically reducing the clutter and in turn reducing the stress in my life so I'm going to be sharing with you guys some of my favorite hogs tips tricks things that I do to maintain a minimalist lifestyle hopefully you will find some of these helpful get some ideas from them some things you might find a little bit too extreme and that is totally fine I'm not telling you that you need to do these things these are just things that I have found work for me so let's go ahead and jump into it decluttering is an ongoing continual process it's not just something you do one time and your entire life is decluttered and you never have to worry about it again no matter what you do clutter is going to find its way into your life so something that Ryan and I started doing is we have to give away baskets in our house one that's upstairs and one that's downstairs I personally try to put one thing in the basket every day and when we have guests over I put those baskets by the front door I tell them that they are free to grab whatever they want and whatever isn't claimed then gets donated the next is the concept of one in one out specifically with clothing is how I apply this the most is I feel like clothing is something that really easily can get cluttered so the concept is really simple when you buy something new take out something old that is similar to it so if you find new pair of jeans look through the jeans you already have pick out a pair that you don't wear as much and put it in the donate thin another thing that applies to clothing and this is something that I only recently implemented and it has been so amazing at simplifying things and that is having a capsule wardrobe if you watch my recent pregnancy update video I talked about this in detail and I even show you what my capsule wardrobe is I basically have three categories of outfits that I wear I mix and match I keep it very simple and not only does it prevent clutter in my closet it also makes it so much easier and so much faster for me to get ready and the way that I keep things fun and spice it up is really with accessories and it's so easy to find cute accessories that are not offensive I get most of my earrings and jewelry and scarves and accessories and things like that from forever21 they have a lot of options they're really inexpensive I also want to share some tips for managing holiday gifts because those it could be a major source of clutter and things we've all been there where our grandma buys us like some ugly piece of wall art but we feel too guilty to tell her we don't like it so every time she comes over we have to pull it out of the garage hang it up and pretend like you just love it so to prevent gift guilt these are my two tips for the holidays the first is to put out a list that way you could be guaranteed that whatever you're receiving for the holidays it's something that you are actually going to use and that you actually want and it doesn't become a clutter or junk in your house the second tip is what I personally do I've been doing this for the past few years and I love this so much and that is asking for experiences of versus a physical gift so my friends and family know to get me something like a dinner or going to a picnic does it have to be something that costs a lot of money but just an experience that we can do together and I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that experiences tend to bring us more joy and happiness than physical gifts anyway so it's a win-win across the board this next one requires quite a bit of self-control but if you can implement it I'm telling you it is so impactful it has been for me at least and that is what I'm calling the pause button all you have to do is pause before buying I recommend at least 24 hours but if you can go longer than that the longer the better I personally try to wait at least a week think a lot of times it's really easy to get sucked up into impulse buying especially when there's a sale or flashing lights or you see something in a store and you don't take the time and perspective to see if it's something that you really are going to use and you really need so if you could just give yourself the discipline to pause before buying it will prevent a lot of unnecessary clutter coming into your life I notice in my closet I had so many beautiful special occasion dresses that I wore was and never wore again but I had a hard time getting rid of them just because of sentimental value and in most cases I spent a lot of money on them so now what I do for special occasions instead of buying a new outfit I always first look into renting an outfit and I love it because for every special occasion I get to look forward to wearing a brand new beautiful outfit and it prevents me from having a closet full of dresses that I'm never going to wear again my last tip today is preventing a paper clutter by digitizing your life there are a few different things I have to say here first look at the mail that you're getting and see if any of that could be sent to you electronically the next release to books and magazines at this point I think we all know about ebooks and audiobooks and even magazines now you can get digital so I recommend going digital wherever possible and at this point I've mentioned this a few times but you can use your local public library and rent ebooks and audiobooks through them so you can even do this for free and the last thing that I recommend is scanning your essential paperwork so look at the paperwork that you still have held onto for whatever reason and look into scanning it you can buy a special scanner or you can even use certain apps and just take pictures of the document and it will organize and sort your paperwork that way so you don't even need to deal with the scanner I will link down below some of the apps that I use alright guys so those are some of the main things that I do to maintain a minimalist lifestyle both in removing existing clutter and preventing new clutter from entering my life I really hope you enjoyed it if you did give this video a thumbs up also I recommend you watch a video I did recently and it is 5 ways to start decluttering now and I give very specific tips the things that you can remove from your home right away and start the declaring process so I will have that video linked down below and if you are new here I would love to have you as a subscriber to my channel I talk about minimalism organization cleaning DIY so if those are topics you're interested in I would love to have you as a subscriber and with all of that said thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you soon with a new video I\n"