Beginner Minimalism: 5 things I wish I could have told myself at the START!

I'll never forget the first time my neighbor wanted to come in and see our house after we had simplified it and I had been trying so hard to never let her in because I had been to her house and it was like very non-simplified and then she said: oh I want to come see what the four rooms would be like and I'm kind of racking my brain trying to figure out how I can keep her from coming into our house, well hello I'm the dawn of the Minimum mom, I'll finish that story in just a second, that is part of the second thing I would tell

myself

, but I want to

start

with the first because it's my absolute favorite and that's why we've been living as minimalists for about six years.

Now I want to say that there are different ones. I think many would say that there are different levels of

minimalism

. I don't think we're the most extreme type, but we definitely live with fewer families than most other families and we love it. It's been amazing and today. I want to talk about five

things

that I would tell my

beginner

minimalist self that I think would

have

made the process much smoother and also much faster, so the first thing is that you will crave even more simplicity as you get rid of the

things

you won't want back any of these things you won't want different things since we

have

simplified our house.

I find

myself

yearning for more and more simplicity. I want even less things to manage. I like living in a small house where we can't accumulate more and I want less and less things and I think about all the time I spent deliberating things children's clothes baby clothes sentimental items kitchen appliances things I spent a lot of money on and all the hours I spent deliberating on it only a year or two later and ended up getting rid of that item, so I

wish

I'd known back then that I wasn't going to miss any of it and that doesn't mean we didn't get rid of it. everything of value we've talked about our baby boxes, but I've learned that when it comes to sentimental items I'd rather display them, use them and see them regularly than keep them hidden in boxes and put it away and try to keep it, so it's hard at first because We just don't know, but looking back, I would tell myself that the air is better to get rid of because within a year it will probably be over. get rid of it anyway, the second thing is that you don't have to worry about people thinking you're weird.

I was really worried about people coming into our house and saying where are all your things? I don't know, just think that we had gone too far or that we had somehow missed the boat and now we were weird, so we had this neighbor move into our building and she had two little kids and so we saw each other. when we're outside, like going for a walk, if I was sitting on the front step and so we met and she invited us over to her house from time to time and it was pretty full of stuff, I mean, I would say It was pretty typical and I think It was a really similar comparison to

start

with because in the townhouses we had almost exactly the same layout and it was always that way.

I mean, you

could

really tell the difference between our house and the one we had greatly simplified. We would get rid of about 80 of our things and then go to her house and I always remember feeling a little claustrophobic or like, wow, there's so much stuff, so I very intentionally never invited her. to our house because I don't know I just want to hear her comments like where are all your things or where do you keep the kids toys or I don't know I just wasn't sure how she would react correctly so finally one. The day we were out, the kids were playing and she was like she'd always wanted to see one of the four rooms.

We had a four-bedroom layout and hers was a three-bedroom. I'm kind of struggling trying to think of a reason why she

could

n't. I didn't go in, I thought what would be a reason, what would be a reason, and I couldn't think of anything, so I thought, yeah, sure, come in now, the good thing was, because we had simplified, I was I wasn't worried that the house It was a mess, like everything was picked up and tidy, you know, and that was the cool thing, so we walked in and it was three levels and literally our bottom level and our main levels were the Exactly the same, they were carbon copies, The only thing that was different was the third level because we had an extra bedroom up there, so we went in through the basement and then we went up and it was like, oh yeah, this is it. nice, she commented on the differences between our units and then said oh I think your main level, I think you should have the bigger footprint and I like it, I knew we didn't like it, you could tell if you looked from the outside.

Tell her, look at the windows like we have the exact same thing anyway, so we went down to the basement again and we were going out, she says, I think yours, I think yours feels a lot bigger because it's the four bedrooms and I was like. Yeah, right, of course you know and I really want to say no, it's because we don't have a lot of stuff in there, but I didn't, but all that to say she never said, where is all her stuff? or have they not unpacked? However, or something like that she noticed even though it was pretty sparsely furnished and decorated, the only thing she thought was oh, it feels bigger than ours, so I was glad, I think it was a first for me. that I was able to kind of let my guard down and say, you know what, I don't think people really notice and I don't think they're going to think we're weird, and if anything, I think they are.

I'm just going to think that our house feels nice and that's what we had noticed, it felt a lot better, it was peaceful and I mean, we talked about it a lot, it's easy to keep clean, the kids loved it, I got rid of one ton of their toys and then they just walk into the room and say, oh, there's more room for dancing than there is for playing, like they didn't miss any of them, so yeah, you might get some comments from time to time from people, but I wouldn't let them. That prevents you from simplifying your home and truly enjoying the peace that comes with it.

The third thing is that there is a tipping point and it gets a lot easier. It was hard work at first and a lot of times I would take it, I mean. I've taken load after load after load to the donation center and only to return home a day or two later wondering: why is there still so much stuff? Why do I have to go through this closet again and feel frustrated that I did so? I didn't make any progress, but then there came a point where all of a sudden it was thanksgiving. We invited Tom's family and his sister and brother-in-law stayed with us and I remember his sister saying, how do you keep your house so tidy? and she wanted to kiss his feet because it really was clean and my brain hadn't caught up with the fact that we had gotten rid of so much stuff and our house felt better and I really don't know from that point on.

I felt like decluttering became a lot easier and it wasn't like "oh, I don't know if I'd ever use this again," it was like "I can live without it" and it almost became this game of "oh, what else could we get rid of?" " What else can we get rid of? I don't want to have to handle all this stuff. It's much easier to keep our house clean without it. What else can we get rid of? And there is definitely this. It's like climbing a mountain. Think hard, work hard, work hard, so many trips to the donation store, I feel frustrated, I feel like I'm wandering around like I'm not making progress and then you hit this downhill slope where it's like you've developed your tidying muscles.

I got to experience a little that it is much easier to stay clean. Your family likes it more, it's just more fun and then it's like a game of what else can we get rid of? I hope you don't give up during the uphill part and try to get through it as quickly as possible so you can get to the downhill where it's much easier, you're experiencing the benefits and it doesn't feel like hard work at all. The fourth thing is that The Onion Method works and it's what I did in our entire house, so the Onion Method is just going layer by layer through your house to do sweeps throughout your house, declutter and get rid of things that are trash that you can donate.

I know you're not using it anymore, so just go through the house layer by layer and what this does is it helps you build confidence in your arranging decision making, so every layer you go through you realize that no, he was right. I haven't been using that item, I decided to get rid of it and I don't miss it at all, so we gain confidence in our decision making as we go because we can live with it for a while, I mean, ideally. In this world we wouldn't spend a week decluttering our house, going through every closet and drawer, renting a dumpster and getting rid of everything, but I think the reason that doesn't work for most of us is because we don't have enough confidence in ourselves and that confidence comes over time going layer by layer decision by decision and generating confidence that no, I don't miss him and I'm glad he's gone, I never thought about it again after he left our house and last thing is this is just the beginning I think I have to say this while I'm crying I can't believe the impact simplifying our house had on our life and I realized you know when I was a young adult I felt like I had control of life I'm figuring things out, Tom and I getting married, freaking out, marriage, setting up our house, everything we're doing right and then the kids started coming into the picture and all of a sudden I feel like I don't know which way it is and it reminds me when Tom and I went to Hawaii for our eighth wedding anniversary.

It was like our first tropical vacation. We had friends stationed there, so we saved up and went to visit. them and we went diving one morning and it was so cold that we were like floating in the water looking at the coral and the fish below us. Tom wasn't too far from me and he was beautiful, I mean he was amazing. like seeing all the fish and everything and then I don't know what it was but something caused a wave to come up like not a big wave but like a boat passing by or something and I remember it like it caught me off guard.

I didn't see it coming because I had my face in the water and suddenly I realized that where I was I couldn't touch the bottom anymore and even though I knew how to swim it was really pulling me and I and I found ourselves flailing in the water and saying: "God." mine, calm down, everything will be fine, like I can still see, I mean, we're so far from the beach or something." I think that's what it felt like to become motherhood, it was okay, we're floating, we're doing well and I also feel like I'm frustrating the water, what am I doing?

I'm keeping everyone afloat. but it's not quite right and I feel like by simplifying our house it's helped us get back to that, even float again and the waves still come but they don't rock us like they did and we're just able to stay more level and even be able to enjoying the view and enjoying the scenery around us, so it's been amazing, but really it's just been the starting point and then we feel good, we have the energy to dedicate ourselves to going out. debt and explore, learn about other job opportunities and not feel so stuck in what we were doing to get a job and have more time to dedicate ourselves to the things that we are really passionate about and that matter to us, so I don't know, it was this incredible moment in which I'm not just talking about building confidence, but not just my ability to tidy up a house, but my self-confidence and believing that okay, I think I could do other things now, so I don't know, I think I still feel like I sometimes find it difficult to articulate how much it changed our thinking and our perspective on our lives and how little it had to do with the physical things in our house and that has had.

It's just been the best thing I've ever done and when I look back and think about six years ago when we started this journey or whatever you want to call it, I'm so glad I did it; There hasn't been a single thing he's done. Have I ever gotten rid of that, I mean, there have been some things that I've regretted like very few, but when you compare them to all the things that we've gained, I mean there's absolutely no comparison, so I hope you that can eliminate some of the doubt or worry that you might make a mistake that you don't, as you simplify, you're just going to want more simplicity, you're going to want to make areas of your home even simpler. go with even more streamlined closets and even less crowded drawers, so you don't have to worry too much about each individual decision, choose to get rid of them and you will look around and have a home that you love, but I think you will also feel that you have a brighter outlook on the future and that's the best thing about it and that's what I would tell myself if I could go.

It's been a few years so I'd love to know if there are other things that you found that you would say to your past self or if you're still on that uphill, do you need some encouragement and hope that things will get better and better? easier, let us know below. It's really fun to hear your story and see where you are at, but I hope this is helpful.I hope you keep going.Even when it seems hard, keep going because you will be able to look back in a few years and be very glad you did it and say yes, that was absolutely one of the best decisions I have ever made, if you haven't made.

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