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8 Ways Decluttering Helped Me to Live a More Intentional Life

Posted on September 24, 2019
Declutter your home and live a more intentional life today

Before I started my decluttering journey I had no idea how much my stuff was holding me back. I wasn’t aware of the daily struggle clutter bought with it or how it added to my stress and anxiety. 

When I decluttered my first set of drawers that contained my shirts and shorts, I was amazed at the difference this one small change made to me. It seems silly that such a small change – decluttering two drawers, had any impact on my life but it did and that positive change grew exponentially from there with each decluttering project I tackled. 

Decluttering benefited me in many areas of my life that I couldn’t have ever expected. Here are 8 Ways Decluttering Helped Me to Live a More Intentional Life.

8 Ways Decluttering Helped Me to Live a More Intentional Life.

1. Decluttering highlighted my impulsive consumer habits  

Very early on in my decluttering journey, I became aware of numerous impulsive consumer habits I had picked up over the years. My wardrobe and bathroom were hard evidence of these less than desirable shopping habits. As I decluttered my bathroom, I saw lip balm collections, a foundation for every day of the week, and hand lotion bottles galore. 

I didn’t have what I needed – the essentials, or even just a little more in case I ran out before I could get to the shops. I was apparently preparing stockpiles for the shops to close for a good year based on my collections 

As I decluttered each item: shampoos, conditioners, hair products, makeup, and the like, I realised that I really didn’t need all those excess items and over time implemented new consumer habits to limit what I was bringing into my home. 

2. Decluttering helped me appreciate experiences over things 

Before I decluttered my home and cleared the excess, I was your average shopper. Most likely addicted and spending mindlessly on things I didn’t need. 

I’d wander on my lunch breaks shopping for nothing in particular, spending my hard-earned paycheck. 

Buy things just because they were on sale, even if I had no idea what I would do with them when I got home. 

Waste my weekends in the mall buying things I didn’t need instead of doing things that added value to me. 

Decluttering helped me lead a more intentional life as I slowly saw the value in experiences over things. After clearing over half my wardrobe, a buy one get one free sale sign lost its pull over me. I slowly started replacing my habits of buying things on impulse and instead learned to appreciate experiences. Experiences I could remember, and think back on with fondness, that didn’t require me to take some item into my home where I would have to find a place to store it, dust, and maintain it.

Over time I saw myself spending less money at the mall. Instead, I spent my money on experiences that I could enjoy and share with others, like going to the movies, a concert, or travelling. I noticed later in the year I’d long forgotten the new jewellery and perfume I got for Christmas, but years later remembered my first trip to New Zealand for my 30th with fondness and my honeymoon to Europe. I realised that when I invested my time and money into experiences and things I truly enjoyed, I didn’t need to go and shop to fill some void. 

Declutter With Me Decluttering Course  

Are you finding yourself overwhelmed and stressed out by clutter in your home?

If you’re looking to minimise the excess in your life, Declutter With Me: A 12 Week Guide to Declutter Your Home is a go-at-your-own-pace course that will give you the step-by-step, room-by-room instructions to help you clear the clutter in your home in as soon as just 12 weeks!

But clearing the clutter isn’t just about getting rid of your excess stuff. It’s important to change your behaviour and consumer habits so you can avoid re-cluttering your space once you have decluttered. Included in Declutter With Me, are “Keep It Minimal” tips for each area in your home + 7 Tips To Help You Keep Your Home Minimal, to give you strategies you can implement to help you spend with intention so you can avoid bringing clutter back into your home.

If you are keen to minimise your unwanted clutter check out Declutter With Me so you can create a home you love!

learn more

3. Decluttering helped me be more mindful of gifts I gave to others 

As I decluttered my home, I noticed a lot of gifts, that were bought with generosity and good intentions from family and friends had gone unused or weren’t adding value to us anymore. This made me reconsider my own gift-giving habits and be more intentional with what I gifted others. I stopped my usual gift buying habit of heading to the shop and browsing for the perfect gift, realising that the perfect gift isn’t always going to be found on a shelf at the mall. 

I started to get more creative with my gifts. Some new habits I’ve implemented:

  • Buying experience gifts such a a massage, tickets to a concert, musical or kids attraction
  • Asking people directly what they would like for a gift
  • Taking a loved one out for a meal or experience
  • Making a contribution to a loved one’s travel savings fund
  • Performing or recording a song for a loved one
  • Gifting gift cards to their favourite store

If I know someone needs something for their home or wants something specifically I am more than happy to go out and get that item for them, but the shops are now something I only step into with intention when it comes to buying gifts 

4. Decluttering made me more intentional with my time

After decluttering my home, I knew that I would never, ever, let my home get into the cluttered state that it was ever again. I wasn’t prepared to make all that decluttering progress just to go back into old clutter-accumulation habits. I was done. 

Decluttering also made me see how unintentional I had been with my time. 

Whether that be the time I spent looking for things around the house that had been misplaced, the time I spent trying to keep up with an overflowing wardrobe and the laundry that ensued, and the time I had spent shopping for things only to cluttering up my home that took up my very limited and valuable time.

I realised how I had used shopping as a hobby rather than a tool to buy things I needed as I needed them. As I decluttered the excess in my home I chose to utilise my time going forward more intentionally. Instead of shopping every week or on my break by default, I built up a list over time and only went to the shops once a month and made one trip. This saved me battling traffic and car spaces on multiple trips and meant I could free up some time to do things that actually added value to me. 

5. Decluttering made me more intentional with my money

After decluttering over 70% of our belongings, I was faced with the realisation of how much money I had thrown away over the years on stuff I didn’t need. I added up in my head the dollars each time I donated an item of clothing that still had the tags on or the art project or book I had never gotten around to. It was certainly an eye-opening experience and made me think long and hard each day that I tackled my clutter about how I could start being more intentional with my money. 

Decluttering my home helped me to see the wasted money. I refused to continue to waste my money on impulse purchases that I didn’t need any longer, I had wasted enough. I wasted money on clothes that didn’t fit or suit me because I was too lazy to try them on. There was wasted money on shoes I bought that were not something I would ever wear, I just liked the idea of them. There was waste when I bought more makeup than I could possibly use up before it expired. 

When I decided to spend more intentionally, it had a huge positive impact on our finances. We were less stressed about money, we had more money to pay down debt and work towards our financial goals, and could justify spending money guilt-free on things like an overseas trip.

It wasn’t my expectation when I started my decluttering journey to save money but was a hugely welcome side effect!   

6. Decluttering made me more mindful in other areas of my life 

When you eliminate the excess in your home, it’s bound to make you more mindful of other aspects of your life. It is not uncommon to declutter your home and decide to move houses, get a new job, or end a toxic friendship. Decluttering makes you assess everything you bring into your home and soon you will apply those same tools and skills to other aspects of your life. 

The Minimalists talk about how they decluttered their homes and soon after, changed their spending habits, left their corporate jobs to start their own blog and both moved homes. Like The Minimalists experiences, decluttering helped me realise what did and didn’t add value to my life. 

As I previously mentioned, I realised that shopping regularly did not add value to my life, so I reduced how often I spent shopping and built a list to get in one go. It helped me to reassess relationships and made me more appreciative of the friends and family that made an effort to be in our lives. It helped me realise what was and wasn’t important to me and gave me permission to let go of things like the hoard of books I’d hoped to get to and instead put my time and energy into things I was truly passionate about, such as this very blog  

7. Decluttering made us more content with what we had

Decluttering helped us see that we didn’t need much to be happy. We have now been in our fairly modest-sized home for 8 years and a bigger home hasn’t been on our agenda for some time now, and we don’t see the need to upsize our home when now that we just keep the things we truly enjoy and use. 

We still have the same TV we bought 8 years ago when we moved in, the same Fridge and Dishwasher and most of the same instruments  

We try to make do with what we have and use up what we have before we buy more. I keep limited stocks of makeup and hair products, I’ve just bought my first new sneakers in 5 years and shock horror I buy one book at a time to read. 

I don’t miss the days of duplicated nail polish, too many books to read, and the guilt that comes with that and having enough eyeshadow to commission an artwork. We try to be content with what we have rather than constantly chasing what others tell us we need.

8. Decluttering helped me to realise that it is okay to let things go  

As a former hoarder, and a girl who was surrounded by many other hoarders growing up and probably picked up a few bad habits along the way, I completely get that it is hard to let go of things. I was so worried when I let things go that I would regret them and curse the day I started decluttering my home. 

But to be completely honest with you. That hasn’t happened once. 

I found ways to ease my inner hoarder such as taking photos of sentimental items before disposing of them and asking myself questions like ‘would I buy this again today?’ which helped me part with the excess in my home again and again. And most things that I thought I might need Just in Case, I knew I could apply The Minimalists 20/20 Rule and get them at the shop if there ever really came a time when I needed that item again.  

And letting go of the excess came with so many benefits that outweigh any need to hold onto things. You’ll have more space to enjoy your home, homes are meant for living not storage. You have the ability to find and display the things that do add value to you, such as your favourite books not being covered by ones you’ll probably never read and the freedom of knowing that if you ever wanted to move, change careers, cities, or anything else, you won’t be burdened by all your clutter holding you back. 

[Photo by: Samantha Gades on Unsplash.com]

What’s your biggest decluttering struggle? Let me know in the comments! 

Minimalism

Simplify Your Life in 2019 With These 9 Easy Tips

Posted on June 11, 2019
A couple relaxing by a lake in a hammock in the afternoon sun after simplifying their life
Learn more
  1. Forget perfection.
As a clean freak I often get caught up in needing everything to be done find it hard to focus on things when I am surrounded by clutter and mess. It can be hard for a lot of us, to ignore the desperate need to vacuum or clean up the kitchen and so on. Sometimes you just need to say it can wait. Sometimes 30 minutes to yourself needs to come first, so give yourself a break and occasionally let the mess wait. You’ll get to it later on or tomorrow.
  1. Meal Plan
Meal Planning can help take a lot of the mental hassle out of planning meals for your family. There is enough stress in life without having to add what you are going to cook into the pile. Take the stress and chaos out of your life by shopping more intentionally and planning ahead. You can check out meal planning tips here to help you get started.
  1. Make less extravagant meals
Simplify your life and put less pressure on yourself to make fancy meals. Don’t worry so much about finding and trying out new recipes. Limit that to once a month or every now and then and stick with 10-15 or so favourites, which should give you enough variety for the whole family. By sticking with what recipes you know you’ll get better at making your favourite meals and can experiment with changing those up, rather than trying to make newer dishes all the time and adding more stress and complication into the kitchen. And if it means once a week your family eats bacon and eggs or ham and cheese jaffles for dinner, so be it. They’ll live! And it’s a great way to free up some time for other important goals. We realised if we made a super easy meal on Monday nights we could get to the gym after work and still have dinner by 7.30. A small sacrifice for a good pay off.
  1. Just donate it
I made over $5000 from selling my clutter and though that was amazing and it was great to have some extra cash, it was time consuming and tedious! The amount of messages I received with questions that were answered in the ad as well as time wasters does really did add a huge annoyance and hassle to the sale process, and I would say that some sales were less worth it than others. If you don’t need the cash, consider just donating your excess and do away with hassle of selling the item, or keep it your sales effort reserved for the higher value items. Holding onto clutter longer than necessary causes us unnecessary stress which isn’t really worth it for a few bucks so if you are having a hard time selling something, it might be better to just donate it and put your energy into more important things.
  1. Consider downsizing
If you’re in a home that is more than big enough for your family, you might be able to simplify your life simply by considering a downsize into a smaller place. With downsizing comes less maintenance, less cleaning and more time for you. Not to mention the savings you will make on rent or mortgage repayments. For more pros on downsizing check out the post Benefits of Living In a Smaller Home.
  1. Get out into nature
If your regular form of entertainment is hitting the mall, consider a change of scenery. Simplify your life by swapping the aisles and clothing racks for a day in nature. Go for a hike, bike ride or walk to clear your mind and let go of any stress. Not only are you having much needed fresh air and time for yourself, but you won’t be buying things you might not need into your home or spending money that you might not have.
  1. Simplify your digital space
In order to simplify your life you can take stock of your digital space in addition to your physical one. This can cover a whole range of areas in your digital world. It might be deleting excess or blurry photos on your phone as you go and only keeping the best shots, unfollowing people whose posts don’t add value on social media, unsubscribing from unwanted emails cluttering up your inbox or blocking people online who are toxic and add stress to your life. Whilst you are aiming to simplify your life and digital space, you might reconsider spending so much time on social media all together. You might have one day a week where you log off from social media all together like The Minimalist do on Screenless Saturdays. Or even a certain time of day where you put your phone away and read a book or watch a movie. If  you are looking for more ways to simplify your life in 2019, check out 15 Ways to Simplify Your Life for even more tips on how you can simplify and live a more intentional lifestyle! This Weeks comment question: How have your simplified your life so far this year? Please let us know your tips in the comments! If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂
Learn more
  1. Forget perfection.
As a clean freak I often get caught up in needing everything to be done find it hard to focus on things when I am surrounded by clutter and mess. It can be hard for a lot of us, to ignore the desperate need to vacuum or clean up the kitchen and so on. Sometimes you just need to say it can wait. Sometimes 30 minutes to yourself needs to come first, so give yourself a break and occasionally let the mess wait. You’ll get to it later on or tomorrow.
  1. Meal Plan
Meal Planning can help take a lot of the mental hassle out of planning meals for your family. There is enough stress in life without having to add what you are going to cook into the pile. Take the stress and chaos out of your life by shopping more intentionally and planning ahead. You can check out meal planning tips here to help you get started.
  1. Make less extravagant meals
Simplify your life and put less pressure on yourself to make fancy meals. Don’t worry so much about finding and trying out new recipes. Limit that to once a month or every now and then and stick with 10-15 or so favourites, which should give you enough variety for the whole family. By sticking with what recipes you know you’ll get better at making your favourite meals and can experiment with changing those up, rather than trying to make newer dishes all the time and adding more stress and complication into the kitchen. And if it means once a week your family eats bacon and eggs or ham and cheese jaffles for dinner, so be it. They’ll live! And it’s a great way to free up some time for other important goals. We realised if we made a super easy meal on Monday nights we could get to the gym after work and still have dinner by 7.30. A small sacrifice for a good pay off.
  1. Just donate it
I made over $5000 from selling my clutter and though that was amazing and it was great to have some extra cash, it was time consuming and tedious! The amount of messages I received with questions that were answered in the ad as well as time wasters does really did add a huge annoyance and hassle to the sale process, and I would say that some sales were less worth it than others. If you don’t need the cash, consider just donating your excess and do away with hassle of selling the item, or keep it your sales effort reserved for the higher value items. Holding onto clutter longer than necessary causes us unnecessary stress which isn’t really worth it for a few bucks so if you are having a hard time selling something, it might be better to just donate it and put your energy into more important things.
  1. Consider downsizing
If you’re in a home that is more than big enough for your family, you might be able to simplify your life simply by considering a downsize into a smaller place. With downsizing comes less maintenance, less cleaning and more time for you. Not to mention the savings you will make on rent or mortgage repayments. For more pros on downsizing check out the post Benefits of Living In a Smaller Home.
  1. Get out into nature
If your regular form of entertainment is hitting the mall, consider a change of scenery. Simplify your life by swapping the aisles and clothing racks for a day in nature. Go for a hike, bike ride or walk to clear your mind and let go of any stress. Not only are you having much needed fresh air and time for yourself, but you won’t be buying things you might not need into your home or spending money that you might not have.
  1. Simplify your digital space
In order to simplify your life you can take stock of your digital space in addition to your physical one. This can cover a whole range of areas in your digital world. It might be deleting excess or blurry photos on your phone as you go and only keeping the best shots, unfollowing people whose posts don’t add value on social media, unsubscribing from unwanted emails cluttering up your inbox or blocking people online who are toxic and add stress to your life. Whilst you are aiming to simplify your life and digital space, you might reconsider spending so much time on social media all together. You might have one day a week where you log off from social media all together like The Minimalist do on Screenless Saturdays. Or even a certain time of day where you put your phone away and read a book or watch a movie. If  you are looking for more ways to simplify your life in 2019, check out 15 Ways to Simplify Your Life for even more tips on how you can simplify and live a more intentional lifestyle! This Weeks comment question: How have your simplified your life so far this year? Please let us know your tips in the comments! If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂Want to Simplify your life this year and reduce stress and live a more intentional life? Sometimes we get so used the chaos that is life that we forget to check in with ourselves and ask important questions like; am I happy? Am I prioritising what matters to me? Am I doing too much? How can I do less of what isn’t feeding my soul and more of what does? If you are looking for some new ways to minimise stress in your life and get back to living with intention, finding news ways to simplify can help you achieve your goals. When we pull ourselves away from the hustle and bustle and daily grind and rethink our priorities and consider if they are aligning with life choices and actions, we can reroute to a more intentional path. Whether that might involve spending less time scrolling through spam on Facebook and more time exercising, finding more time to be creative or giving yourself permission to spend in an area that will add value to your life. Here are 9 Easy Ways to Simplify Your Life in 2019 to get your started with a more intentional life.
  1. Make a cleaning schedule or hire a cleaner.
If you are struggling to keep up with your housework consider simplify your life by making a cleaning schedule. This will allow you to break up cleaning tasks into easy, bite-sized chunks. This is also a great opportunity to get family involved and helping out and give you an opportunity to delegate some of the workload. Another option to help you simplify your life is to consider making the investment in hiring a cleaner to help take the load off. Even if it is just once a quarter for the bigger stuff you never have the time or energy for.
  1. Worry Less
There are plenty of things to worry about in life and they will always find us. Simplify your life this year by being more attentive of your feelings and recognise who, or what is causing your unnecessary stress. If you have a friend, family member or work colleague that are constantly going through some drama and pulling you into their web of endless issues, accept that you can’t change what they do but you can change how you react. Accept that you have no control over other people’s choices or actions and if they bring stress on themselves, that is not something that you need to take on. Some people are genuinely going through a tough time, like an illness or job loss, but there are those more toxic people who seem to find drama everywhere they go and make sure you are close by to hear all about it. You can support them and listen to them, but you don’t need to wear their stress, particularly when it’s circumstances they bring on themselves. Make this year a simpler one by saying no to taking on more stress and worry and being a little more selective with who you share your valuable time with.

Declutter With Me Decluttering Course  

Are you finding yourself overwhelmed and stressed out by clutter in your home? If you’re looking to minimise the excess in your life, Declutter With Me: A 12 Week Guide to Declutter Your Home is a go-at-your-own-pace course that will give you the step-by-step, room-by-room instructions to help you clear the clutter in your home in as soon as just 12 weeks!

But clearing the clutter isn’t just about getting rid of your excess stuff. It’s important to change your behaviour and consumer habits so you can avoid re-cluttering your space once you have decluttered. Included in Declutter With Me, are “Keep It Minimal” tips for each area in your home + 7 Tips To Help You Keep Your Home Minimal, to give you strategies you can implement to help you spend with intention so you can avoid bringing clutter back into your home.

If you are keen to minimise your unwanted clutter check out Declutter With Me so you can create a home you love!

Learn more
  1. Forget perfection.
As a clean freak I often get caught up in needing everything to be done find it hard to focus on things when I am surrounded by clutter and mess. It can be hard for a lot of us, to ignore the desperate need to vacuum or clean up the kitchen and so on. Sometimes you just need to say it can wait. Sometimes 30 minutes to yourself needs to come first, so give yourself a break and occasionally let the mess wait. You’ll get to it later on or tomorrow.
  1. Meal Plan
Meal Planning can help take a lot of the mental hassle out of planning meals for your family. There is enough stress in life without having to add what you are going to cook into the pile. Take the stress and chaos out of your life by shopping more intentionally and planning ahead. You can check out meal planning tips here to help you get started.
  1. Make less extravagant meals
Simplify your life and put less pressure on yourself to make fancy meals. Don’t worry so much about finding and trying out new recipes. Limit that to once a month or every now and then and stick with 10-15 or so favourites, which should give you enough variety for the whole family. By sticking with what recipes you know you’ll get better at making your favourite meals and can experiment with changing those up, rather than trying to make newer dishes all the time and adding more stress and complication into the kitchen. And if it means once a week your family eats bacon and eggs or ham and cheese jaffles for dinner, so be it. They’ll live! And it’s a great way to free up some time for other important goals. We realised if we made a super easy meal on Monday nights we could get to the gym after work and still have dinner by 7.30. A small sacrifice for a good pay off.
  1. Just donate it
I made over $5000 from selling my clutter and though that was amazing and it was great to have some extra cash, it was time consuming and tedious! The amount of messages I received with questions that were answered in the ad as well as time wasters does really did add a huge annoyance and hassle to the sale process, and I would say that some sales were less worth it than others. If you don’t need the cash, consider just donating your excess and do away with hassle of selling the item, or keep it your sales effort reserved for the higher value items. Holding onto clutter longer than necessary causes us unnecessary stress which isn’t really worth it for a few bucks so if you are having a hard time selling something, it might be better to just donate it and put your energy into more important things.
  1. Consider downsizing
If you’re in a home that is more than big enough for your family, you might be able to simplify your life simply by considering a downsize into a smaller place. With downsizing comes less maintenance, less cleaning and more time for you. Not to mention the savings you will make on rent or mortgage repayments. For more pros on downsizing check out the post Benefits of Living In a Smaller Home.
  1. Get out into nature
If your regular form of entertainment is hitting the mall, consider a change of scenery. Simplify your life by swapping the aisles and clothing racks for a day in nature. Go for a hike, bike ride or walk to clear your mind and let go of any stress. Not only are you having much needed fresh air and time for yourself, but you won’t be buying things you might not need into your home or spending money that you might not have.
  1. Simplify your digital space
In order to simplify your life you can take stock of your digital space in addition to your physical one. This can cover a whole range of areas in your digital world. It might be deleting excess or blurry photos on your phone as you go and only keeping the best shots, unfollowing people whose posts don’t add value on social media, unsubscribing from unwanted emails cluttering up your inbox or blocking people online who are toxic and add stress to your life. Whilst you are aiming to simplify your life and digital space, you might reconsider spending so much time on social media all together. You might have one day a week where you log off from social media all together like The Minimalist do on Screenless Saturdays. Or even a certain time of day where you put your phone away and read a book or watch a movie. If  you are looking for more ways to simplify your life in 2019, check out 15 Ways to Simplify Your Life for even more tips on how you can simplify and live a more intentional lifestyle! This Weeks comment question: How have your simplified your life so far this year? Please let us know your tips in the comments! If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂
Minimalism

8 Ways to Minimise Gift Clutter and Give More Intentional Gifts

Posted on October 16, 2018
Have you experienced gift clutter? Check out 8 ways to help you minimise gift clutter and gift more intentionally

It’s Christmas Day and you’ve just been handed a gift from insert various relation to you here. You unwrap it carefully or maybe you rip it open quickly, whatever your gift unwrapping style is, to see that it is something you love. YAY! It immediately #sparksjoy and you feel completely content knowing that the gift giver knew exactly what you wanted or needed.

Unfortunately, the perfect gift isn’t always what’s inside. Sometimes it is just something you really don’t like. Other times you genuinely just don’t need anything. It might be extra towels when you already have an overflowing linen closet or it’s another vase you now need to find a shelf for to make sure your loved one can see you enjoying it when they visit. Maybe it’s not you, it’s your kids sitting in front of a mountain of new stuff, well meaning Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles got them that fills you with dread at the thought – Where on Earth is all this stuff going to be stored?

It’s no where near the end of the world by any means, but at times like Christmas, when you might be swapping gifts with large groups of family along with your partner and children, the stress and anxiety over the potential clutter and what to do with all that extra stuff can cause overwhelm. Not to mention that pang of guilt you feel when you truly appreciate the thought of your loved one going out of their way to buy you something but the reality is that you know you don’t have the space or will never use it.

Let’s face it, no one can read our minds and know exactly what we want or need -or don’t want or need – no matter how close they are to us. Sometimes we really are just taking a stab in the dark and hoping that what we have gotten our loved one is something they will love and find value in.

Surely there has to be a better way.

Over the past three years of minimising over 70% of our stuff (that’s an educated guess, I didn’t keep track dammit) I noticed a bit of a trend in some of the stuff I was letting go. Of course the majority of it was stuff we had bought that we no longer needed (possibly never did ;)). But, every now and then we were letting go of something that had been gifted to us.

Now don’t get me wrong, we of course always thoroughly appreciate the thought that goes into picking out a gift and for the most part we did try and use or display the gifts, but in the end, sometimes you do just want to pick out your own set of matching tea towels or bed sheets.

The reality is, that everyone gets to that point where you really don’t need more stuff. There is only so much space in our homes! And if you are anything like me, when you need something you more than likely will go out and buy it yourself (and research it like crazy ‘:)) and pick the set that you absolutely love.

I know I myself have always tried to put a lot of thought into gifts for others and always worry myself silly, thinking – did I buy the right thing? I’d feel terrible if I had bought someone something that they had no use for and had been holding onto indefinitely out of guilt that I might be upset if they didn’t keep it. I think that’s probably a guilt we’ve all felt at some point in our lives…

And so, I thought with a little bit of guidance from The Minimalists gift giving approach why not change the norms around gift giving.

There has to be a better way to gift with intention and minimise gift clutter entering our homes.

Here’s 8 Ways to Minimise Gift Clutter and Give More Intentional Gifts to help save you the worry, stress, and mystery of giving a gift that adds value.

8 Ways to Minimise Gift Clutter and Give More Intentional Gifts

  1. Communicate your values

First and foremost bring up the conversation. Let your family and close circle of friends know your new values and that you are trying to declutter, minimise the excess and simplify. This will help them be aware, in a non-confronting manner that you are trying to minimise gift clutter amongst other forms from taking over your house. I dropped hints about getting rid of over half our stuff and how we preferred our new found space over all that excess stuff (plus it was pretty obvious from the blog ;)).

This planted the idea in our inner circle that we really didn’t need anything, rather than expecting loved ones to read our minds and saved being overwhelmed when more unexpected stuff came into our home. And it really can add up each birthday, Christmas per person in your household and so on.

If you are bothered by your kids getting a mountain of toys each Birthday and Christmas, and the ensuing free for all that happens from there, communicate your values to loved ones ahead of time. You might be able to encourage family to stop at one gift, rather than going overboard and help you keep your sanity. Or as i go into more detail below, suggest a consumable or experience gift instead.

2. Start the trend to Ask

Minimise gift clutter for yourself and others by asking friends and family what they want for their birthday or Christmas or whatever event it is. This takes away any guess work, and worry that you might buy something they’d hate or didn’t need and bonus – it’s saves you time spending hours looking for the perfect gift. If you hate shopping like me, any way to get in and out quicker is a winner!

Of course, at first it might seem a bit out of the ordinary and uncomfortable to directly ask someone what they want and they might not even know what to ask for, but it will feel great to give a gift that is truly needed rather than trying to guess. And it goes both ways, once you set the norms to ask people directly, people will feel more comfortable to ask you what you might need.

3. Have a Gift Wish List

To help you and your loved ones minimise gift clutter, it’s going to take a team effort. If you are really bad at thinking of things you want or need when that next event rolls around, a great way to help family and loved ones to give you and your family more intentional gifts and to minimise gift clutter entering your home is to keep a gift wish list.

As you think of things you or your kids might need or want coming up to a birthday or a special occasion take note of that item and keep them as suggestions for when people ask you what you or they might need. And don’t forget to note gift ideas down as you see them for others. So many times I have come across awesome gifts for someone in particular and then come the time to buy them, I’ve completely blanked.

I had a chat with my nephew last night about how he was bored of his current book collection and he mentioned he wanted more Harry Potter books to read. So  I made a quick note today to remind myself to get that for him for Christmas. It’s something I know he will appreciate and love and it means a lot to us as we can gift him books that bought us so much joy reading. And come Christmas we won’t have to pull our hair out trying to pick out the perfect gift.

A gift wish list is a great way to keep track of things that would add value to you and your family and make it easier for a loved one to get you the right gift.

4. Gift consumables.

After decluttering my own seemingly endless crap, I wanted to resist adding to others clutter. The thought of buying stuff for other people like my parents, when I knew how much stuff they already had, didn’t sit with this minimalist. Instead of buying loved ones a new ornament for them to display and dust around for the next decade (unless you know that is what they’d really love), or another book to squeeze onto their over flowing bookshelf, consider gifting them something consumable that they can enjoy and let go once it is used up.

Consumable gifts are also a great opportunity to show someone you love how much you really know them. Some consumable gift ideas to help minimise gift clutter and gift more intentionally are:

  • a bottle of their favourite wine
  • subscriptions to their favourite services; Audible, Kindle, Netflix or Spotify are great examples.
  • their most adored chocolates
  • a high quality coffee
  • a gift pack of beauty supplies
  • home made hot chocolate
  • art and craft supplies and activities

Keep in mind that gifts don’t have to be something physical that are kept indefinitely. It’s not less of a gift or less special if it is used up. And don’t forget, it doesn’t have to be a boring box of chocolates (not that there is anything wrong with chocolates, unless they contain almonds – uck!).

One year my friend filled a jar with different lollies and took out all the ones she knew I didn’t like. It was just the best gift ever in my eyes, it was not only consumable but showed me that she knew me well enough to know what lollies I liked and hated and I have not forgotten that gift more than 10 years later 🙂 And as they say, it’s the little things that really count. Check out these 10 Minimalist Gift Ideas for more ideas.

5.  Gift experiences.

Experiences make great gifts as they not only minimise gift clutter completely from entering your home, but are something that can be shared and remembered for a long time to come.

Think back to Christmas two years ago. Do you remember what you were given?

Most likely not, but you are more likely to recall the concert you were given tickets to. And aren’t memories the best gift of all? 🙂

There are now so many options available to gift experiences and a good range for all budgets. And it’s a great way to break away from gifting the same old gifts.

Some options for experience gifts are:

  • movie vouchers
  • a museum or zoo membership
  • tickets to a concert or musical
  • a cooking class
  • yoga lessons or PT lessons
  • a massage or float tank

You can even donate to someones upcoming holiday or offer to cover the cost of a tour they want to take. They are great gifts for all occasions.

The next time your anniversary rolls around skip the soft toy and new photo mug that’ll soon go in the back of your closet and take your partner out for dinner and buy some flowers. They’ll be just as appreciated and minimise that gift clutter that accumulates year after year.

6. Gift your time

Another gift that is often under-utilised is the gift of time. If you have a special talent or skill or just can offer a helping hand, gift your time to a loved one. And if you need a helping hand you can always ask for some time in place of a physical gift.

Some examples are:

  • Babysitting for a night
  • Help your parents minimise their clutter
  • Cook a few meals for a new mum
  • Clean the house for a friend who is stressed or recovering from an injury
  • Offer free lessons to someone e.g. guitar, baking, sport coaching
  • Help out with some house projects if you are handy

7. Gifting money thoughtfully.

I know there are some people who are not keen on receiving money in a card (and we do always make sure the card is extra awesome!) and if that is the case maybe skip this one, but for me, someone who struggles to ask for anything and likes to think about things for months before parting with my cash it has always been preferable.

For our wedding we asked guests to donate to our wishing well which allowed us to have some extra spending money for our Honeymoon in Europe. This meant much more to us than to have more kitchen appliances that we already had as we could keep those memories long past throwing out and old toaster.

For my 21st I asked family to donate to my trip to New Zealand rather than buying me other gifts as I didn’t need anything, but was really excited to spend my birthday overseas. That was all I wanted. Sure, I don’t have necklace to remind me that I turned 30, but again I have amazing memories of my two weeks in New Zealand with my husband and all those photos to look back at.

Maybe you are savings up for a new camera or something else really important to you and would appreciate a donation to your savings account over any other random trinket. I’ve genuinely found people are happy to help you save up for something as their gift when they know there is something you really want. And it’s great to do the same when it’s your turn to find the perfect gift so pay attention and keep thinking outside the box with your gifts.

8. Ask for no gifts.

I’ve never really felt that comfortable about receiving gifts. Especially if I know someone could have used the money more than I could have used the gift. If you feel similarly you can always let loved ones know that you appreciate the thought, but they don’t need to get you anything.

A comprise could be that they in place of a gift just come out and have a nice dinner or drink with you. Company is really the best gift! And if that special someone still insists on getting you something you can always ask them to donate to your favourite charity.

This weeks comment question: Do you do any of the above to minimise gift clutter and give gifts more intentionally? Let me know in the comments below 🙂  

[Photo: Nynne Schroder on Unsplash.com]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

 

Minimalism

My Zero Waste Journey: A Beginner’s Guide to Zero Waste Living

Posted on July 29, 2018

**This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase of a product from the links in this post I will receive a small commission, at no cost to you. This allows me to keep my blog advertisement free and support the running costs of my blog. I only recommend products I believe will add value to others and that I love myself.**

 

Since discovering Minimalism and trying to lead a more intentional life, I become pretty interested in reducing my environmental footprint. Through my research I stumbled across a new lifestyle called Zero Waste Living. It’s something that over the past couple of years I have become quite passionate about learning as much as I can about it. I was extremely curious about what I could do to limit my impact on the environment.

After decluttering over half of our belongings I realised that our household had been contributing to unnecessary waste. I wanted  to take steps to minimise this in the minimising process. And so whilst decluttering our home, I tried to thoughtfully dispose of everything. By either selling it to someone who would love it, donate it to someone in need or passing the items on to friends and family. I even went as far as keeping damaged items such as a large bag of old CDs and a broken microwave that I knew could be recycled at our local councils recycling collection event rather than letting them end up in land fill. If something could be recycled or passed on in some way, I was going to find it and do everything I could to keep it out of landfill. It just felt right. And hey, I brought all that unnecessary crap into my home, it was my responsibility to dispose of it in an intentional manner.

The passion to reduce my waste footprint grew from there after watching the first three episodes of ABC’s #waronwaste. I was amazed to see how much the families in the show had reduced their waste with a small amount of information and effort. I wanted to do the same, so I set myself a challenge to be more conscious of our waste management and recycling. After the first fortnight, we went from having a full waste bin to just a half full small shopping bag of house hold waste for the fortnight. I was amazed at how a small amount of education helped us to drastically reduce what we were sending to landfill and knew I wanted to do more.

I have since taken small steps to implement new, environmentally friendly consumption habits into my life. I’m in no way perfect, who is, but I feel like I have made some amazing progress in a small space of time. If you are as passionate about myself about doing your part for the environment and keen to learn more on ways that you can consume less, and live with more intention when it comes to your household waste habits check out this Beginners Guide to Going Zero Waste!

What is Zero Waste?
Zero Waste is all about reducing what waste we make in our household. This includes any food scraps, recyclables and general household waste. Going Zero Waste aims to recognises the environmental impact your consumption habits are having on the environment and eliminate as much of it as possible. It can be as extreme or relaxed as you want it, but every effort you make goes a long way!

Every bag you bin, unnecessary piece of paper you print, food you waste needs to be recycled in some way or disposed of in landfill. When you start to pay attention to what you are throwing out week after week it really is eye opening as to how much waste we are creating and throwing away.

How you can get started? 
The best thing about going zero waste is there are so many amazing blogs and articles or videos about how you can reduce your environmental foot print. I started my ‘Zero Waste Journey’ by swapping out a few disposable items for reusable ones and getting a little crafty with how I used products in my home.

I started with just the easy stuff I could think of and recommend that for anyone wanting to adopt Zero Waste Living. You can always start with the easy stuff and add in more with trial and error as you go.

These are the things I did to begin my Zero Waste Living journey.

1. I replaced disposable beverages with a reusable alternative

We used to buy a 24 pack of water bottles once every fortnight. Just think, our bottled water use alone was contributing to 48 bottles of waste every month, not including our other drinks! We made the decision to stop buying these bottles an instead invested in a water filter jug to have at home. We got this one from Kmart  and a stainless steel drink bottle which meant we no longer needed to buy those polluting bottles of water. Not only were we saving the environment but about $200 a year.

We didn’t stop there. I am not a coffee drinker so this wasn’t such a biggie for me but as soon as I discovered how many coffee cups ended up in landfill – all of them – I was shocked and alarmed. I had no idea that due to the waterproofing material in coffee cups that they were not recyclable. My husband is a two-a-day coffee kind of guy (I’m sure it’s actually more… XD) so as soon as Christmas rolled around I grabbed him a custom designed Keep Cup, a beautifully curated black and white design by yours truly. We ended up getting gifted another one from a friend (which I have adopted for my occasional white hot chocolate usage) and they are an amazing zero waste alternative. They are quality, dishwasher safe (you know you are old when that is exciting news!), keep your drink super warm (hot even!), come in a variety of shapes and sizes and stop those unrecyclable coffee cups from going into landfill. The next time you go for your morning coffee, bring yours along and give the environment one huge leg up!

2. Stopped buying single use straws
After learning what I could about the correct way to recycle, I couldn’t help but notice one of the things that we were binning still were disposable straws. According to StrawNoMore.org, 500 million straws are used every single day in the USA alone. That is a HUUUUGE number of straws for one country! The problem is they take so many resources to make, the plastic, energy, transport etc and only seconds to use, but never break down. Straws not only cause environmental disaster but are a huge problem for marine life. I once saw a straw being pulled out a turtle’s nose and that still bothers me to this day. No turtle or other animal should be harmed by our waste. Pledge to say #notothestraw today and swap your disposable ones out for one like these Ever Eco Reusable Straws which I have been using for the past year. They’re super easy to clean and don’t harm the environment. Or simply go without a straw, I promise – you will be fine 🙂

3. Switched to reusable make up pads
Another thing still in my red waste bin each week, even after recycling everything I could were my disposable make up remover pads. I’d had these on my wist list for ages and recently bought and tried my first set of Reusable Make Up Pads. I am definitely keen to keep these in my zero waste favourites list. I simply use them with moisturiser at night and soak them before throwing them in the wash. Easy! No more disposable make up pads in landfill and I have saved myself the cost of future make up remover pads!

4. Reusable pads
The hygiene line of zero waste products was something I didn’t jump on board with straight away but after a while I realised how unhealthy it was to buy chemical laden products for *ahem* ‘those areas’. Not to mention the cost month after month, year on year. I decided to give these Reusable Pads a go and found that they weren’t as bad as I had first thought.

Full warning, slight TMI coming; Despite thinking the cleaning process would be gross and unpleasant I didn’t really find it that bad at all. And periods are just something that happen, so the sooner we can get over any grossness, the sooner we can limit the chemicals near our bodies, start saving some serious cash and most importantly limit our environmental impact.

Being a finance blog I couldn’t resist mentioning the long-term cost savings of this switch. Let’s estimate the cost savings at $5 minimum a packet, this reusable option would be at least a $60 saving a year. That could be much better spent on a massage or high tea with friends (or straight to that debt – again, finance blog 😉 )!

5. I found alternatives to disposal food wrapping
Every time I was cooking I found myself extremely bothered by the waste that brought with it. Cling wrap, sandwich bags, paper towel, foil and baking paper were used once and binned, previously without a thought. But now I was much more conscious of what I was binning I couldn’t stand by and continue my unintentional waste of single-use items. Here I had a few methods to change my household waste.

– I used Bees Wax Wraps to wrap food instead of single use products. These are great for wrapping sandwiches or bread, cheese and fruit and are easily washed and reused. They also come in the cutest designs and different sizes so that was a bonus!
– I avoided using sandwich bags unless I really needed to. When it came to meat products in the freezer I was still stuck using a freezer bag (working to replace this), but where I could avoid it I would. I started to use containers as much as possible for food rather then storing them in bowls or plates with foil or cling wrap.
– A friend recommended I use and IKEA cooking mat for a baking paper replacement which has worked a treat so far. It’s sold as a preparation mat but seems to be effective for both uses.
– I started using microfibre cloths over paper towels where I could which was about 95% of the time. They can be washed and reused up to 500 times each vs a single use paper towel. The choice for me was an easy one!
– I started to implement some frugal methods to reuse what I could. I did my best at reusing sandwich bags by labelling them and using them again and again for like items. I have three in my freezer currently for spring onion, regular onions and red chillis. Rather then emptying the packet and binning them and getting a new one we can simply put them back in the freezer and reuse them when we are ready.

6. I started carrying a reusable bag with me everywhere
In Australia, there has been a growing campaign #saynotothebag and it seems to be really making it’s mark. From July 1st 2018 supermarkets have been phasing out single use plastic bags, so I have got into the habit of carrying at least one with me at all times. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have been able to turn down a plastic bag recently because I had my own with me. That alone has made a huge impact on achieving my zero waste goals. And I must admit, I am more than looking forward to not being swamped with bag after bag in my cupboards that seem to just multiply and never end.

What else can I do to achieve Zero Waste?

These were just a handful of things I have done on my Zero Waste Journey but there are many more that you can try. I recommend you start with the ones you feel most excited to try out and work your way to the others that will be a bigger transition!

Here’s another 25 Zero Waste Tips for you to try out for your home:

1. Take any soft plastics you have to the Red Cycle bins at the front of your local Coles or Woolies. They will be recycled and made into furniture and reduce your waste bin drastically. Just watch! 🙂
2. If you forget your reusable coffee cup when going out for a coffee, when possible opt to dine in instead and ask for a mug.
3. Bring your lunch to work to avoid buying food with disposable packaging.
4. Wash your kitchen sponge in the dishwasher to make them last longer. Or replace your disposable sponges with microfibre clothes that can be used 100s of times and throw them in the washing machine.
5. Bring a reusable water bottle rather than buying bottled water when you are out. This will save you lots too!
6. Shop intentionally. Don’t buy things just because you are bored. Ask these 7 questions before buying anything!
7. Start meal planning to reduce over shopping at the supermarket and only buy what you will need for the 1-2 weeks ahead. Check out this Weekly Meal Planner Printable to get you started!
9. Use paper towel sparingly for things like oil spills and icky stains and stick to reusable cloths like microfibre cloths for other spills.
10. Reuse your foil. If it is clean fold away and reuse for next time. You can also put these in the dishwasher! That blew my mind!
11. Same goes for your freezer bags. Mark them for uses e.g. Onions, Spring Onions, Chillies etc and reuse them for the same items. Of course never reuse any that are for meat.
12. Take your left overs home to eat rather then letting them go in the bin.
13. Get yourself a set of reusable bags to leave in your boot for when shopping. Do this every week and you are saving a lot of bags ending up in landfill.
14. Try to only buy what you need. If you are a household of two don’t buy plates and cups for a house of 12.
15.  Don’t buy beauty products on impulse. Only replace what you need as you need it. They expire and can grow bacteria once they expire anyway 🙂
16. Consider borrowing or buying something second hand rather than replacing it with something new where possible.
17. Pay it forward if you don’t need something donate it or list it on a free cycle site. Keep it out of landfill if it is usable.
18. Repair rather than replace. Sew on a new button, take your clothing to a tailor to take it in rather than replacing it if it is still wearable.
19. Learn how to store your food correctly to extend it’s shelf life and limit what you are throwing in your bin.
20. Gift experiences over things where possible. Reduce the chances of giving someone a gift they don’t need that they will bin or clutter up their homes unnecessarily.
21. Gift consumables over things such as some home made cookies in a reusable jar.
22. Switch to eBooks and audiobooks. Reduce the clutter in your home and save the environment. Get a library card to borrow copies of books or DVDs or ask a friend if they have a copy you can borrow.
23. Watch streaming sites such as Netflix rather than buying DVDs and save buying DVDs for the really special movies you plan to watch over and over again.
24. Put no junk mail signs on your letter box to reduce junk mail build up. If more people do this less catalogues will be printed (I can only hope!).
25. Switch to emailed bills to save on unnecessary printing.
This weeks comment question: How have you adopted #zerowasteliving in your home? Let me know your favourite Zero Waste Tips in the comments below! 🙂 

[Photo: Sylvie Tittel]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

 

Minimalism

How Your Stuff Might Be Holding You Back

Posted on July 16, 2018
Have you ever considered how your stuff might be holding you back? Photo: Juan Cruz Mountford

Whenever we get a new thing: a gadget, new outfit, fresh pair of shoes or new piece of decor for the house, we quickly think of all the things it will bring to us. It will complete the outfit for Saturday night, be the perfect finishing touch on a space in our home, or we can show off with our newly updated phone. Maybe the item will provide those things, but one thing that we often don’t take into consideration is how your stuff might be holding you back. 

I’ve asked myself this question many times throughout my minimalism journey, with three pivotal times in particular coming to mind. The first being when I spent weeks decluttering my grandparents home after their passing. It was an emotionally draining period and impacted me more than ever I imagined in terms of how I wanted to live my own life. The stuff they may have been bought with the intention to bring them joy, but there was so much of it and I am sure a lot of it they had forgotten they even had.

The second was when I first discovered Minimalism about three years ago which changed my relationship with stuff on a huge scale when I started to see how my own stuff had been holding me back rather than adding value to my life.

The third was a very recent occasions, the past few weeks in fact, as I assisted family downsize their possessions, ready for a big move. I watched how weeks turned into months of packing and decluttering, up until the last minute and how much of a strain it was on everyone involved.

These three occasions drastically opened my eyes to the the ways our stuff might be holding us back. Here at 9 ways how your stuff might be holding you back. 

1. Not utilising your space how you want
When you own too much you are restricted physically by everything cluttering up your rooms and spaces. Cupboards, drawers and rooms are filled with excess stuff, most likely with things you either don’t need or don’t even know you still have. Spaces that could be better utilised for your enjoyment. When your dining table is covered with paperwork and who knows how many weeks washing that you can’t use it to eat a meal with your family. Your stuff may be holding you back when your spare room, which you would love to set up a play area for your kids or an office but you can’t because of everything currently being stored in there that you’re holding onto just in case.

When we have too much stuff we can’t be as intentional with our space. And so, by consequence we place limits on ourselves enjoying the space that we have and miss out on what the original intention of the space was.

2. Excess stuff can be detrimental to your mental well-being
You may not realise it and believe your stuff brings you immense happiness, but your stuff is most likely causing you stress and anxiety. There is the stress that hits you when you open a packed cupboard, where everything falls out in a mess. Stress when you can’t find something you need because nothing has a place and you can’t remember where you last left it. We’ve all been there. As well as stress that comes from paying for your impulse purchases and watching that debt spiral out of control. When something as simple as trying to cook dinner with clutter everywhere on your bench top is enough to add frustration on a daily basis.

Your stuff may be holding you back when with clutter, chaos, and debt.  and all  the weight that comes with those things. These are things we learn to live with over time, and can easily become the norm in our lives. We get used to our environment and don’t realise how much stress our excess stuff is causing us but over time they can impede our mental well-being.

3. We are consumed by our stuff. 

Sometimes we are distracted from what is more important in life by our stuff. Instead of doing things that add value like learning a new skill, creating or volunteering we spend time maintaining and cleaning our excess stuff – the mountain of washing, the McMansion, or just standing in our bedroom trying to find an outfit we love.

Instead of spending the day with family and friends making memories, we are trapped inside a mall looking for the next bargain or fashion score to post on Instagram. When we let our stuff consume us and take priority in our lives we let our stuff hold us back.

4. When we put our stuff before relationships 

Have you ever moved home to somewhere distant and not had the time to spend with loved ones before you leave? Did your stuff and packing consume all your free time leading up to your move date? Have you spent all your money on new outfits or something else you enjoy or maybe just bought on impulse, and had to say no to visiting family because you had no money left over. Or couldn’t pay your kids soccer registration because you didn’t plan ahead and kept spending. Do you work long hours to pay for the big house, with the fancy furniture and the latest cars but don’t have time to see your partner and kids? These are all examples of how your stuff might be holding you back from what you believe is important.

The next time you are at the shops or shopping online, ask yourself this:

‘If I spent less on _(insert you main spending vice here)_, how could I use the savings to better my life and relationships.

As minimalist blogger Courney Carver says choose love over stuff. You may find that when you focus on strengthening or building new and old relationships that there isn’t as big a void to fill with stuff anymore and most often your family would chose you over those other comforts.

5. When our stuff embarrasses us

Before I discovered minimalism I was mortified at the thought of having last minute visitors. At any given time we could have stuff all over our house and that wasn’t something I was prepared to share with anyone.

Your stuff may be holding you back too from living a full life. Maybe you have declined visitors to your home because your house was too messy and the thought of not having at least a few hours to clean, would cause you so much stress and embarrassment. So you miss out on the experience of having family or friends over. Or you might have even said no to your kids friend staying over because you are embarrassed by the clutter and want to avoid them and their parents seeing the state of your house. So your children miss out on the fun of a sleep over.

When we let our clutter dictate who we can and can’t have over we are held back by our stuff. Decluttering your home and paring down our stuff to the essentials, can make last minute tidying a breeze and unexpected visitors a joy rather than a source of embarrassment.

6. We we lose opportunities.
Our stuff can keep us from pursuing new opportunities. When we have too much stuff we can pass up life changing events. An opportunity to move interstate or overseas when a dream job opportunity comes up could be missed. If you’ve always dreamed of buying an RV so you can travel around Australia or wherever takes your fancy, you might again rule out that dream just thinking about the downsizing process that lay ahead. You’ve found the perfect apartment with amazing amenities in an ideal location but again you pass, knowing you need a 5 bedroom home to store all your stuff. Your stuff may be holding you back if you are saying no to things that you truly want to do.

Having stuff we love can add value to our lives, but when we prioritise our stuff, we can end up saying no to more important opportunities that arise and start putting our things above our happiness and dreams.

7. Wasted money
Let’s face it, looking back at what we buy a lot of it is unnecessary and wasted money. The amount being spent can go unnoticed year after year if it is not being monitored. We can often find ourselves spending money on things without intention that could have gone to more valuable pursuits such as paying off your mortgage early or investing for your retirement.

And without a plan in place to pay off debt, and plan for retirement it may seem like we have the extra cash to splash around. But unfortunately too many people realise too late how important it is to pay down debt, save and plan for the future – well before the future has arrived.

Of course we all want nice things and to enjoy the fruits of our labour, but before you hit the shops with your most recent pay cheque, move some of your cash to your savings and retirement accounts and give yourself the best of both world – Fun with a side of Financial Freedom.

8. When our stuff makes us lose valuable time
We often only look at the price tag of a new item, without giving a thought to the true costs Most importantly, our time. The more we buy the more time we are giving up. Let’s break it down. There is the time spent earning the money. Time spent researching a product or finding the perfect item. Shopping in store or online. The time spent unboxing your new purchase, setting it up or assembling it, washing it… you get the idea.

And that’s just getting the item ready for use. Soon we lose more time to maintaining an item, dusting or cleaning and repairing it. When we move home we spend more time packing and unpacking all those items. Each thing we bring into our house has an additional price on it not built into the cost and it is something we can never get back.

And then on top of all that lost time, we have lost that time to more important uses. Our time opportunity cost. Less time to spend with family, less time to learn a new skill or partake in a new hobby and less down time to enjoy our weekend.

9. The stress and burden on others
We shouldn’t forget the stress on family when it comes to our stuff. As I touched on above, when I was 25 my family and I had to prepare my grandparents homes for sale. It took us many weekends and many skip bins to get through their stuff. It’s really not something I want to do again (take note parents ;)) and certainly something I don’t want to burden others with one day. Of course we all will have things, but we should do our best to minimise them so our family are not burdened and forced to spend weeks and weeks on a painfully emotional process.

If you have adult children, keep them in mind when taking on more clutter. Don’t buying things unnecessarily and leave them the burden of clearing out your excess, particularly if you live far away. It will not only be emotionally painful for your family, but a huge time commitment which is difficult for people with full-time jobs and young family’s.

Do your loved ones a favour and review your stuff as you bring new items in. Decide what is important to you and what isn’t and do it whilst you have your health. It’s not going to be any less stressful or easier when you are approaching your 70s or 80s. Not to mention your kids will feel a lot better knowing that you have minimised and taken a load off their minds.

The stress may also just be in relation to your partner or children’s stuff being everywhere. If it is in excess and unable to be maintained in a tidy fashion it can cause additional stress, particularly for people that need a clean space to relax in. When we have too much stuff it can really impact our loved ones and cause them unhappiness, and no stuff is worth that. The next time your partner gets frustrated by your stuff, do them a favour and review what you no longer need. I guarantee it will make there day 🙂

This weeks comment question: How has your stuff held you back over the years? Have you missed out on doing things financially or following dreams? Let me know in the comments 🙂 

[Photo: Juan Cruz Mountford]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

 

Minimalism

Lessons From My First No Spend Challenge

Posted on June 3, 2018
Check out what I learnt from my First No Spend Challenge

Since discovering Minimalism I have always been enthralled with this idea of a No Spend Challenge. To consciously decide not to spend money on certain things for a set time sounded like a challenge. Something a minimalist like myself needs to try at least one. I was certainly curious about whether I could survive a month without any impulse shopping.

After reading Cait Flanders My Year of Less last month I figured now was as good a time as any to give this new challenge a shot. As April 30th rolled around I grabbed my notepad and scribbled (literally as you can see below hehe) down a few rules on what I was allowed and not allowed to spend on during the month of May on my No Spend Challenge. I wanted to challenge myself to go without the things I knew I would try in the moment, to convince myself I needed.

Setting the Rules of my No Spend Challenge

Allowed Purchases:

This list consisted of pretty much anything consumable like food or grocery items as they needed to be replaced.

  • Groceries
  • Petrol
  • Medicine
  • Budgeted Outings
  • Approved List of Items (anything I had already noted on my wish list)
  • Bills
  • Current Subscriptions
  • Experiences
  • Gifts

Non-Allowed Purchases

This list was mostly focused on anything outside the budget or impulsive. If I hadn’t thought to write it down on my approved list, or grocery shop each week than I knew that I should be able to do without it.

  • Clothing, unless urgent to replace something
  • Non-budgeted Outings
  • Unapproved Shopping not on wish-list
  • Groceries not on our shopping list

As you can see, there were no extreme limits imposed for my No Spend Challenge, I wanted to keep my goals realistic. I figured if I wanted to, I could always make things a bit stricter next time I attempted the challenge. I wasn’t trying to deprive myself of things that I enjoy or that add value to my life, so there was no ban on dining out or any pausing of current expenses like my Spotify Subscription. The main aim of this No Spend Challenge experiment was to work on achieving my goals of being a more mindful consumer and see how I would ‘survive’ a month with small limitations placed on my actions and spendings. Not to curb all spending, but to focus on curbing any impulse spending.

Approved List of Items

As listed in the Allowed Purchased list I did allow myself to buy some pre-approved items during the No Spend Challenge period but they had to be on the Approved List of Items. They key was not to add any once the 1st of the month had ticked over.

These are the items I decided I was allowed to purchase during the No Spend Challenge. Most of these were items I had had on my list for a few months that I hadn’t found quite what I was looking for or hadn’t had a chance to shop for leading up to the Challenge. I certainly didn’t have to buy these items during the No Spend Month but if I did that was okay.

My List of Approved Items was as follows:

Approved Item

Reason for purchase
4 x new plants, bowl & succulents

To replace dead plants outside and table feature

Prescription glasses

 New prescription needed

2 x Sunglasses

To invest in quality sunglasses
Artificial plant x 2

For front entry way to replace dead plant & eucalyptus for dining area

Dining Setting

 To replace sold dining table and chairs
Office Chair

Replace current chair with something more suitable for long hours

TV Tray

 For car (over wearing my lunch)

Two guitar leads

To replace broken and misplaced lead
Two storage boxes

To store studio gear in

What I bought during the challenge:

Out of the 9 pre-approved items I ended up buying 4. I found during the challenge, I was pretty happy to wait another month to buy items to do more research, particularly when it came to the higher value items like the dining setting. I even challenged myself with an IKEA visit looking for a new dining table and walked out with three approved purchases and nothing more.

We did have a couple of unplanned purchases, a set of wall plugs that we needed for our smoke alarm and a set of three foldable chairs for guests in the interim until we picked out our dining setting.

What we ended up buying:

  • 4 x new plants, bowl & succulents
  • Artificial plant x 2 
  • TV Tray
  • Two storage boxes

Not on the approved list:

  • 3 foldable chairs
  • wall plugs

The rest of the items we do still need and will look at getting them over the coming weeks, but feels good to know that we didn’t rush and just buy everything on our list, even though they were pre-approved.

>> If you like this you may enjoy reading: How to Change Your Spendaholic Ways and Be More Intentional With Your Money

5 Lessons From My First No Spend Challenge

I’ve enjoyed my No Spend Challenge experiment and hope to do more of them in the future. These are the lessons I’ve had over the past month from the experience:

    1. 1.

It’s not as hard as I thought

I considered the idea of doing a No Spend Challenge some time ago, but never went ahead with one as I didn’t know if I had the will power to get through a month or longer period of spending restrictions. Even as someone who strives to be a mindful consumer, I wasn’t sure if I could resist buying anything for that long. The No Spend Challenge has shown me that I can set myself spending limitations and stick to them. It is something I can implement in the future when I feel the need to reset my spending habits or save a bit of extra cash.

2. The importance of making the No Spend Challenge your own

I knew that I was never going to go on a No Spend Challenge where I couldn’t spend $1 the entire month or had to eat at home 24/7. Those restrictions were just not conducive to my lifestyle as we can’t always be at home at meal times and I didn’t want to turn my life upside down in order to trial the experiment. Those restrictions certainly made me think I couldn’t try a challenge of my own.

Instead of attempting a challenge I would have failed miserably or skipping the No Spend Challenge all together, I made it my own. A Challenge that matched the goals I had for myself to be more mindful and stick within our budget. It wasn’t about depriving myself every day but to be more conscious of my spending choices.

3. It made me feel more grateful for what I have

The No Spend Challenge helped me realise that I don’t really need that much to be happy. I found myself thinking often of how I have everything I could ever need. Whether it was my throw blanket, warm socks or my newly repaired beanie. I had enough. I had clothes, candles, food and water, my Netflix subscription, blankets, a phone and laptop. I really didn’t NEED anything. The one thing I didn’t have was a dining table and chairs and although it was inconvenient at times we managed without it.

4. You need to communicate your goals 

Although I did my best to resist impulse purchases when grocery shopping, I couldn’t really stop my husband from grabbing extra items he wanted (luckily they were mostly extra vegetables so I wasn’t too upset ;)). I mentioned the challenge to my husband before I started it, but never discussed how it might impact him, or what I would need him to do to help me stick to my goals. Something as simple as discussing grocery shopping and how I wanted to resist impulse buys. So next time I would definitely discuss that in more detail before jumping into it. But that’s what these Challenges are about learning how to make them better and more successful next time.

If you are planning to do your own No Spend Challenge establish whether your partner and family are on board, or if not, make an approved purchases items list for things that are in your control.

5. I learnt what my spending impulses are

The No Spend Challenge highlighted my impulse habits. With the challenge there was no where to hide, I knew what was approved and what was not. The Challenge taught me that my main impulse was not clothing, decor or make up (though, at one point it would have been!) it was impulsively buying snacks!

I found myself a handful of times grabbing a chocolate from the office or servo and realising halfway through it’s tasty contents that I had just broken my commitment to not make impulse grocery decisions. Although this is still a work in progress, I at least became more aware of it and tried to set myself a goal of only buying one snack in our grocery shop but that is something this confectionery addict will need to work on 😉

How you can start your own No Spend Challenge

You don’t have to wait for a new month to start your own No Spend Challenge or ban yourself from buying anything non-essential. Try these tips to create your own No Spend Challenge:

      • Work out your why – be clear on what your goals are for the challenge. Are you aiming to curb drinking or shopping for clothes you don’t need? Maybe you simply need to save some money for your emergency fund. Identify your why to help you stay focused at achieving your No Spend Challenge goals.
      • Keep things flexible – don’t feel the need to wait for the 1st of the month to come around, start whenever you like.
      • Pick a time frame for the No Spend Challenge that suits you – Maybe you want to try a No Spend Challenge for one day a week, or attempt a No Spend Week rather than a whole month version of the challenge. Pick any time frame that suits you. You can always challenge yourself next time by making the challenge longer.
      • Utilise focus areas – Don’t feel the need to be too restrictive with your No Spend Challenge if that is a barrier to you trialling your own. You don’t have to limit all spending. The No Spend Challenge can be used to reduce one area of expenditure you want to focus on. You could set yourself a goal of not buying coffee for the rest of the month, or focus on keeping within your grocery budget rather than worrying about banning all spending. If clothes is your problem spending area maybe that can be your spending ban for the period or pick something else that you know you could use a little help cutting back on.
      • Grab a friend to join you – having a friend can help you both stay accountable and have someone to check in with on you on your No Spend Challenge.

This weeks comment Question: Have you done your own No Spending Challenge? What lessons did you get out of it? Please share them in the comments below 🙂  

[Photo: STIL on Unsplash]