A Month of Minimal

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Some say that simplifying your life is the way to happiness. If you’ve been looking to simplify your life, you can’t beat embracing minimalism. To help you maximize your time and minimize your stress, here are 30 days of minimalist tips for a simpler, more priority-based life.

1. Unload Stuff That Does’t Bring Joy

Take a look at your possessions. If it doesn’t add value or happiness to your life, let it go. Re-evaluate your possessions regularly to see what no longer brings joy.

2. Declutter Your Kitchen

Do you use the toaster or mixer every day? If not, stow them in a cabinet or drawer. Decluttering your countertops leads to a calmer kitchen.

3. Limit Consumerism

Think about this: how might your life be improved if you acquired fewer possessions? How might decluttering your life improve your finances, health, or time with your family?

4. Have a Morning Routine

A simple ritual like planning your day, meditation, reading, or writing can set you up for the day with a clear mind and positive mood. Pick any ritual that feels right for you.

5. Make Your Bed

6. Get the TV Out of the Bedroom

The bedroom is for sleeping, not watching TV. Find peace and comfort in the fact that when your head hits the pillow, it’s time for sleep. Your body will enjoy the change and probably sleep better, because it knows what to do when you lie down.

7. Lighten Your Wardrobe

Downsize your wardrobe to only the things you like wearing. Get rid of stuff you don’t really like or you don’t think flatter you. If you haven’t worn it in 3 months and won’t wear it in the next 3, you can likely get rid of it. Maybe your rule is 6 months, but whatever it is, it’ll help lighten your load.

8. Slow Things Down

Everyone is so busy. Why don’t we take the time to slow down? Make fewer commitments. Work fewer hours. If you don’t want to do something, don’t. Instead of being busy, be focused.

9. Donate

Grab a bin and stick in the garage. Earmark it for donations, and let everyone in the household add anything they don’t need to the pile. When it’s full, give it to Goodwill.

10. Get Rid of Paper

Every household has paper clutter. Stop keeping it and start scanning it…but only the stuff you really need.

11. Stay Accountable

If you’re trying to simplify your life, talk a friend into doing it with you. Keep each other accountable and help each other with this new lifestyle.

12. Stop Organizing

Organizing has nothing to do with getting rid of stuff, which is what you really need to do. Organizing just helps you hold onto more stuff. If you’re really serious about simplifying, you need less stuff — not organized stuff.

13. Close the Storage Unit

Did you know Americans spent more last year on storage than on entertainment? Seriously! If you don’t need it enough to keep it at your house, do you really need it?

14. Don’t be Too Sentimental

Sure, we all have some sentimental stuff we’ve held onto since high school. But do you ever read those old letters? Do you really need your graduation cap? If it doesn’t genuinely bring you joy, it can go.

15. The 20/20 Rule

Keeping some stuff around “just in case?” Don’t hold onto things just because you might need it someday. Here’s the 20/20 rule: anything you get rid of that you truly do need can be replaced for less than $20, less than 20 minutes from home. This theory works 99% of the time.

16. Unclutter the Car

Isn’t driving in traffic stressful enough without keeping all that crud in your car?

17. Technology is a Tool. Period.

We tend to use phones, computers, and TVs as pacifiers against boredom. Technology is a great productivity tool, but that’s where it should end. Simplify by getting your face out of the screen and enjoying life. Real life.

18. Go Digital

How many books will fit on your e-reader? How many DVDs can you keep on your iPod? What about all those photo albums? Digitizing all these archives can reduce your home’s clutter — by a lot.

19. Keep Your Desk Clean

A clean desk calms the workspace and probably your workday, too.

20. Enjoying Things Doesn’t Require Owning Them

The park, the mountains, a river, an experience. These enjoyable things add richness to life — no ownership or storage required.

21. Avoid Sales

How many times have you bought something just because it was a good deal? This won’t help you simplify, declutter, or de-commercialize anything.

22. Give Experiences

Giving stuff is one of the ways we enable other people’s cluttered lives. Give experiences instead. They mean more anyway.

23. Anyone Can Simplify

As long as you have an open mind, you can simply and live a minimalist life. If you want more meaning in your life, give it a try.

24. Living With Less = Tidy

If you thrive in a tidy environment, living with less is bound to bring calmness to your life and neatness to your home.

25. Empty a Space

Just because there is space there, doesn’t mean you need to fill it up. A nearly empty room or totally empty hallway can actually be very aesthetically pleasing.

26. Simplify Food

A simpler life is usually a healthier life. Instead of a long list of ingredients,  use a few simple ones. You’ll spend less time cooking and more time enjoying, and you’ll naturally eat healthier.

27. Declutter Social Media

How many friends and followers do you have who you really don’t know or won’t notice if you go missing? Like stuff, only hold onto what’s meaningful in social media.

28. Don’t Sign Up

You and your kids don’t have to sign up for every club, sport, or service opportunity. Where’s that written?

29. Give Yourself a Break

Can’t seem to make all those commitments? Unable to be two places at once? Not enough hours in the day? Take some time off! Evaluate what you really need and want to be doing, and cut back to that. Pick your top 3 to 5 priorities. That’s enough.

30. Keep Simplifying

Simplicity is an lifestyle, not a task. Once you’ve simplified your life, keep going on it. Life has a way of becoming complicated, fast. Re-evaluate often.