What Minimalism Removed From My Life
Not so long ago, i was just the opposite of a minimalist. I had lots of storage and i was still sometimes running out of it. My room was usually a mess and tidying it up was a big chore.
Now i am a minimalist. It took a long time. I gave up on things i couldn’t even imagine living without. Sometimes getting rid of something is a relief, but not always of course. I struggled to give up on things and they paid off. Here are the things i am most proud of removing from my life.
My Wardrobe
Having a smaller wardrobe is one of the first rules of minimalism. I already didn’t have a huge one and my wardrobe were full of empty boxes and non-functional electronics. First i decluttered my wardrobe. When i finished with it, my wardrobe were almost empty. It was so big for my needs. Then i decided to completely get rid of it and store my clothes in my bed storage. Now i don’t have to clean a giant wardrobe once in a while and tidying up the little bed storage is way easier.
My Mouse
Besides the real life, i am also trying to be a minimalist in the digital world too. Since i am a developer, it’s a giant part of my life. Recently i moved to Linux and my workflow happened to be heavily keyboard-driven. Removing the mouse from my life immediately made my laptop way more portable. I don’t have to carry it and it’s pad with me wherever i go. Also my desk looks so clean without that giant mouse pad. I had a wireless mouse. If i had a wired one it would look even worse. Now i got rid of the little chore of changing mouse’s battery once in a while.
Papers
I used to keep every document and paper i ever had. Now i almost don’t have any of them. There were important documents, i scanned them and now i keep them in my computer. If i need them some day, i can print them out. While i was decluttering my papers i realized there were many duplicates and obsolete stuff. It was hard to find the paper i really need because of the clutter. Now i don’t have to search for it even for a minute. I can just type it’s name in the computer. Digital stuff don’t get lost (if you take backups), they don’t wear out and they don’t harm the environment.
Books
I didn’t have a huge library (unfortunately) but it was taking some space. It was not easy to keep it clean. It was not very easy to buy them. I was following discounts and i had to buy at least 3 or 4 books for free shipment. Or i had to visit a bookstore. I decided to get rid of those chores and donated/sold my books and got rid of my bookshelf. Now i prefer reading digital books. It’s actually easier to read them because you can’t read physical books in the dark. I use my phone for reading now and i can read whenever i want. It may not be healthy to use the phone in bed but it makes it easier to read books at night. I don’t have to carry a book anywhere. I can read on the bus, at school, everwhere. I don’t need to open my backpack to read just one page. I can read even if i have only a minute.
Conclusion
Minimalism removed many things from my life and opened the space for much more valuable things. Nothing is perfect and many things require some maintenance. You can’t make your stuff perfect but you can remove the need for them. I don’t miss anything i gave up on. Some things required effort to leave but it always worth it.
