My Journey Into Minimalism

Minimalism.

That's a scary word to most. It procures images of spartanly furnished rooms, marble floors, pristine white walls and floors and for many, boredom. I don't necessarily think that is the case. I regularly "declutter" my life, but still, I have far too much crap in my life, and that needs to change. I've got so much stuff. I'm 24. If I keep hoarding stuff at the rate I'm hoarding, I'll never be able to move out. Nowhere will fit all my acoutrements!

If I had to be 100% honest about what inspired this, it would be a combination of three bathrobes, a couple hundred DVD's and YouTube videos about the whole journey that goes along with learning to be a more minimalistic human. From the Marie Kondo method of binning items that don't "spark joy", to cutting down the surface area of items like my DVD collection, I am going to document this journey as best I can.

Image: www.taoofsimple.com

As I write this, I'm making plans to cut down my clutter. For my DVD collection, I'm going to put the discs into one of THESE holders and get rid of the plastic cases, which means I can keep the collection that I've been building for years, and I can get rid of the clutter from up against the wall of my room.

How This Post Will Work: 

I will be compiling this post over a long period of time, so the plans, the ideas and the motivation will be in plain text as you read here. Amy from the future will come in and italicise the reflections as they occur. 

I'm going to donate some of my books, because really, who needs two signed copies of The Fault In Our Stars? Not me! I will be keeping my Ross O Carroll Kelly books because I'm amidst that series, but I'm going to donate stuff like Game Of Thrones, Terry Prachett, some biographies and novels I've either never read or never finished, and I'll be happy if I can fit all of my books onto my three shelf book case by the end.

I cleared out my books in a very objective way, because I've noticed I will buy books just to have them. That's not a healthy way to operate. I culled half, to two thirds of my collection and I'm just going to recycle them. I will donate a few of them of course, and I'll pop some into my local little free library too. There are a small few hangers on of books I've read before, like Gordon Ramsays books, Richard Hammonds books etc, but I feel genuine attachment to them, as opposed to clutter I'll never eve glance at. 

When it comes to clothes, I'm not generally a sentimental person, but I do know what I like, and that can get in the way of me donating things that I never really wear, not because I feel attached to an item, but because I find it aesthetically pleasing.

My wardrobe was a bit of a journey, because I felt that I needed to be cutthroat and yet in some instances I couldn't be. I own a large collection of tshirts, so I got rid of the ones that I had forgotten about. Same with hoodies. As a staunch Meath fan, I felt a need to keep my Meath GAA hoody but I never wear it, not to the same degree as my Cork hoody so it went in the donation pile. I found a hoody that was a gift from an ex, that went in the bin. 

I still have a lot of clothes, but it's visibly less,  which I will chalk up to a success for the time being. It's also nice to know that my clothes aren't literally wedged into my wardrobe and I can actually close the doors properly! Result!!! 7

To stop my workout gear cluttering up my wardrobe, and all of whick I wear on a rotational basis, I stored it in a hard plastic crate under my bed. 

My shoe collection has been severely culled as it stands, but I have three pairs to donate also. 

Makeup will be allocated to one makeup case... Full blog post to follow on this one!!

This one hasn't been realistic, but what I've done is thrown away stuff that was very old, that was cruel, and stuff I just didn't love. The hardest thing for me to part with is lipsticks, because I love them so much. Lipstick is literally a part of my RLRH branding, I've a tattoo of a lipstick for goodness sake! I threw away a lot of stuff I don't need or use, and I will be using up what I have before buying new stuff in future.

Jewellery will be severely culled, and I'm just going to chuck out a lot of the stuff I hoard in crates under my bed. I havent thought of it for over six months, it really isn't important to me, is it?

Jewellery was pretty easy, but as of yet, I have not ventured under my bed, so when I do that, I will report back! 

One thing I need to make a point of, is getting some of those Command strip hooks, because I've become one of those people that just leans frames up against the wall, and that's ridiculous!!! My oldest friend gave me a framed print two Christmasses ago and I still haven't hung it, same with a small framed print Dex got me in New York. That's just lazy and stupid.

So, this was the first post about my minimalism journey, and in some ways, I am making this series as a form of diary entry. I hope you find my thoughts and reflections readable and enjoyable! 

There's gonna be more, keep an eye out!! 

Amy 

xo

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