A Comprehensive Guide To Minimalism: How To De-Clutter Your Life

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The comprehensive guide about the whats and hows of Minimalism and a step-by-step application of minimalism with a DYI (do-it-yourself) approach. Plus advice on how to absorb principles of minimalism in each and every aspect of life and to change self-damaging negative habits formed over the years


What Is Minimalism?




I am a minimalist and at the same time I believe in living a total Rock'N'Roll Indulgence lifestyle. Mixing the two lifestyle concepts is as easy as dissolving salt in water. I say indulge in whatever gives you pleasure, whatever makes you happy but only in those things that give you pleasure and not in the clutter surrounding it. It is easy to make of people you watch on "Hoarders" but you too could  be one of them.



Most of us have a pretty cluttered up life. Now I am not of those kinds who advise in "give everything away and live in the mountain" non-sense, but I am pretty sure that most of us have cluttered our life with stuff that we don't need or plan to use in future. Wardrobes, closets, drawers, cupboards, bookshelves, and even the desktop or phone is pretty stuffed as you are reading this now. How clearing all this unneeded mess helps is that it easily lets you access the things that you actually enjoy the most.



And this is what minimalism means. Minimalism doesn't mean living in scarcity. Minimalism actually means the opposite of scarcity. It means living in abundance of things that actually make you happy and getting rid of the unnecessary mess that veils it.


How To De-Clutter Your Life

You can start de-cluttering write from where you are reading these words. Start with your Computer and quickly delete whichever you haven't accessed from a long or plan to use in the far future. Start by cleaning the following below.
  • Desktop
  • Add/Remove Program
  • The Hard Disk Drives
  • Bookmarks
  • Smaller Sub-files
  • Gmail account
It will take you a couple of days to even clean 50% of the mess you have created in the above places in your Computer. But stick to it because the end result of de-clutter space and peace of mind is worth it.



Now here comes the next important step, once done with cleaning your computer, move to the next closest object around it and de-clutter it. For me it was my cell phone. I got rid of the cell phone holder and deleted unneeded files and contacts from my cell phone hard drive. Again applying the above step, I move to the next closest thing i.e. my entire computer table and de-cluttered it by getting rid of unneeded CD's, wires, manuals and the general mess you see on a computer table. Then I move to the next closest object : my wardrobe. And get rid of all clothing that doesn't fit me now and/or is out of fashion. And then I move to the next closest thing and so on...



Don't think minimalism, de-cluttering your mess, purging etc is something that only zen monks or Buddhism practitioners do. Minimalism is actually enjoying stuff that really matter to you and adds value to your life. It's choosing quality over quantity. You yourself would be amazed by the amount of mess you have created in your life and the amount of time it takes to clean this mess. The above method I explained would be required to be implemented over and over again to reach an optimal level of minimalism. Start questioning every single thing in your life and asking how it adds value to your life.