If you want to take the first step to streamlining your stuff too, the best book I’ve read so far on minimalist living is “The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life” by Francine Jay. Jay doesn’t just share practical and useful tips but also gives insights on why we sometimes acquire, accumulate or hang on to possessions for the wrong reasons.
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Here are some excerpts:
- “They tell us that more stuff means more happiness, when in fact, more stuff often means more headaches and more debt. The purchase of all this stuff is certainly benefiting someone…but it’s not us.”
- “Truth be told, products will never make us into something we’re not. Designer handbags won’t make us rich, premium lipsticks won’t make us supermodels, and expensive pens won’t make us successful executives. Pricey garden tools won’t give us green thumbs, and high-end cameras won’t turn us into award-winning photographers. Yet we feel compelled to buy, and keep, stuff that holds a promise—to make us happier, prettier, smarter, a better parent or spouse, more loved, more organized or more capable. But consider this: if these things haven’t delivered on their promises yet, it may be time to let them go.”
- “Sometimes we fear that getting rid of certain items is equivalent to getting rid of part of ourselves…. We have to remember that our memories, dreams, and ambitions aren’t contained in these objects; they’re contained in ourselves. We are not what we own; we are what we do, what we think, and who we love. By eliminating the remnants of unloved pastimes, uncompleted endeavors, and unrealized fantasies, we make room for new (and real) possibilities.”
- Ask the following of each potential purchase: “Do you deserve a place in my home?” “What value will you add to my household?” “Will you make my life easier?” “Or are you going to be more trouble than you’re worth?” “Do I have a place to put you?” “Do I already have something that could accomplish the same task?” “Will I want to keep you forever (or at least a very long time)?” “If not, how hard will it be to get rid of you?”
- "If one comes in, one goes out. Every time a new item comes into your home, a similar item must leave. For every drip into the bucket, there must be one drip out."
- "It’s our creativity in the kitchen—not the cookware in our cabinets—that make for delicious, satisfying meals. Good food doesn’t come from fancy plates and fussy serving ware; it comes from the hands and the heart, and—as any Buddhist monk will tell you—can just as well be enjoyed in one simple bowl."
- "If you tried something and didn’t like it, don’t feel obligated to squirrel it away for eternity. Just because you paid “good money” for it, doesn’t mean you have to keep it—or force yourself to use it. Cut your losses, admit your mistake, and pass it along to someone else before it goes to waste."
And here’s my favorite:
“Happiness is wanting what you have. When your wants are satisfied by the things you already have, there’s no need to acquire any more.”
