Growing up I didn’t have quite the minimal lifestyle I have now – as a teenager, who really does? We accumulate junk all through our young lives, things we deem important: old toys, scraps of paper, books, trinkets, cheap jewelry, hair clips, the list is endless – and your room gets overwhelmed by it. I think for myself the ‘minimal-want’ started when I realised I really resented cleaning my room. I hated dusting and everything that came with keeping all my junk tidy. But I still had trouble throwing things out. Why?

I think we hate throwing out things that we buy, that we’ve spent money on. I think that’s where the ‘hoarding’ starts – the guilt of throwing away ‘money’ is too much at first. But what is it costing you by keeping it? If it’s good for nothing, if you haven’t worn it in a year, if you haven’t used it in a year, if looking at the item brings upon a feeling of disgust or turmoil or any negativity – what is the point of keeping it?

If you really have trouble with throwing a bunch of stuff out – trick yourself. Put all the items you think you’d like to get rid of but can’t into a box. Put 30 items in there. Now put the box in a closet, under your bed, or anywhere that is out of the way and you won’t see on a daily basis. How long before you forget about the box? 6, 8, 10 months later, will you even remember what was in it? Probably not.

And then you discover that you can live with out all this junk, it’s so much easier to give it away, donate it, or if it really is useless, just recycle or throw it away.

Today I came across this news article and got a little excited. The idea that getting rid of stuff makes you happier, that’s quite an idea as oposed to that stuff will make you happier: that new purse, a car, shoes, new sheets, glasses…. Tammy Strobel is the author that is featured in the article and she also has her own blog, Rowdy Kittens.

Back to the idea that we’re afraid to throw away things we’ve spent money on… I realised that after getting rid of that guilt, that I purchase things a little more wisely now. I think twice before buying things: do I really need this? Can I live without this? Can I get rid of something else if I want to get this?

I suppose it’s easier to live minimally when half your life is packed up and across the country, but I hardly miss any of those things, and when you don’t have all this junk to mess through, you realise what is actually importantto you. Things I couldn’t live without? My photo albums. My favourite dresses. The bracelet my boyfriend got me. My ipod & speaker. My camera & laptop. But most other stuff? I think if it came down to it, I can do without.

I hate walking into a place where every window sill is filled with junk, cluttered with tchockis and trinkets – I almost feel as though that person is cluttered in his mind as well. What’s important to him? Pick your favourite things and showcase them, value their importance, don’t hide them behind dust and other unimportant things. Don’t hang on to things because they were gifts and mean nothing otherwise.

Without a ton of junk holding me back or bringing me down, I have a clear mind, a clear place in my heart and in my world – and that place is for family. For cuddling. For practicing yoga with my daughter. For learning new things. For cooking. For simply enjoying life without being bogged down by all the stuff we think we need.

I will always love shoes. I will always caress bags in Louis Vuitton. I will finger through brand new copies of Paris Vogue and drink my cappuccinos while imagining a world where Balmain existed in my closet. It’s a guilty pleasure, but it doesn’t consume me. My life would be no happier with more things in it. The stuff we accumulate over the years doesn’t make a life.

Life is journeys we take, friendships and family, foods we eat and the wine we drink. It’s feeling sand between your toes, the cold ocean splashing, seeing a dolphin in the wild or a deer that hops up to you. It’s memories. It’s love. It’s feelings.

And none of those things can be captured in a postcard of a place I’ve been to.

What are five things you couldn’t live without? Imagine everything in your life is about to disappear - what 5 things would you never want to do without?

xoxo

Fab Brunette

ps. All pictures via weheartit.com

This post is part of a series entitled “Things I Would Tell My Younger Self…”

I have a bit of a confession to make. When I was young, my mom did everything for me. Everything. And by “young” I mean until I moved out at 20 years old. She would make my lunch, clean my room, do my laundry – literally everything she would ask me to do but upon showing no initiative to do it (and leaving my room a mess for weeks on end) she would end up doing it herself – and then I would scream at her for cleaning up. She messed up my perfect disorder.

Looking back….

I wish I learned how to take care of my life before I moved out.

I wish I was a bit more of an ‘adult’ living at home.

The main reason? It is quite difficult to put yourself into the habit of cleaning up once you do go out on your own – even now I find it difficult at times to keep cleaning routines. I do my best, but it’s taken me years of having to clean up after myself to even try to find a kind of balance in it.

You know, turning off the tv or the computer, and just taking a look at my room, seriously getting rid of stuff I don’t need, and keeping it clean for myself, and not just because my mom begged me to. There’s a certain pride you get out of keeping your room or your house clean, you don’t have to worry about people coming over and it being a mess, for one.

Because that’s the thing, when you are younger, you have one bedroom. You  might have a family room you hang out in too. When you move out, you suddenly have a whole house to clean up, and it gets a little scary and you don’t even know where to start sometimes.

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What would you tell your younger self?

Did your mom do everything for you? Or did she make you do it yourself?

xoxo

Fab Brunette