3251: Practical Minimalism Tips For Beginners by Anthony Ongaro of Break The Twitch on Minimal Living

[00:00:00] It's a minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily Episode 3251 Practical Minimalism Tips For Beginners by Anthony Ongaro of BreakTheTWitch.com and I'm your narrator Justin Malik reading you articles every day of the year, usually covering minimalism on Mondays.

[00:00:17] So with that let's get right to it as we optimize your life. Practical Minimalism Tips For Beginners by Anthony Ongaro of BreakTheTWitch.com When Amy and I first learned about minimalism it felt intimidating.

[00:00:35] Looking back I realized it didn't need to be and hopefully these minimalism tips for beginners will be helpful to anyone who feels that way.

[00:00:43] Whether you're a beginner to minimalism or in the midst of decluttering, it's common to feel like the process is an overwhelming project that never ends. That was certainly the case when we first started on our minimizing journey several years ago.

[00:00:55] What we found was minimizing got easier with time and all the hard work was absolutely worthwhile. Embracing minimalism principles in our lives was what enabled us to create the space, physically, mentally, financially, and temporarily, to do more of what mattered to us.

[00:01:14] To this day minimalism continues to be a driving part of the framework we use to do more of what matters to us. I'd like to share these minimalism tips for beginners to help you create space to do more of what matters as well. 1. Prioritize Mindset Over Matter

[00:01:31] When you're starting out it can be easy to focus on the physical matter. After all, it's all about decluttering the stuff around our home right? In reality it's really about building the mindset over matter, the idea of minimizing distractions on an everyday basis.

[00:01:45] The idea of consistently identifying and actively removing distractions from your life, maintaining it just like you would with weeds in a garden. Developing the mindset is what will keep you going far longer than wanting to get rid of stuff.

[00:01:58] As you go along it will get easier and easier to build the mindset and make those decluttering decisions. For more ideas on intentional living and minimalism, get actionable and practical strategies in my book Break the Twitch.

[00:02:10] If you're looking for even more, join us in the Break the Twitch member community for exclusive access to brand new audio courses each month, private live stream Q&A sessions and a member only community forum. 2. Choose a system and stick to it

[00:02:26] There are many methods and ways to declutter but the important thing is to choose a system and stick to it for a while. Sticking to a system helps to develop the mindset and keep up the momentum of decluttering.

[00:02:36] What ended up working best for Amy and me was the Minns game, but we didn't realize it was until we finished the first round and then a second round. We needed to stick with it for a while before we saw the benefits.

[00:02:49] As you get further along you can change it up and you'll eventually figure out what methods work best. These days we simply declutter little things here and there as we go along with maybe one or two bigger decluttering sessions each year depending on what's going on.

[00:03:02] 3. Remember slow and steady Especially towards the beginning it can feel like nothing is really happening. The clutter in the room may still be there, the drawer still crammed with too many items, the basement full of boxes of who knows what.

[00:03:18] On the flip side it can also feel amazing to clear off surfaces and closets and to sell, donate or get rid of things but it's not really about that. What makes the biggest impact is the small and continuous decisions you make on minimizing distractions over time.

[00:03:33] The impact really does add up. We're several years in at this point of minimizing what no longer is working for us and have seen drastic changes in our beliefs, living spaces and how we spend our time.

[00:03:46] Looking back, minimalism has been essential in our being able to do more of what matters to us and I only expect future changes as we continue to minimize, explore and learn more in the years to come. 4. Find your own look

[00:04:00] While you can take inspiration from other people's living spaces, don't feel the pressure to have your home look a certain way. It's a common minimalism mistake to think that minimalism needs to look like the white walled, sparse, model home that's often portrayed in magazines, videos and other websites.

[00:04:18] It's a little ironic but I've seen people buying those trendy looking items in their efforts to be more minimalist. Remember that form follows functionality and it doesn't look the same for everyone.

[00:04:29] Focus on functionality in developing a space that makes you feel inspired, productive and creative on a regular basis. Use what you have and love and get rid of the rest through donating, selling, recycling or throwing away.

[00:04:43] Don't buy something just for appearances. If you do buy something, buy what adds value to your life and helps you do more of what matters. 5. Start with the easy stuff

[00:04:54] This tip is all about sustainability and momentum. During our decluttering process, Amy and I inevitably came across things that we didn't feel like we could get rid of at the time.

[00:05:04] Many of them were sentimental items, some of them weren't. Most likely you'll come across these items as well. If you spend more than a couple minutes thinking about whether or not you want to get rid of an item, simply move on to the easier items.

[00:05:16] Start with paper clips, business cards or magazines, whatever you need to get started. Hold off on the sentimental or sticky items for later on. Instead of getting stuck on a certain thing, this strategy helped us continue our momentum and keep building our decluttering muscles.

[00:05:33] What we found was it got easier and easier to get rid of the harder stuff. Once we had our muscles build, we were able to let go of the harder stuff later on in the process. 6. Reconnect with your why

[00:05:46] At some point you'll likely encounter challenging moments during the decluttering process. During these moments, it's helpful to go back to the reason why you're doing all this.

[00:05:56] What are you creating the space for? It could be to pay off debt, create more living space instead of storage space, travel more, feel less stressed or to make more time for loved ones.

[00:06:06] Whatever it is reconnecting to your why can help you push through the tough times during the minimizing process. In the end, what's most important is that you keep on exploring what minimalism looks like for you and create space for what matters.

[00:06:20] Even after we had successfully decluttered many items, we still found more to get rid of in the following years with life changes and other events. Even now, we still find these six tips helpful to revisit.

[00:06:31] Really, these aren't just minimalism tips for beginners. They can be reminders as we change, evolve and grow throughout our lives. You just listened to the post titled Practical Minimalism Tips for Beginners by Anthony Ungaro of BreakTheTwitch.com And I'll be right back with my commentary. Think it Anthony.

[00:06:55] I can relate. When first thinking about minimalism, it's easy to go on a big decluttering mission. Maybe playing the minimalism game of getting rid of one item on the first day of the month, two items on the second day of the month and so on.

[00:07:10] Or doing the minimalist packing party and packing things up into boxes, then only unpacking them when the item is needed. But at the end of the day, it sort of feels like spinning our wheels if there's no change in mindset.

[00:07:25] Because what gets decluttered just ends up being replaced with something else. One trick that I've mentioned before is trying to create a rule of one in one out where if you purchase something or even get it for free as a gift or whatever,

[00:07:40] you then get rid of something. And it works well for clothing, like if you get a new item of clothing, you then donate or sell one item of clothing. I think that's a good way to build a muscle over time.

[00:07:53] But in any case, hopefully this one was helpful for you, especially if you're new to the idea of minimalism. Well with that have a great rest of your minimalist Monday. Thank you for listening and sticking around until the end.

[00:08:04] And I'll see you tomorrow with another post where your optimal life awaits.