3579: Simple Tricks to Begin Your Minimalist Lifestyle by Rachel Jones of Nourishing Minimalism

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[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_01] It's a Minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily. Simple Tricks to Begin Your Minimalist Lifestyle by Rachel Jones of NourishingMinimalism.com. And I'm Justin Malek, your personal narrator, reading to you with permission from the authors. I cover a lot of topics like personal development or personal growth, self-help, mindfulness, happiness, usually minimalism on Mondays, but anything that I think can help you live a more meaningful life in just a few minutes every day.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_01] So with that, let's get right to the Minimalist Monday post as we optimize your life. Simple Tricks to Begin Your Minimalist Lifestyle by Rachel Jones of NourishingMinimalism.com. Is this stuff helping you live the life you want to live? That's one of the central questions I tell my students to ask themselves as they're evaluating their possessions. Most of the time, we keep things in our home for other reasons.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_01] It was a gift. I need to own it because of my profession. I feel guilty getting rid of it. It belonged to a family member. Blank wanted me to have it. I paid a lot of money for it. I can't just get rid of it. Or I might need it someday, just in case. But none of those reasons have anything to do with how you want to be living your life.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_01] Spend some time thinking about where your life is headed, what you want to be doing differently in five years, how you want your life to look. What things are you passionate about? Where do you want to spend more time? Don't try to organize things until you've gotten rid of most of it. The reason for clutter? We don't have room for it. When you bring something new into the house and you're not sure where to put it, what happens?

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01] It gets set on the counter or other surface and you tell yourself you'll figure out what to do with it later. But do you? Well, probably not. There's most likely something already taking up space wherever the new doodad needs to go. You can't organize your way out of a clutter problem. You need to eliminate most of the items. Once you've de-owned all the non-essentials, it's brilliantly easy to organize the rest.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01] You don't need a magic hanger in your closet so you can hang ten times the number of clothes in your closet. Instead, get rid of all the clothes that you don't like or don't wear. The fat clothes, the skinny clothes, the I bought this on sale but I've never worn it clothes. The ones that make you feel frumpy or snobbish or just aren't the right color. When you keep the clothes from that list, all you feel is a sense of shame. I should lose weight. I should work out.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_01] I should wear this since I spent money on it. Getting rid of all that is also getting rid of all those ill feelings. You're not just unburdening your home, you're unburdening your mind and emotions. When the clutter is gone, it's easy to organize what's left. Sure, this depends on your space. But do you need 10 to 20 different pots or can you make do with four? Do you need three sets of mixing bowls or will one be plenty if you wash the dishes regularly?

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01] Do you need an espresso machine, a french press, and a drip coffee pot? Or can you make do using the one that you like the most? And then get rid of the coffee mugs you don't use and all the beans, teas, and creamers that you avoid but left in the cupboard and suddenly your coffee cupboard only has a handful of items that need a home? Develop a cleaning rhythm. I enjoy reading habit and productivity books. They remind me that I'm capable of doing things that I want to do.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_01] Recently, I read mini habits and this theory applies perfectly to a daily cleaning routine. When people want to simplify their home, it's typically an overwhelming thought. Where do I start? How do I start? How will I keep other areas from getting worse when I'm working on a different room? Don't worry about it. Just wash the dishes. When we look at everything all around us, yes, it's overwhelming, but you can do the dishes today. You can throw away the trash on the kitchen counters.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01] You can wipe the stove off after dinner. That's all you need to do. After you do the dishes, you've already won. You did your required task and you accomplished your goal. Now, sometimes you'll think, well, that was quick. I could sort this pile of papers and get it off the counter. Or you may be inspired to get rid of the extra Tupperware type containers or acknowledge that you don't ever look at 99% of your cookbooks and decide to let them go. Everything beyond the dishes is a bonus.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_01] In Steven Guys' mini habits, he talks about how exercising for 30 minutes seemed too daunting. His mind thought through all 30 minutes of it and talked him out of taking action. So he decided only to require one push-up of himself. Once he did the one, he thought, well, I'm already here. I might as well do a few more. And then I could do one pull-up as well, which turned into a 20 to 30 minute workout session, but he only required one push-up.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01] It's the same with a simple routine. If all you require of yourself is to do the dishes and clean the counters off every day, it doesn't take too long before you see the other things that you could do quickly. And then you have more motivation to get it done without your brain thinking about all the things that need to be decluttered. You just listened to the post titled, Simple Tricks to Begin Your Minimalist Lifestyle

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01] by Rachel Jones of NourishingMinimalism.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. You know what's frustrating? Coming home to find a trail of ants marching across your packages at the front door. That happened to me last month. Ants and these tiny springtails were all over my packages, not exactly what I was looking for. That's why I'm excited to partner with Pesty. They sent me this incredibly simple kit with everything I need, a sprayer, mixing bag, pesticide, gloves, and super clear instructions.

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[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01] Go to Pesty.com slash old for an extra 10% off your order. That's P-E-S-T-I-E dot com slash O-L-D for an extra 10% off. Remember those childhood dreams? As we grow, our aspirations evolve. Instead of fantasizing about space travel, perhaps you're now dreaming of launching your own business around your passion for minimalism or sustainable living. But doubt creeps in. Do I have the skills? Can I build a website? How will I find customers? Enter Shopify.

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[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_01] And if you get stuck, their award-winning support team is available 24-7. Turn those dreams into... And give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash old. Go to shopify.com slash O-L-D. Shopify.com slash old. Thank you to Rachel. We're definitely getting some overlapping content here, but from different authors.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_01] And today's author, Rachel, was specifically mentioning the book Many Habits by Stephen Guise, who I also narrate here. So this content might sound familiar, but the reminder is great. When it comes to stuff, I get it. It's really easy to hold on to something, especially if we have the space for it. With attics, closets, drawers, we're probably very rarely, if ever, using some of that stuff in there. And we don't have to make this realization and immediately unload all of it.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_01] We can first make better decisions about bringing new items in. Do we really need it? Or is this thing going to be yet another item that'll be stored away and probably never used? And then second, we can slowly remove. A little trick I like is with clothing in particular. Buy a new article of clothing? Well, then donate an old one. It becomes more about replacement than buying just to have more. That's just one option of many.

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01] Find what works for you and stick with it. Because as we've heard before, minimalism is a lifelong journey. With that, thank you for being on this journey with me. Have a great rest of your day, and I'll be back with another article for you tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits. With that, thank you very much for today. I'll turn off your own results.

[00:10:15] Without that, thanks for listening to the YouTube channel. I'll see you tomorrow. This is the first time of my first time of my life. I'll cover it on my first time. But we're definitely fine. What are you doing? Let's see. .