Tips on Minimizing

A lot of my friends rag on me for not having a lot of stuff. Even though I feel like I have way too much stuff. I look back to college days (miss u college days) and think about how easy all of my moves to different apartments were. I mean they still sucked because moving sucks but it was much easier than a lot of my other friends because I didn't have an obnoxious amount of possessions.

Call me weird but I feel like it is totally healthy to not have a bunch of junk and even healthier to periodically go through the stuff you do have and donate or throw away things you don't need/use or wear. Since I moved back home to Atlanta this past summer I have been super into minimizing so I thought I'd share some tips to becoming a minimalist. I use that term as lightly as possible. I am by no means a true minimalist but I have my ways/tips on becoming a more minimal person. Whew!

1. Start with one room at a time
When you first start minimizing it can seem overwhelming. For me, I picked a room to start with first and began there. It is so much easier to de-clutter one room than pick many rooms in the house and bounce back and fourth. See: driving yourself into a looney bin. Minimizing can seem impossible but is totally doable if you pick one area to focus on first.

2. Labeling piles/bags
This is important. Instead of having one big pile of stuff I want to get rid of I label boxes 'giveaway' 'trash' and 'sell'. It makes minimizing (an already overwhelming task) more organized and easy to get rid of when you are leaving the room.

3. 6-12 month rule 
That dress you were keeping from freshman year that you haven't worn SINCE freshman year. Toss, donate or sell it. Letting go of clothing is the most freeing experience and also makes room for newer, nicer pieces. For me, if I haven't worn it in the past year it has to go (with the exception of a few nicer dresses). Also, when I purchase something new I get rid of something old!

4. Don't feel like you have to get rid of everything
At first I feel like people go a little crazy. You don't have to throw everything you own away. Start small just to get the hang of getting rid of things.

5. Do this every couple of months
The last time I seriously went through and donated/threw away a bunch of stuff was back in August I believe. Since it has been a few months I am going to go back through a bunch of rooms and boxes and get rid of even more stuff that are serving zero purpose in my life. It really is an eye opening experience.

Cheers to becoming more minimal!