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The articles are floating everywhere: “How to spring clean!”, “Quick Tips to Spring Cleaning!”, and so on. I swear every time I log on to email, that little header on the side is featuring some form of quick scheme to clean your house (and sweeping everything under the bed is no longer acceptable… not that it ever was according to Mom). If you’ve come to this post looking for another quick rundown on how to Spring Clean and get your house in order, sorry to disappoint. We’re going to talk about 8 simple ways to embrace minimalism.
Instead of another way to spring clean, I want to provide you with eight simple ways you can skip over the spring cleaning in the future. These eight tips can be applied to just about anyone: minimalist, hoarder, and everything in between.
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- The first, and obvious one: Declutter – Every year we go through the process of cleaning our homes, moving items around, maybe tossing away five or six items, and then spend countless hours cleaning the rest of the items we keep. This year, embrace decluttering and downsizing, and next year you won’t spend nearly as long cleaning and polishing items you haven’t used in a year anyway.
- Stop mindless shopping – Have you ever wandered around a big box store aimlessly and walked out with several items that may get used once? Stop that! Many big box stores thrive on our desire to shop, and mindlessly shopping is one of the best ways they get our money. We go in to a store with no specific goal in mind, and end up snagging items that seem to have great price tags.
- Step away from the online shops – Step two applies here as well. We’re equally guilty of “window shopping” online. Make sure to avoid sites such as Groupon or LivingSocial, which promote great prices for things you really don’t need. In fact…
- Opt out of these emails now! – If any store is sending you their newsletter, and it’s not a store that you have a direct need for, opt out of their newsletter now. Newsletters that are delivered once a week is an acceptable amount for a store you frequently shop (key point: for things you need), but for stores you opted in to just to get that 10% off coupon and then never went back (but still get the tempting newsletters), it’s time we give them the boot.
- Change your mindset – Easier said than done, right? Wrong. Changing your mindset about something is entirely up to you. If you’re resistant to change, then yes, it is going to be hard. But if you’re open to the new possibilities and the new changes, making the transition will be a heck of a lot easier.
- Evaluate everything – When you’re first making the switch, evaluating everything is a key component. Evaluate your spending habits, your budget, the things in your home, and so on. Use this time to take stock of everything you have, deciding on what you need vs. want. Once you have gotten the swing of things, you’ll no longer need to do so.
- Make the commitment – Once you have changed your mindset and taken time to evaluate everything, it’s time to make the commitment to change! Start small, by committing to shop less and lightly declutter, then work your way up to the bigger commitments if you so choose (downsize, full home decluttering, try a minimalist wardrobe, and so on).
- Find a community – A strong community backing you up will help you to keep your commitment going. Join us on Facebook or Twitter to find others who are making the same commitment and change as you!
Blessings,
Aly
For tips on how to begin your decluttering journey, you can Start Here, or snag a copy of the 30 Day Challenge (our Minimalism and Decluttering eBook).
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