My Minimalist Journey – Part 6

August 8, 2023

I have reached a plateau in my decluttering/minimalist journey. I began this process with the goal of escaping the anxiety and overwhelm that plagued me on a daily basis. I am relieved to say that, now, I have accomplished that. My house is still a bit of a mess, and I am nowhere near finished, but I have truly eliminated the worst of the chaos from my life. I know this because I have had a drastic mindset shift. I no longer feel frantic when people come over. I no longer have the same kind of guilt while decluttering. I have shifted from, “I need to make room for this” to “I will just use this up/reduce the inventory until it fits comfortably.” I have made the mental shift from buying items for immediate satisfaction and instead investing in my long term goals.

A great example of this is that I had a container on the bathroom floor where my husband would temporarily throw his clothing for the next day. Unfortunately, our cat saw an opportunity… to use it as a litter box. (I know. Eww.) I spent all day trying to find and buy a solution: a tall, narrow laundry hamper; a wall-mounted box; etc. However, I realized that I didn’t have to buy anything. It wasn’t a good idea for his clothes to be in there anyway… so rather than invest in temporary storage, I just eliminated it. Do you know what happened? Nothing. My husband started laying his clothing out at the end of the bed. So rather than me buying something additional that I would have to maintain, he just changed how he did things. I am now a firm believer in adding something to my cart and letting it sit there for a week or more before I purchase it because I will often rethink it. I will make the occasional exception when I find that something has gone on sale (if I was already planning to purchase it). I don’t go hunting for sales, and the low risk of Amazon’s free returns provides ample opportunities to capitalize on a good deal. I also try to buy used before I buy new. In conjunction with this, I have even altered my fashion choices to include more long-lasting items rather than items that would only look good for a handful of wears and washes. 

Beyond the change in my consumer habits, I realized that now is the time to reevaluate my journey. It’s time to move from mitigating anxiety to increasing my quality of life. That means taking things a step further in my decluttering process.

I have noticed that I now have the capacity to sell items more readily. I have already sold a few things on Facebook Marketplace, and I have noticed as my “to get rid of” list has dwindled, I am considering the financial benefits of selling items that I am decluttering. While that is not my primary focus, I am ready to move deeper into my decluttering journey.