As human beings, we tend to be sentimental about a lot of things. We also get stuck in “buying and acquiring mode”, making purchases of things that are a good deal or that we think can help us in some way. The problem is, we get consumed by the quantity of things that we own and we forget to concentrate on the quality. Focusing on the quality of not only how things are made, but also the quality that they bring to our lives, helps us to be more selective about what we allow into our space and existence.
1) Deciding to become a minimal consumer of goods and the Earth is a great feeling. Getting rid of things that clutter your mind, home and life gives you a freedom and an ease of living that you may not have experienced before. The first step is to get rid of all of the things that are not worthy of sharing space with you. Ban junk, things that bring negative feelings to mind and things that will create more work for you in the future.
2) Come up with a list of questions for yourself to ask whenever you are deciding what to keep or what to buy. Make these questions personal to you so that your home slowly becomes a place of comfort and joy for you. When deciding what to keep, ask yourself things such as, “Does this make me happy?” “Is this the only thing that I have to remember someone or some special event?” “Is this worth keeping forever?” “Will this take up too much of my precious storage space?” “Do I look at this regularly and reminisce, or does it stay hidden away?”
3) When buying things like kitchen items or organizational items, try to only buy the highest quality, most useful things. Make sure that you replace old items instead of just pushing the old items to the back of a cabinet when the new items arrive. Getting rid of junky, flimsy, flawed, or tacky items and replacing them with higher quality items will save you money in the long run. Not only will you be more selective about what you buy, but you also won’t have things that are likely to break just waiting to cause you to spend money.
4) By limiting what you will allow to take up space in your home, you should reveal storage and room that you didn’t know you had before. If you have a lot of keepsakes or need somewhere to discretely organize things, think about that bulky dresser in your bedroom. If you use space saving hangers, like velvet hangers to fit your clothes neatly in your closets, then you can use the dresser space for keeping photos, photographer equipment, books and more. Find creative ways to store the things that you must keep and you’ll have a home that is neat, clean and easy to keep organized.
About the Author: Rick Miller is on the staff of Only Slimline Hangers, a leading online resource for velvet hangers which are space saving hangers, non slip hangers and slim line hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyslimlinehangers.com.
