We have been becoming minimalist and this is what I have learned after month one of minimalism. I have been getting rid of the clutter in my house for the last month. When I have some extra time I have been reading books, watching documentaries, and watching people on youtube talk about minimalism.
It seems among some people MINIMALISM is a movement and current trend. I just happened to find out about it from watching the documentary on Netflix.
For us this will be a way of life because I can’t imagine wasting any more money in the dollar section of Target, buying junk that we end up throwing away a week later.
I wouldn’t call myself a minimalist (yet). My house is still stuffed full of junk and I have doubles of kitchen tools. The good thing is, at least now, I don’t have 5 of every kitchen tool haha. I have noticed minimalism is a way of thinking, now that we have adopted it, I can’t go back to my old ways.
Becoming Minimalist & Decluttering:
After a month of going through every room in my house and only keeping the stuff we use and love I can see a huge difference. My biggest goal is not bringing any new junk/stuff into the house unless we really NEED it.
This isn’t hard for me, but I never realized how much shopping or looking around stores I use to do. Going to target was an excuse to get out of the house and heat. The drawback was inevitably I would buy something.
Now I don’t see the point of going there unless I really need something. In Target’s place, I have had to come up with other forms of entertainment.
We have gone to the library twice and checked out books and walked around. We have done a lot more playing in the front yard and lots of time going through the stuff in the house.
Overall I feel like my house looks a lot cleaner. I know my house isn’t actually “cleaner” but because there isn’t a ton of junk on every shelf it looks like there is more room.
Minimalist Snow Ball Effect:
Looking into minimalism has caused a snowball effect for our family. By watching more documentaries we have learned more about health and our environment. We have made so many changes in a short time, it’s incredible.
We actually changed our diets! Now we are eating much healthier. Cutting out a lot of meat and dairy and adding a lot of fruit and veggies. I have lost 4 pounds and Grant has lost 10 pounds in just a week or two.
Minimalism Led us to be Eco Friendly:
We no longer buy plastic water bottles. Grant use to take 4 plastic water bottles to work every day. Now he takes two large reusable bottles to work.
When I think about how much we were wasting it makes me sad. That is around 1040 plastic bottles that are not going into a landfill this year.
Below I have linked our entire minimalist journey month by month. The changes are incredible!
Watch Finding Minimalism Here:
A great blog about being minimalist is Becoming Minimalist. They have many wonderful articles on the subject.
Here are some of the documentaries we have watched.
What the Health – All about healthy eating.
The True Cost – This is about how the fashion industry is ruining our earth.
Living on One Dollar – Proves we can live on a lot less.
Forks Over Knives – Goes into healthy eating.
READ MORE ABOUT OUR MINIMALIST JOURNEY:
Month 1 of Becoming Minimalist
Minimalism Journey After 2 Months
Minimalist Journey After 3 Months