21 Minimalist Habits That Will Change Your Life

Here are 21 minimalist habits that have changed our lives for the better.  Life is easier when we have some healthy habits set up.

These simple habits have helped us to become and stay more minimal.

21 Minimalist Habits To Stay Clutter-Free

1 Decluttering 

Decluttering is an ongoing process.  Each season I like to go through each room in my home and make sure we are not gathering too many items.

Normally each season I can find at least a few items that can be donated because they are not used.

 

Watch 21 Minimalist Habits That Will Change Your Life

 

2 Mindful Purchases

Make mindful purchases.  This can be harder than it seems.

Do research before you go shopping to avoid impulse buying.

 

3 Clear Surfaces

Keep the surfaces in your home clear.  Clutter attracts more clutter.

I found if I can keep our counters clear then they tend to stay that way.

This makes it easy to use the space when we are ready.

 

4 One Minute Rule

Clean as you go throughout your day.  This keeps your home looking nice and tidy and saves time at the end of the day.

This brings me to the one-minute rule: if you can do a task in one minute then do it right away.

You will save time because you are already in the middle of the situation and coming back to it later would waste time.

An example would be clearing our dishes after we eat.  I am already getting up and I might as well drop off my plate in the kitchen.

Now I am already at the sink so I might as well quickly wash my dish and put it away.  Both tasks take under one minute.

 

5 Minimalist Cleaning

As a minimalist, I like to clean our house only as needed.

This might sound as if I live in a dirty house, but this is not true.  Instead of cleaning for the sake of cleaning I usually clean when it looks like something needs to be done.

For instance, if the bathroom is looking dirty then I clean it at that moment. 

I don’t just clean it because I have a schedule to clean the bathroom on a certain day.

There are certain tasks I find myself doing more often like vacuuming because we have young kids and there are more spills.

 

6 Grateful Minimalist

Try to be grateful for what we do have.  It can be hard to not want the newest trend.

I try to think of all the things I do have and how I feel about those things.

Reminding myself that those were once things I felt I needed.  I try to use what we have in most cases so we don’t have to spend our lives working just to pay for these things.

 

7 Clear the Clutter

As soon as I am ready to declutter something I try to get rid of it as soon as possible.

For instance, we decided we didn’t need a daybed we had and I immediately listed it on FB Marketplace for sale.

The quicker you can clear the clutter the sooner you will reap the benefits of a clutter-free home.

 

8 Create Space

Create space by getting rid of everything you don’t need.  You can check out my Decluttering Mini-Course to get your home completely clutter-free.

But besides decluttering try to embrace the space.  Sometimes we want to put something into the newly open space.

One tip I have is to leave the space empty for as long as you can and sometimes you will adjust over time to the open area.

We did this in our dining room and at first, I thought it looked and felt very weird and now a few months later I am used to it. 

 

9 Say No

Try to get comfortable saying no or no thank you.  When people offer me something I now say no thank you unless I really need the item.

This is not always easy.  I use to take everything and that is what caused a lot of our initial clutter.

 

10 Buy Quality Items

When shopping pick quality items over quantity.  By investing in quality clothing you will save money and the environment.

The item will last a lot longer which will lead to less turnover.

When it comes to appliances quality can be more expensive in the beginning, but save you a lot in the long run.

 

11 Reuse Repurpose Resell

Become more eco-friendly by reusing, repurposing, and reselling items.

When I reorganized my pantry I used some bins that I already had.  One was the drawer insert.  The drawer system wouldn’t work but the actual drawer as a bin was fine.

By repurposing, I was able to save money and stop one more item from the landfill.

 

12 Create a Budget

Creating a budget will help you to stay minimal because you will see that you don’t want to waste money on things you don’t really need.

We try to meal plan which saves a lot of money and food waste.

You can start right now by figuring out what you have to spend and what you want to save.

Check out the Frugalwoods to see how they were able to retire early from budgeting.

 

13 Use What You Have

Using what you have is a great minimalist habit to adopt.  When I realized we were going to have to homeschool this year I looked around our home to see what we could use.

I pulled out our old laptop and used a desk we already had to get us on our way.

 

14 Pack Light Minimalist Habit

Try to pack lightly.  Whether we are going on a trip or going to the store I try to only bring what we need.

Stuff can become a burden when you are traveling.  When we took our family on a trip to New Zealand I wished we packed less.

It was a lot of work to haul all the luggage through customs, especially with 2 younger kids.

Less is more when it comes to baggage.

 

15 Minimalist Wardrobe

Create a minimalist wardrobe or a capsule wardrobe.  Whittle down what you have.  Get rid of duplicate items or things you never wear.

This was the one change that made me feel the most minimalist. 

Knowing that I only have the clothes I love and feel comfortable in makes me happy.

A minimalist wardrobe saves time and money.  You won’t accidentally make duplicate purchases and knowing what you have and what works saves a lot of time when getting ready. 

 

16 Minimize Driving

Drive less often.  Combining trips will save gas, time, and in turn money.

This is not always possible, but when it is it will be much more efficient.

Anytime I am going to the grocery store I get any other errands done at the same time.

 

17 Collect Memories

Collect memories and not things.  Since becoming minimal I try to enjoy more experiences.

If we go on a trip I make sure to skip the stores and knick-knacks instead I focus on having fun and laughing.

 

18 Minimalist Choices

Stand by your choices.  If you want to declutter and become minimal then do that.

Don’t let the opinion of others hold you back or get in the way of your choice.  I say that because when we first started to become minimal I had a lot of snarky comments.

Online and in real life.  Now that time has passed and people can see that we are happy with less they don’t seem as offended by this lifestyle.

 

19 Unbusy

Become unbusy!  The whole point of minimalism for me was to find more time for what I wanted to do.

Sometimes we can find that time and then fill it with pointless activities just so we seem busy. 

Lately, I am trying to be more intentional with my time.

Deleting a lot of the apps, that were wasting my time, on my phone.  Making sure my time is spent wisely.

If I want to sit and do nothing that is fine, we should probably be doing more of that LOL.

 

20 Conscience Consumer

The more I declutter the more I become a conscience consumer.

Decluttering really points out all the things we brought into our lives that we probably didn’t need.

I want to be conscious of what I am buying and why making sure that the item is high quality and will last.

 

21 Avoid Impulse Buys

The quickest and easiest way to avoid impulse buys is to stop shopping unless you need something.

I only shop for food regularly and I make sure to use a list so we are not getting things we don’t need.

Following the one in one out policy helps us to stay minimal and make sure we need each purchase.

 

21 Minimalist habits Conclusion

These minimalist habits are easy to implement.  They can help you become minimal and stay that way!

If you are interested in how to get started decluttering check out my Decluttering Mini-Course where I walk you through how to declutter every room in your home with detailed examples.

 

Read More Minimalist Articles:

5 Minimalist Myths

Simple Ways to Save More Money Each Month

How to Declutter Paper

8 Items to Declutter in the New Year

 

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