Adopting a Minimalist Mindset to Change Your Life

Learning to live on less and still enjoy your life is easier than you think. You just need to learn how to have a minimalist mindset.

Powerful Minimalist Lifestyle Tips

When people think of the word Minimalism, they think of living on bare bones and having no possessions. But developing a minimalist mindset is a lot more than that.

Being a minimalist means really looking at the items you own and the relationship you have with them.

Sounds weird, right?

Think of it this way. A minimalist mindset is about owning only the items you need and knowing what the purpose of each item means.

Learning to Live on less

Becoming a minimalist isn’t hard to do. You’ll find tons of articles and advice on how to be a minimalist and live a minimalist lifestyle.

But that hardest part isn’t on HOW to be a minimalist. It’s about adopting a minimalist mindset to alleviate stress and be happier living on less.

You can’t just give away all your things and think “Ok! I’m a minimalist!”. If your mindset isn’t there, it will never work.

So how do you adopt a minimalist mindset? Let me show you a few simple ways you can declutter, get organized, and do it all stress-free.

10 Powerful Ways To Have a Minimalist Mindset

1 – Focus on what’s important

If items are important to you, take time to figure out WHAT things mean the most to you. It’s ok to enjoy pricey items or have a collection of something. But if it’s not truly important to you, it may be time to part ways.

Or maybe you decide what’s important to you is not an item. Maybe it’s a goal. Do you want to travel more? Retire early? Go back to school?

If you have a goal in mind, focus on that goal. Learning to live on less is a lot easier when you have something attainable in mind that you are working towards.

When you focus on what’s important to you, you are more likely to find out what makes you a happier person.

2 – Self-Care is Necessary

Why are we talking about self-care in a minimalist article? Because becoming a minimalist is about making yourself happy and feeling good.

We tend to buy stuff and surround ourselves with things we don’t need because we are trying to make ourselves happy.

I’ll fully admit. When I am feeling down, I go shopping. Buying things used to really cheer me up. Until I looked at my budget and saw my debt going up. Then I felt even worse than before I went shopping.

Take time to find ways to make yourself feel happy without spending money. I love to read. So I invested in a kindle and get free books from Amazon to read. Sometimes I take bubble baths or go for a walk. I take time to find ways to boost my mood without spending money.

Keep Reading: 20 Ways To Practice Self-Care

3 – Choose Experiences over Things

Think back to some of your favorite memories as a child. Did they involve items? Was it about how big and fancy your house was or how many Gucci belts you owned?

Probably not.

You’re fondest memories probably involved vacations you went on. Or friends you hung out with.

Go back to that child-like mindset. And take a moment to think about what made you happy and what you want to remember in your life going forward.

4 – Evaluate Your Space

Before you start reducing the items in your home, take a look around, and really evaluate that space you live in.

Maybe you have tons of room to store items. In that case, being a minimalist will look a lot different than someone who wants to downsize to a tiny home.

But if you do live in a small space and feel overwhelmed with items stacked up and clutter everywhere, then it’s time to really evaluate the space around you. Look at the space you have before you start to look at the items you need or want.

Your list of needs and wants might look a lot different after that.

5 – If you don’t use it, lose it!

I have a policy with my clothing. As each season rolls around, I evaluate each item. If I didn’t wear it last season, it’s gone.

The same goes for items in my kitchen. If I go an entire year and never use a certain item, I sell or donate it.

We tend to hold on to items because we think we might use them one day. But then we stack things up and the next thing we know, we are swimming in items we don’t need.

To adopt a minimalist mindset, you may need to really think about the items in your home and how often you really use them. And if you don’t use them, it’s time to get rid of them!

6 – Buy high quality items

You would think that being a minimalist is about buying less expensive items but it’s really not! The point is to spend less over a longer period of time.

Buying higher-quality items usually pay off in the long run because you don’t have to replace them as often.

Think about it this way. You buy a cheap pair of shoes but they wear out after a few months and you need to buy a new pair. The next thing you know, you’ve spent a lot of money replacing those shoes time after time.

You could have just spent the money on a good, quality pair of shoes that last you 5 or more years. The high price tag might be hard to swallow at first. But you’ll save tons of money in the long run by not having to constantly replace them.

7 – Resist temptation

The temptation is everywhere. Especially when we want to try to live as a minimalist.

The best thing you can do is to resist as much temptation as you can. For me, that means staying out of Target when a new season hits (I LOVE Their home decor!).

Social media now promotes items as well as most of your friends (hello MLM businesses!)

If you are truly trying to adopt a minimalist mindset, you need to remove yourself from where the temptation will be. And that could be everything from taking a social media break, to changing where you go shopping.

8 – Look for free resources

Free resources are all around you! Remember when I mentioned I loved to read? I used to be obsessed with buying books. It got pricey and they started to stack up in my home.

Instead, I download free novels from amazon and the library. The library even has tons of great movies… for free!

Love to workout? You can do almost anything in a park that you can do in a gym.

Learn to use the free resources around you and you will not only save money but space in your home.

9 – Reuse and Recycle

Learning to buy items second-hand saves you a TON of money. You can even buy staples like shampoo and toothpaste from the extreme couponers.

I live in Arizona and we don’t have much use for winter clothes. But every now and then I like to travel to the snow. It’s such a waste buying a winter coat for just a weekend getaway. So instead, I buy second hand. And when I’m done, I resell it.

By doing this, I get what I need and sometimes even sell the item for the same price I bought it for.

10 – Stick to a budget

Budget budget budget. There is no better way to get out of debt and stop living paycheck to paycheck. Sorry, this one needs repeating so much!

Sticking to a budget is key to having a minimalist mindset. Keep track of the money you make and the money you spend. And most importantly, stick to your budget and don’t overspend!