All posts filed under: Minimise Possessions

These Three Questions Will Help You Know If Your Home Is Too Cluttered

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Let’s play a quick game. I want you to scan the room you are currently reading this in, assuming you are at home, and quickly ask yourself three questions about what you see in front of you. How long ago did you use the item in question? If I were to give you the money you paid for it right now to trade it, would you buy it again? How long until you think you might replace it? Too many items in our homes are collected, cultivated and purchased without much thought. You might buy in a sale for that ‘bargain feeling’. You might splurge on the latest ‘must-have’ trend for your home, to find you actually don’t cherish it that much. Far too often, we buy to mask other needs or emotions. That instant burst of happiness when you hand over the cash in return for a shiny new sofa/ shoes / scent, that in reality, is very short lived. I have known people buy a trendy cookbook to show others they eat healthy, …

Grey Living Room Sofa

Insider: A Look Inside My ‘Minimalist’ Home

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Often when people visit my home, they are a little taken aback by the décor and detail in each room. If you haven’t met anyone who has subscribed to a minimalist lifestyle before, you’d probably think that they live with the bare necessities and not much more. For me, living minimally isn’t about ruthlessly counting the number of items I have in my home. I don’t subscribe to living with three t-shirts, one plate and one cup like a lot of people do. It might work well for them and if it does that’s great, but it wouldn’t work for me. Instead, I live with what I see as necessary. In order for an item to remain in my house it has to be either: Functional Something that enriches my life Sentimental (to a point) I could easily move about my home and explain why I have each and every item. So yes, you can expect to find candles around the rooms. Not for decorative clutter, but because candles help me to unwind after a …

Minimalism: Living life with your favourite things

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Minimalism is often perceived as people living with the bare necessities. Two jumpers, one pair of jeans and a house with functional furniture but nothing more. A lot of people tend to see it as a challenge or game. ‘You own 3 plates, and yet I own one and therefore I am clearly more minimalist than you’ For many people, this might be their vision of minimalism. I personally see minimalism as living my life without the clutter. Removing the stuff which drains my energy, dominates my time and does not contribute to my overall happiness. In a nutshell minimalism is about identifying the people, experiences, material possessions and goals that add value to your life, and the ones that don’t. Too often we get caught up doing what we think we should be doing, such as working 60 hour weeks because society tells us that’s important if we want to be successful, when really we should be using those hours to do the things we love. Even if that is just curling up to …

Minimise Your Media: Take Back Your Shelves

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How are your spare surfaces and shelves occupied in your home? Are they filled with things you treasure, things with a purpose, and things that enrich your life? Or are they filled with old books you won’t read again, DVD’s you’ve seen twice but also have saved on your hard-drive, and CD’s when you no longer have a machine to play them? Too often we collect what is familiar, and what we once treasured, because we associate warm nostalgic feelings with it. I have three shelving units in my house, and I would say that over 90% of the space on them is used to store books. However the books on there are books that I or my husband place great value in. Perhaps we will read them again, maybe they are books waiting to be lent to friends and family because we enjoyed them so much, or they could be ones we are keeping for our children to read one day. We used to have so many more. I mean hundreds. Now I see …

Salt wick Bay Yorkshire Painting

Minimise Your Possessions: Clear your walls and surfaces.

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It’s more unusual to find a house without decorative items accessorising the walls, window sills, mantelpiece and shelves, than to find one with. We have become naturally accustomed to furnishing our habitats with personalised items that make us feel more ‘at home’ within our surroundings. Photographs of special moments, art we are particularly fond of, and small pieces of memorabilia fill our surfaces of each of our rooms. This is all okay, as long as you are not furnishing for the sake of furnishing. There are several reasons why I try to limit what is on my sides and surfaces at home: Time It takes longer to clean a room if you have to dust under and around various ornaments, frames, decorative bowls and mirrors. I only have a few key pieces which I really value in each room, making it much easier to clean my house and spend my time doing something far more enjoyable such as curling up with a good book. Money I could spend £10 on that new candle, £20 on …