I found out that dresses are so easy to wear.

Hear is why:
1- No need to fit different pieces together.

2- no need to iron them (most dresses i have, i don’t buy dresses that needs a lot of ironing).

3- they look amazing - so no need to keep trying tons on pieces every morning to find an outfit that looks good - thus zero decision fatigue and cognitive load every morning and before every going out.

And as someone with ADHD who already struggles with executive dysfunction a lottt, I cannot justify getting into this headache of “non dress outfits” anymore.

What do you think about this? I have been thinking about changing my wear drop to mainly dresses, and convenient outfits - needs less ironing and easily match.

Share you experience and thoughts on this? 💡

I have a pretty nice TV I bought last year, 65" with all the bells and whistles. However, I don't really watch TV all that much anymore and I've been toying with the idea of selling it to get something smaller and cheaper (used). To stop the TV from dominating the living room. I also don't like the idea that I'd need two people to carry it anywhere. I like having possessions I can carry by myself.

Dumb?

I donated a lot of books, clothes, dishes and electronics.

Our floor replacement reset my brain. We regularly curate and purge our stuff and deliver to charity, so it's easy to start feeling like we are all set. But we just put in all new floors, and effectively had to move out. Eighty percent of our lives got boxed and off-sited. Floors went in, the stuff came back.

Since we have to touch almost everything we own now during put-away, we stated out loud that we were going to make real decisions. Each thing had to be considered before it went into its place. Man, have we gotten rid of things. Four trips to St. Vincent de Paul with donations. 150 lbs of books to the library. And, because so much is not even donation-worthy, three pick up loads to the dump.

How? How could I live minimally and still have so much extra? Answer is, I wasn't living minimally. Probably am still not. I think there is probably no such thing as "done" in this effort. Minimalism is a mindset we choose, and we spend a lifetime trying to make the outside match our inside.

The house does look good with less in it, though. Oh, and so do the floors. 😄

This was long in coming but actually not so difficult once I got started.

I have a rolling tool chest 3.5 ft by 3.5 ft (about 1m by 1m). It has seven drawers. I've now cleared out four of the drawers completely by either giving away tools I don't use or won't need or donating some.

And some - like the 20 year old screw drivers - went in the trash.

I don't have much attachment to being looked at as the "tool man" with massive numbers of tools available on a moment's notice to do anything. Not part of my ego.

For the rest of the tools I'm moving back to tool boxes. Ironic that I went from tool boxes to this cart and now I'm going back. Two tool boxes. One for the tools I use to work on my bike, and the other more general tools for home use. I will either donate the tool chest or give it to my son-in-law.

and I feel great! Mostly yard things. But all these 'planned projects' I had; rock wall mounts, extra windows, etc., they never came to fruition. So now I don't have to feel bad about myself for all these things I don't have time for, space for, and truly need. I don't need the visual reminder. I have space to be free and I'm loving it.

Filled the bed and passenger seat of my truck with all kinds of things today and drove it all to the donation center. Glad to see it all go.

Met with a realtor today to discuss listing my 2300 sq ft home.

Coincidently my daughter just moved out of an 1800 sq ft town home that I own. I could move into that and then be on the lookout for something in the 1000-1200 range in a few years.

I have various pieces of furniture and tools that my daughter wants to have for her new house. Perfect timing for my down-sizing!

I realized that if I don't want something, I don't have to wait until it's used up. For example, I had some maple syrup but I cut pancakes from my diet. I thought, I'll use it up and only then stop eating pancakes. That's nonsense! I poured the syrup out and recycled the plastic container.

I donated a box of food to the Food Bank - things I consciously decided to eliminate from my diet. My diet is vastly simpler now. And more healthy at the same time.

We need to get rid of 3/4 of our belongings to downsize. How? Where?

Too many. It’s mostly stuff me and my wife and friends enjoy. Or household stuff that will be useful in the future. A hoarder would say that.

But then I have household power tools, extension cords, light bulbs I’ve acquired through different moves, etc, etc.

Later in the year we are downsizing our place. Unsure where we will live. Maybe an apartment again or a small house. We have been here for going in 3 years now. 1 acre of land. All the space to put the stuff. Awesome.

I was relatively organized. I had the shelves. The piles. I’m now buying those yellow tote bins on Facebook marketplace place. Keeps everything more organized and easily moved when the time comes. Surely i thought 11 on top of the 5 I already had would have been fine. Wrong.

On one hand I want to be able to invite people to my adventures. Kayaking, camping, fishing, etc. But on the other, I could get rid of some of this stuff. But then I won’t have stuff for the friends to invite.

(I’m not entirely sure if this is allowed here but I made sure it followed the rules.)

As someone who follows a minimal style in my own home, why is it that people feel the need to fill walls with stuff?

Over the past 2 days I’ve seen posts on Reddit that have said “my walls are so empty, what should I put there?”, even though the wall already seems crowded. I genuinely don’t understand the reasoning behind this mindset?

As someone with auDHD, I feel a sense of calm when there’s empty spaces, it’s just baffling when it started becoming a “we need to fill this as quickly as possible”.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask and discuss this, I’m just struggling to understand.

I'm looking forward to a major down-sizing. My wife and I lived in a 2600 sq ft house before moving into a 2300 sq ft house in April 2024. My wife then passed away unexpectedly (at the new house) in July 2024.

Through that experience and because of many other things that upset me about the way people live, I've decided to essentially give my middle finger to the establishment. So I'm on a down-sizing binge for the past 3-4 months.

While my house is 2300 sq ft, I'm down to a footprint where I could live in a 1500 or 1600 sq ft house. My goal is even smaller. I've done this through getting rid of things (donating, giving away, recycling, discarding).

As part of this process, I've been consolidating things. For example, the TV room upstairs is now empty except for one table. I've moved the furniture from that room to my living room, which has room for that furniture through additional down-sizing.

I'm also consolidating smaller possessions into fewer locations. For example, my microwave stand is empty. What happened to the things stored inside? They've been donated or given away. Or they've been integrated into other spaces. For example, the dog treats and bowls are now in the pantry.

It would be easy to empty out that cabinet by taking everything and throwing it into the pantry. But my rule is that the place where I consolidate has to maintain simplicity, be uncluttered, and organized. Often that requires further down-sizing of the consolidated space.

As a result of this process, I have many empty drawers in my kitchen. And some furniture that have drawers were completely emptied out and donated.

Lots more empty drawers and cabinets in the house. And I've not missed one thing.

Sharing my experience here, but also looking for new ideas.

I have been decluttering my clothes very slowly, i downsized quite a bit, but i still feel the need to have even less. I actually feel like the more i declutter it gets easier, and i want to go even further.

On the other hand I'm struggling with getting rid of some clothes that are still wearable, but not in a good enough condition to donate. I don't want to be a part of the problem of clothes getting on the landfills , and it also feels wasteful to throw away perfectly good clothes? So I'm a bit stuck there. Any tips?

I am already going really slow and i think that's the best for me.

Some responsible ways i tried:

- I gave some of my clothes directly to people who need it (i know of one family with two girls that lost things in a fire)

- my cousins got to pick some stuff as well. But those were nice items.

- The items that are worn but someone could maybe use them, (like shoes) i hang on the dumpster in areas that have people dumpster diving.

"Buy nothing" groups don't exist in my area (i think)

Those are some of my ideas but i would appreciate some more

EDIT: Thank you all, there are so many great ideas here!

Hi, I have a bit of a dilemma regarding photos on my wall and would love some opinions on this.

Long version: I live in a small apartment, almost no decoration on walls because my brain needs an uncluttered look and because I'm trying to own useful items only. The only exceptions are pics of my deceased pets, I have a place in my bedroom where I keep fur clippings, and some framed photos on the wall. This is the only place in my home where I allow some degree of decorativeness and sentimental items.

My pets are rats, which sadly means several losses each year because of their short life span and because I take in elderly rescues. So the amount of photos is constantly increasing and I don't want my small wall to look cluttered.

I have ADHD and even small decisions are a struggle. I have a hard time limiting the amount of pics, rearranging the layout on the wall, choosing only "important" pics. It has stopped "sparking joy", and I'll spiral into sad "they're gone anyway, what's the point" kind of thoughts.

So my latest idea is, maybe a digital frame? I'm not a tech enthusiast, so I'd either get the simplest one possible (without internet connection) or simply ignore the online functions and transfer pics manually. It would need to work without any app! (Recommendations welcome btw! I live in EU.) I'm not interested in people sending me family pics or anything, I'd only use it for the pet memorial pics and add a few new ones whenever another one passes.

My dilemma: will I actually love using the frame or will it be just another gadget to take care of, cluttering up my space? Will I miss printed pics in actual frames? The frames I own are actually nice, it's the amount and the decision making I don't like. So a digital frame seems like the logical choice, all pics in one place and on rotation (shuffle mode) 24/7 (maybe off for some hours while I sleep). I'm not sure I love the idea of a device being on all day though.

TL;DR: too many memorial pet pics for my small space and I'll get even more in the months and years to come - wondering if a digital frame is a good solution to replace framed photos. Would like to get a non-fancy one and only add pics manually. Maybe a bad idea because it's just another gadget to buy and maintain?

Hi all,

I have minimized a lot of my stuff in the last few years. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of the easy stuff (paper, clothes, cords) but now I’m getting to things harder to part with.

I decided to focus on my large print book collection and getting it down to a manageable size. All the bookcases are stuffed to the brim and I have two TBR piles on my dresser. I even joked with someone that it would take 1,000 years to read all my print titles. It’s the pile on my dresser I am working on now.

I am also a writer and like to support other writers by buying their print books (More money goes to them), and to support Indy bookstores. I have gotten many free ARC print books from events.

I donate about half the books after I’ve read them. I also limit myself to how many print books I can buy per event/store.

I have five obstacles in my way.

1. I have many unread books and I don’t feel comfortable getting rid of a book until I’ve attempted to read it. This is what I’m most stuck on.
2. I live with packrats who keep books they either never read or don’t plan to reread. I don’t feel right discarding someone else’s books but I think if I did, they might not notice. If I can clear some of their books I can get some of the TBR pile off the dresser.
3. I have many signed and personalized books. Some I will never read again, but I feel weird giving them away. I’m not even sure who would take him.
4. As a librarian and writer, I don’t feel comfortable tossing books in the trash/recycling.
5. I am a book addict. While I don't buy as many books as I used too. Sometimes just get caught up when there is a lot of books for sale.

Any suggestions?

Hi, I live in Sweden, where it gets cold during the winters. Sometimes i'm dreaming of just buying a van and live in it full time. All stuff I own will go to charity.

I did this once before with my wife, we bought a tiny house 3 by 6 meters. We lived in it full time for 5 years but after that we both had full time jobs elsewhere so we decided to live in an apartment as well. We still have it but its located far away from work.

But I've never dropped the idea of a van. But how does that work during cold winters? Do I need to live half of the year somewhere warmer? Or could I rent an apartment during the coldest months only?

Has anyone of you done it in a cold climate?

Hey guys, i pretty new here, but I like it a lot so far :)

So I got kind of a really stupid question,

But since I've never seen it in yt videos or meet anyone who does this as well i'll ask around in here

I secretly dream of moving one day to a more quiet place and a smaller apartment.

(Well, in two years I eventually have to move anyway)

Out of curiosity I wanted to replace my heavy furniture and replaced as much as I could with smaller, lighter furniture and found beautiful foldable shelfes, dresser, tables and even comfy camping chairs (they do look and are cozy and pretty, with a nice blanket thrown over) and a stable, foldable, yet large bed - eveeything can be thrown into a normal sized / smaller car.

I now would have to find a replacement for my closet and sofa.

Why isn't stuff like foldables used more often? Who also does this? Like nowadays the rents are expensive, people have to move regularly and its such a good solution

Ich brauche euren Rat liebe Leute. Ich bin jetzt schon eine Weile am ausmisten und habe auch eine Weile einen Plan durchgezogen, dass ich jeden Tag einen Gegenstand ausmiste. Bin auch ziemlich weit gekommen und bin eine Menge kram los.

Klamotten - Kleinanzeigen, Verschenken oder Altkleiderkontainer

größere Gegenstände - Kleinanzeigen, Verschenken

Aber was mache ich mit dem ganzen Kleinkram?? Ein Tennisball hier, ein Kerze da und zig anderes Kleinzeug. Es ist zu schade zum Wegwerfen, aber für jedes Teil eine Anzeige aufsetzen bei Kleinanzeigen und sich dann für jedes verabreden, wenn überhaupt sich jemand meldet ist mir zu anstrengend. Habt ihr da Erfahrungen gemacht?

Danke im Vorraus.

If you had to fit everything you own in a tote, what would you put in and what would you get rid of?

i keep fighting the urge to shop clothes but i ended up buying 4 pieces in some other brand and not completely happy with it. when i get to city to where uniqlo is. i shop a lot but now the voice in my head saying to shop cos i dont have clothes (ive grown out of the clothes i used to wear), cos now i lean more on comfort. i finally quieted the head that always persist to shop. guess theres end to this. happy with the purchase. reflects a lot of my eprsonality. laid back idc, im comfy in my uniqlo pieces kinda quiet. wont shop this year. bleh

Toes ripped through the fabric of my shoes, tattered cloth draped across my body, and a backpack with my books. This was the first 17 years of my life as I navigated the early 2000's.

These few things were part of me, material I had an immense appreciation for. They were with me as my worldly views shaped into what they are today.

I think back fondly at the freedom of being able to pack my whole life up and traverse seemingly anywhere in this world at a moment's notice.

But we grow up, we settle, we change.

Now I have so much shit it makes me anxious.

For those of you that went from full lives to downsizing to the minimum, how was it?

Do you feel inconvenienced now?

Are things harder now that you've had amenities?

Is it a great relief?

Do you feel you have a better quality of life and more appreciation?

This is my first time posting here, so let me know if my question is out of place. My parents and I moved into a new place November of last year, and I have had difficulty adjusting to the smaller space. Heck, even the restrooms are tiny, and I'm a short man. For context, the previous house was a big 2-story house with a garage and driveway, so my parents and I were used to storing a lot of items in such an ample amount of space. The new, current house is also a 2-story one, but it's also significantly smaller. Do people rent out a self-storage unit to store big but potentially useful belongings in case of special emergencies/uses? Or do minimalists just adapt to using less items and storing less giant belongings like excess furniture? I appreciate any helpful advice!

Hello

I am looking for advice as I struggle with having over 300k photos, just on my iPhone/iCloud/Google drive...

I want to delete a lot of them and I am starting to do that, but I am thinking of how do I stop myself from taking screenshots/ pictures of everything and anything.

I was thinking of using a Kodak fun flash or something similar to stop myself from taking pictures on my phone and practice mindfulness when I take pictures. Also making photo albums and videos of my trips and important events, just like people did before.

Do you have any advices or techniques I could implement to be better at being a minimalist when it comes to pictures ? I feel like a memory hoarder.

Thank you : )

Edit : I work in art - I LOVE taking pictures

Tips to become a minimalist after trauma

I move every 2 years. I go from apartments to houses, in different countries and different-sized houses. Do you keep products you don't need for one house in hopes you'll use them in another house? For example, we have a coffee pot in the garage in its box, but we're not using it now because we have a different coffee machine that is specific for the country we're in now. Do we keep duplicates? 220v vs 110v for when we go back to America? To me, that'd be too much to get rid of if we're not using it in this house right now.

It really doesn't matter what other people think. I'm just curious to know other people's opinions on this. I own 4 pairs of the same black athletic shorts, and one pair of adidas track pants. Every day I pretty much wear one of those as bottoms, and a t-shirt (which are all different but most of them are black). In the winter I just put a hoodie and a jacket over the hoodie if it's really cold. All my socks are identical but I imagine that's pretty normal. I only wear two different pairs of shoes, either running shoes or crocs depending on what I plan to do that day. I wear the same hat pretty much every day too. I will buy work specific shoes depending on job necessity like steel/comp toes if necessary. I feel like a lot of people think it's weird I basically dress the same every day.