By Darla Youngblood
One out of 4 households have clutter. The average household has 300,000 things in it! When you think about that think of all the money spent on those items and also just how it makes you feel to have that much stuff to clean.
Living like a minimalist is very interesting to me. My boyfriend’s house is definitely a minimalist house! He only has the necessary furniture in each room of his house and nothing else! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I feel so comfortable and relaxed in his house!
I had a storage unit in San Antonio before I moved to Arizona. A friend of mine loaded a pod with everything in that storage unit to move here. That was a little over a year ago. I’ve been working on getting rid of stuff this whole year and I’ve almost got my apartment like I want with only the things that are necessary. Each time I take things to the dumpster I feel more and more less stress and it also has helped tremendously mentally too! I do have a lot of books I plan to donate to a women’s shelter. They have a library and a thrift store both free to the women so I’m happy they are going to a good place. The many photos is my next project to put into photo albums for my daughter and son.
Even if you are one of the people who have 300,000 items in your house you can start to declutter a room at a time. Start with the kitchen. The kitchen we are in cooking 3 times a day and sometimes making snacks in between. Having a kitchen clean everyday is a wonderful thing! It makes cooking so much easier and more enjoyable. Every day find something in your kitchen that you really don’t need and make a box with these items to donate to a thrift store if they are still useable or throw them away if they are not useable. Then after the kitchen do the same declutter process in your living room. These are our most common used rooms and having them clutter free and clean everyday will be a huge improvement for you and your family. And just keep going room by room until you have your home clutter free! This also helps you save money as your no longer buying items to clutter your home.
So think about what living a minimalist lifestyle means to you and take that first step towards freedom!