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04.09.2021

Minimalism as a lifestyle

Keep, sell, give away and dispose of – with the help of minimalism to more freedom and quality of life. How it works? We have summarized the meaning, some advantages and disadvantages, the most important three principles and a few tips for a good start in minimalism.

What exactly is minimalism?

In contrast to the consumption-oriented affluent society, minimalists concentrate on the really important things and are very happy to part with all the superfluous and material goods that do not make them happy.

In short, minimalism means nothing more than tidying up your life and creating structure. This way of living and livestyle does not only refer to material things, but also to what should be important to each of us.

For many minimalists, this includes the following areas of life

Health
Relationship / friendship
Passion
Life quality
Satisfaction
Personal development

However, this movement has numerous characteristics and cannot simply be viewed subjectively. What is vital for one person may be a burden for another. Let’s take the topic of mobility, for example. Consciously deciding whether or not to have your own vehicle could be much easier in Zurich than it is in a remote village.

This way of life is not about poverty or stinginess, but rather about reclaiming our freedom, our time and our living space. With the help of minimalism, we can easily find out what we really need, what stands in our way or even burdens us.

Through a minimalist lifestyle to a better quality of life

Space for something new – Having fewer possessions makes it easier for us to respond to new situations and to go away for a few days, weeks or months without a guilty conscience. We have arrived faster in the new life and are well organized.

Our time is valuable – instead of wasting it looking for very rarely used items, less ownership means faster cleaning and less space, in addition to the advantage of a clearer order.

More money for other things – By selling items that are no longer needed, buying fewer new ones and using them for longer, you not only give your things a second life, you also save a lot of money in the process.

For our environment – Less consumption and ownership means less money wasted when shopping more consciously and, for example, food that has to be thrown away.

Less fear of loss – The more we own, the greater the fear of losing something can become. Letting go and lugging less around in your life backpack boosts our self-confidence and reduces the fear of losing something.

Less sensory overload – a Whatsapp message, a short internet research, a little radio and a good film on TV, all of this can put us in a stressful situation and throw us completely off track. Fewer stimuli also means more rest for ourselves.

Minimalism and its disadvantages

Compulsive and exaggerated minimalism – as with many things, there are well-intentioned ideas in minimalism that then completely degenerate. Better be a good role model and don’t force your lifestyle on anyone. Each of us must realize that if we overdo it and try to force something on others, we are excluding ourselves.

The three principles of minimalism

Principle I – Use it or lose it

As you have already read in our post, there is no standard solution or prescription for a minimalist lifestyle, what we can do without depends heavily on our work, our living circumstances and our environment.

Key questions for the importance check:

What do I really need?
What is valuable to me?
Which things get their own place with me and which ones are not worth it?

Principle II – Make money, bring joy and dispose of it

The items we classify as non-essential have a history, just like we do. Simply disposing of them would be neither appreciative nor sensible. It is therefore important to consider whether we can improve our household budget by selling these things.

To decide this, you can ask yourself the following questions for the relevant items:

Is it worth the effort and are the proceeds high enough?

Is it enough if I advertise the items for sale at the flea market or should I sell them online?

If the effort is significantly higher than the return to be achieved, it might make someone else happy. It is important that we do not let too much time pass between the decision to “let go” and the actual “doing”.

Principle III – It pays to look twice

So that the newly created space is not filled with unnecessary and burdensome objects, we should examine every new acquisition and every purchase decision even more closely.

Is this new purchase really necessary?
Do I really like what is to be acquired?
Am I buying the right quality?

It’s not always necessary to have an answer to every question, but questioning makes us think, which ultimately allows us to make better purchasing decisions. However, the ecological aspect should also be taken into account when answering the question “Do we really need this object?”.

In order not to have to go through the whole process again at some point, the following additional rules can offer us good support:

With every new purchase, an old item has to leave the house.

Quality before price – it’s better to wait a little longer for it, but have more of it in the long term.

In the event of a defect, either do without the item entirely or arrange for an appropriate repair.

Theme of the day

“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”

How it all starts

For starters, you can begin with the following starting ideas:

Rummage Office – Now go through your office and pick up 3-5 items that you haven’t used in over a year. Now it’s “keep, sell, give away or dispose of”. Now it’s up to you.
Off to the garage – are all the means of transport in it really still needed? How far is your commute to work, would switching to a bicycle be a good alternative?
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the most clothes in their closet – How many of the clothes stored in them are you actually still wearing? A family whose income is significantly lower than yours is definitely looking forward to a new outfit. Make this available to them via a clothing donation.

If you make it a habit to consciously walk through the room from time to time and sell, give away or dispose of everything that has become superfluous, is no longer needed or you simply no longer like, there will rarely be anything left to steal your space and weigh you down.

Start now and get to know the many advantages of more appreciation, time for more important things and a better quality of life for yourself. We wish you a lot of fun with the implementation.

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