Lessons of Simple Living

The past month has seen us doing the job of fixing our home. More of it here. At the same time, it has been a good practice of simple living. As we had to get rid of most of the personal things and hide away some stuff, I found myself in a dream minimalistic setting. Here is what I have learnt so far :))

We took away the bookcase with all the books and my man commented several times: “What kind of house is it with no books? People would think we don’t read”. Well, to be honest, I haven’t missed that bookcase in a month. All the books I read are on my Kindle (and some are from the library). And the home feels more airy. I am a fan of paper books, but in the moment I find living without them not as bad.

In the shower I have now only couple of bottles. I like it. It looks clean and is easy to find what you need.

Wardrobe. I considered myself lucky of having a small walk-in closet. I was happy when waking up I would see all those colors. But when it came time to make this space photo-ready I envied my man who had all his clothes in the wardrobe. While I had to run downstairs where we had more shelve space and hide all my clothes. Every time I try to pull an outfit together, I have to run downstairs and find the thing. And I am not as aware of what I have as I lost my usual system and overview.

So, it resulted in using the same things: one pair of jeans, three skirts, some blouses and t-shirts, two sweatshirts. And I must admit, it feels ok! I like to change an outfit every day, and sometimes I would spend too much time thinking and combining the things. I also would own way too many things, with an overflow of unused items and missing the basics.

But since I have few items (and don’t want to run and search for more downstairs), the process has become easier and faster. It all cooked down to the things that match each other, and I would go in the same outfit two days in the row. But, I must note, it all works well as long as these are the things I love and feel great in.

Would I go all minimalist? Hmm, not really. I like to have my choice of dresses and skirts, and running every day in jeans is not really me (right now). But it has been a good experience since it gave the idea of how I want my wardrobe to work. I want to have enough basic things and items that match easily with each other. They don’t need to be many, but they must be comfortable, of good quality and give me the right feeling.

The same goes for home. It feels spacious and perfect for simple living now. But I know that life brings stuff into my life, and I cannot keep all the surfaces empty of it. But having an empty desk doesn’t make me feel desolated. I have everything I need in its drawers or in the cabinet. So, I really don’t need all the things that used to flood it before. And working in this minimalistic setting feels kind of liberating :))

Before

After

An unintended consequence of the moving plans is the need to declutter – and no need to buy more. So, shopping as an leisure activity gets turned down. I don’t want more things into my home or wardrobe right now. This is also a positive practice, as I get to know how content I can be with spending little (and saving money in the process :)).

So far, so good.  I enjoy the practice, and it is the most important. It is too early to make any conclusions – and honestly, I am more interested in the process of exploring than arriving at any conclusion. Me exploring, just as it should be 🙂

What is your attitude towards simpler living? Do you practice it in any way? Do you have ideas you want to test?