4 ways minimalism will improve your life

Ms Rona (or COVID-19 if you’re feeling formal) taught us a hella lot of life lessons. Like taking a seat at the optometrist, suddenly we saw all sorts of things clearly. It definitely helped us see that a few things in life like family, friends and freedom really mattered, but a lot of stuff… didn’t.

Enter: minimalism. The thought here is by cutting out all the random stuff we accumulate in our lives, we’ve got more time and energy to focus on the things that actually matter. Minimalism is having quite a moment thanks to advocates like Mari Kondo and Kim K (if you haven’t seen her minimalist home in her Vogue 73 Questions, it’s a must). And whether you’d like to try a bit in your life by de-cluttering your room (prepare to find all those seven billion missing hair ties), having one browser tab open at a time (mission impossible), or finally creating that capsule wardrobe you’ve always craved, here are the surprising ways you’ll benefit.

Oh, and if you’re on board, join us to buy what you need, hire what you desire.

— Walk right in

1. You quit comparing

‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’ Amen to that.

We waste so much energy in thinking about what we don’t own, we forget to appreciate everything that’s possible and right at our fingertips.

With minimalism, you focus less on ownership, less on what others are doing and more on deciding what you want in the moment. And you might just feel more like yourself.

2. You’ve got room to experiment

One in three young British women considers clothes ‘old’ after wearing them once or twice. This is the pace of life today. We’re always on the move and constantly reinventing ourselves.

If we don’t own our clothes, we’ve got much more freedom to experiment and try new things. That might be fashion. It might be travelling. Without anything weighing you down, the world feels like your oyster.

Buy what you need, hire what you desire

3. You appreciate things more

When you’ve got a stuffed-to-bursting wardrobe, it’s hard to value individual pieces. And it’s easy to forget the environmental cost in making each garment.

By renting garments rather than owning them, you start to notice the details in each one again.

But you can also fall in and out of love with each one without any sense of responsibility or guilt.

4. You figure out what’s important to you

The things we love most in life are rarely material possessions. That’s not to say we need to live like a monk all of a sudden. It’s just that when our lives are overwhelmed with stuff and busyness, there’s a chance we might lose sight of the things that give us a sense of passion and drive. Suddenly, we rediscover what gives us that gut feeling of when something feels right.

Sometimes to find out what matters, we need to cleanse ourselves of everything that does not.

©Anna Foster