MY MINIMALISM JOURNEY + RESOURCES TO HELP YOU WITH YOURS
Disclaimer: I don't truly identify as a minimalist. At least not a textbook minimalist. But it definitely sounds better than a much longer title. Basically, this is just my journey on learning how to live with less.
I can't really pinpoint exactly when my journey to living with less started, to be honest. I do know that it first started with clothes though. I had just started my first big girl, corporate job in late summer 2015, and was browsing Pinterest for tips on how to build a professional wardrobe. I believe that's when I discovered capsule wardrobes.
What is a Capsule Wardrobe?
A capsule wardrobe is a collection of essential, timeless clothes, shoes, and accessories in one's wardrobe. I was shocked people actually did this, and I must admit that I thought it was a bit extreme, but something about it intrigued me so I researched it more. Before I knew it, I was standing in my closet sorting through what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to give and throw away. That's about as far as I got because soon after that I was hit with big life changes. So needless to say, my capsule wardrobe and wanting to declutter and simplify all flew out of the window.
Then in March 2016, Toby and I started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. While I never had a real issue with shopping and buying all the things (I'm pretty frugal by nature), part of me definitely had some tendencies to purchase things and live a bit above my means in some areas to keep up with the Joneses. Another part of me found a bit of my identity in what I had. And another part of me just plain 'ol thought I deserved it because I had a long 40+ hour week, gosh darn it!
But as the nine weeks went on and we learned more about being financially responsible, I also began researching not just capsule wardrobes, but also living a simpler, decluttered and content life. By late spring, I had made my first capsule wardrobe, got rid of 80 percent of my clothes (and to Toby's shock, some of his...hint ladies, don't. do. that.), and was searching for ways to simplify my home. I even a little bit of what I was up to with this post. Soon after that, I went through just about every category of my life and started throwing things away that I no longer wanted or needed, and organizing as I went. I had organized my home, car, clothes, digital life, emails, relationships, commitments, etc. I didn't want to just stop at the physical clutter in my life.
Was I perfect? No, and I don't plan to be. I really made sure to go slow and to give myself grace. That's one of the main reasons why I won't call myself a minimalist - because when I think of minimalist, I think of rigid rules that I have to abide by, when all I want to do is just declutter and simplify my life. If I have 40 items of clothing in my closet instead of 33 (which seems to be the magic number in the capsule wardrobe world), that's okay. If all areas of my home are decluttered except for my baby boy's thousands of clothes - because come on, tiny clothes are so stinkin' cute - I won't feel a speck of guilt about that (okay, maybe a little because he seems to grow faster than I can get all of those cute outfits on him!).
Like all other areas of my life, I want to have grace and not perfection.
Resources to Help You on Your Journey
Before I end this post, I want to leave ya'll with some resources that I love and that helped me in the beginning:
Be More with Less. I forget how I stumbled upon Courtney's blog, but her posts about learning how to enjoy life with less stuff and busyness really resonated with me, and inspired me to start cutting the unnecessary out of my life. Then I found out she created the Project 333 Challenge - a capsule wardrobe challenge - and that really gave me the inspiration to go ahead and try the whole capsule wardrobe thing.
Unfancy. I believe I first saw a pin about a capsule wardrobe that linked to Caroline's site. She not only blogs about her chic and simple style, but she also gives out really helpful tips on how to curate your own capsule wardrobe and personal style. This post broke down just what a capsule wardrobe is, and this post really helped me build my very first capsule wardrobe.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I'm pretty sure most of you have heard about this book by author Marie Kondo. Within the last couple of years, this book has really become popular, and I've seen tips from this book all over Pinterest, magazines, etc. for quite a while before I went ahead and checked this book out. While I definitely don't agree or follow the whole thanking my items because they basically have souls thing, I liked the practical tips on how to start decluttering and organizing your things, because - let's be honest - the whole figuring out where to start is so overwhelming. But if I can be totally honest, the tips are so useful and popular, that you don't need to read the book, and can just Google or Pinterest Kondo's tips.
Emily Ley. Most of ya'll probably know Emily because of her Simplified Planner. Did you know she also has a blog, and that her blog has some great tips on simplifying as well? She has a "Simplifying 2018 " series on her blog, as well as a 30-day Instagram challenge that I've been trying to follow along with.
So there it is, folks: my journey to a simplified, intentional, live-within-my-means life. I haven't been perfect along this journey, and I still have a ways to go, but I've been enjoying the ride and the fruits of it.