How to embrace a minimalist home lifestyle in 2021

The adage of quality over quantity is easy to say but harder to stick to. Here’s how to adapt to a new trend and get the most out of life.

I used to get really sick of hearing the phrase ‘money doesn’t make you happy’. Because I really think I could be so much happier if I had a lot more of it!

In my line of work, I’m lucky I get to meet a lot of people who have a ton of it — and I love having the opportunity to ask them if having lots of money makes them happy. Most of them just say that it buys them a better quality of misery (oh, boohoo!).

But one thing that wealthy people do seem to say in common is that minimalism is the key to happiness. That it isn’t the quantity of ‘things’, but having what you need, a few items you love and nothing else.

And I actually think that there might be something to it.

Living with less stuff? Well, I’m there already! Here are some of the advantages of living a more minimalistic life:

One thing that wealthy people do seem to say in common is that minimalism is the key to happiness. Picture: iStcok

Minimalists are more organised and therefore neater

Because minimalists have fewer things, it is easier to organise what they do have. If you have loads of ‘stuff’, consider decluttering and sorting the items that you need, rather than accumulating a lot of stuff that you don’t.

A wardrobe is a really great place to start. We wear 20 per cent of our clothing 80 per cent of the time, so any item you have never worn or doesn’t fit either sell, give away or donate it.

Other things to ditch include:

● Any item that is scratchy, itchy, ill-fitting or uncomfortable;

● Colours that don’t suit you;

● Items that just feel “wrong” when you wear them.

Imagine going to your wardrobe and knowing that you will wear every single item in there. A capsule wardrobe is a perfect example of a minimalist wardrobe. Every item in a capsule wardrobe has been thought-out, will match other items,
fits well and you look and feel fabulous wearing them.

Minimalists don’t “add to cart” when they are feeling sad. They replace what is worn out and know that any item of clothing they invest in will suit their colour, style and figure. Remember, minimalism doesn’t mean always tidy, it just means easily tidied!

There are lots of ways to be a minimalist with kids. Picture: iStock

Minimalists deal with a piece of paper once

Do you have a huge pile of paper lying around that you will get around to filing one of these days — then you can’t find the one piece of paper when you need it the most? Yeah, that’s annoying.

Minimalists deal with any paper a single time. Bills get scheduled for payment right away, or papers get filed or forms filled out and are ready to be posted. Other bits of paper are recycled or shredded and disposed of right away.

Although I love this idea — and knowing where everything is for easy recall sounds like a dream come true — it sounds like you have to be uber-organised to achieve it. I can’t imagine dealing with all the mail while getting the kids to put lunch boxes on the bench and uniforms in the washing machine, all while scheduling bills.

Minimalists buy quality items and will repair them when they break. Picture: iStock

Minimalists repair or replace

We live in a disposable society. When things break, the trend is to throw them away. Minimalists buy quality items and will repair them when they break down and will only replace items that have worn out.

My clothes dryer (yes, expensive to run I know, but essential with kids in the house) stopped working and I started looking at new ones. They started at $500 for a basic model. My partner actually took it down and replaced a bearing. Total cost, $4.

That has changed how I think about items around the house, that maybe I can YouTube a tutorial on fixing simple items rather than just adding to landfill.

So next time you are feeling emotional and want to do a bit of shopping therapy, stop and consider if you really, really, really need it — because it won’t make you happy in the long run.

Jody Allen is the founder of mothers’ network Stay At Home Mum.

Originally published as How to embrace a minimalist home lifestyle in 2021