Why I became a minimalist and how you can too

Recently I became extremely frustrated by the amount of clothes I have managed to accumulate.
I'm the kind of person who wears the same clothes over and over again and so seeing unloved garments spilling out of my wardrobe and drawers seemed completely unnecessary.

I pressed play on a YouTube playlist about minimalism and started to ruthlessly make piles of unwanted clothes on my bedroom floor. After struggling to fit all of my clothes in my wardrobe for a few months I could finally fit everything on the rails and even had hangers to spare! Looking at my bedroom in it's clean and clutter free state was so satisfying and I realised I want to have this feeling as I enter every single room of my house.

I sat down with a well deserved cup of tea and found a TEDx Talks on minimalism.
I'm obsessed with interior design and I've always pictured my adult home as a beautiful, clinical white space with no visible clutter, but yet I am an adult and my vision wasn't reality. I'm sure I'm not the only one that puts things off and imagines this perfect future where your life and your home will finally be what you've always wanted.

I decided in that moment that I needed to take control of not only my home but my life and create what I really want rather than putting it off like I have in the past.

I started small, walking through my house and picking up any nik naks that I didn't particularly want or need. Broken mugs, multiple sets of coloured pencils, ornaments that don't match the decor, it's strange how I've held on to objects over the years without ever thinking why. I promptly began to bin anything that was broken and gather the unwanted things for a trip to the charity shop.

Finally I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. It's true that a home full of clutter will inevitably clutter your mind. Although I didn't realise it at the time, I can now feel the difference. Calming the chaos was so satisfying that I managed to tackle the whole house in less than a week. My guess is that we've managed to cull over half of our possessions and I plan on throwing more and more.

In most aspects I completely boycott the mainstream way of life and so it makes sense for me to reject consumerism and to have fewer material things.
We are programmed to want to spend our money, to buy new clothes, new phones, new cars, to keep on spending until we have none of our wages left. People are competitive with our stuff, we want more stuff and we want better stuff than everyone else. Luckily I've never been interested in spending all of my money on new things, but yet I was keeping hold of things that I had no interest in using anymore, so what was the point?

Now when I decide to go shopping I have a few rules...

1. Do I need this/ will this benefit my life?

2. Will this be timeless? Mainly relevant to home ware and clothes, will I still love this in a few years or is it just a fleeting trend?

3. Would I still buy this if it cost three times the amount? (Since often we buy things purely because we consider them "a bargain").

I'm excited to finish off the process and I can't wait to see how much money I save without mindlessly spending. Let me know if you have tried minimalism or if you know of any minimalist YouTubers that I can get inspiration from!
Thanks for reading

Instagram @wolvesandflames

How I plan and organise...

Admittedly, I'm not always on the ball when it comes to organising my blogging and other aspects of my life, but the majority of the time I'm pretty good at sticking to a plan!

Here are some examples of how I stay organised and motivated to get things done...

Plan thoroughly

I honestly don't think there is an easy way to stay organised. For me the best way is to use my weekly planner and to literally break down every thing I want to get done in the day. I will be very strict with time restraints per task and I will highlight the most important tasks to get done.
Of course I won't always stick to the plan exactly, but usually I will make sure I'm getting the most important things done and then I won't feel as guilty!


Find beautiful stationary

I am obsessed with stationary, and personally I'm more likely to make plans, notes and sketches when I love the book that I'm writing them in. I never fail to visit Paperchase when I'm shopping (all of the photographed books I bought there) and so I'm always updating my notebooks and journals.
I've found it's important to update your notebooks every few months, even if you haven't used up all of the pages yet. Having fresh stationary will keep you motivated to write your schedules and keep on top of your notes.

Separate your notes

It is important for me to have separate spaces when writing down my notes.
I have my 2015 diary that I use to plan pretty much each hour of my day, I keep it quite structured and serious. That makes me more likely to stick to the plans!
Next I have my "Blog posts" notebook, I use this for scribbling down ideas, sketches and pretty much plan out all of my blog content. It is really messy, colourful and creative.
Lastly I have my grey journal, I use this as a diary and write down all of my thoughts and just generally write about what's going on in my life.
I absolutely love writing and I think that keeping a journal helps me to improve my writing skills and keep me in the mood to write and blog

Download the Wunderlist app

I am always most inspired when I am out and about having amazing experiences, but I don't always have a sketchbook or a notebook in my bag. That's why it's so important to utilise either the notes on your phone or to go a step further and download a list app like Wunderlist.

You can make separate lists, e.g work, blogging and home, and then all of your notes will be together in the same place when you need them.

This is what generally keeps me on track with blogging and with general day to day errands.

Please let me know if you have any tips or link me to any similar posts you have because I can always do with more motivation to stay organised!

Instagram @wolvesandflames