Everywhere we turn, minimal is around. With the well-deserved love for Marie Kondo's style of living, (just don't mention the outrage of throwing out our beloved books) it seems as everyone is adopting a new lifestyle - minimal. Reducing our carbon footprint by stopping to buy fast moving consumer goods that clog up your mind and home, apparently.
However, is this a one fits all approach?
I would say no, but the #minimalliving tag on Instagram with over 46.2k posts seems to disagree with me. As a sustainable company, we encourage this and living mindfully. Perhaps being surrounded by items chosen by quality rather than quantity could do you some good? We are in the process of moving our storage centre here at The Good Aura Company HQ and are overwhelmed with boxes, candles, wax and more. Simply tidying up and recycling seems to be having a positive effect all around, we use and give away candles that don't make the cut (it doesn't happen often!), are cutting down on disposable and recyclable materials and whilst buying furniture for our new HQ, first consider these three questions:
- Is it useful?
- Is it beautiful?
- Does it spark joy?
If you get two out of three yes to the above, then it'll be in the new HQ. If not, it goes.
So, you want to live minimally but don't know where to start?
First of all, do not start late at night spontaneously. Before you know it, you'll have everything in the house pulled out, and as much as you will want to go to sleep, you may be inclined to finish what you started. Plan when you are going to do your cleanse. Have a day in mind and work towards that.
If you have not used it in the last year, it goes. There's no point holding on to 'what if' options, they just gather dust.
Speaking of dust, get rid of dust gathering items! Such as potpourri, ornaments and useless items that you do not really like, but just seem to have. They've gotta go!
Put on your favourite album, light a candle and have a bottle of water near you whilst you work.
Consider a capsule wardrobe. Think about all of the items that you wear the most, set them aside and donate anything that you have not worn in the last year. Items that you have meant to be altered, or just do not fit right or ride down constantly when you are walking. Remember, your items can be both functional and beautiful!
Use Freegle, Freecycle, eBay or Shpock to sell or donate the items that you no longer want, or find a skip near you.
Finally, do not compare yourself to those perfect Instagram homes that seem to be flooding your feed. Remember, you do not know what is on the other side of the pantry door!
Love and light
The Good Aura Company