Simplicity and de-cluttering can bring balance, freedom, joy – and a new perspective on what is truly important. Especially now, while we enter the fourth week of staying home in New Zealand, you may be noticing more than usual the items in your home that don’t need to be there, add clutter – or even downright annoy you.

Author Joshua Becker created a list of what he believes are the 10 most important things to simplify in your life to allow space where you can begin living a more balanced, more joyful lifestyle.

It got us thinking… there’s a lot more to this de-cluttering minimalism gig than taking a few boxes to the local op shop!

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Recognise what you truly value

What do you want more of?

Adventure?
Time with your kids?
Sleep?
A healthy lifestyle?
Spare money?
A clean home?
Quality time with true friends?

Whatever they are, we’re betting the majority of ‘things’ on your list won’t be things.

Would you be happier without…

Friends who take lots of time and energy?
A thankless job with long hours?
Boxes of clothes you never wear?
Debt and bills?
Sleepless nights?
Fast low quality food?
Screen time?

What are the things in your life costing you time and money and giving you no happiness?

Our de-cluttering challenge

If you take one thing off your ‘without‘ list, can you add to your ‘more‘ list?

If you spend an hour less a day on social media, can you get some extra sleep, call a close friend and reconnect, spend time playing in the garden with your children?

If you sell the unused items around your home, can you afford a dream family holiday?

If you spend less time on people who don’t nurture you in return, will you be free to take up Pilates, or running, or plan healthy meals?

Will removing all the trinkets and spare clothes, dishes, furniture and decorations that you no longer love mean your home is more spacious and easier to keep tidy?

For creating a less cluttered home, we recommend using this incredibly minimalist checklist to decide what to keep and what to gift:

IS IT USEFUL? IS IT BEAUTIFUL?

Useful items are used – often!

This is where good kitchen knives stay, the blunt ones are sharpened, and the broken ones go.

Don’t peel potatoes? See ya potato peeler!

Those cushions that fall on the floor each time someone sits down – gonzo.

Shoe with a broken heel that you never got around to taking to the cobbler? Bye!

The corner table where old letters get left.

The second hairdryer in case you need it one day.

All the clothes you never wear anymore.

Beauty: in the eye of the beholder

You may have a dining table that belonged to your Nana – it doesn’t suit your decor, but you love it and remember her famous cakes.

A painting that lifts your heart every time you look at it. Beautiful.

Well made wine glasses that make you feel like a queen while you sip.

Quality tools designed to last a lifetime.

That black dress that cost far too much but looks simply incredible. And the Italian boots.

Stylish steel storage food containers that stack perfectly – and mean no gladwrap.

BEGIN WITH SMALL STEPS

Once your home is a place of beautiful, useful things, you can apply the same logic to removing the clutter and stress from your lifestyle.

Focus your energy and love on the friends and family who make your days richer.

Say no more often – and don’t feel you need to say why.

Choose less, more wisely. We are surrounded by cheap impulse buys and constant advertisements that make it easy to buy things we don’t want or need and won’t value. A beautiful, useful (ethical, natural, cruelty free) item will give you more pleasure and you will use it for longer – and you will have saved money by not succumbing to other temptations – that you can save towards your big-ticket goals!

Deciding that you need less also means you can be more thoughtful in which work you choose to do. And working less means more time for that ‘more’ list you wrote above.

Be thoughtful with your time. Whatever you choose to do today, you are giving up a day of your life to do it.

“The Sun will rise and set regardless.
What we choose to do with the light while it’s here is up to us.
Journey wisely.” – Alexandra Elle

Create a life worth living – not a life filled with commitments and ‘stuff’!

Minimalist natural heroes

We love multi-use minimalist products that serve more than one purpose, work well and smell great, making your day that little bit more beautiful and less cluttered. Choose from cleaning products that lend a hand in all sorts of situations, and body and beauty products that can be used for more than one purpose!