Decluttering
How To Easily Start Thinking Minimalistically
Is it easy start living your life minimalistically? What does
What is a minimalist?
A minimalist is a person who deliberately reduces the number of possessions they own to only keep what is truly necessary. A minimalist is usually a person who values experiences over possessions and is someone who is mindful of their impact on society, the environment and others. there are many other ways to live minimalistically than to just get rid of your clutter.
How to start living minimalistically
There are many things we own which we do not need, and many things we have an abundance of which we could share with others;
- Food
- Time
- Knowledge
- Possessions
- Money
If you’re anything like me, you have a constant battle to justify donating items which may have been a gift from a loved one or something that had a hefty price tag and has never been worn.
There are certain things we could easily give away without any guilt at all, our time and money are just a couple of examples.
How To Donate your Time.
Time is probably the most precious thing any of us have to give, and one which is appreciated by many people in need, there are many different ways we could give our time to help someone else
- Helping an elderly neighbour with shopping or chores
- Walking an elderly neighbours dog
- Helping a new mum with childcare
- Volunteering at a charitable organization
- Running a marathon for charity
- Help to teach kids to read at your local school
- Helping out at a local food bank
Simplifying our calendars to be less busy frees up some time to enable us to choose to give a little back. Just giving a couple of hours a week can make all the difference to someone in need.
The less busy we make ours and our children’s lives, the more time we have to give to others, whether its family or to the community
How To Donate Money.
- When we reduce the amount of money we spend on things we don’t need, the easier it is to stay out of debt and the easier it is to give to a favourite charity.
- Stay out of debt by spending less than you earn, put any spare money after bills into an emergency fund, staying out of debt allows us to start saving money and be in a position to give a little back.
- Set up a monthly direct debit to your favourite charity for as much or little as you can afford.
- Raise money to donate by doing something you’ve always wanted to do, such as run a marathon, skydive or hold a coffee morning.
- Teach your kids the importance of giving to charity, help them raise money to give to their local charity.
How To Donate Food.
- Food banks and shelters for the homeless are always grateful for food and things like shower gel and shampoo. Shelters for the homeless also need coats, gloves and scarves in cold weather, and blankets, duvets, pillows and sleeping bags throughout the year.
- Women’s shelters and safe houses need food, sanitary products, laundry powders, toilet rolls, and clothes and toys for children too.
- Animal shelters need huge amounts of food to give to the rescue animals whilst they wait for new homes. You can give tins of wet food or large bags of dry food. they are also grateful for bedding, pillows blankets for the animals to sleep on.
How to donate your unwanted stuff to charity
- The unwanted stuff we keep stashed in our closets and overstuffed drawers will make someone else very happy, give it a new home, and create some space in your own home.
- Gadgets are improving and changing at such an alarming rate that it is very hard to keep up with today’s technology, we all have a gadget graveyard in our house somewhere which is crammed with spare leads from forgotten computers or tablets, old mobile phones from the 90’s never to be charged again! Many charities have places where you can donate your old mobile phones and other gadgets.
- Old spectacles, there are many opticians who collect old spectacles to send to people in need, all you need to do is drop them off and they will do all the rest for you!
- If you’re struggling to donate an item of clothing you’ve never worn or an unwanted gift from a favourite family member read some of my tips on how to declutter here.
- Decluttering kids unused toys and outgrown clothes are another great way to give to charity read how I created a capsule wardrobe for my kids here.
- Kitchen gadgets which never get used could be useful for other people, learn how to declutter and organise your kitchen here.
- I love purchasing my books from a charity shop, there’s something exciting about finding the book you’ve been looking forward to reading at a fraction of the cost in a charity shop. For ideas on how to declutter your bookshelves, you can read more here.
Further reading you may like
How I Started Living With Less.
How to declutter When Your Partner Isn’t On Board ~ Simple tips to cut through the clutter!
How I Banish Visual Clutter From Our Home.
For further reading on minimalism, you may enjoy my favourite bloggers The Minimalists.
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