Living a minimalist life

Organising your closets, cleaning out drawers and throwing out trinkets: a growing number of people are realising that a house filled with clutter is more likely to make them miserable than happy and are switching to a minimalist lifestyle. What are the benefits? And what does it take? We explain all.

With both online retailers and high-street discounters such as Primark and Action having made it all too easy for us in recent years to buy something new virtually every week – a top here, a bauble there – our homes are just about bursting at the seams. Now, a growing group of people are becoming aware of an odd dichotomy. We’re constantly told that we need to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, yet we’ve never bought as much useless stuff – most of which we end up barely using at all.

Minimalism is the magic word: it’s about wanting less, rather than more. This means getting rid of the clutter not just in our home, but in our head as well. We process so much information every day – anything from social media to news to advertising – that we have a strong desire to enter into Zen mode. We feel the urge to reorient and reorganise our lives – both the physical ‘stuff’ around us and on social media and elsewhere – out of a need to clear our heads and regain control over our lives.

Buy nothing for 7 days

Sounds good, you might think, but what does a minimalist life actually involve? The answer is really very simple, as minimalism is about going back to basics – and that extends into every part of our lives. There’s more to minimalism, then, than keeping a clean and tidy home: it’s also about being satisfied with what you’ve got, avoiding overstimulation, taking time out at regular intervals, not letting social conventions dictate your life, and ‘following your bliss’ – doing what truly makes you happy.

A good start is to give something away to someone every day for a month, or not buying anything for seven days. Unsubscribe from emails informing you of the latest bargains, spend only one hour a day checking and responding to email, meditate for 15 minutes, disable all your app notifications and forget about the goals you have set for yourself. Make choices that suit you and make you feel comfortable, so you’ll be able to maintain your new, minimalist lifestyle over the longer term.

Former corporate professionals

The big question is what this pared-down lifestyle really does for you. What are the benefits?
According to The Minimalists – aka Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn – it reduces stress, feelings of discontent, and hassle, and increases passion, freedom, happiness, engagement and creativity. In their Netflix documentary Minimalism, the duo – both of whom turned their backs on successful corporate careers to embrace their new lifestyle – show that having less stuff means finding more time to do things that really matter, like spending time with friends and playing with your children.

Other celebrity decluttering gurus, such as Francine ‘Miss Minimalist’ Jay and Marie Kondo, preach a similar message. Both have millions of followers who take their advice as gospel. In their world, cleaning out a closet is never just cleaning out a closet, but the first step towards a new life: one where what matters is not accumulating even more gadgets or buying an even more expensive car, but about family, personal growth and friendship. Call it happiness, if you like.

Just get started

You might get a bit anxious at the idea of throwing out your stuff, but most people experience a wonderful sense of calm as soon as they start their first great purge. Why? It’s pretty simple: all the things we buy and own require upkeep. Pots and pans, radios, shoes, iPads, cars, clothes and air fryers: they all need to be cleaned, maintained, repaired, replaced… The emptier your closets and cupboards, the more time and energy you will have to devote to other things.

Here’s an example: if you were to reduce the number of clothing items in your wardrobe from 200 to 24 for autumn/winter and to 24 for spring summer, you can bet you’ll never have to spend time again thinking about what to wear every morning! Just start decluttering somewhere, anywhere, and you’ll see that the minimalist virus will start spreading to the rest of your home: from your bedroom to your kitchen to your email. Less really is more!

How financially fit are you?
Besides a healthy life, you want a healthy pension. By staying aware of the pension market and react to it in a flexible way, we keep your pension in top condition. Do you already have a pension scheme with BeFrank? Then you can see how your pension is doing on your Personal Pension page. Here you will also find the most important updates. Do you not have a pension scheme with BeFrank yet? Ask your employer about the possibilities.