How to get started with Minimalism in a realistic way. Being a minimalist is not easy. It cannot happen overnight. It takes time. You cannot simply get rid of everything you own and tell everyone that you are a minimalist.
Why is it hard to be a minimalist? It is hard to get rid of the things that we love most. Most importantly, it is hard to impose your belief to other members of the family. When you live with others, you cannot just tell them to get rid of their junks. It might create conflict. The best way to start without causing havoc to your life is to start from your present state.

How to get started with Minimalism

1. Start by buying less – The reason that I encountered minimalism is when I was looking for wardrobe tips. There I found that it is not good to just by things without a purpose. The first thing that you have to do is tell yourself to stop buying any clothes or accessories.

Go to your closet and remove all clothes from it. Check what you have and what you can wear. Create a capsule wardrobe and start from there. Do not buy anything else.

One of the clutters in my room are clothes and yet I still buy more just because I like what I saw. I told myself not to buy a new one even if I find it really pretty. I do not want to add anymore to my closet.

2. Detoxify social media – I used to spend so much time with facebook. But I learned that it is best to minimize it and keep yourself away from it. Why should we limit our use of facebook?

The use of facebook actually hurts us in ways that we are not aware of. We may be unaware of it but seeing other people’s happy moments makes us sad. It makes us feel lonely and it makes us envious. It makes us feel like we never accomplished anything because we did not travel, did not go to dinner, have someone special, and the like. We tend to compare ourselves to others rather than love the way we are.

If we spend more time away from unconsciously comparing ourselves with others, we can become happy. How to limit the use of social media.

3. List down your goals – This is hard but you have to do it. List down your goals and break it down to smaller pieces. Do not just list down your goal, add the things that you have to do to accomplish it.
For example, If you want to graduate with honors or to put up a business, what should you do? Study smart? How? By setting aside some hours each day to study, by limiting your internet and TV use. Business? Then list down seminars that you can attend, research business methods, read magazines to plan your business. Things like that. Do not just put – “lose some weight”, you should be specific and put the activities aimed towards that purpose.

4. Get a notepad and a planner – They do not have to be expensive. My planner is P50 from National Bookstore, you can make your own if you wish. It is just a whole page with a calendar where you can see all the days. It is best to write down all appointments and everything in there.

What I do is that I staple receipts, and papers in the page just to keep track of what I did.
Use the notepad to write your get to do list, or things that you will do tomorrow or this day. It is best to write it down so that you will free your mind from thinking what you should do next.

5. Make a journal/ diary – Write down your progress. You do not have to write everyday, just write what you accomplished so far. Your dreams and goals and things you did to reach it.
These are easy and realistic methods to start your way to minimalism. Take note that even these steps are not as easy as eating food. You have to put some time and energy to it.