So a few months ago, I ran into a lot of blog posts focusing on minimalism. Reading them I began to think, why not? If I could minimize the amount of junk I have in my house, I would have more room in my tiny house and more cash in my pocket if I sold most of what I didn't want anymore. There would be no clutter, oh it seemed like a beautiful wish come true. Could this be real life? If they can do it, I surely can, right?
Wrong.
I decided to start of slow, minimizing my clothes to a mere 100 items total. It was working for a bit as I had a lot of clothes and my garage sale pile grew. But after a while, i was stuck. Then i realized something. Minimalism is something that only someone who lives someplace where the weather rarely changes can do.
Living in the lovely bi-polar state of Michigan, you need to have all types of clothes on hand at all times. Here the weather changes drastically every 6 hours. As a matter of fact, it’s freeze raining right now and we are under a severe storm warning until 6am tomorrow. Tomorrow, it’s expected to get up to 40 degrees fahrenheit. See? Bi-polar.
So this is one reason why I cannot live on only 3 outfits. Here, you need at least 2 sweatshirts, 3 sweaters, two winter coats, 6 pairs of gloves because you will lose some. 8 scarves, a pair of sandals, a pair of running shoes, a pair of boots, a pair of waterproof boots, a pair of snow boots...you get the idea. And that’s just outerwear. Add in the work clothes, the pajamas, the bras and underwear, the zillions of socks you have to have here to avoid frostbitten feet...what is that? 157 items already? Yeesh…
And what about the kids things? The hubbies things? What about all the things you need for cooking? For doing laundry? For cleaning? Bathroom stuff? We live in a world where you need a lot of things to survive and keep a house in tact. Maybe you can live on 100 items alone if you are single with no children living in an apartment but when you’re the head of a household, it’s not possible.
I do love the idea of it though and anyone who is able to manage that lifestyle and live happily, more power to you. You are doing something I will never be able to do. Enjoy the freedom that comes with it!
What are your thoughts on minimalism? Are you living the fabulous minimalist lifestyle? I wanna hear all about it and what your strategies are so please leave a comment below and keep working on being the best YOU you can be!