Minimalist Living: Decluttering for Joy, Health, and Creativity (3 page)

Designing a Joyful Life

Minimalist living applies not just to your
belongings, but to your time. Do you find yourself feeling like you spend your days putting out metaphorical fires and responding to crises from every corner? Do you feel out of control of your days and wonder where the hours go? If so, you may want to declutter your schedule. Take control of your time so that you can spend your days enjoying relationships, connecting to your spirit, and pursuing purposeful goals. If you aren’t sure where the time goes, you may want to use a computer tool like Toggl to track your time for a week and see how you spent it. Being an anchorless boat tossed about by the oceans of TV-watching, web-surfing, over-commitment, or other people’s expectations can mar your joy just as much as overstuffed closets.

How do we let go of the extra activities in our schedule so that we can enjoy freedom of time? It’s not always easy. If you’ve committed to something, backing out can feel like a blow to your integrity. Yet your own joy is most important, because your happiness spreads. If you're doing something with stress or resentment, you may as well not be doing it. You aren’t doing anyone any favors by doing something with a negative attitude.

The home or work environment you create with your belongings can also directly affect how you spend your time. For example, have you ever wished you could watch less TV and paint or (insert activity of choice here) more? Where is your television? Does it have pride of place as the focal point of your living room? What if, instead of your television, that was the spot where your easel and painting supplies were?

I ask these questions to illustrate what a strong impact our home environment has on us. The average American watches almost
three hours of television per day.
[8]
For someone born now who will live to age eighty, that’s a total of eight years of television watching – straight, not including time for sleeping. Said another way, TV-watching for the average American is like having a full-time, 40-hour-per-week job for over more than thirty years. If someone replaced this television time with growth activities, say, attending medical school or learning to compose music, he or she could become an expert in seven different fields according to Dr. K. Anders Ericsson’s theory of 10,000 hours.
[9]

I’d argue that our excessive television watching is at least partly due to the fact that it’s so common to own a TV; it’s odd
not
to have one. As humans, we are very good at responding and interacting with our environment. Evolutionarily, to survive and thrive in cave-person world, we needed to investigate, understand, play with, cultivate, and interact with our surroundings. Humans live all over the globe in all kinds of climates. We are excellent adapters. What is around us is what we will place our attention on. We can use this understanding of the way our brain naturally works to help us do the things that we’ve always wanted to do, or know we should do for increased vitality, contribution, and joy, but that aren’t habits for us yet. If we don’t use this knowledge, we may fall victim to our surroundings, such as the TV in our living room that steals so many years of life from the average American.

Using this knowledge about the way we are wired to adapt to our environment looks like this: if you want to eat healthily, get rid of the junk food and replace it with wholesome food. If you want to improve your sleep, remove everythin
g from your bedroom except your comfortable, well-clothed bed. If you’d like to be more sociable, remove your computer and books, and replace them with a big dinner table, games, and comfortable, welcoming décor. If you’d like to be more introspective, remove your big dinner table and games, and install an armchair and a nice lamp surrounded by books, notebooks, pens, and highlighters.

You see where I’m going with this. Options are overrated; they tend to overwhelm us and lead to mediocre lives. When we have too many options, we spend our lives maintaining those options instead of exercising them. In the worlds of cinema and writing, forced economies often lead to creative brilliance. Directors who are forced to work with a limited budget create better films than those given carte blanche, who often create only sound and fury that won’t be remembered long past opening night. Poets given a form - meter and rhyming sequence - to work within, find ingenious new images and ways to use words that they perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have. In the same way, giving yourself limits in your household, limits on how much you will have and what sort of things you will have, can create more brilliance in your life.

“But I like having options,” you may be thinking. “After all, I like to read, and I like to socialize. Can’t I do both?” Of course you can, and you should. You should have variety in your life.

However, right now in your life, what do you intuitively know is going to be good for your overall joy? You can always change things later, and you can always go out of your home for variety. In fact, you should. Get out and experience the world. Home needn’t be a place that meets all of your needs and desires for entertainment, connection, and every possible hobby that you’ve ever enjoyed. Create your home so its environment feeds into the essential values and goals of your life -- only the essentials.

Timothy Ferris, productivity expert and author of
The Four-Hour Workweek
, engages in what he terms a “low-information diet.” This allows him to do with his time what we are attempting to with our homes: clear out the non-essentials to make room for life as we desire it. In the same way that I’m advising you to rearrange and de-stuff your home, Ferris’ advice is unconventional. He opens his chapter on this concept with: “Cover the baby’s ears. I’m going to tell you something that upsets a lot of people.” He then goes on to explain that he never watches the news and hardly ever reads the paper. He continues, naming more information that he chooses to ignore.

I realize that cultivating a “low-stuff diet,” to modify his phrase, is unconventional and potentially shocking to some. However, if you’ve come this far, chances are you're open to it and are beginning to see that this new way of life, although initially challenging, will bring new opportunities for growth, fun, and connection. Be inspired by the core message of Chris Guillebeau, author and blogger at The Art of Non-Conformity. He writes, “You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.” His message shines out of every page he writes, and that one simple idea has inspired people all over the world. Let it free you.

Letting Go of That Which Does Not Serve You

Try as I might, I can’t find the author of this quote I first heard in a yoga class: “Let go of that which does not serve you.” As we close this chapter on minimalist living for joy, let’s address how this idea of letting go applies not only to our things and our activities, but to our thoughts. Gretchin Rubin, author of
The Happiness Project
, writes “
You’re not happy unless you think you’re happy.” And I would add that you can think yourself happy. Just like learning to control what you let into your home and your schedule can increase your joy, so can learning to control what thoughts you allow to spend time in your mental landscape. I say “spend time,” because it’s not always necessary or possible to control impulsive thoughts. Having random negative thoughts flit in and out of the brain is normal. What we want to focus on controlling is how long we spend dwelling on thoughts that make us unhappy.

The best strategy for minimizing the hang out time of negative thoughts isn’t to forcefully banish them (
which never works) but rather, to replace them with thoughts that make you happy. Everything starts with a thought, so keep your mental garden well-weeded. That’s a lot easier when most of the soil is taken up by strong blooming flowers. One caveat: don’t allow guilt over negative thinking to be yet another negative thought. If you find yourself suddenly conscious that you're feeling unhappy, examine your thoughts, and then be grateful for them. They provided you with an opportunity to make a change and grow. Every conscious moment is a chance to choose joy. See if you can turn the thoughts around. There is always a silver lining, even if it’s small and in need of dusting.

I hope this chapter has given you some strong reasons to simplify your life for more joy. My wish for you is that minimizing what you have maximizes your joy. Next, let’s look at how minimalist living can maximize your health in many different ways.

CHAPTER THREE

For Health

“If you haven't got your health, then you haven't got anything.”
— Count Rugen in
The Princess Bride

When it was time for a change in Australian minimalist Betty Tolhurst’
s life, she decided to renovate her home. She replaced her tiles and carpeting with bamboo flooring. This new floor meant that it was easier to keep her home clean. Bamboo is a more renewable surface material than other kinds of wood, so her actions were also healthier for the planet. On top of that, her cleaner home may contribute to increased physical health for Tolhurst, and even more brain power.

Health is a compelling reason to start living a minimalist lifestyle. Tolhurst’s renovation is a great example of minimalist living for a healthier life and planet. Many minimalists report that one of their favorite benefits of decluttering is a greater ease in cleaning their homes. Without all the knick-knacks and unneeded stuff, cleaning up takes less time. And with a schedule that leaves you with free time, cleaning can actually happen without stress or undue hurry. If, like Betty, you design your home for your own well-being and that of the planet, you may find yourself replacing hard-to-clean fixtures or even moving into a smaller, more manageable home. As always when embracing minimalism, let go of other people’s expectations when creating your life. It’s a lot easier to move into a smaller home if you can let go of the idea of a big home as a trophy, or sign of your achievement. If you're working hard so that one day you can own a large home, you may want to rethink that plan. After all, if
you aren’t enjoying your life and work now, chances are that’s not going to change later.

Physical Health

If making space in your life means having more time to clean, you're doing your body all sorts of favors. First of all, the decluttering process in itself is great exercise. We sort, dust, vacuum, and lift. As long as we don’t strain any muscles or injure ourselves in the process of
cleaning, the exercise is good for us. Just make sure that, if you're inspired to clean during your decluttering process, you use environmentally friendly cleaning products that don’t have dangerous chemicals in them or high levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds).You can find an independently reviewed list of cleaning products graded according to the danger to human health and the environment at
EWG.org/guides/cleaners
.

So you have the actual physical workout of moving and cleaning during the decluttering process, but beyond that, by getting rid of a lot of our things, the health risks associated with uncleanliness decrease. The more we own, the less likely it is that we’ll have time and energy to clean it all or the money to have it professionally cleaned. When we don’t clean enough, our homes can have increased levels of viruses, bacteria, particulates, endotoxins, molds, and allergens. Our indoor environment can make us sick or listless. In a study of an elementary school in Washington, D.C, when the school was thoroughly cleaned with modern techniques and equipment as well as renovated, students showed increased passing math scores on standardized tests increased by 51%. Attendance increased by 4.5 percent.
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These improvements came with no changes to teachers, curriculum, or technologies. These results suggest that living in a clean environment can effectively make you smarter. We can certainly conclude that cleaning and renewing our homes can have a significant positive impact on our health.

Another physical health benefit that can come from the minimizing process is that you can make room for new, healthy habits. For example, when Dr. Christiane Northrup began taking tango lessons, she freed herself of her formal dining room set, which she rarely used anyway. Her dining room became her dance hall. She used the newly open space to practice her new dance skills, allowing it to become not just a form of exercise but a passion that brought new friends and admirers to her life. She could invite friends to dance with her in her new ballroom, all because she was willing to let go of the furniture. She could have said to herself, “Oh, I have this new hobby, the tango, and I like it, but there’s really no room in my home, so I’m not going to be able to practice much.” Instead, she took action. She released whatever emotional or sentimental investment she had in the furniture. She acknowledged
that she rarely had formal dining needs, and then she allowed her stuff to fill a need in someone else’s life.

If making space in your life leads to a new romance, the rekindling of an old flame, or even more time to stoke the fires of an already great marriage, you could get an additional benefit from simplifying. Psychological scientist Barbara L. Fredrickson studies emotions from a biological perspective including what the feeling of love —
which she calls “positivity resonance“ — does to the human body. According to Fredrickson, “The love you do or do not experience today may quite literally change key aspects of your cellular architecture next season and next year - cells that affect your physical health, your vitality, and your overall wellbeing.” Most people desire love in their lives, but the scientific research showing that love boosts our immune systems and lengthens our lives might just be the extra motivation you need to simplify your life, allowing your relationships to really bloom.

Mental Health

In addition to the physical health benefits of decluttering, we can count a great deal of mental health benefits. Eventually, when we are surrounded by belongings, our brains begin to play a trick on us. At first we may notice that things feel a little cluttered, but t
hen we begin not even to see our mess. It’s a natural part of the way the brain works. Things that are constantly around us fade into the background, much like we hear the hum of the air conditioner or fan as soon as we turn it on, but then later our brains tune it out. My mom notes that one of the reasons she likes fresh-cut flowers in a vase nearby once in a while is because they are new and temporary, so her brain takes note and she gets an extra dose of pleasure from her surroundings.

Our brains tune out the clutter in our homes. We may not even be aware that this clutter is causing us to feel heavy, depressed, overwhelmed, stressed, or just a little claustrophobic. We may not be able to identify our excess belongings as a cause of these feelings because our stuff has been in our homes for so long that it’s almost become invisible to us. “A trashy, cluttered, overstuffed house can breed depression. People don't realize it, but your surroundings do affect you. You need to let some light in, and breath
e some space in,” writes John Barker, an interviewee for
Minimalism for Grandparents
.

By getting rid of the excess, you may find yourself waking up with a new, more optimistic outlook on life. If you're familiar with Feng Shui, you know that the way you arrange your furniture and the cleanliness of your home can lead to better energy. Decluttering may allow you to see creative new possibilities in the space around you, and in the wider world, leading to improved mental health.

Financial Health

In 2008, Adam Baker of
ManvsDebt.com
and his family found themselves massively in debt, so they decided to go minimal. This has dramatically transformed their financial picture. They’ve been able to pay off $18,000 in consumer debt after selling everything they own and rethinking their lifestyle. At a time when everyone is thinking about the state of the economy and trying to find ways to make their money go a little bit further, embracing a minimalist lifestyle could not be a better remedy for a less-than-ideal personal financial situation. This is because, as a minimalist, you won’t spend as much money as you did before. You’ll think twice before every purchase and only let something into your home if it’s going to truly improve your quality of life.

According to an
EconomyWatch.com
article by Liz Zuliani that references data from
Money-zine.com
and
HoffmanBrinker.com
, the total amount of consumer debt in the U.S. in 2010 was almost 2.4 trillion dollars.
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That comes out to about $7,800 in debt per person. Embracing a style of living where we only buy what we need with money that we actually have is important to our financial welfare. Adopting this attitude will save consumers from unnecessary and burdensome debt.

When my husband and I were planning our wedding
, we knew that we wanted to spend a lot of time traveling during our first year of marriage. We sold or gave away much of what we owned. We realized that people would want to give us wedding gifts, things for the home, a home we were about to give up for a traveling lifestyle. We asked our wedding guests to kindly donate to our travel fund in lieu of giving gifts, and most of them complied with generosity. These two decisions, to sell our things and to ask for monetary wedding gifts, helped our newlywed financial picture tremendously. As you pursue the process of going through your belongings, you’ll likely sell some of your unneeded items too. You can have a garage sale, a yard sale, a sale via
Craigslist
, or you can set up auctions for your smaller or more valuable items on
eBay
. I recommend only selling small, valuable items on
eBay
because it’s not worth the time, hassle, and shipping expense for bulky or inexpensive items.

In an August 2012
blog post for
The New York Times,
entitled “You Probably Have Too Much Stuff,” certified planner Carl Richards writes about realizing that holding on to things he didn’t need was costing him. “When we hold on to stuff we no longer want or use, it does indeed cost us something more, if only in the time spent organizing and contemplating it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about getting rid of that tie, for instance, and every time I went to choose a shirt for the day, I would think about the few that no longer fit,”
[12]
he writes. Richards’ more moderate simplifying process was inspired by Andrew Hyde, who made the news in 2010 when he declared that he only owned 15 items.

Once you begin divesting yourself of excess belongings, you
will notice an abundance of space in your home. You may also notice that when you have space, your instinct is to fill it. For this reason, you may consider downsizing to a smaller home. In Italy and many European countries, people live by necessity and by choice in smaller homes and apartments than we do in the U.S. Smaller homes in these European countries help create a culture where people leave home for their leisure activities, perhaps going for walks in the evening to their nearby sidewalk café where they develop a healthy community of social connections in their neighborhood. By having a smaller home, we are less tempted to buy things we don’t need. Along with lower mortgage payments or rent and lower utilities bills, there’s less likelihood that we will allow ourselves what Claire Wolf, in an article entitled “The Art of Living in Small Spaces,” calls “mad acquisition binges.” As you plan your life around what’s important to you rather than what’s conventional, you might choose to downsize to a smaller home that costs the same as your previous home, but its proximity to an urban center, coastline, or park that you love means less time wasted in the car and less money spent on gas. Sarah Susanka’s book
The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live
might be a useful guide as you educate yourself about the possibility of having a richer, less financially draining life in a smaller, well-designed, well-built space.

Improved financial health may be one of the most compelling reasons for many to declutter and live a less consumerist lifestyle. But I’d like to emphasize that selling individual items is not where our financial value is going to come from. Most of the value is going to come from time we save. Time we save not cleaning a house that’s too big for us. Time we save that would otherwise be spent repairing, moving, organizing, and just thinking about our belongings. This time has financial value, and it also has value to your happiness and quality of life. The bottom line is: time is money. Time is also your l
ife. Spend it wisely, preferably not in daily contemplation of those shirts that you really should get around to getting rid of.

Healthier Relationships

We’ve already talked about how making time for relationships can increase your joy. Let’s go into a bit more detail here about how simplifying can lead to healthier relationships that in turn increase our happiness. Our stuff so often can become a barrier: between us and the people that we care about, between us and new, exciting friendships and relationships, between us and the world. Think about a hoarder who surrounds him or herself with
clutter: old newspapers, magazines, coffee cans, and extra furniture. This person builds a wall of stuff that keeps the world out.

Sometimes we need to clear the way for a new relationship to bloom. As in Cheri Cruden’s case from the last chapter, releasing
belongings that we’ve held onto that might be associated with past pain can be very healthy for our current relationships. The key to successful relationships is being present. When we hold on to things that are associated with unpleasant or very nostalgic, emotional past events, those things act as an anchor dragging us down into the deep water of the past, instead of allowing us to float buoyantly in the present of our current relationships. Also, if your home is completely packed, it’s going to be darker and less pleasant for visitors and for you. That may put a damper on your social life.