I’m not a minimalist. I definitely don’t claim to be – I buy too many clothes and have no plans to have a minimal closet. So, I’m not a minimalist. However, I do enjoy taking aspects of the minimalism lifestyle and applying those to my life and to T and I’s home. We try to keep material things minimal as far as home decor and excess items. It really does have an impact on our daily stress – less stuff, less stress. And since our home renovation wrapped up last year, we’ve been purging, donating and trying really hard to part with unnecessary items. I won’t get into the nitty gritty details, but this effort is why when I came across a bunch of minimalism week challenges on Pinterest, I knew I had to check it out.
It’s pretty simple, really. Write down a task for each day and make it your goal to complete it. Since there were so many variations of this challenge on Pinterest, I took my favorites and put together my own minimalism week. My choices based on my lifestyle and schedule. I documented most of my week on Insta-stories and received a few questions on where to find the graphic. I always planned to share it here (below) and I also wanted to share my experience. No, a week isn’t much, but the first thing I’ll tell you is how awesome the whole thing was.
Sunday through Saturday
Day 1: I purposely scheduled a cleaning task first. Somehow 3 junk drawers had yet to be conquered since beginning our rounds of closet and basement clean-out this year. Perfect timing to finally check them off. It felt great, I got rid of unnecessary stuff and reorganized. Done and done.
Day 2: Take said unused items and basement junk pile to Goodwill. Been meaning to do it for months, got it done.
Day 3: No spending for 24 hours definitely wasn’t the most difficult, but it was pretty refreshing. We get so used to taking out our credit card for any purpose, even for the slightest purchase. A whole trip around the sun without my Visa option was pretty great.
Day 4: Ok, this was a biggie. I purposely saved it for mid-week so I could warm up a bit. If you want to realize how often you subconsciously grab your phone to check Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter – you name it – take it away for a night. I was happy to do it and this ended up being one of the most rewarding challenges.
Day 5: I loved this day – a close runner up to day 4. I took Cooper on the walk with me and we went our long route. Felt so refreshed and finished with meditation. Bliss. I use the Calm app if anyone is curious.
Day 6: Something I don’t do enough is stretch. I spend a few minutes before a run stretching my legs and calves, but I never carve out time to actually do my muscles any good. Worth it.
Day 7: How great is this? Concluding a minimalist week with physically writing down things you’re thankful for. 20 is more than you’d think, so it’s fun to see what comes to mind.
The Experience
My biggest takeaway from the minimalism week was finding the ability to carve out time for small, simple tasks on a day-to-day basis. Small, simple tasks that help create a happier, less stressful life. Disconnecting on day 4 showed me breaks from social media are more important than I thought. Day 5 made me realize I do have time for meditation, even if I keep telling myself I don’t. I discovered writing my thanks on day 7 was very therapeutic. And day 1 really showed me how many unnecessary items I had hung on to. We live in a go-go-go world and sometimes it feels impossible to take a step back. This minimalism week went by so fast, just like every other week, but I was able to savor these little pockets of time I usually don’t give myself. And I have no idea why. So now I’m determined to weave this into my every day life. Taking moments to reflect or rid of some stress. Just being present makes the world of difference.
A minimalism week isn’t just for minimalists. They’re for everyone. The week doesn’t have to be about managing stress or having “less”. It can be about appreciating small things or getting outside more. It can be for anything you need it to be. That’s why I believe in creating your own, but of course, feel free to use the one I created above. I think a week is a good starting point, but a month-long challenge would be even more rewarding… and may be my next step.
I hope you try it. And let me know how it goes!
xoxo. B
