Surviving as a minimalist in a cluttered home
Tainá being messy, but it’s okay, because she’s making the worlds best vegan sushi 🍱
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One of my biggest reasons for being a minimalist is that my default mode is chaos. When I had a more normal amount of possession, everything got very messy, and physical belongings took up a big amount of time and worry. Taking back control of my environment through minimalism became an important step towards more focus, mindfulness and inner peace.
Now, however, we are living with family in Brazil, and I am not in control of the environment anymore. We are living in a house that is probably quite normal, but for my standards it feels full of stuff. This brings me back to old times, where physical clutter brought with it lots of mental clutter, and my possessions controlled me, and not the other way around. In this article, I’m sharing how I survive as a minimalist when my environment is cluttered.
Hedonic adaptation
You have probably noticed that we often buy fancy new things expecting to feel happy, only to get used to them within just a couple of days. This effect is called hedonic adaptation, and means that whenever we make a change in our life we quickly get used to the new state, only to return to previous levels of happiness. This is why you can never buy yourself lasting happiness.
The good news is that this process works the other way around as well, meaning that some of the excessive posessions which bothered me at first, also pass by the process of hedonic adaptation, and I forget they are there. However, for this to truly work, I must keep my own things strictly separated from all the other clutter, whose existence I try to ignore.
The minimalist bubble
Keeping my own stuff separated, helps me create small bubbles of minimalism and inner peace amidst the chaos. Since I interact more with my own stuff than the stuff in the rest of the house, having these small organized bubbles account for perhaps 80 or 90% of all my interactions with physical stuff. This way, the excess of stuff is only a challenge for a small proportion of the time.
I create the bubbles of minimalism by keeping all my belongings in as few places as possible, and clearly separated from everything else. With this approach, my 87 belongings are strictly confined to:
One drawer for clothes and toiletries
One drawer for work- and camera stuff
One drawer for sports equipment
My big backpack is stuffed away out of sight along with a rain jacket and a nice shirt
My small backpack is stored on the floor in lack of a better place, and for easy access, should an interesting bird appear
Lastly, I have a few possessions placed on strategic places, to facilitate or remind me to do certain vital tasks, such as journaling, reading, flashcards and filming. And that’s it!
Preventing fanaticism
Although it can be frustrating as a minimalist to live surrounded by more stuff, it is probably quite healthy. On my own, I would become more and more extreme, as you’ll probably see some examples on in our videos. Being forced to stay in contact with a more ordinary way of life and consumption, means that my choices and lifestyle is constantly challenged. This helps me better reflect upon the choices I make, which ultimately leads to better decisions and solutions.
Thanks for reading! 😊
