Minimalism: your questions answered

Living in a minimalist way can be incredibly liberating. With less ‘stuff’ in your life, you’ll find you spend less time cleaning and tidying, and are able to relax more frequently when you’re in your home. However, the concept of living with very little can be fairly daunting to many people, and often the popular misconceptions about what minimalist living is all about serves to put people off the idea entirely. If you are new to the concept and would like to understand better what it is all about, here are some of the most common questions answered to help you on the way.

• What is minimalist living all about?
The essence of minimalism is to get rid of the things you no longer use or need, giving you more room to enjoy the things you really love. It’s about living more simply and lightly, and shrugging off the obsession with having and needing too much.

• What are the benefits?
For a start, your home environment will be less stressful. There will be less cleaning and tidying to do, and if you are strict on not buying things unless you honestly need them, your bank account will start to look and feel different too.

• Isn’t is boring to have nothing in your life?
A popular misconception of minimalism is that you have to live in a white room with nothing but a chair, or even better a floor cushion, for comfort. This is not the case at all. Minimalists believe in clearing things from their lives that they no longer need, love, want or use. All the things that bring you joy or that you use frequently can stay, whether that is a painting, a programme on the TV or something else. It is not about being sterile and boring, but more about being streamlined.

• What do minimalists do with their time?
This is the beauty of minimalist living: you can do whatever you like! Imagine all the time you currently spend tidying up, cleaning, searching for lost possessions and generally feeling stressed. With a less cluttered lifestyle and a minimalist environment, you can enjoy more free time to be creative, to relax and to take up hobbies and interests.

• What rules do I need to follow to become a minimalist?
There are no hard and fast rules to minimalism, only guidelines. The essence is that you only keep the things you really, truly need each day, and clear away the rest to leave more room to breathe. It’s about breaking away from the consumerist lifestyles of our culture, and valuing the things that really matter to you. It’s about choosing quality over quantity, and about learning to live with less so that you have plenty of storage space for the things you truly value. It’s about being kinder to the planet and only taking as much as you need.

Minimalism is not for everyone, and very few people will take it to the extreme degrees which most people think is the norm for minimalists. The idea of minimal living can be adopted to a greater or lesser degree, and by taking the elements of the concept that you think will be useful to you.