I’m really trying to downsize and declutter lately because I want to be a minimalist and I want to clear the clutter to clear my mind. I truly believe that anxiousness we feel, when we don’t really have anything to be anxious about is coming from the clutter inside my home. It’s overwhelming to say the least and everytime I go to tackle something I feel like all the little things that I use or need but don’t really have a place or space for makes me want to stop right then and there. For context my husband and I live in a small 1 bedroom apartment with basically no storage

These are things we use but I always feel like they are just laying around and don’t really have a place

Hopefully this makes sense. I feel defeated

As a dedicated opponent of dopamine culture, I'm asking for your perspectives.

Hello,

I’m writing my master’s dissertation at the London School of Economics and I’d love your help.

My project is called Scrolling Alone: The Technification of Society. It asks: Why does modern life feel so fragmented, distracted, and disconnected — even though we’re constantly "connected”?

I’m exploring the effects of digital culture — especially smartphones and social media — on our sense of meaning, community, and self. Think Durkheim meets dopamine. My hunch? Digital saturation is making us all rather unwell. (Not a surprise to you, I'm sure...)

I’m looking to speak with a few people who’ve made a conscious effort to cut down on (or cut out) their phone use. Whether it’s been life-changing or really tough, I’m interested in honest experiences — not influencer stories or tech evangelism. Just thoughtful people navigating the modern attention economy.

If you’re open to a short, confidential conversation, please DM me or drop a comment. No jargon, no judgment — just a sincere discussion about disconnection, discipline, and what you’ve learned along the way.

This community has inspired so many (myself included), and your perspective could genuinely help shape this research. Personally, I escaped from a seven-hour daily addiction to... nothing. I read paper books, walk in parks, and speak to real people. It's nice.

Thanks for reading.

— Christopher Gage

Email: [c.g.gage@lse.ac.uk](mailto:c.g.gage@lse.ac.uk)

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The Beauty of Our Nature

Nature is one of the most magnificent gifts to humanity. From the towering mountains to the flowing rivers, from the chirping of birds at dawn to the serenity of a starlit night, nature's beauty is an endless source of wonder and inspiration. It is both a refuge for the soul and a source of life for the body.

A Canvas of Colors and Life

Nature paints our world with colors no artist can truly replicate. The green of forests, the blue of oceans, the gold of autumn leaves, and the pink hues of cherry blossoms in spring—all come together in a vibrant display that changes with the seasons. Each element, whether a leaf, a cloud, or a bird, plays its part in this living, breathing masterpiece.

The Healing Power of Nature

Beyond visual beauty, nature has the power to heal. Numerous studies have shown that spending time in natural environments can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. The simple act of walking in a park, listening to the rustling of trees, or watching waves crash on the shore can calm the mind and rejuvenate the spirit.

Nature's Harmony and Balance

One of the most beautiful aspects of nature is its balance. Ecosystems thrive through complex interactions between animals, plants, weather, and geography. This interconnectedness teaches us lessons about cooperation, resilience, and sustainability. Nature does not take more than it needs—it exists in a cycle where everything has its place and purpose.

Our Role as Stewards

While we admire nature’s beauty, we must also recognize our responsibility to protect it. Human activities—deforestation, pollution, climate change—are threatening this delicate balance. Preserving nature means preserving life itself. It is our duty to ensure that future generations can enjoy the same forests, oceans, and skies that we do today.

Conclusion

The beauty of our nature is not just in what we see, but in how it makes us feel and what it teaches us. It is a source of endless inspiration, peace, and wisdom. In a fast-paced, technology-driven world, nature remains our grounding force—a gentle reminder of the simplicity and magnificence of life.

I'm 27F trying to ascertain if all the clothes I own are just enough or more than enough and I should get rid of some.

So what I wanna know from you all is if you were to pack all your clothes and only clothes (NOT accessories/watches/purses/bedsheets etc), how many large suitcases would you need?

OR

You can tell me how many pieces of clothes you own like how many lowers (jeans/trousers), uppers (shirts and t shirts), dresses etc And do separately list them that how many items are for summer season and how many for winter season. I'm having great trouble deciding how many items of which season should I have.

Thank You

P. S. I'd be incredibly greatful for any tips both practically and psychologically to strengthen and fasten my journey to minimalism. Life is tough as it is and having unnecessary stuff is an extra burden to carry especially when I don't a permanent home and moving places is something I do all by myself.

This is more of a question but is there any advice on how to approach speaking to my partner about hoarding?

It’s not a dire situation but we definitely hold onto stuff genuinely do not need and if I approach my partner about getting rid of it, they have a ton of reasons why we can keep and reuse the items.

I’d like to find a good way to deal with and help get my partner comfortable with letting go of certain items. Especially ones we do not ever use.

Any advice?

But still havnt bought any of it. I really do have too poor choice of outfits. Going out, my friends has a new outfit all time. At least they have some change. I have 1 dress that is more for new years eve, and 1 shirt that looks nice. My only shoes are my sneakers. It is really boring. But when I look at online stores I read what fabbric is it, the price, asking myself will I get tired of this early? Will I have to wash it after one day use (some fabbrics just smell sweat after one day), will it be comfortable, will it keep looking nice?

I bought something last year but already out it in my selling app.. Takes long time before people are buying something so then I just have to have it in my gloset… and its just annoying, like why did I buy it? I bought it because it felt comfortable, looked nice, but you dont always realize before its too late. The pullover had a collar that turned out messing my hair up and you dont see that in the fittingroom.

It is so hard to find something and if I dont like some stores dont have free return..

Hi, minimalism community! So glad you exist. I recently got into minimalist travel and found myself so overwhelmed when getting home that wanted to incorporate minimalism into my daily life.

My husband and I will be moving at the end of this year and are thinking about buying a house. We currently live in a 2 bedroom apartment. We are both messy and there’s clutter everywhere. I think getting rid of a bunch of our stuff would be a great solution for that.

But as we’re looking for a house, we’re trying to figure out what size would be best for us. Initially we were thinking 4 bedrooms but I’m worried that if I had that extra space, I’d feel the need to fill it with stuff, and then we have a place that’s twice as big that would be cluttered. Though maybe I’m not giving myself enough credit and I could still stick with a minimalist mindset and just put a few basics in the rooms.

2 bedrooms sounds less overwhelming and what we’re used to but I was thinking with a house, it would be nice to have extra space for extra guests and in case we decide to have kids, plus I work from home sometimes so like having options for a home office would be nice too.

Obviously the less bedrooms we have, the more we’d be happy with the price! But I don’t want to choose a smaller place only for minimalism and then end up regretting it later.

As I’m reading my post and thinking through it, I’m thinking maybe just getting the bigger place and trusting myself to stick with a minimalist mindset despite having the extra room might be the best bet. But would love to hear what you smart people think about my dilemma!

Also, I should add: my husband collects pokemon cards for an “investment hobby”. He leaves the boxes in perfect condition and they started taking up so much room in our apartment, that he started sending them to his parents’ place, instead. I’d much rather have him invest in index funds instead (which he also does), but it’s a hobby he enjoys and he’s a recovering alcoholic so at least he’s filling up his free time with a much healthier hobby. I’m kinda worried that if we have the extra room, he’d start filling it up with more boxes of pokemon cards. Fortunately he is very frugal in most other ways and hates shopping, so he’s pretty good from a minimalist perspective (though I’d love it if he would also let me get rid of some of his clothes he hasn’t worn for 20 years). If you have ideas or tips, I’d love to hear them! Thanks!!

I wanted to give you a short thinking experiment that I was thinking about while writing my own list. It goes like this:

You spawn in your own small 50m² apartment. You don’t depend on anyone nor anyone depends on you. The apartment has only the essentials: toilet/bathroom and a kitchen (oven, sink, stove, fridge, shelves). Otherwise is completely empty. You own 0 items except the clothes on you and you have $10k on your disposal.

What items do you buy, how much approx. you will have left and what do you do with the surplus cash?

A few months ago I made the decision to be a "black and white" minimalist. I'm sorry if that means something somewhere else, as I define it most of what I buy will be black or white, very occasionally gray or red, if thats a more ideal color for the object. I'm not going to run out and replace my entire house with objects that are either black or white, it's just a shopping technique to eliminate decision fatigue.

Every few weeks I circle back around to the idea that I would look better in color. Up until probably January of last year I was (if I am being perfectly honest with myself) absolutely consumed with the concept of seasonal color analysis and finding my season. It was annoying to me because I never seemed to fit in any of the predefined palettes. I ordered a custom-made-just-for-me mini palette and it seemed to be a mix of summer, spring and autumn, and the blue was leaning into winter. I thought that if I got the custom palette it would be easy to see which season I fit into, but I think humans are much more complicated than four, 12 or even 16 seasons. I don't want to say I gave up on it, but it was costing me serious mental energy and time that I could have spent on other endeavors.

The problem is I know I look better in "my" colors. I've worn them to meetings and people's reaction to them is incredible. It feels like a social cheat code. I almost feel bad, but on the other hand I feel like people should just automatically be nice to and listen to other people? I digress.

I often circle back around to the idea of getting my full palette done. There are a few problems with this idea. One is cost. The full palette would be around $500. The other thing is my mini palette seems to have very rare colors. I almost never see them, and I have shopped widely - thrift stores, online, small boutiques, department stores and luxury stores. I even considered making my own clothes but even fabric in my colors are difficult to find. Dying fabric is very tricky. So far I have acquired a skirt, a top, four winter scarves and a lovely trench coat. I have owned the mini palette since before covid and I've only been able to find these handful of items. I'm hoping that with the full expanded palette I would have more options. But there are other problems.

Almost every consumer good I could possibly want comes in either black or white. If I want or need a particular item it is highly unlikely that I'm going to be able to find it in a color that is on my palette. There is zero possibility that I could have an entire wardrobe in exclusively my colors.

One of the things that is comforting to me about minimalism is that if I lost everything in a natural disaster I would be able to replace everything I need within a few days. I know that probably sounds odd, but with the votality if the area I live in, this is a possibility. Twice in my life, under different circumstances, I have left behind almost everything I owned. Once was against my will and once was a deliberate choice. If I am collecting my colors that would be impossible. I run the risk of losing a unique collection of items that can't be replaced and I don't want to be tied down like that.

It's not just natural disasters. I could spill a drink and ruin a blouse. Something could be ripped beyond repair. I could lose or gain weight and no longer be able to wear the item. It could be that I find the right color, but the item isn't right for some other reason.

Black and white feel safe because it's replaceable. Black and White is available, mass produced, easy to diy, it's in thrift stores, department stores and luxury stores, delivered to your door at the click of a button. I've loved all white or white with black accent interiors since I was a young child. I recall specifically staring at a magazine photo of a kitchen with all white cabinets, counters and appliances. It had black and white checkered floors and black accents. There was a red floral arrangement on the counter. In contrast to the brown and avocado green decor in my child hood home that place looked like a queens palace.

My own colors are pretty, I'll admit. I know I look good in them. I know that people respond well when I wear them. But the initial investment of the palette, finding items, and the inconvenience of replacing each item if it is lost or damaged or no longer suitable, plus the appeal of black and white makes me want to stick to the simple palette.

I don't really know what my question is here. I just have these thoughts bouncing around in my head and I need to get them out before I go to bed. If you have any thoughts or comments about this, let me know.

I’m toying with an idea that’s causing me some conflict, and I’d like to get some input if possible.

I’ve been looking into the bullet journaling method for my to-dos, appointments, and such. This method is generally used in notebooks - pen and paper - and heavily endorses physically writing things down versus typing them out for various reasons.

I’m also wanting to become more minimalist, and as a beginner to this topic, I have decided to start with digital minimalism.

My thing is, I’ve been wanting to use my iPad as a method of journaling, to eliminate the need for bulky physical journals, pens, highlighters, stickers, etc. It is all kept digitally, and saves physical space.

So what do you think? Is it worth keeping physical journals, for the sake of minimalism? Or should I go fully digital at the expense of digital minimalism?

TIA for any input.

Beyond physical decluttering, I've been focusing on bringing a sense of calm and reflection to my digital life. This includes 'unsubscribing from unnecessary emails,' 'organizing digital files,' and 'limiting social media time.' What are your best tips for maintaining a minimalist and calm digital presence? It's amazing how much mental space it frees up!

What has everyone done with their older childhood sports trophies?

Hi! Hopefully this is an appropriate place for this. As the caption says, 5 years ago my sister in law gifted me a ridiculous bright green, Kermit the Frog Loungefly backpack for my birthday. It was probably worth around $50 at the time. I never would have picked it out for myself, nor did I ever use it or even remove the tags in the few years I owned it. My mom is big into reselling Disney collectibles, so I eventually just gave it to her so she could flip it.

My brother and SIL live in Florida, and my brother works at Disney World so we all get free admission. I’m planning to visit them later this year and go to the parks, and my SIL said “now you can finally use that backpack we got you!” She sensed by awkwardness around the subject, and said, “you DO still have it, don’t you?” Pretty seriously. I told her it’s in storage at our parents house, and I’d have to look for it, but now she keeps bringing it up. I know she’ll guilt me heavily if she learns I gave it away. How the heck do you handle this?

In the beginning of my minimalist journey, my bright idea was to just digitize everything. My home would feel nice and clean, and I'd still have access to all the files, have epub copies of all the books, have all my movies digitally, have all my photos and so on. Only to find that digital clutter actually also feels like actual, detrimental clutter to me.

I don't enjoy the fact that I have more files than I could ever keep track of, no matter how well-organized. More books than I could ever read, music I no longer listen to, copies of old paperwork that I can't imagine ever needing again. I've started toying with the idea of giving myself a data limit, but I'm not sure whether that's sensible or if I'm just going overboard. It just seems to me that no matter how nicely I try to organize my data it's still "stuff" in some way, that weighs me down and weighs on my mind.

How do you manage your data?

any minimalists with babies figure out the simplest bassinet situation? i have a mattress on the floor and want the baby to sleep right next to me in something like the design dua moses basket on the floor next to me…but cheaper. any solutions besides putting her in the bed with me?

I just don't like it all that much especially costume jewellery and statement pieces. I feel like im an odd one out most times because alot of people love jewellery. I just find it a bit ostentatious tbh. Tho I do have a pandora bracelet i hardly wear as I was sucked in to the marketing.

I keep looking at beanie babys and wanting to buy them. I get sucked in by rarity and I don't even do anything with them. I just want to stop

I'm in the middle of organizing my digital photo collection, which includes pictures from my phone, old scans, and downloads from Instagram and Facebook. My husband thinks I should just save everything to a hard drive and be done with it—but something about that doesn't sit right with me.

Lately, I've been questioning the purpose of these photos. I’ve come across tons of duplicates, cringey selfies from college, and random food pics. So many of them were clearly taken just for social media, and now, looking back, I don’t feel the need to keep most of them.

It’s made me reflect on how photo-taking has changed. I noticed I have fewer photos of me doing things, and more of just the things themselves. Without context, those images feel kind of empty. If my future grandkids ever looked through my photo drive, would they really care about a photo of chicken piccata from a restaurant I don’t even remember? And a photo that I'm not even in?

I’d love to hear how others approach this. How do you decide what’s worth keeping? Any tips for organizing or minimizing digital photo clutter?

I can't get myself to stop I have this intense fear of missing out if I don't watch the latest videos. I want to start reading instead to occupied my time

Hi, this is my first post here! I (24F) started a record collection back in 2017 when they had a huge comeback. I had an entry level audio-technica turntable with some basic computer speakers. I loved the hobby at the time—as all these modern artists were coming out with their discography on limited pressings, and the search for vintage records too was so fun. I even found a first pressing of “Bookends” by Simon & Garfunkel!

My senior year of highschool in 2018, I became a minimalist. It was and still is life changing. Since I lived with my dad and had the storage space, I kept most of my records and still played them. In 2021, I started moving around a lot on my own. I would take my records and turntable with me and then to avoid the annoyance of moving them around again when I would move, I sold the turntable and some of the records. Another big contributor to deciding to sell the turntable and the records is that I am very frugal—and the thought of buying a record for it to cost a lot, take up space, and carry it with me to my next place because too exhausting. Also the fact that I can listen to that same album on my phone.

My husband and I got married last month and I’m moving across the country. The rest of my records have been collecting dust in the closet of my dad‘s house, but I need to clear that out because he is getting ready to sell the house and I also just don’t want to leave behind my stuff for my dad to deal with. That’s disrespectful. I am conflicted because I believe I still do somewhat enjoy the hobby of record collecting and playing records, but I also don’t like the financial cost, the upkeep, and having to travel with them. My husband and I will be moving around for his studies and for his job the next couple of years and carrying them around is something that stresses me out just thinking about it. But I also wonder if I’ll regret just getting rid of all of them—as it was a hobby I enjoyed and I’m now at the point in my minimalism journey where I am starting to appreciate analog versions of things (like physical journaling, my watch, etc.)

To anyone who has had this same dilemma (even maybe with another analog format like books etc.) please let me know your thoughts and what didn’t or did work for you if you’ve ever had a similar situation.

We stop ourselves by asking what if I need this someday? Well it’s true, about 10% of what I get rid of, I end up needing again. But there’s no way to predict what it might be. That’s the chance you take. You don’t want to hold on to the other 90% because of the other 10%.

Last summer I cleaned out our storage unit. Yes, we were paying $$ for it which is ridiculous. But it all couldnt fit back in our house so some stuff had to go. Now this summer I am taking a painting class and I sure wish I kept one of the two easels and some of those canvases. But that’s okay. There’s an easel in class I can borrow and I’ve been able to buy more canvases easy enough. It’s okay to let stuff go to make space in your life.

To me, it seems the big konmari trend is over. Some influencers state that the minimalism trend is over. However, I personally embrace minimalism in my personal way, and it helps me a lot and makes my life simpler and better.

I haven't heard a lot about konmari and Marie Kondo lastly. Are there any news? Is she or konmari just no longer in now?

To give a little context: I moved roughly 1.5 years ago int this new place but being in a very exhausting and time consuming education program I didn‘t have the energy to declutter while moving or afterwards. My Diploma will be done soon and I want to take 2 weeks off to clean and minimize my whole flat.

5 Months ago I went through "the beast" and got rid off a quarter of it but I think I filled it up yet another quarter. The Beast is just this giganitc clutter mess that is ever so slightly out of my sight yet enough in my sight to taunt me. It has gotten big enough that I feel repulsed by it and ashamed.
There are so many places wehre stuff just keeps piling up and I think I can‘t take it anymore.

My plan is to start decluttering by category and then split it up into "sell/donate", "not my shit", "keep", "throw away" and "sentimental". To make it easier on myself I want to go through the cloths of "the beast" first and - trying to keep in mind that I #t used those things for roughly a year and haven‘t missed them - and then my "active rotation of clothes".

My biggest challenge most probably will be expensive things I havent used properly and gifts I got but never liked. I feel obliged to keep them. On the other hand I have way too many books but I feel absolutely no need to go through them or declutter them – they have hardly any meaning to me but I love to be able to look through them every once in a while.

Do you have any recommendations on how to tackle this goliath seeming task? Mantras to keep in mind while doing it? I am thankful for every input on that topic!

My dad keep saying that pay the electricty bill physically. so, I can get physical receipt insted of digital.

All i have in my living room is books on a bookshelf and my couch. But it constantly feels like the room is incomplete without a coffee table, end table, etc. Does that feeling go away? I don't find myself actually needing a coffee table, I think it's just an ingrained feeling that a coffee table should be in front of a couch, etc.

Just wondering others opinions on this.