The more stuff I have, the more potential for mess, and the more stressed I become.

Even since I was young, I’ve always felt the urge to tidy up once my room reaches a certain point of messiness as a way to ‘clear my head’. Cleaning and tidying, while a chore when younger, now feels therapeutic. There’s nothing quite like the smell of sun-dried clothes, slipping into clean sheets, and surveying a tidy home.

So for the past year, I’ve been gradually selling off things I’ve hoarded but unused for years. I feel it’s quite wasteful just to throw them out or even donating them. Many are unused or near new, and by selling what I could, the comfort is I can at least offset some expenses.

It was also a wakeup call during our recent house move to realise just how much ‘stuff’ was accumulated. The amount that filled up various boxes, the things that were shunted to the back of cupboards, and the piles and piles of clothing…..

While we left the bigger furniture to the removalist and moved all the smaller stuff ourselves, it surprised me just how many trips we had to make to move all the bits and pieces over.

So this started my interest in minimalism and intentional living. However, I want to be clear that this is not your traditional minimal living. I’ve seen how easy it is to spiral into a toxic lifestyle, where in the spirit of minimalism, people felt compelled to count every possession and scrooge every penny. No, this is to head towards a more minimal, but mindful, luxury lifestyle. One that allows me to enjoy my hard-earned money, but control it to only be used on the product and experiences that I truly love. Given that I am both decluttering and re-evaluating my current posessions (such as curating a whole new wardrobe since discarding a lot of clothing retained from my 20s), it may mean some leeway in new purchases while I find that happy balance.

What do you think of the current minimalist movement?
Do you also feel a need to purge your possessions in 2022?