This post is right up my alley. I have always aimed to live a very simple, uncluttered life (not always successfully mind you, it's been a learning curve at times) and that goes for relationships as well as things.
In fact, I wouldn't just say I was minimalist. I would say that I'm downright spartan. Ruthless, even.
Early in my adult life, I found a "look" and stuck to it. I don't own any colours, I simply wear all black, all the time. Neither have I changed my hairstyle in the last couple of decades. I even keep it short and neat, because I can't be bothered messing around with it all the time. What a waste of time and money that would be.
I go clothes shopping about once every two years. Whenever I find an item of clothing (or shoes, or tote bag or whatever) that I really, really like, then I immediately buy several duplicates. All in black, of course.
I eat the same food every single day, because I can't be bothered with grocery shopping. I have a food budget and I stick to it very, very strictly. Hence I never do any impulse shopping. And I'm healthier than many of my contemporaries too, because I don't overload my system with so much crap. I can't remember the last time I ate an ice cream. Ice cream is for other people, not me. My one wicked indulgence is good coffee (and I can afford it, because my money is not tied up with all that other crap).
I never bother keeping magazines, newspapers or books, as soon as I've read them, out they go. What's the point of keeping them?
Housecleaning is a breeze, because I have so little furniture, and I'm always challenging myself to live with less. Whenever I'm sorting all my stuff out, I ask myself one simple question:
if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, who would get this? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the answer is "nobody, it would simply get put in the rubbish." And so out it goes. Really puts things in perspective.
If it sounds as though I am living a joyless and spartan existence, think again. I firmly believe that simplicity equals freedom. Over the years I've seen so many friends hock themselves into debt so that they could keep up with the Joneses. Some of them are in their late thirties and are still paying for crap that they charged in their twenties, how crazy is that? They used to laugh at me for my wacky ideas, but looks who's laughing now!
I am the Queen of Simplicity.
