3 Big Benefits of Essentialism

Minimalism, or essentialism as I like to call it, is the practice of removing excess possessions to focus on our life’s values. My interest in the subject was sparked by Marie Kondo’s book titled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Marie is from Japan and emphasizes keeping possessions that “spark joy” and discarding/donating/selling the rest. She even has Netflix episodes on the subject to help people declutter. Funnily enough, Marie doesn’t consider herself a “minimalist,” but in my opinion, she is.

Inspired by Marie Kondo and a few other figures in the community, I began to pare down my possessions. I started with Marie’s methods and eventually tried additional strategies. Decluttering is an overwhelming task for most people, so we have to take it one day at a time. Overall, it’s been a challenging task but worth it.

Here are three benefits I’ve realized in my minimalist journey so far:

1: My place is easier to clean.

My floor, carpet, and countertops are cleaner with fewer possessions. Of course, nobody wants to spend a lot of time cleaning. But with fewer items in the way, we can enjoy a clean home with less effort. Less time cleaning means more time for our favorite things in life.   

2: My mind is less burdened.

I read another minimalism book titled Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki. Fumio made an excellent point about having too much stuff, and he calls it the “silent to-do list.” All our possessions are sending us silent messages. For example:

• Plants tell us they want water.
• Clothes tell us they should be worn and washed.
• Our bike wants to be used, cleaned and maintained.

Removing things that no longer get used makes our silent to-do list shorter. If we have an extensive silent to-do list floating around in our heads, we feel weighed down, but I feel some weight off my shoulders now.

3: I can find my possessions pretty darn quick.

It’s pretty self-explanatory – with less stuff, it becomes easier to find our things. I don’t need to go on scavenger hunts for items anymore. The less time I spend searching for something, the more time I have for life’s adventures.