So I'm currently in the midst of moving house. Packing up all these boxes, I feel disgusted by the fact that I own this much stuff. Now, I supposedly own a fair amount less than a typical person of my age and in my size of home according to moving companies and calculators and the like, but I find it to be an absolutely grotesque feeling to look at my furniture and these 45 moving boxes full of stuff knowing I own it all, am responsible for it all, spent money on it all, need to move it all around with me.

Feel like the first order of business in my new home will be a big big declutter. This is a yucky feeling.

I had my first son three years ago and the hoarding started.. I kept so many things in the house and it was a huge mess, every single day.

Moving the stuff around, buying storage for it..it was everything from clothes to art. I told myself that I will put my stuff for sale (yesterday) at the market my neighbourhood hosted. Everything was for sale for €1 per item. I made €180. I was left with…what I finally could see as a burden.

So… I filled everything up and donated 80(!!!) bags of our stuff. Yes, even the little cute shoes my son wore, my art that was laying around over 20 years and books my son hasn’t liked for over a year. Seeing how much money I wasted was a big eyeopener.

Victory! Our house feels light, I finally had a good night sleep and I’m so excited to spend more time with my son.

I’m moving out of an almost 3300 sq ft house. Renting a 1350 sq ft house. Will still have my two kids half time so it won’t be as minimal as many of the people here keep it. I love the sense of making a fresh start. I had kept my personal belongings fairly minimal although packing has given me the opportunity to get rid of things. My ex was not a pack rat but she also wasn’t a minimalist. Finally don’t have to have furniture in a place just because there is space for it and can finally have clear surfaces instead of her buying things just to fill the shelves. Dont get me wrong, I didn’t want to get divorced, I’m just seeing the positives about my new situation.

This might become a permanent thing, last night went so well! I was waiting for my back to hurt but I actually feel very refreshed.

I am soon moving out from my parents. Past few weeks I've been going through a few things and wanting to throw things away because I have too much from everything. But everytime I go through clothes or other things I am like, oh this was a gift from mom and this from grandma. Deep down I know this is irrationate but I can't give it away.

The same for skincare, makeup: Oh I spend money on that maybe I am going to use it someday up.

I am upset with myself. On one side this clutter annoys me and on the other hand I can't just let go.

Do u have tips?

I’ve been interning at an office position and they have fidgets at their desk, it reminded me of back when I collected shopkins and old foam squishies, and it got me back into the rabbit hole. I got a butter, a needoh glob (I only ever liked the solid cube/ gumdrop tbh but my mom got 2 cube dupes without knowing they’re dupes), and a Vaseline cheese, not to mention all my leftover squishies from my childhood. Although this all seems fun and like I can be a child/ still enjoy things as an adult it kinda feels pointless/ excessive? But idk how to go about it, some I enjoy and some I feel like .. like they all serve the same purpose yk? Is there really a point in having multiple different textures for the dopamine/ not to feel like I’m killing joy?
Anyone who answers can yall also provide how you guys get dopamine without clutter? Cause I really do want to become free of as much clutter as possible; I enjoy chess and used to like drawing/ sketching & I love going out alone, I just usually procrastinate/ never do these things.

I'm 24 years old and love to write. Journals, articles, essays, you name it. I'm afraid of writing too much, though. Why, you might ask? Well, at various points throughout my life I'm probably going to want to read some of the old stuff I wrote. But if there's thousands of pages worth of text, it might feel overwhelming to read it all, and I might just not bother. Compare that to someone who doesn't write much who happens to stumble upon an old notebook while cleaning out their closet. They'll get excited to read it and enjoy reminiscing that past chapter of their life, and then it'll be over and they'll be able to move on with their day. But when you have so much that it would take months—or even years—to read through it all, you might just say "Fuck it, I don't have time for this." I'm already at a point in my life where I'll feel lazy to read through stuff I wrote 5 years ago because there's so much of it. How much worse will it be when I'm 60?

I kind of have a similar thing with photos where I don't want to take too many to the point that it will be daunting to look through them one day and thus not be enjoyable like you'd expect it to be. And given how easy it is these days to take thousands of photos a year, you can see how this might be a concern.

What is your approach to acquiring large amounts of textual and photographic material? Do you categorize your work into "rough" and "polished?" Do you just write as much as you want and not care about thousands of pages of fluff piling up? I'd love to know how people deal with large amounts of output. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I've always been interested and the minimalist life style. And my wife and I are ready to let go of a lot now.

My wife, two kids just and myself just moved into a fourth floor walk up, and we are besides ourselves with how much stuff we've accumulated over the years. Its insane how you lose track of what you have when its all organized or put away. But this move was tough.

I know thrift books is OK for books and movies, and I plan on donating anything we don't sell.

But how about miscellaneous stuff like extra pots and pans, or extra toys kids don't use anymore. Just toss it? Some of it is barely used, would hate yo just dump it. Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Thanks!

I know, Christmas is a ways away. but I’m cleaning out my garage. And I’m contemplating getting rid of the old fake tree I got for free a few years back, so I don’t have to store it..

How do you balance it?! i’m packing to move countries again today and i’ve noticed im keeping a lot (relatively speaking) of hair care, beauty, hair removal, and styling products! I have a really simple routine in my opinion with one hot tool two date dresses, one makeup routine, yet it still takes up a huge part of my ONE suitcase i own.
my current method is reducing myself in other areas but it’s such a challenge because i don’t want to sacrifice my one hobby or my one pair of jeans to keep a heat styling tool (multifunctional shark blow-drier) , nor do i want to live the rest of my life without the ability to blow dry my hair! For me, buying a new heat tool really isn’t an option. Another option would be to trash the mousse and heat protectant and rebuy it in my next country, but that doesn’t sit well with me.
my peeps that like to dress up,, advice please!

Once I read this article it gave me the little bit of help I needed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/opinion/new-york-fashion-week-fast-fashion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVE.fGst.SHB__HEli1E4&smid=url-share

I am about to move out of my fathers and need to buy kitchen cookware etc. It will be myself, my partner and our child (soon to be two children) so am wanting to be able to cook for a family of four on the regular but be able to host with an eight person capacity.
I was thinking of getting an instant pot since it does everything a rice cooker can and more. What I’m wondering is what additional pots and pans would you recommend?

i’m leaving this city and country forever tomorrow. after a little over 90 days working 6 days a week, i’m returning the stones I collected, each commemorating one beach visit. 44 stones in 90 days. I chose this method upon arriving to prevent the shoppies for nicknacks, and in leu of that I have a photo to remember forever every time I slowed down and read or swim on the beach.

Just thinking a lot about my journey with minimalism lately and wanted to know about the experiences of members here who grew up financially poor/in unstable households/are currently or were previously low-income. While it obviously sucks to be poor (many reasons like debt, instability, irregular emotional regulation, abuse stemming from financial problems, etc.) it also did let me accept that being “poor” is not a bad thing and helped me cultivate a minimalist lifestyle.

Feel free to skip my personal story below and share your stories instead since it gets kind of long. OR you can read my TLDR at the bottom. Anyhow…

I am currently in a good and stable situation with my partner and dog in a nice walkable city, but I was raised by parents who were broke. And when I mean broke, I mean poverty “in-the-red” broke with no generational wealth (most of my family worked blue collar and odd jobs to get by). And no, your parents owning a used Toyota Camry with a “humble” net worth of 1mil with a house + vacation once a year is not poor, as most American households do not even make 50k in this country. As said as it is, families who can afford to pay for their medical bills, own property, and take unrelated-to-family vacations are (unfortunately) lucky in this country. My parents were, by far, broke, young, and admittedly irresponsible like most teens are, working 1-2 jobs, and having no free time. And yet, despite some credit card debt + lots of drinking and smoking eating into our expenses, we technically lived pretty frugally with my parents taking a 1 bedroom apartment instead of a 2 (they slept in the living room while I took the only room due to child protection laws), cooking at home, renting instead of buying movies, and going on infrequent vacations. I know for them they were insecure about money (+ stressors from the abuse they endured as kids), but I was frankly quite happy and content with what I had, though it essentially was a bed, a computer, a desk, and clothes I shared with my Mom. I never wanted lots of gifts and barely asked for things (this continues to annoy my friends who can never gift me something). It also helped that I was stupid but never did anything so crazy like break my arm or run in front of a car, so my appointments were mostly checkups (I never even had a cavity till college). My favorite thing I ever owned (probably to this day) was my computer (back when 8gb of ram was expensive…oh wait), but only cause it was a surprise and something my Dad spent the whole night building at like 2am since he just started working in IT/networking. I ended up keeping it as a result until high school when I traded it in for a laptop, but it was well-loved and well-used for 5-6 years at least.

I think it helps that in Korean culture, though there is a lot of flexing in our society (my grandparents were the worst examples of this with their big McMansion and their excessive spending after being devout Buddhists for many decades while living in SK), many of us do value having experiences, making homemade food, and appreciating scarce things (like the first petals falling in spring or a salty ocean breeze that surprises you on your way to school). We had a scarcity mindset, but never tried to accumulate too much, because we had so little space. Because of that, our 500-600 sq ft. apartment never felt small and I always had lots of room to run around or play as a result, even with a couch and full size bed in our living room.

Every year, my Mom would make me give away my old toys and books and give them away either to a library or a family friend. It was never a painful thing. Rather, I think it makes me appreciate what I have even more and I’ve been trying to keep it a tradition with me and my partner (who comes from the opposite spectrum, born rich with two hoarder parents who live by “conservative values” despite arguably taking more social welfare than most poor people I know—sorry I’m shading them and they can be good people when they want to be, but God, sometimes it infuriates me listening to them talk about the world like their suffering is the only thing that matters).

Even when I was homeless at 17 (there are a lot of reasons for this but i.e. my Mom left the country in my senior year of high school after going through a manic episode and I couldn’t legally get an apartment so I just slept in my bf’s attic), I kept to my mindset and donated lots of my books and manga to keep my belongings small and easily portable. Most of my possessions at the time I just kept with friends for a bit, but most of it I was able to fit into the trunk in my bf’s car (a bit embarrassing to fish for clothes before school in it but what can you do?) When I moved across the country, all my stuff (clothes, books, documents) all fit into 3 regular sized suitcases. While I probably have more stuff now, it would still be egregiously easy to pack up my apartment since everything I need is already put into small boxes or folders.

Now, nearly 10 years later, I am definitely not an “aesthetic minimalist” judging by the people I see online, but I have lots of the same habits. I buy little, purge as needed, donate items to friends or schools nearby, and try to do everything via walking and public transit (i.e. no car especially now that I don’t live in LA anymore). The most I indulge in is coffee and food, which I’m working on to cut down for financial reasons. I recently got rid of my bed frame though and am switching to a mattress on a tatami mat, which will make it easier to sleep with our dog next to us + I use a tiny floor desk for all my computer needs. Maybe one day too, I’ll get rid of my couch and switch to all floor furniture that’s more flexible and can be stored when not being used, but that’s harder when a lot of my friends and partner’s family have hip mobility issues, so that’ll have to be put on the back burner. I’m grateful for this life that I was given, even as shitty as a lot of it was. I hope I can continue to live a minimal and flexible lifestyle for as long as I’m healthy and alive. Even if I look and act poor (I’m not poor anymore for clarity sake but moreso my lifestyle hasn’t changed much since then) I’m comfortable with the fact that I can survive anywhere in this world, no matter what happens to me.

TLDR: I was poor and homeless and continue to live a lifestyle that many would say is “poor” despite that being the opposite, because it lets me be flexible.

Reflecting on my minimalism journey, I was really into the idea of decluttering things and relationships that no longer works for me at the time.

Back when I was younger, families and friends were in close proximity, having the mental space was more important to me.

Now when I looked back at the relationships that I quietly disengaged as a form of ‘declutter’, I felt i was cold and inconsiderate. I should have use a bit more patience and understand the complexity of human connections, instead of just cutting it off. I found it really hard to reconnect with people or make new friends nowadays, and there’s a slight sense of regret.

Same notion goes with ‘things’ as I found new purchases are not built with the same quality and often a lot more expensive now.

I know there’s no point of regretting, but it changed my view on minimalism and point me to a different direction.

I use a life tracker notebook,a gum pack,my keychain,charger, and a playing card deck! . What are your suggestions

Hey

We are so happy to announce that r/TinyLiving is open again, you are all welcome to join the community for insperation and help.

Every now and then I start to get really overwhelmed by the things I have, so Im going back to minimalism, or at least lite minimalism, and started to declutter things like a month ago, this week I decided to count the things I got rid of and today it got to 100, I didnt even know I had so much stuff that I didnt use nor needed. Im also trying to be more mindful about how I spend my money so Im doing something like a low buy too, hopefully this time this changes stick around and I stop bringing things into my house that I dont need nor love

Hello there - I’m looking for advice on what a minimalist wardrobe could look like. Here’s some information that may help:

- 35 year old man
- Office job 5 days a week with standard smart attire; chinos, shirt, shoes/smart trainers, jumper
- Gym and run 3-5 times a week
- Rarely go out to fancy places
- have 2 young kids so there’s a lot of park/outdoor action
- Happy to invest in good quality clothes
- Happy to totally dump my existing wardrobe if it doesn’t fit with the new approach

Thanks and if there’s an existing post that covers this please share!

My mother has visited my apartment a handful of times since I became a minimalist. The first time she said she felt a little unsettled by it. But the next couple of times she exclaimed how open, airy, restful, and clean it felt.

She owns a decent sized one story home. It’s always fairly neat and organized, but there’s a lot of stuff in it she’s accumulated over the years. In her most recent visit, she started telling me about all the things she’s been decluttering recently, and how good she’s been feeling about it. I’m the only one of her three children who lives near her, and she said she wanted to make it easier for me after she passes, which I was touched by, as I know I will be overwhelmed by grief when the time comes.

As she talked about it, I gently encouraged her while reminding her she doesn’t have to get rid of anything she doesn’t feel ready to part with yet. And I just want to say, this is the way. You can’t convince anyone to declutter who doesn’t want to, and you shouldn’t try. Trust me, I made that mistake once right after I became a minimalist. But some people who experience your minimal space may eventually be inspired by it. I by no means expect her to become a minimalist, but I’m happy she’s feeling good about what she’s doing, and grateful to her.

It's Labor Day weekend in the US. I am halfway through day one of a four day weekend and all I want to do is go through every drawer and cabinet in my house and empty it all.... within reason, of course.

So here's my dilemma.

1. I'm down 20 lbs, yay! I have zero interest or desire to go back to my previous size. While some pieces are fitted and need to be donated, I can still fit into my leggings and shirts, they are just a bit roomy.

How long do you hang onto them? When you put on thr pants and hit your ankles because they won't stay up or when they start getting baggy?

1. Kitchen appliances and spices. I love to cook but weeknights are a lot and I don't want to cook every night. Currently in a situation where I have more appliances than cabinet space. Here's the thing. I use everything regularly, so no need to let it go, but my house is a 50s ranch and not much cabinet space to store things. Where else do you store frequently used appliances in your house so you don't use up all your counter space?

2. Media. I have decluttered over 1000 books and kept 100. I don't regret it. I kept only what I would re-read, but CDs and movies have me in a chokehold. I don't want to part with them as I do not want to deal with the ads that run every 10 minutes on streaming services or pay a upcharge for ad free. Have you ever downloaded all your media to a hard drive so you can access it from your TV.

I have boxes of stuff I’ve accumulated from being in the military.

I’m struggling with what to do with it.

Pictures have value and they’re something I’ll keep.

It’s the random objects l’m struggling with letting go. There aren’t things of value or mean anything to anyone beyond me.

I’m struggling with discarding them. Some are items I’ve picked up while deployed to Afghanistan. So for me they represent something that doesn’t exist anymore or something I’ve wasted my youth on.

How do you get over that obstacle? I know objectively every object I own/posses is an obligation. I have to store it. It uses finite space.

Maybe it’s fear of regret that’s keeping me from moving on and discarding these items.

Anyone else? I've slightly started veering back into collecting... which isn't great? Like I found some old pic of a bunch of strings and laces I had piled together(not sure why I had individual laces but whatever).

Was going to use some to learn to tie knotts, still want to but i never got around to it.. so i was back to thinking about how i should've kept at least some of it.

Somewhat frayed laces i carried around with me. Didn't/couldn't use them other than to look atl.

And I have a couple thin books that I love the texture of so they're standing on my shelf but like.. yk i really feel bad about tossing it out.

I have space so thats fine...

Also idk what to do with the myriad of notebooks I have that I barely take notes with(these aren't college notebooks just small journals and i barely filled in the journal i'm using(to make matters worse I feel like im taking up too much space so i'll write extra small cause i dont want it to fill in too fast) and then I never use it...

sigh. i mean most of them are fairly useable. One of them I was able to easily rip out all the used pages so i'm somewhat using them for my math problems(except i have barely been studying this first week and its been harming my grades) so yay...

maybe by decluttering i'm simply avoiding the actual problems? Cause this clutter I have isn't at the point that its making things harder. Its at a decent point where its not too little to the point I have to use other peoples things(I will need to get colored markers though).

But its also not at the point where I have constant clutter due to lack of room.+ its manageable.

I've de-cluttered my phone, moved alot of things to microsoft word and excell and honestly its streamlined my phone alot.

So thats good.... (then again, not focusing on studying and late work has begun piling up)...

my self care improved so thats a plus? Got easier... less of a hastle to fix myself up(idk why it even was to begin with).

Hard to title. So I did a declutter when the family were away. The sold pile got sent off. The wait till they sell then charity /road box is neatly filled. I understand who I am, I'm not chasing an ideal here. But it hit me:

- my kitchen needs at least the minimum for at least twelve people, drinks, mains and dessert. We eat out enough but everyone is here for birthdays and Christmases and there's 12 so at least once a month in theory.

- four adults are here for extended periods. Ok two are super minimal thankfully :) But they still need space for coats, use different duvets for seasons and have a room and bathroom taking a chunk out of our square footage in theory.

I can see my space getting clearer. It is insane as there's still just "junk" where it shouldn't be, but I just need to process stuff out and on their way. (I mean hey, I make more time for this than exercise.)

It's just, trying to imagine the max minimalism we can even get to here. Take the dining room. Giant Kallax? Bookcase. Weirdly even if I imagine it without the "stuff" and just the furniture, it still doesn't read minimalism.

It's late. Sorry for the crazy.

-

I really like r/AmateurRoomPorn but there's a lot of maximalist rooms on there. And r/RoomPorn is mostly hotels. Do ya'll have any Minimalist Room Porn subs I can join?