6 benefits of a minimal lifestyle.

while i wouldnt say that were anywhere near reaching an actual minimalist lifestyle, i would definitely say that we are making our way through the transition to get there (and oh, i do hope we someday get there). it hasnt been easy, and im not sure where the process ever really ends (or if it ever even does end), but even in this short time, we have noticed some major benefits to making this (admittedly, pretty huge) change in our lifestyle):

1. our apartment is magically bigger. for the first two years we lived here, we thought this apartment was SO painfully small we couldnt wait to get out of it. then we got rid of a bunch of stuff and were like "hey this isnt so bad we can make this work until we have a better idea of where we want to live forever", then we really started getting rid of stuff and were like "holy crap this place is HUGE what were we ever complaining about?!". 

2. we spend way less time on chores. now that we dont have to spend forever "picking up" before sweeping/vacuuming the floors or scooting big piles of stuff out of the way to clean the kitchen, and we no longer even own enough clothing to let the laundry pile up for a month, our daily household chores get done so fast. this is great because 1. its freed up tons of time to do even more purging and de-cluttering, and 2. who wants to spend all day doing chores anyway? 

3. somehow, things stay clean. honestly my biggest frustration as a homemaker has always been how as soon as one things cleaned up something else has been torn up and the housework just never, ever ends. well apparently this doesnt happen when every surface of your house isnt piled high with crap. i have no idea how or why this is happening but obviously, im not complaining. 

4. we have so much more money. there are two sides to this one: 1. were not buying much of anything because duh, were trying to get rid of as much as possible and our spending has gone way down, and 2. weve recently taken to selling the bigger/nicer things we dont need and have brought in a surprising amount of extra money. this is great, cause as you know, extra money isnt really something were rolling around in these days. 

5. we keep finding more stuff to get rid of. it seems like every surface/box/drawer that we clear out just uncovers another layer of stuff we dont actually need. this used to frustrate me to no end until i realized this is only helping the house get emptier and cleaner and nicer to live in. 

6. we can actually find stuff when we need it. the best part about owning less stuff is how we actually know what we have and where it is. i used to think not being able to find stuff was an organizational problem, but no, it is very much a having way too much stuff in your house problem. a problem that i am very happy to not be dealing with (as often, i mean, stuff still gets lost just not nearly as badly). 

are there other benefits to a more minimal lifestyle? im sure there are. but these six are definitely the ones that we happen to be the most excited about. 

are you on the minimalist bandwagon? whats your favorite part? id love to hear about it in the comments!