NewsBreak Original

I know Minimalist living. I lived out of a carry-on suitcase and in a $650 Chrysler Town & Country minivan for three years. Nothing was left at my parent's house. I didn't pay for a storage unit. All I owned was my person, my thoughts, and what we could carry on our backs if the van broke down on the road and we had to walk to the next destination.

I was halfway through Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up when I saw this video of the author’s interview with Stephen Colbert. Kondo is charming and the concept is disarming.

Stop when it gets overwhelming. Look at the stuff that surrounds you. Do you see one or two items that you can get rid of right now? Can you identify things that are important to your daily life? Are there useless gifts you are keeping out of sentimental value?

“I’ll be there in ten minutes!” she texts. Chaos. The entire house needs to be cleaned in those ten minutes. No one can know you live like this. The dishes on the coffee table and nightstand need to be washed, the rug needs thorough vacuuming, and that pile of laundry has to be folded  —  or hidden.

255 items. That’s the number of items my boyfriend and I have decluttered since Christmas. At the very least, 15 of those items were Christmas presents. It’s okay to get rid of gifts. They’re gifts! Gifts are supposed to bring you happiness. At the very least, they should be useful. If they aren’t serving either of those purposes, you can (and should!) remove them from your home.

Now is the time to consider cultivating a minimalist approach to your lifestyle for the sake of your health, mental health, and wellbeing. I'm not talking about drastic downsizing and then buying a multi-thousand-dollar tiny house on wheels and relocating to somewhere in the wilderness of Alaska. A minimalist approach means that you're decluttering the unimportant to make room for the important.