20 Tips on Creating a Minimalist Haven

One thing a recommend to reduce stress in your life is to declutter and simplify your home. This is especially good in case you need to move to a new place in a hurry. This is especially easy if you live alone. If you have roommates this can by kind of difficult.

1. Try organizing one room at a time. The closet can be a good start.

2. Picture in your head what you want the room to look like. See how simple it is and that can help you to move towards your goal. Try googling pictures of "Zen homes". This can be quite an inspiration.

3. Tables, shelves and drawers are good to stack things on and for storage. Its the clutter around it that needs to go. Remember to keep what inside of those drawers organized also.

4. Smaller artwork on walls is better. This will help you visualize the minimal home you are wanting. Roll up that giant movie poster and put up a framed 8x10 photo of a friend or loved one. Small frames are also cheaper than a big poster.

5. Keep counter top items to a minimum. Put the items in drawers or on a shelf.


6. Go through your clothes. Anything you don't wear anymore sell or give to Goodwill. Remember to remove the hangers that hung the unwanted clothes so you don't end up adding more clothes later on.

7. Any shoes that you never wear anymore or that don't fit get rid of. Remember you only have two feet. You don't need 20 pairs of shoes. I have just 5 pairs. I keep them in a box in my closet.

8. When going through those storage boxes, only keep what you need or what really means a lot to you.

9. I only use a few pots and pans. I don't need 3 different kids. Only a couple of mugs. I only have one mouth. I wash my dishes by hand right after I use them so they are clean the nest time I need to eat.

10. Sell somethings on ebay.com or craigslist.org. This will give you some extra cash. Give to Goodwill what you can't sell. Make sure to ask for a receipt so you can use it as a tax deduction.

11. I used to have three cans of hairspray. Now I am down to one. I just stopped buying hairspray and used what I had. They aren't that good for the environment anyways.

12. Get rid of extra towels. Just keep a few in the bathroom.

13. I also started using products that aren't tested on animals. Products made by Avon, Revlon, Shaklee, Mary Kay, etc. The only hassle is trying to find ones that match my bathroom.

14. Clean out your inbox on your email account. And change your computer desktop picture to something more simple.

15. Only one loofa. You only have two hands. If I had 5 hands then I would need 4 loofas. A loofa is the lacy ball that you clean yourself with in the shower. Kinda like a sponge. Its usually on a string.

16. I do keep an extra toothbrush just incase and extra combs.

17. One box of cereal at a time. If you live with other people you will have to guard your cereal.

18. Do you have stuff stuck to your fridge with magnets? Take those off. Only keep emergency numbers and important stuff on your fridge. Maybe a picture of a hot guy to greet you in the morning.

19. Why not clean out your car too? Throw out trash. Keep important car maintenance receipts in your glove box. And ice scraper and an air freshener is the only thing in my car. Plus some sunglasses. Yay, zen car.

20. Get a universal remote control. Mine works on the tv and the dvd/vhs player. Having only one remote also means using less batteries. You just have to program the remote. Its easy. Or you could just put the remotes in a drawer and try getting up off your butt to change the channel. I do a little bit of both.

Once you have your place as minimal as you want it. Remember to keep your place clutter free. And go through the home again once a month. This can become a nice hobby. Maintaining your stress free Zen home.