Last week was definitely a 'moment' in my life. My family home has been sold, both of my parents moving away to different parts of the world, and this meant that I had to say goodbye to many things; the house, the garden, the neighbourhood and the town, but also many, many of my childhood things - bits and pieces and memories. Of course, I have been moved out of my family home for a few years now, so the change is not so great in my life, but packing things away and getting rid of all that stuff made me think about how we accumulate 'things' in our lives, and what these things really mean for us - if we identify ourselves by our things or if they are really not so meaningful, in which case, why do we have them.
I have done some research into a concept called 'minimalism', and people who choose to live a minimalist lifestyle. They have these wonderfully simple living spaces, with white walls, no clutter anywhere, and only the carefully picked essentials for their lives. These people have described their transition into minimalism - how they got rid of everything they owned but didn't really need, such as pictures on the walls, technology, decorative objects, fancy ornaments, paper... I even came across someone on the internet who decided she didn't need a home! She spent her life just travelling and blogging and needed no more than the clothes on her back.
Minimalist Cafe
A 'capsule wardrobe' is another element of minimalism, and might be a term that you have heard of. It is the idea that one should have no more than around 30 items in your wardrobe at one time - every time you want to add something new in, you must take something out and get rid of it. Because of this number limit, it forces you to really question what you need in your clothing; if you need many similar pairs of jeans or different colours of the same top. Shopping is one of the most excessive aspects of our society, and I guess the capsule wardrobe is a way of trying to curb that.
Well, after a week of sifting through boxes of old make up, bits of notepaper, even a shoe box in which I had kept the collar of our first family dog, I can confirm that I am not, and will never be, a minimalist. I love my things. When I move somewhere, I like to make it my home, and for me this means having pictures on the walls, my pottery lantern on my desk, my ornamental egg cup out on the shelf, lots of notebooks with my ideas in them and more hair ties than I can count, to be found all over my house. Of course I can live without all these things - if I lost them in a house fire it wouldn't take long for me to get over them, but they make me happy, they make me feel at home.
Definitely not minimalist...
Having said that, I definitely believe in throwing away things that you really don't need and that don't bring anything to your life. The excessive lifestyle that I mentioned above that runs through our society, the ugly consumerism and waste that is absolutely everywhere you look, is definitely something that I want to try, as much as I can, to get away from. What I like about the capsule wardrobe idea is that, in the end, you have only nice and individual pieces of clothing in it and nothing trashy - it's like extracting all the rubbish to leave yourself with only the good stuff. I don't know if I could commit to always having a capsule wardrobe, or if I could strictly follow the rules of it (I am also a little scared to count the number of items in my current wardrobe), but the idea inspires me to go ruthlessly through my wardrobe, and my other stuff, and really get rid of everything that I know I don't need and that doesn't bring any joy to my life.
I have also gradually, and almost completely, stopped shopping at terrible, unethical, conglomerate high-street shops, and mostly only tend to shop in second hand shops, charity shops, vintage or recycled clothing stores and flea markets. These places aren't just great for clothing either; I find lots of books, records, household items, bags and much more too. The whole experience of shopping has changed for me; browsing in a shop where every single item is unique and different is fun, spending MUCH less money and finding some amazing gems, shopping has become a real treat and fun thing to do. It also has the added benefit that I know I won't see my clothes on anyone else in the street! Of course it is difficult to avoid the big brand stores sometimes, but as soon as I read that label that says 'Made in Bangladesh', suddenly the item of clothing loses a lot of it's appeal.
Exploring Flea Markets
I guess what I am saying is, finding the balance is important. Having things that are ours, that make us happy and that we love is important, but these things shouldn't define us or take over our homes. We don't have to turn minimalist or start a capsule wardrobe to cut back in certain areas of our lives and get rid of stuff that we don't need or want, although it could always be an interesting experiment to try out this lifestyle! I think it is just important to be aware of our needs, and always to appreciate the truly wonderful things that we have.Labels: Thoughts
