Minimalism means many things to different people. Some people may consider me to be an extreme minimalist, others may say that I’m not a minimalist at all. The point is that I call myself a minimalist not because I take steps to reduce the number of items I own, but because of why I’m doing those things. My wardrobe today has radically changed from what it was even 6 years ago.
Lets go back a few years, To when I was a teen and the struggle to keep my room clean was as high on my list as a math exam. I remember I would clean my room by shoving unwanted clothes into a huge black trash bag with red drawstrings all made of plastic and then stuffing those bags into my closet, I swear there were at least 6 bags at any given time. Did this help. No It didn’t because at that time, it wasn’t out of sight out of mind, it was out of sight “oh I need more”. this was my entire childhood up into my young adult life. It isn’t a pretty picture to paint or to remenise on. I could separate my clothes onto piles, shirts and pants. and they would heap higher than my bed (which was a normal queen bed on a beautiful wood frame then). You could roll off of the bed and onto the piles with ease and no fear of falling.
Today I’ve been minimalist or becoming minimalist for about 2 years since the first time I read about others being minimalist. however, I was unconsciously a minimalist with my wardrobe for about 5 years, when I moved over 800 miles away from my hometown with only two book bags to my name. One had clothes, while the other had essentials like my computer and shower supplies. After watching the documentary Minimalism on Netflix I began to do more research with more documentaries, YouTube videos and books. I decided that being a minimalist was going to be a part of my life not because you save money, or have a cleaner house. Don’t get me wrong those are wonderful perks, but I did it for me, for my mental health. to live frugally to not need or obsess about needing. To learn to be happy with what I have. Becoming a minimals was easy for me because I did it for me. and not because it was the newest craze.
Years ago my wardrobe consisted of hundreds of shirts, hundreds of pants, more mismatched socks than a laundry mat and still I felt I had nothing to wear. Today I own less than 30 items of clothing, that includes my undergarments and shoes. I always know what I have, I never struggle with what to wear, and because I have a simple monochrome ish wardrobe if anything ever gets a hole and needs replaced, doing so is simple. I don’t struggle with will this match or is this print in season. Simplifying my wardrobe was the first step I made in my minimalist journey. And I never want to own more than I need again.