Minimalism for Collegiettes: 3 Ways to Simplify Life

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus from TheMinimalists.com said it best: “Minimalism is a tool to help you achieve freedom. Freedom from fear, freedom from worry, freedom from overwhelm, freedom from guilt, freedom from depression, freedom from enslavement. Freedom. Real freedom.” It sounds dramatic and kind of scary, but minimalism is really, endlessly helpful. Here, we’ll take a look at a 3 simple ways you can simplify collegiette life based on the principles of this awesome movement.

1. Think about your stuff.
Have you ever considered how many things we actually own? Like the closet example I mentioned above, tons of people own more stuff than they really need, whether it’s an excessive amount of shoes or PJ pants (I still have an addiction to fuzzy PJ pants, but that’s an obstacle I’ll face later). More often than not, owning too much stuff leads to clutter, and clutter can impede your ability to focus on important things like homework and Facebook stalking.
 

Joshua and Ryan, both popular minimalists, suggest starting your minimalist journey by packing up everything you own. When you absolutely need something, you’ll be able to remove it from its box, but you’ll probably discover that a large percentage of your items will go untouched for days, weeks – even months. This exercise isn’t exactly practical for the average student lifestyle, unless you’re bored and/or tipsy and want to stage-dive off your mega-mountain-pile of stuff (in which case, be sure to videotape it). However, this exercise is based on an important concept to take to heart: which items do you actually use, and which ones can you pack away or donate? You might even find…

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2. You’ll work better without distractions.

In many ways, our minds are a million different places at once throughout the day. Think about this scenario: you’re about to start writing an important essay, only to be distracted by a message on your phone. Another mass email from a classmate? Honestly, if they’re going to ask for lecture notes, they should at least be creative about their excuse. “I was sick?” Everyone is sick.

Suddenly, an hour has passed, you’re on Tumblr, and you’ve lost sight of what you were supposed to be working on in the first place. Distractions are everywhere. Personally, I have to sit at a bare desk with my window blinds closed if I’m going to get any work done.

I’m not saying that you should throw everything off your desk and revert to writing out your essays via typewriter. Instead, try lessening your distractions. Turn off your phone when you’re working on something important. Disconnect your Internet. Do your homework sans pants. Whatever helps you focus and minimize distractions is something to maintain; after all, fewer distractions can mean that you’ll be a more efficient student, which can make academic life a whole lot easier. Speaking of easier…

3. You’ll worry less.
This is definitely my favorite aspect of minimalism. With fewer articles of clothing in my closet, I have more space to see the clothes I actually enjoy wearing; I don’t have to worry about picking my outfits because they are now far easier to put together. With fewer trinkets on my desk, I have more room to work and less stuff to clean. Let me reiterate that last bit: I have less stuff to clean. I hate cleaning. Minimalism is awesome!

I’ve felt less compelled to purchase things that I don’t need. I bring my lunch and coffee to school and work in reusable containers from home, which cuts down on unnecessary food cash I wasted last year. Less unnecessary spending means more savings for me, and I’ve never felt more at ease with my monthly budget.

At the end of the day:
Whether you embrace minimalism or feel largely ambivalent about it, I feel like this lifestyle carries with it some important principles we can all benefit from.

What do you think?

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Photographs: Courtesy of Koy Saephanh