Life

5 Things I Stopped Buying as a Minimalist

You just need to buy that plastic organizer from Muji because you have too many makeup items (also pens and brooches). You spend half an hour before bedtime to decide what to wear the next day, only to spend another 15 minutes to change that decision in the morning.

You have too many beauty products and bottles in your bathroom but you don’t have time to use them (because you wake up late and have to squeeze in 15 minutes more, deciding your outfits)

You spend your weekends ironing woven wraps (babywearing gears) ten times the number of your own kids. You get stressed out hiding your journals from being watercolor-ed by your artsy toddler. You call your kids ‘tornadoes’ for the chaos they did, thanks to the books and toys you’ve bought for them, too many.

Your car is full of toys. Your hallway is full of shoes. Every room in your house is a laundry room. You don’t have enough space and worse, you don’t have enough savings because all you do is buying all the things mentioned above.

You have debts. You can’t quit your job to pursue your passion because you need to pay your debt, maintain your lifestyle and organize your stuff (because Muji’s organizer is not cheap, IKEA either. Let’s get real, even Daiso gets taxed nowadays)

Stop reading. Stop reading. Stop reading.

It’s not you. It was me.

It was me and my cluttered life. It was me and only after I embrace minimalism for over a year already, that I’ve solved more than half of the problems.

The things you own end up owning you. It’s only after you lose everything that you’re free to do anything. (Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club)

In this post, I’ll share five things I’ve stopped buying as a minimalist.

1. Watch & jewelry

I don’t use a watch anymore because I have my phone with me all the time. Even when I wear one, I still look at my phone or wall clocks (at public places) to know the time, so what’s the point.

For jewelry, I used to love charm bracelets from Pandora and I had many charmed jewelry items (bangles, necklaces, and rings) but not anymore. I prefer my hands naked now.

And yes, I don’t wear gold (I’ve lost my wedding necklace the week after I got married. My wedding ring was taken from my very finger when my parents’ house was robbed 6 years ago and I lost my engagement ring 2 years later – it’s okay because I’m divorced now anyway)

2. High heels

Let’s be frank, heels make me look like a baby giraffe learning to walk so I’ve stopped trying. I currently have 4 footwears; one Bata slippers, one Nike running shoes, another Bata formal shoes and a pair of canvas kungfu shoes that I pretty much wear all the time.

3. Handbags

I hate transferring my stuff from one bag to another, so why bother having too many bags. I currently have one backpack that I use for office, also act as my laptop bag. It’s the same bag I bring for weekends gateway with my friends and to my parents’ place.

I have another smaller bag for quick outings – a sling bag just enough to fit my purse and phone, a passport sized notebook, a pen, keys and all of my make-up items that I own. So, two bags are all that I need.

4. Excessive beauty product and makeups

No extra shower foams, shampoos, and cleansers in my bathroom anymore. I still need to put effort into minimizing my skincare routine though. So, I can’t really reveal them yet. (hint: 5-10 items of skincare range, that I mostly wear once a week)

However, for my makeup, as I just said before, all of my items fit in my bag – one compact powder, one eyeliner, one blusher and two lipsticks.

5. Cute stationery

I used to be a pen addict before I finally found my favorite pen. I realize now that pens are pretty much functional than decorative #ohmycommonsense. I still own many pens from the addiction. They probably will last me up to 3 years or more.

It is H’s ‘sickness’ now to write only with rainbow-ed pencils.

I have more things that I stopped buying as a minimalist (i.e. fast fashion, kitchen towels, plastic organizers etc.) but let’s save them for the future post!

Thank you for reading.

The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t. (Joshua Becker)