Minimal living might not suit everyone.

But it’s a great choice for a lot of people. If you decide to embrace minimalism, you can clear out clutter not just from your home but also from your life and your mind. If you think that you’ve become too materialistic or you just want to free up some space in your home, minimalism could be right for you. It’s not just about decluttering your home. The aim is to keep your home clutter free once you’ve cleared out some of your stuff and slimmed down to the essentials. Here’s how you can get started.

#1: Remove Your Stuff from Your Home

When you don’t know where to start with making your home more minimal, it can be helpful to remove much of your stuff. Take it elsewhere and look at it outside of the context of your home to decide what to keep. You can use a self storage unit to store everything while you decide what to do with it.

The storage space can allow you to go through everything in a more manageable way. You could even return home and only collect things from storage when you know that you need them. If you don’t think about an item for weeks or months, you probably don’t need it in your home.

#2: Use Some Smart Tricks to Check What You Use

There are lots of tricks that you can use to clear out your things. It’s often difficult to let go of items that you have an affection for, even if you haven’t used them in a long time. It can be particularly hard if you’re a lover of clothes and shoes. One trick to try with your clothes is to hang things up backwards. Each time you wear something, turn the coat hanger the right way. If you haven’t turned something around after six months to a year, get rid of it.

#3: Find Ways to Do More with Less

One of the things that can help you to live a minimal lifestyle and keep a minimal home is to have possessions that serve multiple purposes. If you can do more with less, you don’t have to have so much stuff cluttering up your home. For example, with just a small wardrobe, you can create lots of different outfits by mixing and matching your items. You can have multifunctional furniture that doubles up as anything from storage to extra surface space.

#4: Be Strict About Buying New Things

Once you’ve cleared out your home, you need to keep it going with that minimal vibe. To do this, it’s essential to be strict with yourself about buying new things or bringing anything into your home. There’s no point spending lots of time decluttering if you’re then going to clutter it back up again. Before you bring something new into your home, think about whether you really need it and whether it’s going to make you happy.

Making your home minimal can take some work, but it’s worth it if you want a peaceful home.