Minimalism for Beginners -10 SUPER Easy Steps To Starting Minimalism Today

I close my eyes and picture a tiny home on the beach. I imagine my simple life and my easy schedule and I breathe a deep breath of joy that I am finally here. Then I open my eyes and I am living a minimalist lifestyle, but I’m not on the beach. YET!

That’s because minimalism is a journey and you have to start somewhere. Still starting minimalism is one of the best things I’ve ever done! I have come a long way and I feel closer than ever to my dreams but I’m not there yet. What about you?

I know you have big dreams and maybe you too dream of a simple life. But are you already living your dreams? Maybe not.

Still you are doing great! You know what you want. But what are the steps to becoming a minimalist?

It’s easier than you think! You can simplify your life and chase your goals but it’s going to take a little bit of work up front if you REALLY want to simplify your life with minimalism.

Are you wondering how to start a minimalist lifestyle? Do you need a guide to minimalism to get started? Let’s discuss 10 CRAZY easy steps to becoming a minimalist you can take right away! I promise minimalism for beginners is WAY EASIER than you think it’s going to be…

How to Start Minimalism in Just 10 EASY Steps!

• Declutter 10 items in each room.
• Clean out your closet.
• Get rid of duplicates and unused items.
• Trash the junk in your house!
• Think of how to donate and help others.
• Sell clutter for cash!
• Tidy up with great organizing tools.
• Stop shopping for fun and avoid sales ads.
• Audit your bills and get rid of services/subscriptions you don’t need.
• Experiment with getting rid of stuff by putting it away for awhile.

Why Do You Want to Start Being a Minimalist?

You are obviously on this website because some part of you wants to know how to start a minimalist lifestyle. You want to simplify your life but sometimes minimalism can feel more like a dream than anything you can actually achieve in real life. And maybe starting minimalism just feels too overwhelming….

I don’t want you to feel that way! The minimalist lifestyle, even when applied to your life just a little bit, can help you in so many ways. It has helped my husband and I pay off debt and save money.

Minimalism has helped us balance our schedules so that we have time and energy to do things we enjoy.

The steps to becoming a minimalist I am going to share have also helped me manage my anxiety and A-Type expectations so that my husband and I can build a strong partnership.

Starting minimalism means your goal is to simplify your life, not make it harder! That’s why I want you to feel empowered to start simple! That is why I am going to share with you the best minimalism for beginners tips and tricks I know! They will give you GREAT momentum as you start the best journey of your life. Starting minimalism! .

This post is a beginner’s guide to minimalism. I promise you that if you take these 10 action steps you will start feeling the benefits of the minimalist lifestyle immediately! You will experience these benefits of minimalism before you get rid of tons of stuff or completely change your life!

Don’t run away! I promise, it’s really not as hard or scary as it sounds. It’s going to be fun!

This post contains affiliate links which means I get a small commission from purchases made after you click them. This doesn’t cost you any extra but helps me to continue making great content for Doable Simplicity! Thanks for reading!

Minimalism for Beginners Step 1: Get Rid of 10 Items

If you want to know how to start living a minimalist lifestyle the first thing you need to do is make some room to breathe in your home. That means decluttering.

That can sound overwhelming but for now, we will just start with baby steps. My challenge to you is to get rid of 10 items out of each room, except the closet. At first, you will feel like you can’t do it but once you get started you will be surprised how many things are sitting around that you do not need.

Find a minimum of 10 items in each room you don’t care about and put them in a box. Remember, once they are in that box you can’t take them back. They are on their way out of your life because you probably didn’t even remember you had them.

Guide to Minimalism Step 2: Clean Out Your Closet

Did you really think you would get anywhere without cleaning out your closet? This is minimalism for beginners! You have to clean out your closet. (I didn’t like it either but it’s soooo important and totally worth it!)

Get a big bag! It’s time to get rid of clothes. Most of us have way too many clothes and most of us only really wear a few favorite pieces over and over again!

I am not going to tell you a certain number of clothing items to get rid of or keep. I am not going to tell you to even cut your closet in half. We are just taking baby steps right now.

Your assignment today is simply to let go of clothes that are worn, torn, faded, pilled, don’t fit, or you just don’t like anymore.

Minimalism for Beginners Step 3: Look for Duplicates

The third step in your guide to minimalism for beginners will take you a little further in your decluttering process. What will you need to do?

Look around your house for duplicates or even triplicates that you do not need. Many of us have more than we need of certain items.

Maybe you bought a certain item again for backup because we loved the first item so much. Perhaps you bought a new item but didn’t want to throw the old one away. Or maybe you bought something you forgot you had already. It’s entirely possible you just couldn’t find the one you already had.

In any case, I am sure you will find some duplicates in your home. If you don’t need that second toaster, that seventh black skirt, or that third ski jacket then it’s time to let it go!

That stuff is dragging you down! You have been keeping it “just in case” you need it but it’s probably just turning your house into a chaotic storage shed instead of a home. You don’t want all that chaos and confusion. This is one of the steps to becoming a minimalist that will cure that!

4: Take the Trash Out

You have looked through and decluttered lots of stuff and it’s all just sitting around in your garage. Now is the point where you really need your guide to minimalism to tell you what to do with it all!

The first step is to take out the trash!

Really it’s as simple as that! Now is the time to throw away old pieces of mail, clothes with holes in them, and empty shampoo bottles. No, you can’t count any of those things in your ten items for each room. These are things that need to be thrown away anyway. Take them out and while you are at it throw away any items in your boxes from decluttering that are not going to be useful to someone else(no one wants your old undies).

Once you have taken out the trash and you have tossed some broken, stained, and useless items from your decluttering project stop for a second and look at your house! It’s already looking better! And how do you feel? AMAZING!

Stop and revel in the beautiful feeling of letting go! Starting minimalism should feel like an enormous weight being lifted off your shoulders.

5: Think About How Your Abundance Can Help Others

Believe it or not, when you begin to to understand how to start the minimalist lifestyle it helps you become more generous. You start thinking of others more.

If I were to name one thing that is pivotal to simplifying in my guide to minimalism it’s this. Start thinking of your abundance as a way to contribute to someone’s lack. Thinking of others and how to help them will help you simplify!

Look at the boxes of things you have decided to get rid of. Is there anything someone else may be able to use? Put it in another box or bag to take down to the thrift store or appropriate charity location.

Now take another sweep through your home and see if you have anything else that others could use. Knowing that your little-used items could be just what someone else needs can be a great motivator. Thinking of others will help you get rid of stuff you don’t use or need.

If you need a role model let me tell you about one of my little friends.

At four and a half years old his mother asked him if he needed all his toys or if maybe he could get rid of a few he no longer played with.

At first, he was hesitant and only agreed to let go of a couple of toys. But when she mentioned that the toys could be taken to children who had no parents or were in the hospital he decided he could rid of quite a few more toys.

What a good little example he set for us! That’s how to start minimalism and generosity young!

6: Sell Clutter for Cash!

Here’s one of the fun steps to becoming a minimalist that hardly anyone talks about!

One of the hardest things we deal with when decluttering is buyers’ remorse. But will buyers’ remorse that this item was “worth something” change the fact that you don’t use it and haven’t even thought about it for who knows how long? No. Keeping something just because you spent money on it once will do nothing but fill your house with ill-fitting clothing, outdated electronics, and more!

However, if you want to, you can sell it. If it’s worth the effort to sell it that is. I would highly recommend you don’t waste a weekend on a yard sale. Go ahead and sell clutter using Facebook Marketplace! It’s easy, can fit into your busy schedule, and is usually pretty fast!

Minimalism for beginners includes selling stuff because it helps you get in the habit of letting go. It can be pretty addictive to turn clutter into money!

7: Tidy Up the House:

By now your home should contain only things you feel you need and love right now. This minimalism for beginners guide has done you right so far! You’ve put in the work and your house is looking great! Good for you! I am proud of all your hard work!

But now you are looking at your home and wondering why things still seem a bit messy around the house. Don’t worry. You just need to follow the next step in your guide to minimalism.

You need some organizational solutions to make things you need accessible and appealing to the eye.

And the best part is once you have found the right organizing solutions for your space your home will look amazing and be more functional than ever! You will also become one of those annoying people whose homes are always tidy (without even trying).

8: Starting Minimalism By Stopping the Urge to Splurge

Now that you have decluttered your home and it is looking bright and spacious like you always dreamed, you may actually feel the urge to fill it again. We have lived in a cluttered home for so long it feels normal. Starting minimalism might feel odd at first.

But don’t forget you are here to learn how to start a minimalist lifestyle and a big part of that is buying less junk! But the urge to shop is so strong! So how can you fight back?

One of the biggest temptations for me is my inbox. When I see that all my favorite stores are running “AMAZING SALES” “JUST FOR YOU” I feel like it couldn’t hurt to run by or shop it online. Then I get pulled into buying more than I meant to so that I can meet the qualifications for the offer.

If you are like me what can you do about that? How can this guide to minimalism help you resist advertising?

Did you know that all e-mails from stores and services have an unsubscribe button either on the top of the email or at the bottom? I would highly recommend you run through your inbox and unsubscribe to the stores that tempt you all the time.

When you need to shop you know where you like to shop and when you need a deal you know you can find one. You don’t need to be sucked into every sale they have.

Just because something is on sale doesn’t mean you are saving money if you wouldn’t have bought it anyway. Learn to ask questions before you buy ANYTHING so that you don’t bring more clutter into your home!

Also, you can fight the urge to shop by finding other ways to entertain yourself. Shopping shouldn’t be a hobby. Instead of shopping, there are tons of minimalist hobbies that can fill your time! Be creative, productive, and active and suddenly shopping will sound REALLY boring!

9: Downsize Unnecessary Bills

Another step in your minimalism for beginners journey is to take a look at where you can simplify your finances.

In fact one of the biggest reasons you may want to learn how to start living a minimalist lifestyle is to reduce debt and financial stress!

This may sound like a big move. Maybe you are thinking, I want to know how to start a minimalist lifestyle but I’m not ready for that! I’m still taking baby steps. This is supposed to be “minimalism for beginners”, not move into a tiny house and sell everything you love!

That’s ok! Don’t panic! I’m not talking about moving to a smaller house or anything big. This is still a beginners guide to minimalism. We are only going to talk about the kind of bills that are easy to drop.

How many subscriptions do you have? You know what I mean, Netflix, Disney, Hulu, Pandora, CBS, ABC, and the list goes on and on. We live in a wonderful time where we can get the shows we want when we want them but it can be a trap because they are all on different services.

Take a minute and think about all the subscriptions you have signed up for. Do you regularly use all of them? Maybe it is time to drop a couple of them. You will be surprised how all those little subscriptions add up to big amounts monthly. Money that could be used for gas, groceries, and more!

IF you want to go a little further, do you have a car you never drive or another type of vehicle you purchased for recreation? Could you maybe get rid of it and drop the insurance you pay every month?

What about gym memberships you aren’t using or nail appointments you don’t really need? Could you sacrifice your Starbucks run half the days of the week or even entirely?

There are hundreds of little bills we take on, not thinking much about them. They add up. Try dropping them and see your life get simpler and your wallet get fatter!

Minimalism for Beginners Step10: Just Experiment

It’s amazing isn’t it? You have already learned so much from this guide to minimalism! You are no longer in the dark about the steps to becoming a minimalist and I hope are feeling great about all the amazing progress you have made!

After you try all these minimalist lifestyle tips you will feel excited to start living minimalist lifestyle even more fully! You will feel lighter and brighter and you will want to tell your friends! That is wonderful!

However, you may look around and see that you could get rid of more things or even downsize in bigger ways but you just aren’t ready. That is totally ok. It takes time.

One thing you can do during the minimalism for beginners phase of our journey is experiment. This was a great recommendation from Joshua Becker’s book, The More of Less. You can actually experiment with whether or not you should keep an item by putting it away somewhere for a set period of time, like 1 month. If you need it during that time then you should probably keep it, but if you don’t you should probably get rid of it!

This can apply to clothes, kitchen gadgets, books, tools, and even cars. Try it! It’s an easy way to see how much you really need and ease out of ownership of items you are having a hard time getting rid of.

Are You Excited About Starting Minimalism?

Why do I write about the steps to becoming a minimalist? What makes me want to pursue minimalism? And why am I so excited that you are starting minimalism?

This goes back to the very heart of why I started this blog. As a cleaning lady, I saw tidy homes and I saw cluttered homes. I could see the stress level of the people living in these homes was in direct proportion to the weight of the things they owned.

I want to help people! My goal is to help everyone find out that simplifying can help them to get what they really want out of life. I want to make that simplicity doable for you and I want minimalism to fit your life! It should not feel impossible or strange. It should feel freeing. Minimalism should always, and only, be applied to your life in ways that make your life easier!

How do you feel after reading this beginners guide to minimalism? I hope you know you can do it and you will love the results! I believe in you!

When you have accomplished these 10 minimalism for beginners action steps you will feel amazing and powerful! You will feel like you have your life under control and it’s heading the way you want it to go! I promise you will never ever look back!

When you are ready to simplify more just repeat the 10 steps in this guide to minimalism until you reach the level of minimalism that works for you! The most important thing is that you start. You know how start a minimalist lifestyle so get started! Take it a little bit at a time and START today!

What steps have you already taken to simplify your life? What steps could you take today? Please share in the comments below!

Want The ULTIMATE Guide to Minimalism?

If you really want to learn how to start living the minimalist lifestyle you aren’t going to find the answers in the white on white pictures in the magazines! You probably don’t want to live on a Star Trek set and I know you want to wear more than one outfit!

You just want to make life easier! You want to declutter your home so it’s easier to find your keys. AND you want to know how to start minimalism so that you can stop running in circles and start achieving your goals!

Don’t worry! I’m with you all the way. I know how you feel and I know what the bumps in the road are when your starting minimalism.

If you want to simplify your life but the big bad word MINIMALISM scares you let me help! I wrote the ultimate guide to minimalism, the kind of minimalism that serves YOU in YOUR life. Grab YOUR COPY of Doable Simplicity (Minimalism For Normal People) today!