“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art.” —Richard Holloway
We live in a world that is stressed, too fast and doesn’t give us the time to look at the sky above our heads unless it is for our next Instagram post. We work long hours and rush from one thing to another multitasking and yet don’t seem to get anything done. Living a simple and minimal life slows it down. It allows us to disengage from this chaos and helps us thrive on only what is essential.
Do you have to uproot your entire life to live like this? NO. It is completely achievable. Whether you live in a metropolitan city or in the mountains. It isn’t about refraining from luxury and indulgence, but about the things you choose to add more than what you remove.
You can start with one thing at a time. Here is a step-by-step guide to slowly transform your life:
1. Simplify your Day
A to-do list will save your time and prioritising your top 3 tasks for the day will make it even better. One battle at a time! Complete your priority task for the day first thing in the morning to get momentum.
Limit the access people have to you, especially through phone calls, emails and social media. These can easily give you a false sense of urgency or put you in an endless loop of scrolling through your phone. Assign a time to check these during the day so that your tasks are not interrupted.
Petty things like a chunk of coiled up cable cords or the entangled chains and bracelets on your dresser can bug you every day and delay your tasks. Find a fix. STAC’s Wooden Trinket Box by your bedside table will ease organising your everyday jewels. And some easy DIYs can help you arrange your desk.
Most importantly, divide your day into work and no-work hours to strike a balance in your life.
2. USE it or LOSE it
Modern houses with optimal storage units accumulate as many things the credit cards and income allow over the years! The mystery truly lies in what these cabinets and drawers really have in them. Most of us just shove our belongings that we don’t use anymore in these, so they are out of sight. When the dreaded annual cleaning day arrives, we rarely clean them out.
A simple minimalist lifestyle is about living with only the things we need, free from the desire to buy and accumulate more. Give yourself a month or two and make a mental inventory of everything you own. List what you haven’t used and ask yourself, “Do I really need this? Does this bring me joy?” Identify the essential. And pile the rest into three stacks to donate, recycle, and dispose of. Not only will you see the difference in your physical space, but you will feel it mentally as well!
3. Minimal wardrobe
A minimal wardrobe is not aiming for the least number of items. It's finding what fits your lifestyle, requires minimal effort to put together and even less energy in its maintenance. A minimal wardrobe has high-quality versatile pieces handpicked to last you for years.
Begin with decluttering your closet into bundles to keep, to donate, to save for another season and “maybe” that has the potential to stay around with a little repair and fitting.
Now define your style with accessories and clothing that express your personality. You can add personalised jewellery as well to truly sign it off as yours! Get visual by making Pinterest boards of jewellery, hairstyle, outfits, anything that represents great style to you. Identify the patterns by making note of what you are drawn to, the colours, silhouettes, fabric, any accessory that shows up again and again. Now you can identify where your current wardrobe is and where you aim to take it.
Start with wardrobe basics and neutrals. Even when it comes to jewellery choose classic, timeless pieces that can go from desk to dinner. Choose a colour palette that compliments you. Add versatile and simple silhouettes and jewellery that complements your style, not define it. Simple quality pieces will work wonders like your favourite STAC fine jewellery.
Wardrobe formulas
Your best friend to simplify your mornings and when you face the life crisis as soon as you have to put an outfit together. Wardrobe formulas are a defined set of types of clothing and accessories that go together no matter what.
Consider the following:
a. A fitted blouse or a silk shirt, tailored trousers, block heels, neutral coloured tote bag and a watch with your favourite stacked bracelets. All you gotta do is swipe a wine lipstick and add on a statement necklace like our Pearl Circle Lariat Necklace to amp up the look. Trust us, it’s an ideal desk to dinner outfit.
b. A midi skirt with a fitted top or a dress paired with ballet flats with layered necklaces will always go together irrespective of the colour or material.
We subconsciously know these and actually use it. You can create a visual guide with some photos to inspire these formulas that work for your body type and style.
4. Quality over quantity
Living a minimalist lifestyle does not mean more and more options that need to be replaced, but buying that one thing that will last you forever. It truly means investing in quality and sustainable pieces. Purchase thoughtfully!
When you buy a high-value product, you tend to make an informed choice and find something that you are most likely to use often. Like your best-loved 18 kt gold STAC piece, classic and contemporary jewellery that you can enjoy wearing every day while dressing up or down! And one day you may even pass it on to your family members. If it loses its polish, you can easily book a polishing service and it will be as good as new.
5. The journey from the wishlist to the cart
Do you find yourself browsing through shopping apps more than social media? Then this is definitely for you! Whether you are an impulse buyer or an emotional shopper, here’s what you need to do:
a. Only Wishlist while you shop and never add the product to the cart directly.
b. Spend at least 2-3 days imagining that you already own the product.
c. Now ask yourself, how often will you use it? Is it versatile? How long will this last? Whether it’s a piece of expensive jewellery, a glass bowl for the house, or even a new strap for your apple watch.
Only after honestly answering these questions, your decision to add it to your cart or not will be a lot easier!
6. Simple Eating
Create a capsule kitchen of foods that you can mix and match so that you can spend less time in your kitchen and spend more time enjoying the meals with your loved ones. Own a few essential appliances and organized storage units to make your kitchen clutter-free. Stock your pantry with the basics like rice, oils, sauces, etc. Buy some fresh seasonal fruits and veggies and if possible something that grows within 100-200kms radius of you. If your food can’t survive where you live how will it nourish your body?
On the weekend, binge watch recipes that need the least utensils and least amount of time. Prep in advance for your meals by cutting your fruits and veggies in advance and preserving them for later use. Try consuming less processed foods. Remember, you are what you eat!
7. Digital Declutter
Do you dread going through your phone every time you get a notification about no storage space? Does your desktop have a million files, unlabelled and unorganised? Your devices need a cleanse! We fail to recognize the amount of mental stress this clutter adds to our lives. Our digital lives comprise 100s of accounts we follow on social media, subscriptions to endless streaming channels and so on. And in no time this overwhelms us.
Digital declutter is essential and you just need to audit and organize these into secure backups to make your life simpler. Dedicate a Sunday morning and sort through those folders on your desktop and the mass of photos you fear. Use an external storage device and a system to label your folders.
Delete the unused apps on your phone and switch off notifications that are not essential to you. Go through your subscriptions to online content and music and check what you no longer use.
Conclusion
Simple living is a voluntary lifestyle choice to simplify one’s life. Simple living is finding joy and peace, and feeling content with the little things in life. Simple living helps you find freedom from the external clutter and creates the space we need to address our internal issues that impact our lives.
Simplifying your life requires asking yourself questions about what motivates you every day and recognizing the true answers. Along the way, make adjustments and audit your possessions, habits, thoughts and sometimes even relationships and ultimately be the best version of you! It is a slow process and truly worth it!
Until next time, keep STAC-ing!