7 Ways to Declutter and Lead a Simple Life

We come into this world with no belongings, and we will also leave, taking nothing with us. Then why do we keep on hankering for more and more? Confucius quoted, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Let’s think about it. We start with a simple life, and then we keep on making it more and more complicated. As a result, one day we don’t find enough time not only to manage all the complexities we created but also for the simple things in life that we value most. Does this sound familiar? In this post, I will share 7 ways to declutter and lead a simple life.

“Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens.”

– Peace Pilgrim

Why Do We Clutter and Complicate Our Life?

Before we try to understand how to declutter, we need to understand why clutter in the first place? So what does cluttering mean? Cluttering means we cram our lives with things that we don’t really need. It could be material things, and also it could be immaterial things. Of course, material things are physical assets like houses, jewelry, clothing, shoes, furnishings, appliances and gadgets, cars and bikes, boats, RVs (recreation vehicle), adventure sport vehicles, amusement and other recreation stuffs etc. etc. And immaterial things could be financial assets, say multiple credit cards, bank accounts, investments accounts, real estates, farm lands and so on and so forth.

So why do we clutter our lives with so many material and immaterial things? No one wants to complicate one’s life unnecessarily. True? But still we do after we buy a lot of stuffs.

With owning a lot of physical stuffs comes a lot of stress. Think about it. You own a beach vacation house. You have your boat. And a hurricane is at the onset. And you live in another part of the state or country. Then you install surveillance on your property to monitor. How is the adrenaline level just when the hurricane meets landfall? 

Could we not get the experiences of a beach house and boat by renting when we need versus owning?

Let’s try to understand some of the top reasons of why we clutter and complicate our life.

Succumb to Social, Peer and Family Pressures

First, we succumb to social, peer and family pressures. Human beings are social beings and we get influenced and also influence our thoughts in the society we live. If our neighbors or family and friends are spending their money buying things, we get influenced and wonder why we shouldn’t buy as well, even if we are not sure if we need it. Or if that is the right thing for us, whether material or immaterial.

Finding Fulfillment with Possessions

Second, we try to find fulfillment in life owning possessions. There are 10 drivers for finding fulfillment in life, which is also the foundation of this website. I based these drivers on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The topmost need, as defined in the hierarchy pyramid, is self actualization and self realization. These terms are difficult to understand mostly and may need years of efforts to decipher their true meaning. But in a nutshell, we relate self realization to being able to understand ourselves and find our calling in life. We can say also self-actualization is finding the true meaning of life or the ultimate truth.

Then is finding fulfillment in life about indiscriminately buying possessions, both material and immaterial, whether we need it? Of course, we need financial security and need to diversify our investments, but do we need to it through buying multiple physical possessions or account that could later become a nightmare for us to manage?

More truly, are owning possessions the gateway to finding fulfillment in life?

Spend Our Surplus Time Buying

Third, we spend our surplus time buying. Well, buying stuffs both material and immaterial could be time-consuming. Especially when we don’t know what to do with our surplus time. Then we could very well end up spending that time shopping. And there is are plethora of aids that our materialist world feeds us with, starting from ads, reviews and evaluations that could keep us stay busy in the buying experience.

7 Ways to Declutter and Lead a Simple Life

Leading a minimalistic life can be a way to declutter and lead a simple life.

Determine What You Need and What You Don’t

This might be difficult to start with. There are several questions. First, what do we really need? Then what we don’t need? What we need dependent on our satisfaction or fulfillment from what we have. Then the question gets into how we derive satisfaction or find fulfillment.

So how do we get to answer these questions? Life is full of temptations, and we live in a materialistic world. To lead a simple life, we may not need all the materialistic stuffs. It might be things to meet our basic needs that are simple and nothing extravagant.

One doesn’t also need to become an ascetic or a monk to lead a simple life, we too can. It is just how we can step back and introspect about our real wants in life. That can make us fulfilled in the long term, and not instantaneous joy or happiness.

Identify Possessions That Are High Maintenance

Part of decluttering and simplifying our lives are identifying things that are high maintenance. So what is high maintenance? They can be things that consuming a lot of our time. Or something that is emotionally exhausting. Or financially taxing. High maintenance possessions can be physical or also financial. For example, far-flung rental properties that are a drag on our time to maintain. Or second homes when we can easily rent a place for holidays when we need to say from Airbnb. Or it could be also multiple financial accounts that sometimes can become a stretch of our time and effort to even keep a track of.

Prepare a Plan To Be Debt-Free

One way to live a simple life is preparing a plan to be debt-free. Americans, on an average, have a personal debt of about $93,000. You name it. Most Americans start off with student loans. The car and home mortgages. Given the low interest rates, it might be highly lucrative to buy stuffs on mortgages, but debt is debt. It needs to be repaid. On an average, credit card interest rates are between 16% to 30%. Can we envision a debt-free life in America? It might be difficult, but the first step is trying to understand the benefits of becoming debt-free. It might not be worth it to pay such exorbitant credit card interests because in the long run almost no investment can give you such return. Then why can’t we declutter and try to live simpler lives? Lesser stuffs?

Find What You Truly Enjoy Doing

To live a simple life, we need to find fulfillment and satisfaction in our lives. Otherwise we will try to find fulfillment by shopping for stuffs. Or find happiness from possessions. So, living a satisfying life, we need to find out what we truly enjoy doing. Even if that doesn’t a ton of money. It might be worthwhile to even try to understand how much money we truly need to live a fulfilled life. That in the US is around $75,000 per year. So it is imperative to find out our passion in life. Something through which we can find true satisfaction and therefore inch towards achieving self actualization.

Practice Stoicism

Do you know what is stoicism? Stoicism teaches us self-control. It preaches indifference towards both pain and joy. Something ascetics or monks can achieve over a lifetime. But how can we mortals practice stoicism? We can if we try. Our ability to control how we react is not better explained by the cockroach theory by Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Leading simple lives is also about focusing on what you truly need from your lives and decluttering out what you truly don’t need. And to achieve that, we need to practice self-control and self-restraint. Does it make sense?

Empathize With Less Fortunate

According to the World poverty clock, as of April 18, 2021, there are about 717 million people living in extreme poverty. They live on less than $1.9 per day. Even if we have money, how does the optics work if we show off our money? Or live extravagant lifestyles? Will it be more humane to live a simple life? Does it not make sense to empathize with the less fortunate in the world? And give back to our communities that we can afford to? If we give a little, then those little droplets can create an ocean of opportunities for the less fortunate. We can help underprivileged children with better basic needs, including food, sanitation, primary education and healthcare. Is it worth something to think about?

Create a Sustainable World

Last but not the least, living simple lives can help in creating a more sustainable world. Read how minimalism can solve long-term sustainability. I exist because we exist. This world is for everyone, that is all living beings, not only for some human beings. We need rational consumerism and not an indiscriminate one. So that not only we all living beings can co-exist but also sustain the world for future generations.

Conclusion on Ways to Declutter and Lead a Simple Life

In a nutshell, we can declutter and live a simple life if we want to. It’s also true not everyone wants to live a simple life. Because as Confucius quoted, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Something worth thinking about. Is your life cluttered with stuffs? Do you have a lot of stuffs for which you need to worry about a lot? Like to get an insurance for them in case they get damaged or stolen? Then does life become a cycle to buy stuffs and protecting or maintaining them only? Is that life all about? Does our stuffs then control our lives? Then these stuffs that we buying our pleasures or enjoyment become our burdens?

So how can we set ourselves free from our self-created burdens? How can we declutter and lead a simple life? Is your life simple or complex with too much stuffs? Please share your thoughts and comments.