5 Minimalist Principles to Keep Your Home Tidy

You don’t have to be a minimalist to live clutter-free

I’ll be the first to admit it.

I don’t want to throw all my stuff away. I don’t want to have a packing party and box up all my possessions just so I can figure out what I need and what I don’t. It sounds like an enormous hassle.

I mean, who doesn’t already know they don’t need most of their stuff? I’m sure we’d all love to live clutter-free but there is a limit to how much we are willing to sacrifice.

I am not a minimalist. But I have adopted a few minimalist principles which have helped me live a happier life and keep a tidier home.

Live Purposefully Within Your Means

How many times have you heard someone say to “live within your means”?

We get it. We spend far too much of our hard-earned cash. And the worst part is we don’t always spend it on things we care about. Some people even take on debt to buy things they don’t want.

It’s madness.

As reasonable as it is to live within your means, it’s presented in a way that only optimizes finances and avoids financial disaster. That’s super useful but unless we add a bit of meaning to our budgets, many people will see this as a more restricted lifestyle.

Living purposefully within your means is different. It requires you to spend on the things that matter to you that also fit within your budget. Forget the junk you think you should buy because others say you should. Focus instead on what you need and want.

If you buy things with the intention to keep them long term, you’ll be able to get the most out of your resources. You’ll spend less on impulse buys and short term fads.

You might even be a little bit happier.

Give Each of Your Items a Home Within Your Home

If you bring things into your home, assign a space where they belong. Try to be as practical with your placement as possible.

I can’t tell you how much this idea has helped me to keep a tidier home. Knowing where things belong means that tidying up is putting items back where they should be.

When you take something out of its place and use it, you should return it to its home after. If you abide by that, you’ll discover that you won’t have random junk on your desk, under your coffee table, or on any available flat surfaces.

Take your time and have a good think about where you want things to go. Once you’ve settled on a location for the items, you need to commit to keeping them there.

The mess usually happens when an item doesn’t have a home. You could organize items by room so nothing that should be in the bathroom is found in the living room for example.

An added bonus of giving your items a specific place where they belong is that you will rarely ever lose or misplace anything.

The Less You Own, the Tidier Your Home

It doesn’t matter how tidy you keep your home if you can’t stem the influx of junk coming in. Be selective with what you let into your home and you won’t struggle so much to keep things tidy. You can’t make a mess when there is nothing there.

You could also say that the less you use, the less you move.

Maybe you’ve given all your items a home. I appreciate that some items are purely ornamental. They don’t need to be moved or actively used. The less you use your items, the more they can just stay in their place.

Let’s say you live alone and own 10 sets of cutlery and dinnerware. You could easily put 9 sets aside in a cupboard and only use one set. This would reduce potential pileups of dishes to be washed.

The same logic could be applied to other items in your home including clothing.

Compound Tiny Tidy-Ups and Clean as You Go

It can be difficult to commit to a full tidy up and clean of your home. It’s easy to procrastinate and decide to do it tomorrow. But you will be amazed by how much a little effort can go a long way.

Rather than commit to an extensive, all-out clean on the weekend, you could spend 5–10 minutes every day tidying up. Taking this approach has helped me keep my home tidy with minimal effort. It doesn’t have to take up all of your time. After all, most of the time we are just putting items back in their place.

When cooking, I often clean at the same time. Whatever I finish using, I can clean and put away as the food is cooking on the stove or oven. That way, there isn’t a huge mess or pileup to deal with afterward.

Understand the Changing Value of Possessions

It’s important to note that things you own will change value over time, not just in terms of monetary value. But also in terms of sentimental value and utility.

Perhaps you still keep things you valued highly when you were younger. But the same item could mean very little to you now. And it could mean even less in the future.

When you’ve identified an item like this, you should consider selling it, or donating it to someone that could get more use out of it. Ideally, you wouldn’t need to pay for an extra storage facility just to house it.

People attach a lot of meaning to the possessions they own. They are afraid of discarding items because it would mean throwing away precious memories. But memories are in our heads, not in the items we associate with them.

If you still have your first bike, for example, it could be enough to keep a picture of yourself riding the bike as a child. But I understand if you want to keep certain items as keepsakes.

You don’t have to get rid of everything, but know that you don’t need to keep everything either.

Those are some of the principles I have adopted to keep a tidier home and live a happier life. I hope they will serve you well if you choose to try them. You don’t have to be a minimalist to live the life you want.

To recap:

• Live purposefully within your means
• Give each of your items a home within your home
• The less you own, the tidier your home. (Also, the less you use, the less you move.)
• Compound tiny tidy-ups and clean as you go
• Understand the changing value of possessions