minimalism vs. marketing

As a part of my quarter life crisis I have been reading up a lot on minimalism lately, and something is definitely resonating.  The vogue forum thread on minimalism (see it here) has really sparked my interest in this new wave of living simply which is apparently sprouting up all around, especially on the blogosphere (see here,  here and here).

Now I am sure most of you are aware what living minimally contains – and although I will never be someone who can give up their TV, or live without make up, I am finding so many of the truths of minimalism inspiring:

• Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful  - William Morris
• There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little - Jackie French Koller
• Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you - Lao Tzu
• The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less – Socrates

I have managed to get a start on having less, firstly by unsubscribing to the million of emails I get daily with sales, decluttering my google reader feed, and having a massive wardrobe cull. So I am slowly taking steps to make my life more minimal.

Now the major problem I am facing with embracing this well and truly is my career. I studied and currently work in marketing – the art of selling people things they don’t need – and this is direct conflict with the above.  I don’t think I could ever embrace the minimalistic lifestyle without abandoning what I do, at least in a commercial sense.  I have begun to search for other ways my skills could be useful – perhaps marketing for a not for profit – but until that perfect job crops up, I am going to have an internal dilemma going on…

Are any of you on a decluttering/minimalism journey? What are your roadblocks?

decluttering

ahh…there is nothing like the feeling of getting rid of stuff from your house. After only a year and a half out of my parents house I have managed to amass a whole lot of junk – somehow it fills most of my two bedroom townhouse. Not happy with just filling cupboards full of stuff I will never used I have been on a mission to declutter my belongings down to the bare essentials – much to the dismay of my hoarding boyfriend. A few weeks back we had our council’s hard waste collection which allowed me to throw out some annoying items that had been hanging around for no better reason that I didn’t know how to throw them out. This then followed with a massive cull of my wardrobe - which resulted in donate and sell piles. This stayed in my spare room for quite a few weeks before I finally decided to list the sell items on ebay, phew, what an effort. Hopefully I can rid myself of everything I’ve listed, and the items that don’t sell will migrate to the donate pile and I can make my trip to the salvos.  Even with this wardrobe cull I am just amazed at the quantity of clothes I have accumulated – it really makes you think next time you want to buy something new. The long wkend was also a good time to tackle the pantry – I managed to throw out almost a bag’s full of expired food, such a waste! I need to be more vigilant about finding recipes to use remaining items.

Although a good start, it feels like only the beginning of my decluttering journey. My dream would be to have a house where everything fits, and nothing is out-of-place – sigh, one day perhaps!

If you need some inspiration to declutter your house visit the decluttering thread on the vogue forum – these girls are amazing!