How to Create an Intentional Home and Lifestyle

The idea of minimalism is choosing to live with less to simplify your life. Which in turn, means being intentional about buying less and bringing less into your home. Even minimalists have to go shopping and buy things sometimes (scratch that: frequently). Being intentional about what you buy is the key to learning to shop like a minimalist. Making intentional purchases lets you avoid ending up with a cluttered home full of things you neither use nor love. Want to know how to create an intentional home? Start here.

Decide what adds value to your life

I don’t believe minimalism should be so restrictive you don’t allow yourself to buy things you truly need or want. Instead, maintaining a minimalist mindset and learning to shop like a minimalist is about being intentional with the purchases you make and the things you bring into your home. Only buying things that will truly add value to your life, not things that will soon find themselves in the decluttering box. We usually carefully think through our bigger purchases before making them. But it’s often the little things we purchase here and there, that don’t seem like a lot or a big deal, that add up over time and clutter our homes. Teaching ourselves to shop like a minimalist – with intention – allows us to carefully consider and think through all our purchases. Our time and space are too valuable to waste on things that only clutter our homes without adding value to our lives.

Budget for your purchase

When you are shopping with intention, you aren’t buying anything and everything. You only buy what you need or what you want. So ideally, you will make sure that every item that you buy fits into your budget. Sometimes, for larger items, this means budgeting for your purchase. The great thing about this is that it helps you slow down your shopping. Since you are keeping your budget (and the clutter in your house!) in mind, you don’t impulse buy anymore.

Unsubscribe from unnecessary emails

If you are someone who reads store emails, stop it! One of the best ways to avoid making impulsive purchases and shop like a minimalist is to remove as many temptations as you can. Retailers are marketing experts and they are good at what they do! It can be hard to resist the temptation to shop when your inbox is full of emails telling you about the latest, limited-time, best-ever sale. You’re much more likely to make intentional purchases when you seek out the purchase. Rather than being bombarded with offers, you didn’t even know you wanted in the first place!

Assess your intentions

Before you make a purchase, honestly assess why you want to buy it in the first place. Is it because you have carefully considered it and know it will add value to your life? Or is it because you are bored and want something new? Are you trying to make yourself feel better by buying something new? Are you buying it to impress someone else, real or imagined? Sometimes we buy for the wrong reasons. Begin to shop like a minimalist by being honest with yourself about your motivation for wanting to buy.

Support local companies whenever possible

It’s incredibly tempting to order whatever you need from large online companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Target. But how many of those items can you buy locally? If I had to guess, much of what you’re buying online can be sourced locally. When you shop at local businesses, you’re not only supporting your economy but you are also likely making an impact on the environment as well. If you’re shopping somewhere that makes their goods or sources items locally, your purchases will have much less of an environmental impact than if you were buying items sourced from another state or country.

I’ll admit it, though – sometimes, there is a benefit to purchasing online. When you shop in person, it’s easy to become sucked into the things you walk by while you are getting to the item that you need.

Downsize

Last but not least, downsize. This may (or may not) sound like a crazy huge transition when it comes to creating an intentional home, but the facts are there. If you have a large home, you have more work to do. You have more places to store junk. You have more stuff. Downsizing is a sure way that will help you create an intentional home and more importantly, free up time so that you can spend your time doing what you love. Need help moving? Page Relocation is my tried and true recommendation if you are in Georgia. They are residential movers and Atlanta commercial movers, too. The best part of all? Page Relocation has the experience and they are committed to providing a high-quality, efficient, and caring solution for the transport of your possessions. They say “from start to finish, we are dedicated to your happiness.”