Feb 13, 2017

While I do love writing posts to help you bring the best of the best beauty or skincare bits,  one trend I’ve been loving more and more is this idea of  l e s s.

Last year I dedicated my entire year to ‘less.’  And after twelve months I had less thoughtless spending and more living.  I’m happy to say it’s a word that completely changed my mindset and helped me in more facets than I thought possible.  Still it wasn’t easy and I would say for a good six months I floundered on how to actually create less in my life.  But today I’m sharing those mindset’s or “Ah-ha!” moments of clarification that helped give me less with you.  Enjoy!

Start at the base.

For the first couple of months I just changed what I was spending my money on.  It wasn’t makeup and skincare bits, but it was just more ‘stuff’ I was so sure would add value by making me more organized.

S o  s i l l y  you guys!

I was compounding my problem as getting more ‘stuff’ for the ‘stuff’ I didn’t even need in the beginning.

Sigh.

It was a hard lesson to learn as a few months later I was getting rid of even more than I originally had, but ultimately it helped solidify my less practice.  For example, my craft table had slowly turned into a ‘stuff’ collector.  It was a place for me to toss items that I didn’t really want to make decisions about, but by selling the table to someone who would truly use it, meant I had to go through the ‘stuff’. I also eliminated an entire place for ‘stuff’ to pile up.  Try to find those places in your home that is simply a ‘stuff’ collector and see if you really need it.

Downsize in steps.

A rather obvious step to creating less, but one I think scares us all a bit because it forces us to make the hard decisions.  When I first decided to downsize from a four drawer vanity to a one drawer vanity… I balked.  In my mind that move was insurmountable.  So I scratched it and kept looking.

Except… I knew that marbled top vanity was exactly what I was looking for.

So rather than looking at it as four drawers to one, I just went from four to three. And then three to two. And you guessed it – two to one.  The whole process probably took about three total weeks and each week it got easier and easier to identify what I didn’t need.

Don’t walk into a room and expect it to become ‘less’ in just a day.  You stand to get rid of stuff you might actually use and you also have a higher chance of getting frustrated and giving up.  Start in a corner and identify something you know you use, toss what you don’t.  After that go to the next corner and start the process over again.

Invest don’t spend.

As in quality, not quantity.  I’m fine spending my money on something that’s going to last me… but I’m over the trends that last one season.

When you start spending less you really start to notice just how far those well earned dollars go.  So while a well made denim staple can be one of the best investments for a closet, yet another cute top may not be.  Try to pin point those items in your closet (or house) you may actually need vs those that just fill it up.  Space in your house, closet and life is valuable – don’t let just anything fill it.

Know what you value.

As in are you willing to go without the newest lipstick so you can ultimately buy a new vanity? Or at least, that’s the question I asked myself.

Practicing less in your life is not just going without.  It’s not setting up a life of constant no’s. It’s living a life knowing what you value.  So yes I probably would have really liked my forty sixth lippy, but I  t r e a s u r e  my new vanity much more.  I also can’t stop dreaming of my last trip to Jackson Hole with my friend Megan and thinking how lucky it was we enjoyed such a real world snow globe.  I value travel  w a y  more than any new beauty invention.

Whether it’s travel, good food, or makeup try to find what you truly value in your life and work towards making that a constant.

For so long  l e s s  seemed so boring.  I thought it was just going to be giving up things I might enjoy, but really  l e s s is just a way of life that gives me more back.  I know minimalism, or the idea of less, has been getting pretty popular lately, so have you jumped on the bandwagon yet? If not, what’s holding you back?

xo Kelsey