# Minimalism By [BLOG OF JAKE](https://paragraph.com/@jake) ยท 2020-04-17 --- More or less, I believe less is more. I first became intrigued by the concept of minimalism years ago after watching [a documentary called _Minimalism_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrzESek2B2E). It was oddly inspiring. By the next day, I had cleaned out my closet and filled a few trash bags with clothes for donation. A few things were in bad enough shape that I trashed them. Suddenly, it seemed so stupid that I still kept one of my favorite shirts from high school even though it had a stain on it. Probably pasta oil. My methodology for getting ridding of clothes was simple. I made 3 piles. The first was for my favorite things. I knew them well because I wore them often. The second was for the things that I sort of liked or liked a lot but hardly wore. That was the "maybe" pile. I took that pile and stored those clothes away and out of sight so that if I thought of something I wanted from it in the next few months, I could go and get it. I might have gone back for one or two things but most of it ended up in the same place as the third pile, Goodwill or the garbage. I enjoyed my cleaner closet, and for a while, that was the only thing I minimalized. Later, I started getting rid of some more stuff. I had a ton of things that I did not need or use and was not particularly fond of. I did not dislike these things, but I did not particularly like them either. How much can one really love a pencil sharpener on their desk when they haven't used a pencil since high school anyway? And why did I need any pencils, or seventeen pens? I got rid of some things. A year or two later, I shifted the minimalist perspective to my phone. I deleted all of the apps that I had not used that week, plus a few that I did use but did not want to be using so much. I added them back more thoughtfully as needed over time and only kept a handful of apps on the first screen. I could always swipe over to get to the rest of them, but there was no reason to have the App Store in my face every time I opened my phone when I only needed to download a new app one time in every few thousand uses probably, if that. Getting rid of non-essential things that I did not explicitly enjoy allowed me to more easily see the things I did like and the surprisingly limited number of things I did need. I did not have nearly as many things to take care of, worry about, put away, clean up, pick up, pack up, or move. As an example of that, I lived in San Francisco for about a year and a half and was able to live in four different places in a few different parts of town because moving my limited possessions was so quick and easy and cheap. I only had to splurge on an Uber XL because of my mattress. When I moved back to New York, I left my mattress behind and moved everything I had with two checked bags and a carry-on. All I had to do was get on the plane. The mobility that is enabled by minimalism is a wonderful type of freedom. That is only one of the many benefits that I have found. Over time, minimalism has brought me to a place where I have begun to view all of life through a minimalist lens in a way. I have applied it to my subscriptions, my activities, and even my beliefs. Minimalism is not just about getting rid of things. It is about seeing more clearly [what you need](https://blogofjake.com/2020/03/31/the-eleven-human-needs/) and what you love and gaining appreciation for those things. Less is more, if you appreciate it as such. --- *Originally published on [BLOG OF JAKE](https://paragraph.com/@jake/minimalism)*