As a minimalist, there are a lot of things that I don’t buy. These are the things that don’t bring any value to my life. I used to buy all of these items at one point or other, but anything besides basic needs has since been decluttered.

None of this is to say that if you buy these items, you can’t be a minimalist.

Minimalism will look different for everyone. The main goal is to own the things that you find to be beautiful or useful. It’s a very individual thing.

I don’t find any joy in the following items so I simply don’t buy them.

1. Home decor

I like my house to feel cozy, so you will find some home decor if you visit. But I don’t buy new home decor. I don’t like to switch things up. I am pretty content with the things that I own. Most of the items have been found secondhand or my husband has made them.

I purchase home decor items only as I need them. For example, we relocated our curtains that were hanging in our dining area to a different room where we needed them more. We figured that we could live without curtains in the dining area but we get a lot of morning sun in that area. It’s lovely but it makes sitting at the table in the morning uncomfortable. Once I find the right ones, I will purchase them.

2. Trendy clothes

I used to LOVE trendy clothes! There wasn’t a week that would go by that I didn’t make at least one trip to the local mall. But since discovering minimalism in 2015, I have been much more interested in curating a minimalist wardrobe filled with classic clothing made from natural fabrics that I can love and wear for years.

Trendy clothing doesn’t fit in with my wardrobe goal.

Want to see more of what’s in my wardrobe? Follow me on Instagram.

3. Small kitchen appliances

I have a toaster that I use almost every day. I have a blender that I use a lot. I have an electric can opener that’s pretty useful sometimes. I have a hand mixer for baking and mashing potatoes. I have a waffle maker that gets used a lot when we’re in a waffle mood.

Aside from that, I don’t need anything else.

I recently decluttered my food processor. I kept it for years because I used it once a year to shred carrots for my husband’s birthday cake. But I have a small hand shredder so the food processor was redundant. And bulky. I don’t miss it.

I also decluttered 2 of my 3 springform cake pans. I rarely bake and on the rare occasion that I need a cake pan, 1 will be fine.

4. Seasonal/Holiday decorations

I don’t buy seasonal home decor. But that’s because I don’t mark the changing of seasons this way. In the past, I have marked the change in seasons with my wardrobe, honestly. As someone who used to do seasonal capsules, It’s just been the thing that I’ve focused on. But now that I am working towards only having cold weather and warm weather capsules, I’ll be looking for other ways to mark the seasons:

• lighting candles when the days get shorter
• opening the windows as the days get warmer
• drinking warm drinks in the colder months and iced ones when it warms up
• pulling out board games and movies as we start spending more time inside
• washing up and putting away the winter clothes

I also don’t enjoy decorating for holidays, aside from Christmas. So I don’t buy holiday decorations. And as for Christmas decorations, we have the same decorations that we’ve had for YEARS. We will purchase lights if our current string breaks. And occasionally well add a new ornament if gifted, but that’s it.

I actually decluttered a few things after this past Christmas when we were putting stuff away…4 mantle hook ornaments and a stocking we never use.

5. “Just to try” items

This applies mostly to skin/beauty/hair products for me. I have my favorites and I simply replace them when they run out. I’m not interested in the latest beauty palette or some miracle skin or hair product.

I don’t want to be a complete hypocrite here…some degree of “just to try” purchases happened in these area in the past until I found the products that work for me best. But now that I’ve found them, I don’t plan on buying different ones.

6. Extra bedsheets and towels

We have 3 beds in our house and 1 extra mattress. We have 1 set of bedsheets for each bed and a fitted sheet for the mattress that is rarely used (we keep it for when family visits).

We don’t have extras. It hasn’t been an issue for us. We remove the bedsheets regularly and wash, dry and put them back on in the same day. If someone gets sick in the middle of the night, we remove and wash the sheets and use blankets to tie us over.

Same goes for towels. We don’t buy new towels. We used to and because of that, we still have lots of towels to use. They’re not the fluffiest, or even the whitest at this point, but they look fine and serve their purpose. We use them until they unravel and then they go to the rag pile. I’m sure we’ll have to buy replacements (I think 2 towels/person is lots) but probably not anytime soon.

BUT…I do have 1 weakness!

Socks! Specifically, wool socks.

Even though I have LOTS of socks (they’re always a necessity, right…what I used to tell myself), and even though I’m in a low buy year, I totally caved this weekend and bought myself a pair of wool socks.

I didn’t need them. I had even made an agreement with myself after I last organized my sock/underwear drawer that I wouldn’t buy anymore. But I still did!

Ok, no more socks from now on though.