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Lifestyle is a choice and it's all about what an individual wants. For this reason I chose minimalism because truly less is more. I have seen the great benefits and improvement in several spheres of my lifestyle since I began practising minimalism and I'll be sharing some of my practices with you, read on!

Budgeting
As a good minimalist, I make a budget, I plan. What I need to buy, how much I'll spend on a particular thing or event, whatever is worth making a budget for, I make a budget. This helps me stay on track rather than spend and buy on impulse and it helps simplify my spending.

Saying No
As a minimalist, it is very important to learn to say no, you have to cut down excesses. You don't buy everything, you don't go everywhere, you don't belong to every organisation, you say no sometimes. Things that are part of my priority are always a no from me.

Decluttering My Home, Arranging and Giving Out What I No Longer Need
I don't know about others but I think minimalism begins in my home. This is where I started my journey from. From time to time, I take out everything I no longer need - clothes, shoes, school books, tools, empty cans, name it. After this, I arrange my stuffs in categories and I start reaching out to people for whoever needs the items I no longer want and I give it out. It's either I use it or I lose it.

Saving More Than I Spend
Saving is a very important aspect of finances. I always make sure that whatever amount of money I spend, I have put out a little bit above that amount if not twice of it for saving. That way, I never run out of money incase of unforeseen eventuality.

On the effects it has on the environment...

The act of giving out things I no longer need supports a circular economy which has a framework of three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use and regenerating natural systems. Rather than burning up things I don't want and polluting the ecosystem, I give out these items to people in need of them so they keep using them.

Decluttering also gives me more space as an individual and buying on budget keeps me conscious of getting only quality things that will last longer. I remember a time I wanted to get sandals and when I got to a particular store, I saw lot's of nice looking ones but I didn't buy any even though they were affordable. I knew for a fact that those sandals won't last up to a month. I have two cousins who make shoes so I'm familiar with quality materials. I carefully explained with facts why I wasn't buying any of the sandals and the man who was selling had to admit I'm right. Eventually he started buying quality shoes and he'll specially set apart a few for me.

If everyone was a minimalist and goes for quality stuff only, I bet producers when they see that no one is buying the bunch of low quality things that are in the market, they'll produce more quality stuff and help people stop burning up things unnecessarily.

This is my entry for this week's blogging ideas option two.