Make your year mindful and meaningful by setting minimalist New Year’s resolutions.
By Cora Gold, Editor-in-Chief of Revivalist
Once the new year rolls in, people often commit to lofty goals that eventually fall by the wayside as the weeks go by. Instead of focusing on those things, perhaps choosing the less popular but more fulfilling path of sustainability and mindfulness will have a greater impact on enriching your life.
Sustainability isn’t just about decluttering your closet and following the most popular trends of minimalism at the moment. It means being more mindful about your consumption and cultivating an eco-conscious lifestyle that reduces your carbon footprint. Knowing that your changes are making a difference in the world can be a truly fulfilling experience, leaving the places you visit a little bit better.
Dive deep into practical ways you can incorporate sustainability into your everyday life. These simple and easy goals for the new year can help ignite your purpose in making the world a better place, one habit at a time.
Resolution 1: Define Your “Why”
Long-standing habits are hard to change without a proper reason. Understand why you want to incorporate sustainable practices into your life. This way, each time you’re faced with difficult decisions, you have a “why” to guide you. Some of the motivations you can have include addressing environmental concerns, attaining financial freedom, saving time or achieving mental clarity.
To further hone your reasoning, consider journaling or creating a vision board for the ideal sustainable and minimalist life you aspire to lead. Painting a clear picture of your goals helps your brain, specifically the reticular activating system, which prioritizes what’s important, to narrow down the exact habits you want to live by.
Resolution 2: Conduct a Life Audit
Conducting a life audit is essential to ensure you’re on the right path. It also highlights your strengths and areas for improvement. To reduce overwhelm, take stock of your life one category at a time. For example, conduct a home audit — sorting your material possessions based on whether they still serve you or not. You can also perform financial, time and digital checks.
Resolution 3: Embrace the “One in, One Out” Rule With a Twist
After you complete your audit and eliminate items you no longer need, you may be tempted to purchase new things as a reward for the effort. After all, there’s so much free space after decluttering. The key to preventing this urge is to abide by the “One in, One Out” rule. This has been a staple in sustainable circles for years. It makes sense — disposing of something when you buy a new object prevents clutter from building up in your home.
To add an interesting layer to the rule, ensure that you dispose of your items properly and responsibly. You can choose between selling, donating, gifting, repairing or recycling. These are the more sustainable ways to get rid of things rather than tossing them in the trash. Your preloved possession may be found by someone who needs it and will make use of it, rather than going to a landfill.
Resolution 4: Curate Your Space With Meaningful, Handmade Items
You want your home to be your sanctuary, not a place where you store things you barely use or care about. That’s why everything you bring inside should be there for a strong reason. Instead of opting for mass-produced decor that can quickly break, choose objects that have a story and hold a special place in your heart. This ensures that you’re surrounded daily by things you need, love and are inspired by.
Better yet, create the decor yourself. This will help liven up the space and enhance how your personality is showcased in your environment. Arts and crafts serve as a creative outlet, improving your mental well-being. For a fun project, you can turn blank walls into artsy ones with polymer clay hangings. You can choose from making planters, clocks, dream catchers and wreaths.
Resolution 5: Learn a Sustainable Skill
Sustainable skills are those that support the environment, ensuring the world can continue to be inhabited by future generations. With the pressing concern of waste, the top skill you can learn as an individual is to fix items. Instead of immediately tossing damaged things, consider breathing new life into them with a repair and repurpose station in your home. Bring back the art of repair, whether that’s through mending clothes or fixing electronics.
Other sustainable skills include cooking from scratch and gardening. These practices minimize the need for packaging and transport. They also promote a healthier and more direct relationship with the food you eat. Consider starting an herb garden on your windowsill to spruce up the flavor of your dishes. Alongside that, you can start a compost pile to ensure that your herbs and plants are getting the nutrients they need. All you need is 3 feet of space for your bin.
Resolution 6: Master Conscious Consumption
Conduct a financial audit to make sure you’re not spending money beyond what you earn. With the right plan, you can direct your cash toward things you care about, whether that’s going on trips abroad, buying new books or donating to charities close to your heart. If you really want to purchase or upgrade a specific object, make sure you place it on your 30-day waiting list first. Having this holding time for nonessential items ensures you’re not falling into the trap of impulse buying and sale urgencies.
Another best practice of conscious consumption is investing in a circular economy. This means spending money in secondhand marketplaces. Maybe you’ll find something you need that others are selling for much less than the original price. It’s a win for you, the seller and the environment. The best items you can buy used are books, clothes, furniture and home decor.
Resolution 7: Say Yes to Important Things Only
Time is your most precious resource. Make sure you’re spending your days as you want to. Prioritizing things that matter is one of the first steps in leading a more mindful life. Learn to say no to events and activities that don’t speak to you. Adopt a productivity system that works well, and incorporate screen time locks on your phones. These are just a few of the ways you can reclaim your time.
Resolution 8: Practice Digital Minimalism
Another aspect where you can do an audit is your digital life. Are you drowning in emails? Do you feel overrun by the constant information from social media sites? Is there a notification popping up every second on your phone?
You might think that things like unread emails are trivial, but they actually contribute to the global carbon footprint by using up server energy. Cultivate digital minimalism by unsubscribing from newsletters and deleting unused apps. You can also delete unread emails and configure your notifications to receive only the most urgent alerts. These practices all add up to a quieter digital experience and, consequently, a more peaceful and calm life.
Your Year of Intentional Living
Minimalism is more than just decluttering and choosing to dial down your life. It’s also about making choices that make space for your real priorities. Start with one or two resolutions for a month and see how that transforms your mindset and life. After you’ve fully embodied your chosen practice, you can add two more things to your sustainable goals. This prevents overwhelm when overhauling your habits.
Sustainability is not a checklist — it’s a journey. You might stumble along the way, but understanding your “why” will make it easier to make choices that align with your goals for the new year.
About the Author
Cora Gold has a passion for writing about life, happiness and sustainability. As Editor-in-Chief of women’s lifestyle magazine Revivalist, she loves to share her insights and find inspiration from others. Follow Cora on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.