How to Shop With Intention
The idea of minimalism is choosing to live with less in order to simplify your life. Which in turn, means being intentional about buying less and bringing less into your home.
Even minimalists have to go shopping and buy things sometimes (scratch that: frequently).
The key to learning to shop like a minimalist is being intentional about what you buy. Making intentional purchases lets you avoid ending up with a cluttered home full of things you neither use nor love.
Want to know how to shop with intention?
Start here—
Decide what adds value to your life
I don’t believe minimalism should be so restrictive you don’t allow yourself to buy things you truly need or want. Instead, maintaining a minimalist mindset and learning to shop like a minimalist is about being intentional with the purchases you make and things you bring in to your home.
Only buying things that will truly add value to your life, not things that will soon find themselves in the decluttering box.
We usually carefully think through our bigger purchases before making them. But it’s often the little things we purchase here and there, that don’t seem like a lot or a big deal, that add up over time and clutter our homes.
Teaching ourselves to shop like a minimalist—with intention—allows us to carefully consider and think through all our purchases. Our time and space are too valuable to waste on things that only clutter our homes without adding value to our lives.
Budget for your purchase
When you are shopping with intention, you aren’t buying anything and everything. You only buy what you need or what you really want. So ideally, you will make sure that each and every item that you buy fits into your budget.
Sometimes, for larger items, this means budgeting for your purchase. The great thing about this is that it helps you slow down your shopping.
Since you are keeping your budget (and the clutter in your house!) in mind, you don’t impulse buy anymore.
Unsubscribe from store emails
If you are someone who reads store emails, stop it! One of the best ways to avoid making impulsive purchases and shop like a minimalist, is to remove as many temptations as you can.
Retailers are marketing experts and they are good at what they do! It can be hard to resist the temptation to shop when your inbox is full of emails telling you about the latest, limited time, best ever sale.
You’re much more likely to make intentional purchases when you seek out the purchase. Rather than being bombarded with offers you didn’t even know you wanted in the first place!
Assess your intentions on why you want to buy something
Before you make a purchase, honestly assess why you want to buy it in the first place.
Is it because you have carefully considered it and know it will add value to your life? Or is it because you are bored and want something new?
Are you trying to make yourself feel better by buying something new? Are you buying it to impress someone else, real or imagined?
Sometimes we buy for the wrong reasons. Begin to shop like a minimalist by being honest with yourself about your motivation for wanting to buy.
Support local companies whenever possible
It’s incredibly tempting to order whatever it is you need from large online companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Target.
But how many of those items can you buy locally? If I had to guess, much of what you’re buying online can be sourced locally. When you shop at local businesses, you’re not only supporting your economy but you are also likely making an impact on the environment as well.
If you’re shopping somewhere that makes their own goods or sources items locally, your purchases will have much less of an environmental impact than if you were buying items sourced from another state or country.
I’ll admit it, though—sometimes, there is a benefit to purchasing online. When you shop in person, it’s very easy to become sucked into the things you walk by while you are getting to the item that you really need.
Remove junk
Last but not least, if you are just starting out your minimalistic journey, OR maybe you just don’t love clutter, remove all the clutter and junk from your home.
Best way to do this? Get a Cedar Hill TX dumpster rental from Junk Queen TX!
They offer 5-star service, fair pricing, responsiveness, and they have a deep respect for their clients. They make cleaning out unwanted junk, old furniture, and more easy!