There are trends in all aspects of living – fashion styles; diets; types of classes to take at the gym; types of coffee; places to go for holiday; what social media app to use. Most of these often promote a rather stressful lifestyle where it’s important to always keep up with the latest. But some make us re-evaluate our lifestyles and consider how we can truly make a difference to our lives, as well as the planet and people around us. The trends of minimalism and living ‘lagom’ are two of these.
The minimalist way of living has most recently reached many through The Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus (see their documentary Minimalism on Netflix and read their books), encouraging people to live more with less. And the idea of living ‘lagom’ is currently mainly a campaign by IKEA, with a focus on the Swedish word meaning ‘just the right amount’, not too much, not too little.
Neither of these approaches tell you to get rid of all your stuff, but to consider what you need, and what you don’t need. In general, in the Western World, we don’t need all the stuff we surround ourselves with and we don’t need to constantly be buying more stuff. The current ‘normal’ is not sustainable. But following a minimalist lifestyle may be too much hard work for some, and if you’re one of these people then living ‘lagom’ could potentially be the middle ground you’ve been looking for.
Ultimately, living with less stuff should make room for other things in life. Experiences. Love. Freedom.
English designer William Morris once said that you should “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”. A great way of thinking as it doesn’t encourage excessive buying but it also allows you to surround yourself with the things you love, whether that’s your book collection, the art on your wall or your favourite cushions on your sofa.
Being more conscious of what we have in our home and our life is key to both these ways of living. Asking yourself the question of whether something adds value to your life. If it does then by all means keep it, but if it doesn’t then it’s probably one you should sell on eBay or give away to someone who can make better use of it. Letting go of stuff is a process and we don’t have to answer to anyone else, only ourselves. But the likes of de-cluttering expert Marie Kondo are there to help you if you get stuck.
“A home does not need to be planned down to the smallest detail or contrived; it should be an amalgamation of the things that its owner loves and feels at home with.”
– Josef Frank
I’m about to do a big move (more on this at a later stage) and I’m seeing this as a great opportunity to start new. De-clutter. Think about what I really want and need. What is important, and importantly, what isn’t?
I’d like to aspire towards minimalism but think it’s more likely I’ll end up at ‘lagom’. But I’d like to think that as long as your own ‘lagom’ is a healthy middle ground between enjoyable and sustainable you’ve landed somewhere just right.