HOW TO BE
A MINIMALIST“It doesn’t matter where but just
start,” Mike says. “The key
is momentum. Start small,
a drawer, handbag, desk. It
really doesn’t matter. Just start
with one item. Inga and I started
with our wardrobe. Like
everything in life, but especially
with our clothes, the 80/20 rule
applies. Essentially, we wear 20
per cent of our clothes 80 per cent
of the time.” As for where to donate
your unwanted goods, look for
charity and church shops as
well as women’s and homelessshelters. Some will even come and
collect items, such as furniture,
whitegoods and soft furnishings,
directly from your home.well and you’ll just tighten your kid’s bond to possessions!”
The answer, the Campbells found, was letting them come
to you. “When we first played the 30-day game, we didn’t
ask our daughter Andy if she wanted to join in, we simply
collected our items each evening,” Inga says. “She was
curious and asked us what we were doing,” Mike adds.
“I said, ‘Mummy and I feel like we have too many things,
so we’re collecting the ones we don’t use to donate them.
Do you have any toys you want to donate to children less
fortunate?’ I went into her room and she handed me a few
toys she didn’t play with anymore. But what was even more
beautiful was a few days later when she brought out a
whole pile of toys she wanted to donate. Even now she
will come up, hand me a toy and say, ‘You can give this
to the kids, Dad. I don’t play with it much.’ ”
WORKING IT OUT Downsizing their mortgage, their
belongings and even their wages hasn’t been as terrifying
as the Campbells expected. “One of the biggest eye-openers
has been money,” Mike says. “We’re not adverse to spending
money – we’re more than happy to spend on experiences,
skiing, weekends away, that sort of thing – but we don’t
worry about the ‘things’ that used to consume us. When
we do travel, we try not to spend money where we don’t
need to. For example, to save on accommodation, we look
after people’s properties and their pets when they go on
holidays.” While the idea of giving up the pursuit of more is
enthralling – the idea of working less certainly is – it’s by no
means a simple process. But making it work seems to be
an exercise in clarity. Or as Mike puts it: “We simply live
more with less.” Asked if they miss anything, they smile
before shaking their heads. “Not at all,” Mike says. “I think
this is how life is meant to be.” If that isn’t a convincing
catalyst for a garage sale, we don’t know what is. RSimply ideal Inga and
Mike now live life by the
“less is best” aesthetic and
have drastically decluttered
their lives of possessions- and complications.
real livingLOVING