TIP: One goal a month is all you need to make a difference. That's easy ,right? We can all accomplish one goal a month! If you are having a challenging month, make it an easy goal. One goal a month is 12 great habits a year. Whether it's your own goal or one of mine, find something you are passionate about and make it a habit!

1- YOU decide what your minimalist life looks like rating scale. Mine is probably very different then yours will be. As long as you have intentionally thought out your purchases,  it will likely be worth your money. How do you know if it was intentionally thought out? I use a 1-10 scale. A one means you never use it. A ten means you use every day. Ask yourself before purchasing, "how often will I actually use this?" Rate it from 1-10. I typically don't buy something unless it's an 8 or above. For example, I use my blender every day, sometimes 2 times a day. It is definitely a 10 on my scale. As for the pressure cooker, I thought I had to have, I would rate a 1. I used it twice in the 3 years I owned it. I wish I did this scale prior to buying it! I have now found it a  happy home and freed up some much-needed cupboard space. When you are thinking about buying something in the future, don't impulse buy. Really think out how often you will use it. I promise, if it's less then a 7, you won't regret not buying it. 

2- Now this scale thing works great for kitchenware but GEAR is much harder! Gear keeps you active and creates memories! I honestly feel if your gear room is bigger then your house, you are living life right! Having said that, too much gear can clutter up your space and make it hard to find things. So how do you rate gear? Especially when there's 4 seasons?!? Let's use snow skis as an example. Snow skis in the summer months I would rate as a 1 (unless you travel). In the winter months, I use them several days out of the week rating them a 9. Definitely a keeper!!! Now, do I need 4 pairs of skis for all different weather conditions? This I feel is a personal decision. If you use all of them and they make you happy, KEEP THEM!

I strongly think the happy endorphins you get when using each one of them, far outweighs only using one pair and being miserable in the conditions you are skiing. Maybe you minimize in other places in your gear room. This same principle can be applied to camping supplies, bikes, water sport activities, and whatever your favorite hobbies are. 

3- When it comes to gear, the latest and greatest come out annually. I use to hang out with a crowd where everyone would buy at least one brand new pair of skis every year. I had quite the collection and saw this as normal. I met a girl who I became pretty good friends with who was an amazing skier! She skied on the same pair of skis for 10 years! At the time, I thought she was crazy! Now, I see her point. I have my favorite pair of skis that can take me around a mountain in all kinds of conditions. I have had so much fun in them and created a lot of memories! Why would I get rid of them? They're in great condition! The latest and greatest can be very tempting, but when it comes right down to it, do you really need it? Will it really enhance your skiing that much more? Again this is a personal decision. I encourage you to make a closer relationship with the pair you have (or any other seasonal gear that you have), create a multitude of memories, and SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!

4- Now we get into home size. How much space do we really need? I use to think my kids needed their own room, an extra room for those long lost relatives to stay in (and do they ever come?). I needed an office, to display the dozens of books that I saved from college. A playroom for my kids, a theater room and the list goes on and on. Now I feel if you don't go in the room daily and actually spend time in it, you really don't need it. Quality space is key, not the actual square footage. Analyze your current space. Do you go into every room daily?  Do you have large rooms with waisted space? Do you utilize the furniture and "things" in your space? Could you make cutbacks? Thinking about the layout of your home and what you actually need is key. 

5- One "THING" I'm very grateful for is the mason jar. Yes, the mason jar! Why you ask? Let me share my list: Almost everything can be stored and preserved in them. They come in consistent sizes making it easy to store. They are see-through so you can easily see what you are looking for. You can easily write the dates on the lids. They can hold liquids without leaking everywhere (hurray!!!). They do well in the heat and cold. You don't have to worry about toxic substances leaching into your food (BPA...). Once you buy them, they last forever! They fit easily in a cooler. They are easy to clean and don't absorb odors. I use mason jars for everything! Rainbow smoothies, bottled tomatoes, vegetable broth, nuts, rice, flour and other bulk items. They are even great to take camping and use for food prep for future meals. They are seriously a brilliant invention that will save you time, money, and improve your health!!!

6- We all need to start eliminating plastic waste. I use to buy saran wrap and plastic dishes all the time. They were super cheap and easy! I'd pop them in the microwave and not think twice about all the toxins that were leaching into my food! We now know that plastic is affecting our world in a horrible way! There's nothing like going to the beach and seeing the shore lined with small plastic fragments. It's one thing if we choose to hurt ourselves, but hurting defenseless animals, other people, and our world, is something that needs to stop. We all can make a difference to our health and to the environment by limiting the plastic that we use. It's such an easy step!  I've also found it to be cheaper in the long run. A few things that I use to help eliminate plastic are reusable grocery bags, reusable produce bags, Silicone food storage bags, beeswax food wraps, and not using straws!!! These items are very easy to store, take up a minimal amount of space, save you money in the long run, and above all save our planet and ourselves! 

7- I'm kind of a freak about water! In the way that I LOVE  to drink it all the time! I refuse to drink city water without it being filtered. They put huge amounts of chemicals in it, including bleach, to make it 'safe' to drink. Is that really safe? Do you know what this does to your digestive tract? All that healthy normal flora that we need to fight off disease gets destroyed. Plus it tastes disgusting. Using bottled water isn't an option for me either. I use to be that girl who would buy huge cases of plastic bottled water instead of soda and think I was healthy. We now know plastic is not something you want to be drinking out of, not to mention the environmental impact. Some water filters can be very expensive. I did my homework and bought a great one that fit my buget. The water tastes great and the filter only needs to be changed yearly. You can also buy portable water filters that are great to take on vacation with you! Another easy way to save money and the planet. There's a lot of great filters out there. Something is definitely better then nothing.

Depending on my activity, I use a few different refill bottles when I'm on the go. I try to bring more than enough, as to not run out. By using the same bottle all the time, your sure to cut down on waste, save money, and save your health. Another great tip is to reuse the glass bottles you buy. Do you buy kombucha, tea or other drinks that come in glass? Instead of recycling them, wash them out and use them as a water bottle! My husband and I take the labels off and paint our own designs on them. We work with kids and they always comment on how cool they look. A great way to get kids to start thinking about recycling and taking care of the environment. Education and starting young is key!!!

8- A great time saver, and a way to help minimize what you buy at the grocery store, is to write a list! I'm a big meal planner. I write down the meals I'm going to prepare for the week and the ingredients I need. I then stick to the list! Don't detour or go when you are hungry. It's crazy all the crap that ends up in your basket if you do! I personally like to go by myself. I feel I stay focused more and get in and out faster! When my kids were little, I would have them write lists of food that they wanted. They would then help me shop. This taught them how to write, read, and make healthy food choices. A great parenting tip!!!

9- One exciting thing I've learned over the last few years is the glory of  shopping secondhand.  I've always given the items I don't need to secondhand stores, but never shopped at them. While minimizing, I thought to myself how nice and unused the products that I gave away were. I thought that other people likely did the same thing! I was influenced further by my oldest daughter. She went to a school where kids got excited and had challenges on who could get the best deals on clothes. They would brag when spending two dollars or even one dollar on a cute, secondhand shirt or outfit. I now shop primarily at secondhand stores. It's crazy all the great stuff you can get for so cheap! You can save further by using the coupons they give you when donating to their stores. Bonus!!!

I think buying quality is key too! Supporting companies that really care about the environment by using recycled materials and other sustainable products is worth your money.  

10- We all live different lives and have different opinions on what we think is important.  One way we can put our own spin on being a minimalist is by making monthly goals. By the end of the year, you will have 12 new positive habits! Start out easy! My first goal was eliminating straws. I use to have 2 rainbow smoothies a day with a straw for each of them. My husband had them too! Do the math, that's 4 straws a day, 28 straws a week, 120 straws a month, and 1,440 straws a year!!! Now, this doesn't even include the straws we had while dining out. One goal and 1440 plastic straws eliminated from our life! What a difference it would make if we all did this!