Tag: tricks

Minimalism, organization

I Want to Declutter. But How Do I Start?

mindbeautysimplicity

What I love about the start of a new season is beginning it with a clean slate. Decluttering has become a therapeutic practice for me. A weight is seriously lifted when I’m finished. But I get a lot of questions on how to even begin such a daunting task. So here are a few things to consider while decluttering.

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Remove Everything From The Space

That’s right. Whether you are decluttering your wardrobe or any other closet space, take everything out & place the items either on your bed or a floor space. This practice allows you to start the process with an open & clean space as well as notice the amount of items you had in that particular space. I know, from personal experience, when I would declutter my closet & leave the pieces hanging, I wouldn’t do a thorough job. I would quickly glance at the items & assume most clothing pieces worked for me.

Hold Each Item One At a Time

By removing & holding up each item, you are being more honest with yourself. Ask the question, “Do I truly use or wear this object enough to keep it”? [Marie Kondo also says to thank each item, but I find that a bit odd]. But there is a sense of appreciating your material items, especially when it’s time to let them go.

Split The Piles Into Categories

By organizing the piles into categories, the task seems less overwhelming & you can see how much of each type of clothing or item you have. This helps you pare down what you have a lot of & what you may be lacking.

Determine What To Keep, Donate or Trash

Once you have organized all your items, now comes the fun part. You have to figure out what you want to keep & what to let go. I like to consider a few things as I am making this decision:

By asking these questions, it really makes you think. I especially found pieces that no longer fit my age or never did. I had these shorts that were so unflattering & made me look like a 40 year old housewife. I also had too many graphic T-shirt’s & a bathing suit that made me look 12 years old.

The key is to keep what makes you feel the most confident. Everything else is negotiable & unneeded.

Also, when it comes to products, make sure to throw out your empties. I felt proud of all the bathroom products I used up & makeup I hit pan on so far. And when it comes to makeup consider these questions as you downsize:

Try Everything On

If you have the time, trying on everything really makes a huge difference in the number of items you end up keeping. I for one discovered so many that were too big on me or made me feel less confident. It’s so easy to assume something works for you & leave it sit or hang in your home. But there have been countless moments where I kept something for years, never touch it & realize it never fit me or was damaged in some way. You need to make space for fresh & uplifting things.

Put Back What You Love First

Now that you’ve paired down your items, it’s time to pair down even more. Start by only putting back your favorites & the things you use or wear the most. Whatever is left is still negotiable & maybe needs to be reevaluated. I realized this step helped me donate even more. My maybe pile always ends up being too much anyway.

Organize What You’ve Decided to Keep

Once you have everything you wish to hold on to, it’s time to organize it in a cohesive manner. If you haven’t checked out my post on capsule wardrobes, I recommend you do so. I discuss the benefits of having less clothing & having a certain number of items in that wardrobe.

Having less belongings & decluttering on a regular basis has helped me stay less overwhelmed. Cleaning takes less time & in some places, I’ve paired down enough where I no longer have to declutter. I hope these tips help you with your downsizing projects.

–B

advice, blogging

How To Be More Intentional As a Blogger

mindbeautysimplicity

As a blogger, it’s incredibly easy to be on the grind 24 hours a day & 7 days a week. Especially when it starts out as a passion, sometimes that energy causes you to be a bit obsessive about it. Or maybe I’m just projecting. Recently, I wanted to be more intentional with my time when it came to blogging. I’ve managed to be this way with the rest of my life, but when it came to blogging, I didn’t know how to step back, create a schedule & breathe. So, today I wanted to share with you some things I’ve learned to become more present in my blogging career & I figured other bloggers could relate.

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YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR TIME

Chances are if you are a blogger with your own site, you are your own boss. You make your schedule, your to-do list & your overall routine. It’s both a blessing & a curse when the only one you need to answer to is yourself. And with that, you need to be responsible with how you conduct your time. From my personal experience , I can really work myself to the bone. Especially when I’m doing something that doesn’t necessarily feel like work, I forget to take breaks. When I’m passionate about something I can almost become obsessive. And I feel like a lot of creative souls have this same mentality. On good days, this is what drives our success. But we need to work smarter instead of harder. No amount of success is truly worth it if your mental wellbeing is in jeopardy. So, be sure to set some time where you put away the laptop, go charge your phone & spend quality time with others or even with yourself unplugged. I recently decided to follow suit of another blogger, Restless I Roam who does #SocialmediadetoxSundays & be completely off socials one day a week. This time away can actually better fuel your creativity & inspiration.

LIMIT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA USE

Like I was saying, being on social media all day everyday isn’t healthy. And as much of a obvious statement that is, I’m sure we’ve all had days where all we do is scroll, like & follow. And we finally check the time & our entire day is lost. As a blogger, social media is how we succeed. We can’t just write a blog post & let it sit in hopes the world will find it. A huge part of blogging is promoting your work. My saving grace was learning you can actually schedule out your content, tweets & posts. The thought of having my social media platforms act as a ghost & promote my work while I’m out doing other things is magic to my ears. Ever since I started scheduling my tweets, I felt like a superhero of multitasking. And personally, I find social media to be a waste of time if you let it. Granted, the blogging community is a wonderful group of people & interacting with you all especially during such isolating times has been a gift. But with everything in life, you need to have balance. And I felt like I personally needed to make room for other priorities. Not to mention, taking breaks from the digital world is quite freeing & eye opening. Sometimes you just need to leave the desk & get outside.

RETURNING ALL COMMENTS ISN’T REALISTIC

I think the biggest task in blogging that not a lot of people talk about is the process of replying to comments. I thought replying to the five comments I received in my first month was tough. But when it started jumping to 50+ comments, mentions & DM’s on all platforms, it was quite overwhelming. And I’m not trying to sound like I’m complaining because believe me, the fact that anyone cares to read & let alone comment on my work is amazing to me. So, please keep doing it. But I did realize it’s ok not to reply back right away. I would seriously feel bad if someone’s comment ended up in spam or I simply forgot. But now, I give myself more time & eventually I will get back to most of you. But know, even if I don’t reply, I appreciate all your words & support.

LOOK UP FROM THE LAPTOP ONCE IN A WHILE

I get it, blogging is a lot of fun & I love spending my time writing, planning & creating. But you NEED to step away from your passion a few hours each day & focus on quality time. Whether it’s watching a specific show in the evening with my boyfriend, cooking together or even just reading a book ; it’s so important to have other priorities. As much as I love what I do, I need to not let it consume me either. Success doesn’t happen in a night, unless you are a viral internet video. I digress. But usually things take time. I plan to write & blog for a long time. So, there’s no need to overwhelm myself by writing constantly. Quality over quantity is my motto. And part of being a great writer is living & taking in this moments so then later you can come back & tell your story.

REFOCUS YOUR INTENTIONS

It’s so easy to get caught up in the statistics & lose track of your initial purpose. Don’t let yourself be too critical. As a minimalist, I have learned the benefits of setting goals & embodying better habits. It can be so easy to loss your luster when you are overwhelmed with social media & all the behind the scenes tasks that revolve around your blog / brand. It’s important to ask yourself what you want your readers to get out of your content & if you are being true to yourself in the process.

HAVE FUN

Whether your blog is monetized or not, you started on this journey because it brought you happiness. Don’t lose that passion. I was upset I was headed in that toxic direction with numbers so early on but I’m glad I caught it when I did. I want to write about things I enjoy. The readers that stay are the loyal ones. And I’m understanding it’s ok when there are people who may not enjoy what I write about. That’s life. I’m just here because I love writing & inspiring others. Everything else is a bonus.

I hope these tips help you in your own blogging journey. I think we all need that reality check sometimes. I have a question for you all, what made you start blogging?

blogging

You Seriously Want My Advice?

mindbeautysimplicity

Here I am doing a post I thought I’d never do. But in all seriousness, I still feel like a beginner in the blogging world, so when people ask me for MY advice on blogging, I was extremely confused. When I look to advice I read posts from Olivia Blake or Pooja. I feel like I don’t deserve to make a post like this. You asked for it though & I’m here to serve. So here’s some advice from a beginner blogger.

If you are new to my page, Hi! Welcome to Mind.Beauty.Simplicity where we talk about all things minimalism, saving that coin & learning to live with less. I also dabble in other lifestyle topics such as makeup, fashion, home decor & apparently self help & advice. Hope you enjoy my perspective on things.

The reason I call myself a beginner blogger is because I’ve only been in the game since the end of July. Granted I’ve had the idea in my head for years (but that’s another story). But in this short amount of time, I’ve definitely learned a lot so far. So I want to make this post a discussion. Comment your blogging stories & your advice & let’s support our fellow bloggers. Let’s get started.

Find Your Niche

What is it you want to write about & share with other people? What are YOU interested in? Figure out your initial direction of your blog. You can always tweak it & try other avenues later. But determining what you want to write about will help lead you to the audience you want & fuel your passion even more. And when you are figuring out the topics you want to cover, always listen to yourself & not what others think you should do. It’s your blog anyway. You are the writer, editor & business person to this platform so what you say goes.

Brand Yourself

Now, I’m no marketing guru. But I do know one thing. Whether it’s creating a unique name for your blog, making thumbnails for your posts or logos for your social media platforms, you MUST design it in a way that fits your personality & what you want to portray on your site. This allows people to spot you out of the crowd of other blogs & place an aesthetic to a face & name.

Take Advice With a Grain of Salt

I’m not talking about constructive criticism. This type of advice is helpful. I’m talking about when people give you topic suggestions or directions that are different from your purpose. Never feel obligated to write about a topic you were requested. If it doesn’t interest you, you shouldn’t waste your precious time writing it. It’s so easy to get in the habits of pleasing your entire audience. And you never will. So write what you want to write about & the loyal audience will keep coming back.

Gain Traffic Through Multiple Platforms

I started off merely focusing on WordPress & other pages. After about a month, I realized I needed to expand to other social media if I wanted to reach a bigger audience. So, I joined Instagram, Twitter & Pinterest to share my writing. My main focus is Instagram though as I love adding visual effects to my blog posts. Pinterest is something I am still figuring out. And Twitter is so useful as you can tweet numerous times a day with hashtags such as #writerslift & #selfpromo(day of the week).

Network With Other Bloggers & Brands

Blogging is a two way street. If you want other people to read your stuff, you should really return the favor. Supporting other bloggers & engaging in genuine conversation is the reason I have the following I do. You want to have a circle of bloggers who have your back, can give you advice & cheer you on. And you should do the same for them. I love shouting out different bloggers & showing my support. This shouldn’t be a competition.

Don’t Spam Comment

In the beginning of my blogging journey, I was guilty of this. I thought the only way to get people to read my page was to link my posts on numerous comments. It wasn’t until I read some blogging advice posts when I got really embarrassed & realized what I was doing was annoying. Now, I don’t see harm in linking your information in comments if you do it in the right way. If you genuinely read someone’s post & comment something nice & relevant, you can easily end your comment with your links. But never force people to click your links. That won’t really work for the long haul.

Guest Post & Collaborate

I did this early in the game & it honestly really helped me become one with this community quickly. I think it’s a great way to support multiple writers & expand your audience. Choose people with the same interests / niche as you as well. This will help you build solid networking relationships.

Be Authentic

Never try to be like anyone else. There’s a difference between inspiration & completely copying someone. I think the reason I am successful (& I say that loosely because defining success is arbitrary) is for my authenticity & realness. Your audience follows for your writing & stays if they feel connected to the writer behind the blog.

Don’t Worry About Follower Count

These milestones are accomplishments for sure & setting goals are important. But never base your talent & self worth on number of followers. It can be easy to get down on yourself about this, but I’ve learned if you stay true to yourself, the following will come. You just can’t let it rule your life.

Be Consistent

I don’t care if it’s once a week, once a month or once every hour (ok…maybe not the last one) but having a schedule to my blogs has created structure for myself. I personally post MWF but at any point I need to cutback, I will. It all depends on my stress levels & my other obligations. When you have a schedule, your audience will learn when to look forward to your posts. I hate when I read a blog post & they haven’t written anything new for 6 months. It’s like, “hellooo I love your work, I need more from you!”

Have Fun With It

The sole reason I created this blog was for my own entertainment. Everything else is just bonus. I needed a creative outlet for myself & love writing THAT much. And for those who don’t think blogging is a job…BOY ARE YOU WRONG. There is so much work that goes into a single post. It’s the aftermath of posting that really is the kicker. SEO [ search engine optimization ], I still don’t understand you! But never get yourself so stressed out over the blogging world. Keep working hard, be creative & be patient.

I hope what I shared here was helpful to you. In the comments, share your blogging story & a few tips you’d like to share.

-B

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