For those who travel a lot or constantly moving to new places, excessive personal belongings are the biggest pain whenever it’s time to hop on the airplane and move again.
I have learned the lesson after I turned 18 and moved to France for a month. With a big suitcase full of clothes at first then only packed up a light backpack for a solo hiking trip, my experience challenged my perception of happiness from materialistic goods and inner spiritual growth. After that, I have been embracing the minimal lifestyle until I moved to college and started my “new life”. Once settled down, I started to accumulate items that I wanted but didn’t need long-term. I found myself struggling to move boxes of personal belongings at the end of the school year. How could that be? I arrived here with only 2 suitcases!
Budapest, 2019
After multiple times struggling to move my apartments in college, I set a goal to start owning less. The chance came when I started to prepare for my 6 months abroad in the Netherlands. My friend suggested me to bring as little as possible - and I followed her advice.
I ended up bringing one suitcase and one backpack (along with a school bag) of belongings. Lived in California for a month and then moved to the Netherlands, I managed to only buy less than 5 pieces of new clothing items. From time to time I had the urge to not repeat my outfit, but the curiosity of exploring new places quickly took over that temporary urge to own more materialistic belongings. The Dutch weather was cold and gloomy, so most of my clothes were sturdy sweaters or jackets. But I managed to style it up and still make sure that I didn’t compromise the looks while studying and traveling. Here are my tips on how you can start minimal styling as well:
1. Refine your items
Quality over quantity is the key in fashion, whether you are traveling or not. It is better to own a few pieces of simple items with good qualities than to own a bunch from fast fashion brands that wouldn't last long. Invest in quality items may seem expensive at first but would save you money in the long-term since you won’t end up buying more. Uniqlo is a good minimalist brand to start with and depends on your budget choose the brands that fit your looks. Thrifting is also a good way to find quality items at a lower price. Plus it’s good for the environment.
Some styling elements (You only need 1 of each) to invest in:
Blazer
Leather Jacket
Black Jeans
Basic Tank Tops/Sweater (Black/Grey/White)
Track Pants
Sportswear
Utrecht, 2019. Wearing black leather jacket from my mom, top from fabrics market in Uganda, pants from I.AM.GIA.
2. Buy Less!
A tip that I didn’t follow during my time abroad was that I could always buy something if I didn’t bring it. For sure you will need to buy some living essentials, for examples, food and shampoo. However, you certainly don’t need to buy more. Before buying something, ask yourself first: do I really need it, or am I just enjoying seeing this item at this moment? Don’t buy it after you first saw something in the mall. If after 3 days you still think owning that item is crucial for your wellbeing, then maybe it’s time to get it. But in most cases, my initial urge to own the items disappeared after a few days, or I completely forgot to go back to the same store. Another trick is to try on as many items as you want in the store. Maybe it’s the thrill of trying on new outfits that brings you the temporary satisfaction rather than owning these outfits. Maybe you will end up walking out of the store happily without spending a dime.
Red Coat thrifted in Budapest, 2019
3. Sell and donate everything you won’t wear again
I started selling clothes before my departure to the Netherlands. Platforms like DePop and Facebook Marketplace are great ways to sell items. Social media is also a good way to market your items. I would always try to sell something before donating them since someone else could use it again before it goes to a donation box. It is good to be mindful that the clothes in the donation boxes won’t always end up being recycled properly. In 3 words: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Paris, 2019. Blazer thrifted in Seoul, dress from Reformation.
4. Clean up regularly
Monthly clean up of the closet can help you sort out what are the items you frequently wear. It is never too early to get rid of the unnecessary items so that you don’t have to deal with it the next time you move. I sold a pair of sneakers my last day in the Netherlands through Facebook Marketplace and that saved me effort to carry an extra pair of shoes on the flight. If these habits are formed in our daily life besides traveling, minimalist living would become a lifestyle.