Transcription
Hi everyone, welcome to a video all about the one rule to help stop overconsuming forever. And I'm just going to cut to the chase. It is having a formula, a system, an organizational scheme for everything.
But for the context of this video, I'm going to be talking about the things that I regularly do on this channel, whether that be makeup, skincare, haircare, clothing, accessories, jewelry, those sorts of categories. So the way that my systems and formulas work by and large is that I try to have the most minimal amount of items to cover all of my needs in a certain category.
So let's take my shoes for example. I both need shoes to get me through every season of the year, but I also need shoes to get me through a variety of occasions, whether that be very dressed down to fancy and everything in between. So I go with the minimal amount of shoes to meet all of those needs for me, and that's how I come up with my shoe collection formula.
And what this does, not only in my shoe collection but in all of these categories of my life for me personally, is invoke a feeling of always having enough. I found a lot of the past, when I was overconsuming, it was backed by this feeling of not having enough and feeling like I was in deficit. By having these carefully curated systems, it provides me with a sense of always having enough, always having what I need for a certain occasion or certain time of year.
And to be honest, there's just so many beautiful things in this world nowadays. There are so many gorgeous clothing items, there are so many options when it comes to skincare and haircare. And if I didn't have this feeling of having enough and being satisfied with what I already have, I would be so tempted to run out and buy beautiful new things.
Now, a good litmus test for this that I have found over the years is that when I have specific areas of my life that do not have formulas or systems, I tend to declutter or rotate things extremely quickly in these categories. For example, within the broader category of clothing, my dresses actually have no specific formula, and that's intentional. I like to add a little bit of play and fun to my wardrobe, but I tend to declutter and rotate dresses far more frequently than any other clothing item.
So if I'm noticing that some items in a certain category aren't staying in my life for very long, it's probably because I don't have a system in place, or that system needs to be reworked. And on the flip side, the rest of my clothing is under a very specific formula, and the only time really that I go to declutter any of those items is when they genuinely need replacing. So if I find that I am replacing an item that is, you know, a check-in the box, that this formula, this system is really working.
And as you can even just tell with that clothing example, some of my categories or even subcategories are more flexible, and some are more rigid. Typically, I have slightly more rigidity in areas that I have found I overconsumed a lot in the past. So makeup is actually a good example of this. I tend to keep a pretty curated collection of makeup because I do find it very tempting to buy still, even to this day. And if I don't have those specific parameters, I very likely will go out and buy and purchase makeup that I just don't need and won't use and won't get good value out of.
Now, even though this is one rule, and it is just having systems, it is not easy, and it is not an overnight process. I cannot stress this enough. It may take you years to come up with dedicated, thoughtful systems in your life. And these systems, just by nature of being human beings, they will evolve with us over time. So even if you found something that worked five years ago, it might not work in the future. It's always going to constantly change.
However, what I will say is once there is like a good solid system in place, a good formula, it won't change that much. At least that's what I found for me. It might tweak, it might modify ever so lightly, but I rarely find the need to go and like rip apart a system that I had already previously implemented and replace it with something entirely new.
And as you know, I've actually documented a lot of these collections over the past few years on my YouTube channel, and I intend to do so in the future as well. Some of these might be updated yearly, some of these might just be on an as-needed basis, but I do want to take you along and show you the evolution of these collections while, by and large, maintaining the backbone of these systems and formulas and having those remain consistent throughout the years.
Okay, so we've talked a lot about these systems and how they might evolve over time. But another good question to ask yourself if you're looking to stop overconsuming, which I imagine you would be if you clicked on this title, and that is your why behind it. Maybe you want to save money, you want to save time, you want to have less stress in your life. There are a variety of reasons why you might want to cut down your consumption.
And I'll just share that for me personally, it was to stop using shopping as a distraction. Decreasing the amount of physical items that came into my life was just a piece of the puzzle to clear the path to start truly focusing on what was really important in my life. So currently, I do find it beneficial to have some parameters so that these collections, these categories, don't grow out of control and therefore become not intentional.
Now, now that being said, I don't want this video to get misinterpreted as a treatment. This is not a cure-all solution. I know that the solution for a lot of people is not going to be a formula or a system. I also know that this video might not be for everyone, and I totally respect that. Some people might see a formula or a system as too restrictive and it not be beneficial to their life.
This is simply just an idea. It's an idea that if you know it gets you excited, if you really were interested throughout this video, it might be worth it to try to implement on a very small scale in your own personal life and just see what comes from it. All I can really say is that it has worked for me. I would never do, I would never do a video like this unless I had, you know, the years and years and years of proof behind me that it has worked personally in my life. So much so that I feel compelled to share it with you all. That is how impactful, in a good way, it has been in my life.
So thank you all for coming along as I share my one rule that has really helped to limit my consumption over the years. And if you liked this video, if you found it valuable, then please feel free to give it a like. If you like the content that I'm producing on this channel in general, including my updated collections, then please subscribe. And yeah, just thank you so much for being here, and I really hope to catch you in my next minimalism video. Bye for now, everyone. Bye.
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