Minimalism is often described in terms of what we don’t own, what we don’t purchase, and what we let go. That focus on what’s not there can make some folks feel uneasy about the idea of becoming more minimalist in their own homes, because it feels like a loss.

What if we focused instead on what we gain?

We’ll feel more comfortable with decluttering and placing limits on our consumption, because those disciplined behaviors are all in service of gaining something we value.

Instead of saying we’re donating half of our clothes, we can say we’re making a curated wardrobe.

Instead of saying we have to cull our book collection, we can say we’re making room in our reading nook.

Instead of saying we’re getting rid of the junk in our basement, we can say we’re clearing space for our home office, or our yoga practice, or a gathering space for friends and family.

I sometimes think about this in terms of square footage; if a client’s rowhome is valued at $300,000 and has 1000 square feet of living space, then we can think of each square foot as being worth $300. Would they “pay” that $300 to store a basket of old magazines? Probably not. They may even pay $300 to get a square foot of space back. So decluttering those old magazines provides real, tangible value in the form of space.

And space is just one thing we gain. We gain time not searching for useful items among junk, money not overbuying things we don’t need, energy not caring for possessions we don’t value, and more often than not, we gain all of the above.

And with that mindset, minimalism starts to feel less like deprivation and more like luxury.