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I Got Rid of 90% of My Stuff...Here's What Happened // minimalism + letting go

A to Zen Life

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Decluttering changed my life, but that was just the begining! Today, I'm sharing decluttering tips and things I wish I'd know sooner that would have made letting go MUCH easier. This life update has been 10 years of minimalism in the making...let's dive in.

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ABOUT A TO ZEN LIFE
Along my journey to let go of 30 years of clutter, I accidentally became a minimalist and it was life-changing.

Before, I was an emotional hoarder with nothing but the clutter from lost loved ones — and $25,000 of debt — to my name. Now I have a beautiful home in Europe, a happy family, live debt-free, and — best of all — wake up to a life that I’m EXCITED to live every day.

My mission is to help you conquer your clutter and simplify YOUR way to a happier and better life. HERE'S OUR STORY: https://atozenlife.com/about-a-to-zen...

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NOTE: This description may contain affiliate links; these links allow you to find the items mentioned in this video at no additional cost to yourself. While this channel may earn a small amount when the viewer uses the links, the viewer is in NO WAY obligated to use these links.

20 Comments

@AtoZenLife Creator 3 months ago Pinned

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@aileentoomey9627 3 months ago

My definition of minimalism is " easy to clean. "

@michelleprice5945 3 months ago

The best thing i gained from decluttering is i now stay out of the stores unless i NEED something, no more shopping for fun.

@Justincase008 3 months ago

I got rid of so much stuff. And got rid of some people too. I decluttered my life right across the board.

@neilschristensen9143 3 months ago

Just started decluttering at 78. It's getting easier each day. Don't want to leave it to my family.

@Yourewithfaes 3 months ago

I think of clutter as visceral fat in that just as visceral fat creates inflammation and stress to the rest of the body, clutter inflames and puts stress on the rest of your life. And decluttering is like exercising to lose that excess fat you don’t need nor want.

@nichies-i6k 2 months ago

My father recently passed and currently going through his stuff. I didn’t realize how organized he was. It’s a gift let me tell you. He had nothing he didn’t use. It’s inspirational.

@navydivergary1237 3 months ago

We enter this world with nothing and that’s the way we will leave. How true. I never see a hearse with a u-haul attached to it. Keep up the good work!

@patriciastikeleather5689 3 months ago

I work in an antique shop and hear all the time about inherited clutter. Don't burden your children with a house full of clutter! One man actually said that his mother's house burnt down and he was embarrassed to say, but it was actually a gift.

@DenyDweeb 2 months ago

Sis, don't worry about toxic comments from toxic people - they don't pay your bills, and they don't walk in your shoes, so the weight of their opinions should also be "minimal". 💜

@moonjellies_.ৎ 3 months ago

I'm still watching the video, but the opening really stood out to me. It made me realize that I'm at a point in my life where I am also surrounded by nearly 30 years of clutter, and I don't want to live like this anymore. So I feel like I found this video at the right time ♥

@joeltunnah 3 months ago

I think the point is simply to be intentional about what you own, not to get rid of everything just for the sake of getting rid of it.

@funnygirl3444 3 months ago

I’ve decluttered about 80% of my belongings. My family is all gone and looking at their belongings in my home made me sooooo sad. I had to get rid of these things for my mental health. I love your videos and have been following your channel for years.❤️❤️❤️

@Bythebeautifulsea123 3 months ago

"Right-sizing" may be a better concept than downsizing, depending on your season of life.

@karlene4sure 3 months ago (edited)

It’s so true in the end my sweet aunt who passed in her home. Went from being concerned about her belongings to in her final weeks not caring about a single thing Only her loved ones coming to see her.
She was organized but had a lot. Wanted to get rid of her stuff. Got sick. We, my cousins and I started going through her things. Running everything by her because she was bed bound by then.
Then she got to that point as stated she only wanted to visit with her friends and family. Didn’t want to see her precious items and treasures. After her passing we, cousins and I are freer to actually declutter to sell their childhood home. And it was a huge job for sure. We like you offered many times to help my sweet aunt to no avail.
Two years have passed and I’m facing my beautiful mom’s home and her passing. Same tree both sisters fell from it. I have work to do. Thanks for listening/reading. 🥰

@cc-iq2bs 3 months ago

I've done the same thing.

On my debt free journey, I sold so much as I realised that I don't need them, I really don't.

I have my self, wage, a beater car.

I go to work, earn money, I have no debt zero none. Because I concentrated on paying my debt off for 7 years.

I let go of nearly everything, I have 3 empty rooms, my living room sofa, TV, coffee table that's it.

Bed in bedroom, clothes railing system some shelves that's it that's all I need.

But I am fully debt free, I made that my number 1 goal. And saw it through, it's the best feeling in life being debt free.

👍

@lalablotz7348 3 months ago (edited)

I think anyone making negative comments about your minimalist lifestyle are trying to find a way to justify and not face their own problems with clutter or shopping addictions. They are projecting. It’s their problem not yours. I love your channel, you keep me on track 🩷

@catsmeow48 3 months ago

It’s so true that minimalism is actually normal, for the majority of human history people lived with very little…. The way we live now is actually abnormal but definitely pushed by major corporations wanting to help us part with our hard earned money .

@LuizSiqueira 3 months ago

This is a point that makes me reflect deeply, especially given my own background. I belong to a second generation of minimalists; I grew up in a clean house free of excess, and I still champion the practice as a vital antidote to consumerism. What I am offering here is not a critique of minimalism, but a necessary warning that life has taught me: there is a very fine line between the lightness of detaching and the emptiness of discontinuity.

In my own family, the transition from my grandparents' large estate—which was filled with shared rituals—to compact apartments, combined with getting rid of absolutely all family belongings, eventually led to everyone drifting apart and disconnecting. I learned firsthand that the mistake of purism is judging the value of everything solely by its practical utility. Certain objects and spaces are not "clutter"; they are the material anchors of our collective memory. Without these physical anchors, a group's identity simply dissipates.

We see the importance of this in urban planning: cities preserve monuments and historic buildings that might seem commercially "useless," yet they exist to keep a people's culture and identity cohesive. When a family or a society completely wipes out its physical inventory for the sake of total detachment, it risks dismantling its own history.

Contemporary Japan is a drastic reflection of this. The nation that became a global symbol of housing minimalism is now witnessing the dissolution of its traditional family structures. The shift from old multigenerational homes to sterile, purely functional micro-apartments paved the way for the tragic phenomenon of Kodokushi (孤独死)—lonely deaths, where individuals pass away in isolation and are only discovered weeks later. It is a case of material detachment taken to such an extreme that it devolves into human detachment.

Minimalism is excellent, but it urgently needs a safeguard clause for memory. Preserving what seems "useless" is sometimes the only bond that keeps our collective soul together. To know who we are, we need, every now and then, to be able to touch the things that tell our story.

@nicoleh3703 3 months ago

A few days ago, I swear I heard your voice when debating throwing out a purse. The strap was falling apart, but the main part was perfectly fine. I had bought a purse strap from a thrift store to add to a bag I had purchased a long time ago, but had abandoned the project. I had been debating donating it again, but I just cut off the old strap and added the new, very funky one! Now I have a one-of-a-kind purse, a purse saved from the landfill, and the abandoned project turned into something useful! I love my new-to-me purse!