Chances are you've probably heard a lot about minimalism in the last few years. Minimalism means living only with the things you need and the ones that bring you joy, and it's been everywhere in the media. Living with fewer material possessions and hindrances often means less stress and can be one of the most freeing things you'll ever do in your life. If you're considering a simpler lifestyle, here are six ways to minimize starting today.

1. Understand Why You Want To Minimize

People become minimalists for many reasons, and your decision is completely unique. Maybe clutter and disorder make you anxious, or you believe living with excess distracts you from more important things. If you've ever dealt with cleaning out a relative's estate and found it overwhelming, perhaps you don't want to put your children through the same ordeal. Understanding the reasons you wish to live with less will make your goal clear and inspire you to make it happen now.

2. Donate Your Extras

Once you've decided to embark on a minimalistic lifestyle, it's time to start paring down your belongings. One of the first places to begin is by donating quality items that you no longer use. This could include clothing, electronics, small appliances and dishes. For example, if you own more coffee mugs than you know what to do with, give those extras to someone that will cherish them. You'll find many churches and organizations that would be grateful to receive these donations. 

3. Rent a Dumpster

The next step of your minimalism journey should be to discard broken items and ones too old to donate. The easiest and quickest method to throw out these articles is by renting a roll-off dumpster. Dumpsters come in a variety of lengths, including the giant 10 yard dumpster size where you can dispose of almost anything, from small items to furniture and leftover building supplies.

A dumpster rental allows you to clear out your home immediately; a task that would otherwise take months to bag up and put out on the curb. Once the dumpster is full, the entire load can be taken away whenever you're ready.

4. Eliminate Excess Paperwork

Another area that you'll want to minimize is excess paperwork. Paper accumulates quickly when you consider all your junk mail, credit card statements, receipts and newspapers. Before you know it, you've got massive amounts of paper you'll never have time to go through. Start by shredding what paperwork you can, then prevent it from piling up again by signing up for online payments. You'll save money on paper and postage, and you'll never make a late payment again. You can also subscribe to online versions of your favorite newspapers and magazines instead of cluttering up your mailbox.

5. Digitize Your Pictures and Books

To streamline your life even further, learn how to store your pictures online and eliminate those bulky photo albums from your bookshelves. Digital pictures will last forever, and since they can be stored on cloud platforms, you'll never lose them, even if your computer crashes. If you want to save even more space on your shelves, an e-reader can store hundreds of books. Any book you'd like to read is available at your fingertips, and you can take them anywhere. 

6. Tweak Your Spending Habits

Many people that have decided on a minimal lifestyle have done so because of too much debt. Their overspending has stressed their budgets, and all they have to show for it are possessions they'll probably never use. Part of living as a minimalist includes tweaking your spending habits so you're only buying what's absolutely necessary. Train yourself to think a few days before making big purchases. If you don't think it will add happiness to your life, don't buy it.

If you believe a minimalist lifestyle will benefit you, it's not difficult to accomplish. Through donations, dumpsters and digitizing, you can create a more meaningful existence.