How to Practice Minimalism For Creatives

Something I get asked about quite a bit is how to stay clutter-free when you have a million creative passions. I completely understand this mind-boggle, but I assure you there’s a path to minimalism for creatives.

This week’s topic was inspired by Tammy- a music teacher, songwriter, animal rescuer, crocheter, knitter, crafter, and photographer. As a creative person, I understand that there can be a battle between your passions and your space.

Side note: I initially went to college with an art scholarship for painting. I’ve since dabbled in quite a few arts- singing, writing, authoring a book, painting, videography, photography, and graphics design for my business. This year, I even got into crochet!

This is to say that I totally understand what it’s like to be creative and try to balance that with your space. Unfortunately, there’s this huge misconception that one can not be minimalist and multi-creative. So, I’m here as a minimalist and a multi-creative person to tell you that that is absolutely not true.

Something I get asked about quite a bit is how to stay clutter-free when you have a million creative passions. I completely understand this mind-boggle, but I assure you there’s a path to minimalism for creatives.

This week’s topic was inspired by Tammy- a music teacher, songwriter, animal rescuer, crocheter, knitter, crafter, and photographer. As a creative person, I understand that there can be a battle between your passions and your space.

Side note: I initially went to college with an art scholarship for painting. I’ve since dabbled in quite a few arts- singing, writing, authoring a book, painting, videography, photography, and graphics design for my business. This year, I even got into crochet!

This is to say that I totally understand what it’s like to be creative and try to balance that with your space. Unfortunately, there’s this huge misconception that one can not be minimalist and multi-creative. So, I’m here as a minimalist and a multi-creative person to tell you that that is absolutely not true.

You Can Be Both.

I’m going to share 5 guidelines for clutter-free living and/or minimalism for creatives, including what I’ve done with some of my own creative supplies. But first, a mindset shift is needed for all of us creative people to bridge a gap.

If you feel that creatives aren’t meant to be clutter-free or that minimalism would block your creative process, it’s going to be very difficult for you to maintain a clutter-free space. You’ll find resistance in becoming whatever version of clutter-free or minimalist you’re working toward.

Finding inspiration in order

I am more artistically inspired when my art supplies are orderly. If I were presented with a giant box filled with paints, brushes, and charcoals all in disarray…there would be nothing inspiring about that to me. It doesn’t call me to create something.

As opposed to having my supplies minimized so that I’m able to actually see the things that I want to use most frequently. Consider the whole 80/20 rule- you probably use 80% of your belongings 20% of the time.

Keeping that in mind, the things that you actually use will get more used and be more inspiring if you don’t have quite so much in them and if the stuff you do have is somehow organized.

I get inspired to mess around with my photography equipment when I see that it’s easily accessible and laid out neatly and orderly. That inspires me, and my creative juices start flowing. If you start considering minimizing as part of your creative process, you’ll find the transition from chaotic mess with all your supplies to organized much smoother and with a lot less personal resistance.

Think: 'more creativity with less stuff.'

If you’re a passionate creative who’s ready to finally minimize and organize all of your creative supplies, here are some guidelines that I follow. I recommend you give them a whirl.

1. Stay Project Focused

We tend to have these far-reaching ideas and often get inspired and excited about the supplies themselves without having an actual project in mind. This results in numerous unused supplies.

When you embrace minimalism for creatives and stay project-focused, you hone in on your current project, allowing you to get the best supplies for that particular project without the excess.

Recently, I created three crocheted blankets and a crocheted outfit for my dog in a very short time span for Christmas. It was a pretty hectic couple of crochet months that led to many trips to the yarn store. There were SO many different yarns and colors to look at, and my creative wheels just started firing left and right.

I was thinking, “Oh, you know what? This nice hygge material is so soft and furry…maybe I can use this when I’m done with the blankets for something else…” You know how it goes. I wanted to try all of the different things, but I forced myself to only shop for one project at a time. I didn’t even shop for ALL of the projects that I knew I was planning on doing, just one project at a time.

First, I made Charlie’s little dog outfit, and I only bought yarn for it. When I completed that project, I moved on to the next. Staying project-focused like that actually prolongs your excitement because each time you finish a project, you get to shop for your new project supplies.

So, stay focused on the projects. Before you go buy a bunch of supplies, make sure that you actually have an idea of what you’re going to do with them. This is how minimalism for creatives supports more creativity with less stuff.

2. Have Space Limitations For Your Creative Supplies

It’s important that you have designated space limitations for your creative supplies. This may be separated space limitations for different types of creative passions and hobbies. For example, I’ve designated a part of my storage area in the garage for my lighting equipment.

Embracing minimalism for creatives means creating intentional boundaries for your materials. By limiting your supplies to what you can realistically use, you ensure that your space stays organized and inspires your best work.

Minimalism for crocheters and knitters

For crochet supplies, I’ve assigned a limit of one shopping bag. So, first, I require that I only have what I need for a single project. That way, I’m working through my yarn one at a time, and it’s not piling up. Then, I’m giving myself the limitation of only purchasing enough to fill up one shopping bag. You can see how these two guidelines work hand-in-hand.

There’s no way that I’m effectively going to be able to use hundreds of skeins of yarn. It’s just not happening. No project requires that much yarn. So why would I want to hold onto all of that to take up space in my closet? By following these limitations, you align with minimalism for creatives, which helps you focus on the joy of creating without the overwhelm of clutter.

Minimalism for musicians

If you are a songwriter or a pianist, you could give yourself the limitation of a binder (or a set of binders) along with a shelf section solely dedicated to all of your musical papers. You might even go beyond that and start uploading the papers that you’re no longer using to digitize them online. That is 100% what I would do, especially when it comes to written music. You can always print it out, and you’ll always have your beautiful music saved somewhere.

Digitizing your music and setting spatial limits reflect the principles of minimalism for creatives, giving you more freedom and clarity to focus on your craft.

Minimalism for painters and artists

Painting supplies may be in a bin or a box. That’s exactly what we use here. I have a set of acrylic paints, a set of oil paints, and a set of mini canvas boards to do projects with my daughters. All of those exist in a single bin. They have this bin limitation, and I’m not buying more paints until I run out of the current collection.

Minimalism for Photographers

For photography equipment, I have the original camera that I bought about a decade ago—it’s a Canon T3i. When I started making YouTube videos, I pulled it back out, and it still works great. I purchased new lenses for it and created space by getting rid of lenses I wasn’t using.

My current lenses are the stock lens that came with the camera, the zoom lens that I bought at the same time, and a new Sigma lens that I typically use to video all of my YouTube videos. The Sigma lens generally stays on the camera, and the camera generally stays on the tripod for easy access. The other two lenses stay inside the camera bag. And that’s it—not a ton of supplies.

Displaying Creative Supplies

Since we’re talking about spatial limitations and where to locate things, I do want to add that some things look nice on display. You may want to incorporate some of your attractive supplies as part of your decor to showcase your interests and personality. My guitar is set up as part of the decor in my studio, and I keep my podcast microphone with its boom stands on a little table in the studio. I like the way that it looks and enjoy the convenience of having it readily available.

This is also a great example of minimalism for creatives—finding balance between displaying what inspires you and keeping your space clean. When you embrace this mindset, your space becomes an extension of your creativity, not just a storage space.

3. Have A Plan Or A System For The Leftover Supplies

Most creative projects are going to have some leftover supplies. There are going to be leftover paints that you didn’t use up or leftover yarn that you didn’t need to complete your project. It’s important to plan or have a system for these leftover supplies in place so that you’re not left shoving them into random places.

Your plan might be to keep them in a bin until they’re completely empty and rely on those spatial limitations. For example, you might want to hold onto unused paints until the tube is completely empty. You may have a friend or donation center that you regularly donate your leftover supplies to. Or you could use the remaining yarn to create gloves or toboggans for the homeless.

By planning for leftovers, you prevent clutter and keep your workspace aligned with the ideals of minimalism for creatives, supporting more creativity with less stuff.

4. Be Honest About What Type Of Creative You Are

I understand what it’s like to see new types of creative projects, and I’ll think, “Oh, that looks great! I would love to try it,” and never get around to it. Sometimes, it’s not that the project isn’t interesting but that it’s not AS interesting to you as something else you’d rather spend your time working on.

So be honest with yourself. Is this the thing that you’re never going to get to because, in reality, you would rather spend your creative time doing something else? Many times, we buy supplies based on the type of person we’d like to be…and it doesn’t always match up with who we actually are or what we truly enjoy doing with our time.

Self-awareness is pretty much a key in all of life, including clutter-free living. Embracing minimalism for creatives means acknowledging your true passions and letting go of the items that don’t serve your current creative goals.

5. Make Space For Your Creative Passions

A lot of times, it’s not that we need to cut down on the tennis balls and tennis rackets (or whatever you’re into) but that there’s just so much clutter in general.

It could be that you need to create more space for those creative supplies and that there are other things you should be decluttering. Maybe if you clear your living room shelves of extra books and little decor items, you’ll find that you have quite a bit of space to put a bin for crafts.

If you decluttered your closet of excess clothes that you’re not wearing, you might actually have a space to put your camera equipment or your art equipment. This approach ties directly into minimalism for creatives—creating supportive spaces for your passions by reducing the excess.

Remember, at the end of the day, it’s not about owning the bare minimum number of things; it’s about creating holistic, supportive spaces that make you happy and that make you feel good.

If you need help starting that process, I recommend that you take my free masterclass, My Holistic Clutter-Free Formula.