How Many Towels Do You Need? | Rose Lounsbury | TEDxDayton

Rose Lounsbury shares how to move towards a minimalist lifestyle and how it has improved her life. Rose Lounsbury is a minimalism coach, speaker, and author of the Amazon bestseller Less: Minimalism for Real. After blogging about her personal journey toward a minimalist lifestyle, Rose, a former middle school teacher, was inspired to help others live better lives with less stuff. Rose spends her days writing, coaching her clients and online students to stuff-free freedom, and soaking up the moments with her husband and their wild triplets. Rose is a regular guest on

[emmamacdonald]

When someone gives you a gift say, “thank you.” Once you have done that your obligation to the gift and gift-giver is these words have changed my life

[seattlegrrlie]

I've always told people not to give me stuff. Buy me lunch, take me to dinner. I don't want things, I never have.

[lindatait]

My Grandma always said ‘One on, one off and one in the wash’. This allows for emergencies and the times you can’t get the washing dry quickly (I live in the Uk where we don’t all use driers). Works for me with bedding and towels.

[diannemaloney]

I went shopping with my Mother once and saw some beautiful lingerie I thought she might like for Mother's Day.  I asked what she thought of them and she said: I already have one. ONE, she had one nightgown.  Her entire life she owned two nightgowns at a time, one for winter and one for summer, well one for the warmer 6 months and one for the colder 6 months.  She washed it on Mondays.  I had a drawer full of nightgowns, but she had one and she felt that that was enough.  That's a great word - ENOUGH - don't you think?

[pricklypear]

I firmly believe that overwhelming kids with a lot of "stuff" contributes to attention disorders. Kids with less stuff tend to engage more deeply with items, to exercise more imagination, and to cherish their belongings rather than casting them off in search of the next "thrill." I sure wish someone would undertake a study on this topic.

[c_the_world]

Both my husband and myself grew up with parents that loved to hoard things. Now that we are married and have a home of our own, it is so liberating to live with just the essentials. It even helped to cut down anxiety!

[spicybrown]

Minimalism + Marie Kondo method = peace of mind and less stress.

[oTheresao]

Let's be clear - the standard for what is 'needed' is determined by the individual. My husband and I are pretty minimalist, but to be happy, I NEED 9 towels for the 2 of us. Why? Because I like to have 2 just for me (body towel and hair towel), and my husband has one. So, we have 3 towels on the go at any one time. But, I also like to be clean and fresh, so we swap those out regularly. Since I don't want to be constantly rushing to get laundry done, I like to have a buffer, so-to-speak, where I can have towels in laundry but still be safe with the number of towels available. That makes me happy. I define my minimalism.


My point here is that you do not have to prescribe to someone else's rules about what qualifies as minimalism. Just because she thinks 2 towels per person is good enough doesn't mean it is the law of minimalism. Live minimally on your own terms, and with the things that you really want.

[carolyneverett]

Give your extra towels, sheets, throws, blankets to your local animal shelter. They need them👍🏻

[SeattleRosie]

One of the best minimalist/decluttering talks ever. "Keep nothing that isn't useful or beautiful." Easier said than done, but very well said.

[allisonallison]

Whenever shopping & you pick up an item, ask I NEED this or do I just WANT it! It has helped me time & time again!

[purpleskies]

living a vanlife exsisitance makes you realise exactly how much you NEED! never been happier ever

[sanremy]

A few months ago, a gipsy came to my house looking for scrap metal. The guy was making a living for him, his wife, & his young child, by collecting iron to be sold by the weight. In addition, he was a christian & a sympathic man. So, i decided to give him every metalic things that could be found in my workshop ( tools included). I kept the minimun things necessary to do my daily maintenance of my property, and gave him all the rest: washing machine, drillers, hammer, saws, engines, nails, lader, iron bars, metal chains, cables, car engine pieces, old cast-iron radiators... he got about 600 kgs of metallic objects, that he could sell for around 100 €. So quite a good day for him and for me : exactly what i wanted. I told him : " Is it God who sent you ?" Thanx. And nothing of the given things have been missing.

[sparklej]

My towel wasn't washed often enough and I got MRSA--antibiotic resistant bacteria. So I researched and found in my very humid area that no more than three uses and then our towels are washed, then hung out to dry. And we use hand towels frequently. They work well. And we love thin towels, but quality thin towels are hard to fine. I must have the right number because occasionally I run out. I can't imagine getting rid of Christmas ornaments. Almost all were hand made or gifted by those we love so dearly. Hot cocoa and little hands and such precious memories are shared every year. The best advice I've ever heard was "Do you own your possessions or do they own you?" It's all about the deliberate--and connection.

[jah]

The book ‘Goodbye, Things’ is great for changing your mindset about ‘stuff’.

[labotraduc]

I'm in the middle of it, decluttering. This talk is very encouraging! I can see how my clutter has weighed me down. Thank you!

[justicedaicy]

Very inspiring! You've caused me to stop and think about the steady stream of stuff coming into our home and how much of it we really don't use or need. The quote about having nothing in your home that isn't useful or beautiful is a great rule to live by. I'm going to start using that.

[kelly-lainemconie]

LOVED THIS! One of the most amusing talks on minimalism I’ve ever heard

[kaw]

I can relate so much to the Christmas bit. I used to almost dread Christmas because our family would open gifts until 11pm! There would be Ikea sized bags of stuff sitting around our house that we had to go through and sent a majority of it to charity. Thankfully we have minimalized.

[anngepp]

"If our homes are full of things we don't need, use or love, our minds are full of them too".