Places like Reddit and Twitter are filled with people who practice their version of minimalism. The most prevalent method is to just have less of everything. Some groups of people even go so far as to think they can only have a fixed amount of things in their lives.
Don't let anyone tell you this is the spirit of minimalism because it's not. Let me explain.
I've always practiced minimalism, even way before I knew about the term. This was born from a desire to have a less complicated relationship with technology. I genuinely hate having a lot of stuff because nowadays, more so than say 10 years ago, everything needs updates and needs to be charged all the time for it to be useful. Gadgets are outdated the minute you buy them. Keeping track of where everything is and making sure everything gets its maintenance is nauseating to me.
The burden of having to keep track of all of these things is what led me to practice minimalism. Unfortunately, talking about minimalism is hard because a lot of lies and misinformation is thrown around.
Minimalism is never about simply owning less. It's also not about having just blue jeans and grey sweaters. It's certainly not about being able to fit all of your belongings in a backpack.
Don't get me wrong, owning less stuff is a great endeavor and one that the Earth sorely needs. But just owning less without a clear goal in mind is not very productive.
To me minimalism is about making more deliberate choices about what to buy and, more importantly, what not to buy. If I truly think something will bring me joy I will buy it. I have no hesitation about buying things because I don't keep track of how many things I own. I want everything I own to have a purpose, even if that's to just bring joy into my life. If something doesn't fulfill its intended purpose anymore I will gladly put it up for sale, or give it away.
I love cleaning out drawers because it means less stuff to keep track of.