The festive season is around the corner and everyone is gearing up to look up to the upcoming festivals. Diwali is one of the most awaited festival. The festival of lights or it won’t be incorrect to call it the festival of joy. The festival of lights is celebrated to honour Lord Ram. As per the Hindu mythology, Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of vanwas , and the people of Ayodhya welcomed them with diyas and lights. People lit lamps in their houses since then in order to celebrate victory over evil.
The other belief is that the goddess of happiness and good fortune, Lakshmi, roams on the Earth this day and enters the houses, which are clean and bright. The celebration may vary in different communities but the spiritual meaning and significance is generally “the awareness of the inner light”.
Diwali is all about cleaning our houses, whitewash, burning crackers, exchanging sweets and gifts, buying new clothes, decorating houses.
This year Diwali won’t be same like other years. We all are aware about the current situation of the world. COVID19 has made this year difficult in many ways. Social distancing is not allowing us to meet our relatives and friends this Coronawali Diwali.
We all are aware of the current situation and the financial crisis, which is all over the world at this point of time. This pandemic has made us realize the value of money and value of savings. The concept of minimalism has meant and continues to mean, different things to different people across culture and countries.
Every year we end up buying things, which we actually are not really needy of, whether they are clothes or decorative things. Lets see how we can make this Diwali grand following rule of minimalism.
- Avoid splurging over clothes
One of the most common things that stresses out most of us before the beginning of festival is to look our best. Due to this thing we keep on buying unnecessary stuff and unnecessary clothes every time.I am sure everyone have ‘n’ number of clothes which most of us would just wear once and let them just collect dust the rest of the year.At least for this year we have to admit that we have enough collection in our wardrobe to make our festive season special. One piece of clothing can be used on different occasions and not just on major festivals. This will be for sure a good and full utilization of the resource. It will also help to save a lot of time and money as well.
- Reuse materials for Home Decoration
All of us like to use decorative materials to do up our homes during festivals. Try using things which were purchased last year for festivals. Lights, diyas decorative stuff are the things which can be re used. There is no use of buying the same stuff unnecessarily.
No need to push yourself if you see a sale or 50 % off hoarding somewhere. Human tendency is that they see such hoardings and end up buying unnecessary things. This year is not the correct year to do such stuff. Even if you are tempted to go for shopping during sale, focus only on essentials that really need to be restocked.
- Clean and Paint yourself
Keeping house clean would be enough and white wash can be ignored for this year if it is not necessary. This would be another way to save some money. Try out some creative ideas to highlight areas of your house.
- Wrap up gifts with recyclable materials
In order to gift somebody something during this Diwali we require gift papers to pack gifts. Instead of buying gift wrappers this time we can use newspapers to wrap the gifts and if you find it too shabby, you can chose the option to eschew covering a gift altogether and just tie a colorful ribbon to give it a festive look.
- Help the needy
Sell or donate things which you don’t use. This will help you and also the other person who might be more needy for that particular thing. There are several NGOs where you can donate the unwanted stuff of yours. Moreover helping others in such pandemic will give you immense satisfaction. Making others happy is always the best thing to do. Always remember that the things which you don’t use, will be used by somebody needy if you give it to the right person.
- Spend on Hand made local stuffs (Vocal for Local)
It’s never too late to change the way you live or the way you spend your money. Handmade stuff is something which can be really useful during this time. Instead of spending money in malls on expensive stuff for festivals, it is better to buy stuff from local vendors. Give happiness and get happiness, this should be the Mantra for each individual.
- Say “No” to crackers
Spending huge amount of money on buying crackers can be avoided this time. Being an environment friendly person, I never liked the concept of burning crackers and polluting the environment. This is something which should be minimalized every year. Though it is difficult to make people understand the cons. Ideally, it should be banned as this harms our ecosystem but this year we have got an excuse to not use such things. Festivals can be celebrated in eco friendly ways as well.
- Avoid food wastage
Talking about celebration with minimalism, we can also ensure that we do not waste food. Festivals and food share the wonderful relation. Festivals are known for good food and snacks. More cooked food means more wastage. To avoid such situations, it is better to cook less or to cook the correct amount of food which is actually required. Throwing food is never a good idea, so it’s better to decide a sufficient quantity before preparing the food. In case of the leftover food, there are many innovative ways to use the leftovers. Every time you have the urge to waste food, remember that there are several people who are starving for food. Several people die on daily basis due to hunger. In order to utilize the leftover, we can give it to the local needy people who hardly manage to get some food.
Moreover you can contribute towards saving and healthy environment by making best use of kitchen waste.
- Multipurpose Appliances
Make use of multipurpose appliances. This will not only save money but will also save space and maintenance. Moreover make you realise best utilisation of available resources.
Being conscious of material is an important part of resource efficiency. Once Diwali has ended, there are a lot of things which can be stored for next year.Less is more.
Stay safe and healthy this Diwali. Happy Diwali 🙂