Minimalism with a family of four
There is so much freedom in letting go of what no longer serves you to make room for what brings you joy.
Here are 5 tips that have helped me to live a more simple but richer life:
- Only keep things that spark joy. If you don’t love it, get rid of it.
- Don’t keep things out of guilt. If someone gave you a gift and you feel obligated to keep it, realize that it was generous for them to give it to you, that it brought them joy to give it to you, and let it go. You will feel a burden lifted.
- Eliminate paper clutter. Buy a scanner and scan the things that are important. Recycle the rest. If you need to refer back to some document you can most likely find the information online.
- Less clutter equals more calm. Don’t fear having an empty shelf or space in your home.
- Think before you bring new things into your home. Ask yourself, “is it worth my time and energy to take care of this item?” Bonus: you will save money.
Minimalism =
Less cleaning, more experiences.
Less organizing, more memories.
Ever since having kids, life has gotten a bit more busy and chaotic and time seems more precious than ever. In that spirit I’ve been reading a lot about minimalism and simplifying life. I’ve struggled majorly with decision fatigue in parenting and anything I can do now to eliminate the amount of decisions I need to make and things that I need to take care of the more peace and calm enters my life!
This is why I like Trader Joes. It feels like such a good shopping experience and less overwhelming than other grocery stores because they have just a few options for each type of food. You know that they’ve already curated the options and given you only good choices, so anything you choose will be a good choice. I try to take this philosophy into my business and my home life. I have a much easier time implementing this in my business than my life. 😉
Every week or two I get overwhelmed with all the clutter I’m constantly cleaning up and all the things in our closets and my wardrobe, so every two weeks or so I go through my clothes and get rid of about 30% of the items. Even if I just got rid of 30% of the items a week prior, I always find so much more that I’m now ok with getting rid of.
The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up is a book that truly changed the way I see stuff and has helped me let go of so many things. Hosting clothing swaps for the past 7 years has also made it much easier to let go of things in my closet.
As we pack our belongings to move across the country, it is even more evident to me that I don’t want to spend my time on holding onto things and moving them if they don’t serve us. With less things to take care of we can focus our time and energy on taking care of each other.
I would love to hear about your experience, if you’re a minimalist what do you love about it or if you want to be more minimal what is your motivation? Please comment below!
I love this! We need to do the same as we pack up and plan for a move too!
I so needed to read this today…thanks for sharing!
I will be moving again in the fall. Over the last 10 years I have struggled and embraced and struggled with minimalism. The freedom I have received from getting rid of "stuff" has amazed me. I am challenging myself to determine what brings me joy and get rid of the rest! Thank you Danica for sharing your wisdom! 😍
Thank you Lori! It is definitely a process. I feel like I learn new things every time I go through my stuff and my mindset is often changing as I go about my days and my priorities shift over time and seasons in life.
I LOVE being a minimalist. I became more of one once I moved to NYC. I agree, moving is a great incentive to purge, which is why I actually do enjoy moving every two years or so. Ever since living here, I’ve been a minimalist due to budget and apartment size restraints but I’ve grown to really embrace it. Also, I don’t have a closet so I try to keep everything folded and tucked away or the things that must be visible are things that make me feel happy. I want to purge again using these motivations you’ve listed – I definitely keep gifts out of obligation but your reasoning totally helps in letting things go. I have a minimalist wardrobe and a simple, natural makeup routine that makes getting dressed/ready in the morning SO easy. The things that I want to have a lot of are books, photos, film, pens, journals and sketchbooks – the things that make me feel abundant and creative. Thanks for your post! I love hearing how other people create a minimalist lifestyle for themselves.
Moving is a great way to downsize…although I’m finding that it takes 4x as long! Haha. And you make other great points too: not having a lot of money makes it easier not to buy a lot, as well as having a small space to live. I love your list of things that make you feel abundant and creative! What a wonderful list! Thanks so much for sharing your experience with minimalism!
I love this! Before we had our kiddo, we downsized and moved to a much smaller home. That helped with getting rid of stuff. We’ve since moved to a larger home, but I try to keep the same mindset of minimalism/KonMari.
I tell grandparents not to get our kid too much "stuff" (it does NOT always work) and I frequently go through and I purge stuff that we do NOT need.
I also am a professional organizer, so I try to instill the "spark joy" idea in my clients. The more stuff you own, the more it owns you.
I think I might do a little KonMari at my house when we’re back home from vacation! Thanks for the inspiration!
Wow! I love learning from others how they live with less and stay organized! The grandparent issue…I haven’t found a solution for that one yet so let me know if you have any breakthroughs 😉
That’s so awesome that you’re a professional organizer as I’m sure it helps you practice what you preach! Whenever I hear how others KonMari I am inspired to work even more on my own home/life.