What Minimalism Means to Our Family

If you’ve been following me for any length of time you would know that minimalism is something I have been slowly working to over the last few years. I’ve noticed that a house filled with clutter overwhelms me, I can’t focus on anything else when my house is in a disarray.

Having less stuff in my house helps me be able to breathe deeper, relax more fully and be able to enjoy my family more. I’ve even noticed it being helpful with my children, who don’t realize it yet but also get overwhelmed by the burden of too much.

If there is one thing I’ve learned in the last few years it’s that if you want to live a more minimalist life you need to stay on top of it. I definitely let it slide in the last two years and certain areas definitely got more out of control than I like.

So what exactly is minimalism?

To be honest, minimalism looks different to different people, and can’t look different to you depending on the stage of life you are in and the priorities you have in life.

Minimalism can be taken to the extreme where you don’t own anything extra (you have one cup, one plate, one fork, etc per person) and you live out of a backpack or it can be something quite different. I wanted to take some time and share what minimalism means to me in this stage in life, partly in case people are curious and partly for me to look back on on those days when I have forgotten.

Minimalism means everything has a place.

If everything has it’s place that means there should be no room for clutter. This has been a hard lesson for me, a former pack rat, and is something I am working on with my like-minded daughter.

Minimalism means being able to easily host others.

For us minimalism will never include only owning one plate per person because we have the desire to have gatherings of people in our home. Our mug and tea collection are fairly large, our table is oversized for our family of four, we live in a house instead of a condo, etc. but having a minimalist home means things stay mostly neat and it’s really easy to have people drop by without worrying about the state of our house or having to tidy up for hours on end.

Minimalism means having the resources and time to do what we love.

I enjoy traveling and experiencing the vast world that God has created. Having less, and therefore buying less, we have/will have more money to spend on the things we actually want to do.

Minimalism means having less.

While for many people this is solely what minimalism is, for me, it’s just a piece of the puzzle. Minimalism isn’t all about owning the fewest possessions, but it will mean choosing not to buy things you want and living with less in some areas of life. For me that means not buying all the stationary and craft supplies that I want, having minimal home decor and having a few items in my closet that I love.

Minimalism means living intentionally.

Ultimately, minimalism means living a life of intention instead of going with the flow and living “the American dream”. Minimalism means questioning why you are purchasing items and why you make the decisions you do.

This is the first part in a new minimalism series that I am really excited to share here.

If you have any questions about minimalism or want to share your story I’d love for you to leave a comment below!