A big hot word right now is MINIMALISM. We're all talking about it, trying it out and following others journey's. Before my first son turned 1 my husband and I watched the documentary, Minimalism, a documentary about the import things. It really hit home and made so much sense for my husband and I. Now, there are so many different levels of minimalism, and I don't think any certain level is right over the other. I think what matters is finding out what minimalism means to you and creating what works for YOU. Here is what it means to my husband and I and the start of our minimalism journey. We've been at it slowly for a year but we still have a way to go, so this is the start of us sharing our journey and it will be a series that I will share with you as we move into our dream home and continue to grow our family. What minimalism means to my family. Literally, time wise, to our energy, emotionally, our relationships and financially.
Literally, a clean and cozy home filled with things we actually use and LOVE. Less is more. The less clutter, the less for me to clean and more room for EVERYTHING to have a home. I want every item to have a designated space that is easily seen and not buried and then quickly forgotten or lost. If it hasn't been used in 6 months to a year, then I don't need it. I also truly believe that when there is too much going on in your environment it can become stressful. Clutter reminds you of all the things you need to pick up, clean or finish doing. Or just plane feeling overwhelmed by things. Do you ever feel like your being consumed by a room because there is so much going on. I personally can't sit or relax if there is stuff to do, stuff to clean or things all around me. My goal is for my whole home to have a healthy flow that relaxes me and makes me happy. My home is my oasis, it's where I eat, sleep, raise my children, spend time with my husband, work and spend most my days. Less gives us MORE time. Having less clothing means less laundry and less time spent figuring out what to wear, less house means less chores, less stuff means less to dust, put away and clean. Having an abundance of material items to obsess over consumes your energy and time. Time I would rather have to get outside, be present with my family and loved ones and do more things that bring me joy. I want to be outside with my kids, adventuring around, I want to be able to say YES to more things outside of the house, work on passion projects of mine and not feel like a slave to my house and things. Saying NO more often so you can say YES to yourself. Yes this is part of what minimalism means to me. Decluttering my calendar also feels amazing! It reduces my stress of having to ALWAYS be somewhere and it gives me more time to do nothing, to fill with things that bring me joy, and to just be with my family doing simple things. Like packing a picnic for the park, or going to the beach for the day, or heading out to the farmers market and taking a nap on a Sunday afternoon. This is something I want to teach my children as they grow too. I don't want to rush them around constantly from sporting event, to birthday party, to playdate, all day every day. I want them to have down days where they get bored and learn how to deal with boredom to ignite their imagination. We all need down time, to just recoup and be OK with doing nothing. Constantly doing something gives us that instant gratification, keeping our body always awake and never learning to relax. Or can burn you out, physically and mentally weakening your immune system. Do less, so you can be more. Having less and doing less means more inner energy and clarity. Have you every done a spring cleaning and felt a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. Or realized you finally had a weekend with nothing on the calendar and felt a big sigh of relief. Or that feeling when your house is clean and the chores are done and you are just so happy to do nothing. I love those feelings. Letting go of things I don't need and having time to do whatever I want has always made me happy. Having less opens up more time for me to just be. It declutters my mind, which means I have more time and energy for things that feed my soul. Less means more money in the bank. Once we stop the shopping that ends up filling our cluttered house and closet we finally have extra money to pay off that pesky debt, put money away for more important things like retirement or children futures, or even money to finally do those things on your bucket list. You could travel the world, which is way more richer then a closet full of clothes. You could have the opportunity to make that career change, quit your miserable job, stay at home with your kids, or move away to a dream location or retire. You never want to live to work, only work to live. You don't want to feel like a slave to your job just to collect a paycheck to pay the bills. Give yourself the gift of doing something that makes you happy and fills your soul. Having and doing less actually makes you more vulnerable. Once you stop fixating on constantly shopping, or needing things just because or needing the next best thing or emotionally shopping it sheds the shield. We are usually buying things to make us feel better, fill a void or cover other things up were not dealing with. Get rid of the clutter, the clothes and full calendar and you actually have to face YOU. You have to face why your constantly buying things, filling your house with stuff, buying things you can't afford or why you can't JUST BE. Get down to the route of all these habits of needing, needing, needing. Its scary but therapeutic and you'll learn to be so happy with just you and the most important things in life to you. So far this is what MINIMALISM means to me and my family. This is an outline of how we want to build and create our home and life. Next I want to start sharing the actual journey with you, getting rid of clothes, getting rid of home decor, having a garage sale, raising our children, getting out of debt, re-learming how to shop or not shop, re-learning how to spend and save our money, making time for the things we want to actual do, our marriage, every part of it.
1 Comment
Gloria Peterson
7/22/2018 04:47:39 pm
Love your story!
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