How I Discovered Minimalism: Our Journey to Simplify and Have a Peaceful Home

What does the word minimalism mean to you? Does the word minimalism bring to mind a neutral colored room, with whites and light browns, sparse furnishings and an empty feeling in the room?

At least, that’s what my impression of it was, and I did get to a point that I thought that I needed to aim for that and deeply desired it.

Why? Because I was in extreme overwhelm with several little kids, and a lot to take care of and I thought that if I got rid of most our stuff, things would be better.

I wanted less and wanted it badly! I knew I had to, at the least, simplify.

When you first hear the word minimalism you think of living with next to nothing.  Possibly depriving yourself of comforts and luxuries.

But it’s not like that at all! I traded mere materialistic stuff, for peace of mind, easier home management, more quality time with my family and time to actually take care of priorities.

My journey began several years ago, when I was overwhelmed by our stuff and having to shuffle it and organize it and take care of it while trying to raise children, home school and run a household and garden and can and preserve food, etc… and it had me feeling so in over my head.

I began talking about minimalism and decluttering (A LOT) to anyone who would listen and wondering how to fix the overwhelm that I was dealing with!

And is most likely to happen when you start talking about something, ads that were related to minimalism started to pop up in my facebook and youtube feeds and I soon became familiar with the experts in the minimalism space. (I don’t have a personal facebook account anymore, but that’s a story for another post)

One thing after another led me to Marie Kondo’s book “Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up”  I immediately put it on hold at the library and read it and it was an eye opener.

I found out that my sister-in-law was reading it at the same time, so it was fun to talk with her about the mind blowing discoveries that we were making and the excitement we felt as we were beginning to declutter.

At the time, it felt like a very extreme step to take, but after reading Marie Condo’s second book which gave me more ideas on how to use and display the things I simply couldn’t part with and watching a lot of videos by the Minimal Mom, Dawn, I felt like there could be a much more tailored approach to what minimalism would be for me and my family.

It wasn’t just about getting rid of 90% of our stuff, but more like figuring out what our family used, loved and needed and getting rid of everything else.

It might not end up being a lot of stuff that we moved on, but it would be enough to make a big difference.

As time goes on, we are continuing to declutter and go deeper and move other things on that we weren’t ready to move on before.

Some things have seasons and something that couldn’t be moved on before, might be ready a year later.

It really is like peeling the layers of an onion. As you become better at making decisions ad letting things go, you can make another pass through your house and do it again.

Plus, things keep coming in, though it starts to become less, as you are able to discern quicker and faster what you really need and truly love, and nothing else comes into the house besides that.

But coming to that conclusion took some thought and time on my part, discerning what minimalism would be for us as a large family with frugal practices.

We have needed to hang on to some things, because we can’t go out and buy new all the time and every time that we need something. I had to come to terms with the fact that some things, just had to be kept and that was okay, because we actually needed them.

On the other side of that, I did reduce those bins of kids clothes a whole bunch, only keeping the nicer items and moving the rest on.

Sometimes, having all the tools and stuff for the lifestyle we live of homesteading, gardening, homeschooling and living off the land, feels like too much, but I have realized that each of those things actually does get used at least yearly and it’s okay to have them for the season we use them in, as long as we have a place for it in the meantime and it isn’t in our way year round.

Sometimes, I wish that we didn’t have to keep things to use again or that I wouldn’t need to store kid’s clothes, or emergency supplies.

But trying to be a frugal family and a good steward of what we have been blessed with and financially responsible with the money my husband’s work provides for the needs of our family, makes it a must, that I keep those types of things.

Sometimes, I wish that we had unlimited resources, so that I could go out and buy exactly what we needed only when we need it, but that is not the place that God has us in, and that is best for us. It has taught us to be resourceful and creative and to rely on Him to provide and care for our family.

When I first read “Spark Joy” I wondered if it would really work and whether I would actually be able to tell if I was feeling joy or not like she talked about when holding an object in your hands. But she was right!

I WAS able to figure out whether or not it sparked joy for me.  My husband helped me to empty out my closet onto our bed and it began.

I tried to relax and then picked up the first piece, letting myself focus on my initial feeling. Was it joy? Or indifference?

It was amazing. I could feel the actual joy when I held an item I loved to wear, versus an item that I didn’t care as much about, or that usually caused me a little trouble when I wore it.  

Every piece of clothing that I picked it up, sparked joy for me are not. It seemed to get easier and when I wasn’t sure, I laid it into another pile and tried it a little later.  That was the beginning of my minimalism journey.  It felt really really good! 

From there, I went on to some of the kids toys, bins of kids’ clothing that I had been stashing, scanned my bookshelves, and just started to put together a giveaway stash.  As I progressed through all of this, I began figuring out how minimalism was going to work for our family in particular, and what it would look like for us.

As a family, we use a lot of hand me downs and I have saved clothes from each kid for additional babies.  This means that we have a lot of bins of stuff sitting in the basement.

 At first that used to bother me that it was just sitting there when it was not being used and taking up space, but because we do need to keep them for now, I realized that I needed to change my mind set about it and treat it as if it was a thrift store. 

And every time that one of the kids needed a new size or a clothing item, I would just take a trip to my “thrift store” in the basement and see if we have it. 

If not, then I would visit my favorite children’s clothing sites online, or go to a thrift store or secondhand children’s kids clothing store and find what I was looking for.  I also had to realize that it was OK to keep some things that were just in case items or survival items, as long as we had a good spot for them and they weren’t in our way for daily living. 

So what does minimalism mean for us? 

What minimalism ended up meaning for our family is we simply had less laying around that wasn’t being used actively. 

And it meant more time to do the things that we wanted to do, instead of cleaning up and organizing so much. 

It also meant my kids being more content with what they had, and me being a lot less stressed over the house being such a huge mess and chaotic all the time, because we had times when it was clean and peaceful!

It meant that we could invite people over and not feel so stressed about the time it would take to get the house ready,

It meant that I could spend more time on things like writing this blog and having an outlet for all my thoughts.

It meant that we could go as a family on impromptu fishing trips in the evening, because I could leave the house, knowing that I could catch up faster than I used to on the things I left undone.

It meant my husband feeling like we could easily get the house ready for guests and it wasn’t a two day marathon for that to happen.

It meant that I had less to manage, worry about, take care of and maintain.

Now, as I write this, I am ready to do it all over again. We live in a smaller house and have one more child, and stuff has crept in again. But I feel ready and much better able to plunge in and really let things go.

Is minimalism for you?

Your type of minimalism will look completely unique to you and your own family and situation. But I truly believe that having less and simplifying in the area of household items and even your schedule, will bring you rewards that you may not even know you were looking for. Try it! You might love it!