I guess I am what I like to call a minimalist. I think when most people think minimalist, they think one bedroom apartment, with white walls, a couch and a table. But that's not necessarily the definition of a minimalist. I don't view minimalism as certain rules to abide by, but instead a way to view possessions. This is probably one of the best definitions on it I've read. I try to constantly declutter and get rid of things we don't need, use, or have a lot of. It can be challenging with kids but I think its important to start when they're young so you can teach them. I try and talk to my oldest about how decluttering can help us enjoy our space to play and we can take better care of the things we have. I also remind him that Its important to not place value on material things, that's its OK if something gets broken or lost. He is very sentimental so this is tough for him at times, but he's learned to let go a little and has even volunteered certain toys to giveaway.
It all started with my husband who I think at heart is a real minimalist. He has always had few possessions. Everything he owns can probably fit in a closet. The only thing he consistently takes on all of our moves are old letters from when we were dating and books (some might say we have a lot of books, and I cant argue that). He probably got me started on the whole idea that material possessions were just not that important. I'm not by nature a minimalist, quite opposite, I might be a closet hoarder. I like stuff, I grew up with my mom showing me love by, you guessed it, buying me stuff. So when my husband challenges me to get rid of that stuff I wanted none of it. I actually thought he was quite crazy, but the more we talked about it, the more I realized he was right. So even though he was probably the main reason to start it, he wasn't the only one.
There were a few reasons why I finally decided to be intentional about getting rid of things. We helped a few people move and I realized it was really hard to move so much stuff, stuff that most people never even used. Moving has actually been one of the biggest reasons for me, I ask myself constantly, am I willing to move this? A lot of times the answer is no. We've moved 5x since we've been married, that's about once a year. Each time it wasn't that hard, moving is never fun but its unbearable when the person you're moving has a lot of things. So I try to be realistic about what a small family (family of 4) really needs and Its not a whole lot. But an even bigger reason is stress. Having things stresses me out, because things cause clutter. So I try really hard to maintain only what we can keep track of, and as we speak I'm thinking about 50 million things to get rid of. It's still a process for me, I try and fill a couple of boxes each month.
This is just what works best for our family, I don't think its for everyone. I don't think you're an awful person if you have a lot of stuff. I think its a matter of what you can best handle without going crazy. For me, the amount of stuff I have directly coordinates with my level of crazy. So we try our very hardest to keep things to a minimum. It also helps us not put so much value on possessions and we don't get as emotionally attached to things. It really is a great way to view possessions but it can be really hard. Lets face it, everything in society makes us want more things. So trying to completely change what can be very innate in us, can be hard, but not impossible.
Going to be trying the minimalist game for November if you're wanting a jump start. More on my IG.
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