It’s that time again! Time for another week of minimizing our homes… clearing out the clutter in order to free our homes from the burden of too much stuff!
I feel like I should take today’s post to explain the point of Minimizing Mondays for the newbies. This isn’t meant to simply be motivation to organize your things. What this is about is living with less! Not simply clearing out a junk drawer, but actually getting rid of things that are taking up space in your home but serving no real purpose, yes, even possibly things that you like but don’t necessarily need. I am here to inspire you to let go of the material things in your home that are cluttering up your life and taking valuable time away from your family.
Let me explain that. Having tons of clothes leads to piles and piles of dirty laundry to wash. Cabinets overloaded with cups, dishes, and tupperware containers cause you to waste time digging through them looking for one particular item. Shelves lined with doo-dads and whatchamacallit’s take plenty of time dusting and cleaning around. An excess of kid’s toys all over the floor… how many times do you clean them up every day? All of these things, when in overabundance, cause waste of time in our lives. I am urging you to rethink what you actually NEED in your home, not just what you like to be able to say you HAVE.
So, when I give a challenge, it is not merely to organize what you have (though it is wonderful to have your things nice and tidy and in their place), I am provoking you to rethink what you actually keep in your home and allow to take up space in your life. So don’t just rearrange the shirts in your closet… get rid of half of them! Don’t simply find a creative way to store the ridiculous amount of toys in your home… donate the majority of them, your kids won’t die, I promise!! Getting the gist of it? Less, less, less!
LIVING WITH LESS!! Free yourselves of the material burdens in your life! Give your time back to your family and kids and off of these things that distract you in little ways every day. Now, go for it!! I want to hear what you think and how you’re putting these thoughts into action in your own home! Let’s continue inspiring each other to have less and live more!!
Rachel says:
Thanks for your motivation to have less. My husband and I have been trying to live this lesson for a couple years now. “Think zen” is our code for minimizing. We’ve come to a pretty good balance in our home at this point, but I was thinking this morning that there is probably a lot more “stuff” that we could do nicely (even better) without. One thing that has really helped is to put a BIG box in the garage and anything that doesn’t get used, or has no “place” gets tossed in the box. If after 2 months we haven’t needed it, it goes.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
1000 Ways To Save Day 4! « Keep it Simple says:
[...] less and purging your excess, read minimizing monday at handprintsonthewall.org each week! Here is this weeks post, its a good [...]
September 30th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Hannah says:
Great article! I have a 20-month-old and I’m happy to say, we’ve always been following everything you’ve said for her whole life so far. It’s just so much easier to be a parent when you aren’t relying on so many crutches! Thanks!
October 1st, 2008 at 9:29 am
Dawn says:
I’m working at this a little each month, and am thankful to be doing so. I try to pick a closet or cabinet each month & choose some things that never get used.
Any suggestions for helping a relative to understand that the kids don’t need every new toy on the market, and that they don’t need 50 shirts in size 12 months? We’re struggling with that right now, and she’s offended if we give things away. It’s a fine line between minimizing & treating a generous relative with kindness!
October 7th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Jenni M. says:
This is so true. I am a new bee so I read and updated myself with your idea and theory. I like my house neat and clean. With two girls, 6 and 3 that makes me for a busy mom. Of course I pass down the old clothes and throw the garbage of junk but I never really thought about the fact of less. You amy start something for me. I’ll keep you posted in the clean up, get rid of…
October 7th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Kendra says:
Dawn,
Hi! I know what it’s like to have a loving family who enjoys bestowing gifts upon your children! Sometimes they don’t realize when you’ve reached “enough”. All you can really do is kindly say something like, “We truly appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity. You have been such a blessing to our family. We really have everything that we need for the time being though. “Baby” doesn’t really need any more clothes for a while, and honestly the toy box is overflowing. So, if you really want to get him something for his birthday or Christmas, we have a savings account set up for him that could really use some help. That’s something that he could truly benefit from!” That’s what I tell my family anyways! Hope that helps!
October 8th, 2008 at 8:23 am