As I sit down to write this, the first article in a project about becoming more minimalist in a family household, I think it is worth a quick evaluation of who we are, who I am, why I’m doing this, and where we’re starting from.
Who we are.
A family of four. Husband, wife, two girls aged 8 and 10, the dog. One aspiring minimalist, one professional stack maker and closet stuffer, and two kids who excel and making a mess as most do.
Why do this.
Before having a family I was already accused of being a minimalist. I was always talking my friends out of buying stuff. “You don’t need that shit” was a common refrain, and it was easy. I lived small. Being single in New York City allows it, and even forces it upon you in some ways – a nice studio apartment, no car, empty refrigerator and cabinets since you eat out all the time.
But even then, I was very mindful about the items I brought into my life. I liked the simplicity of a small, clean and clutter free home. Get a motorcycle that needs insurance, gas, repairs, registration? No thanks, a bike will do fine and a train ride gets me most places I need to go.
Pets? You must be crazy.
After getting married and growing a family, I always considered us pretty minimal relative to the average family of four in our world today. Sometimes it was just housing constraints, sometimes purposeful decluttering, sometimes just the benefit of moving every few years.
However, the addition of kids and all the stuff that goes along with it was always a huge stressor for me. My wife’s closet? What!
When a room is clean I feel at ease. When the house is a disaster, I simply can not relax.
Now the kids are a little older. The mess is different, not less. We bought a house in Colorado so the pieces of the puzzle and spaces to work with seem more permanent for the first time. No more moves every couple of years (as far as we know) to force the occasional purge.
So I began my minimalist journey with me.
As someone who works from home, I’m really sensitive to the environment and my procrastination gear kicks in big time when there’s clutter to manage. But I realized one thing, while managing the daily mess is a treadmill, minimizing my personal life is forever.
I began with what is easy for me, the closet. In this particular instance the Marie Kondo method worked for me. I’ve found that, personally, her methodology works in some instances and not in others.
I gathered everything of mine together in one space so I could see it all. No snowboarding gear in the hallway closet or extra sweatshirts in the guestroom.
Then it was time for the purge. At this point it had been about 3 years since we moved from sunny Southern California to Colorado, so we’d been through the cycle of seasons a few times. I knew what is used and what is not. Even though I like to go through my clothes regularly I was easily able to get rid of 3-4 garbage bags of stuff.
Amazing!
My closet is hardly empty. I’m not to the point of having one pair of jeans and four of the same t-shirts, although I fantasize about that sometimes. The important thing is that my closet does not present me with any stress when I open the door and I know that it holds everything.
We upgraded the clothes hangers to the nice wooden ones. It really makes a difference in the presentation and how it feels to look into the closet. Additionally, if I can’t find a hanger it’s because some new stuff has come in and it’s time for something else to go. I’m constantly curating the things I wear to just be my favorites.
Once in a while the closet starts getting out of control again but it is way easier to bring back under control now.
If the garage was only that easy…
Where we stand.
Let’s be clear, minimalism is not a lifestyle we have decided to embrace as a family. I’m on a personal mission to reduce the amount of stuff I have because I can feel the stress relief I get from the process and the result. Remember, stress kills!!!
However, did I mention the bikes, snowboarding, camping…
Luckily, while the other people in my family may not view themselves as minimalists, I have seen the process I’ve gone through rub off and lead to some a-ha moments, subliminal or otherwise, and the revelation of tackling cluttered areas.
My wife converted this nook in our house that was constantly being used as a hidden catch-all space into this amazing zen-like reading nook. Her bedside table that used to be constantly piled with unread books and computer tablets is now kept super clean.
Did my decluttering have anything to do with that (or the nagging and watching the Minimalists documentary on Netflix over and over), I thinks so!
Right now I like to consider our house 80% Minimalist, 20% WTF!
The minimalism has crept into most of our living areas as well as our master bedroom and guest room. We have purposefully kept our living room very minimal and bare. No TV, not much hanging on the walls, clean-lined furniture, some plants.
When you’re in this room, you get the feeling that there’s not much to do but read a book or get out a game with the kids, so that’s what happens quite often.
The 20% WTF areas include the kid’s bedroom, kid’s art room, the mud-room area, and the garage.
These are the sticky areas for us, maybe you have the same problem. Some places just remain hard to keep clutter free.
But that’s where we stand. I look forward to sharing the journey forward.