Why minimalism?

Imagine the typical day of a stay at home mom. Many moments shared with your little one. There are hugs, kisses, tears, fits, etc. etc. on any given day. You are continuously following your little Hansel or Gretel leaving crumbs with your vacuum in hand.

I was having one of those typical days. I was unloading the dishwasher and my son asked me to sit down and play with him. I responded that I couldn’t. I needed to finish the dishes, fold and put away the laundry, clean the bathrooms, organize the closet and the list could go on. He looked up at me with sincere disappointment. That moment… it hit me like a ton of bricks falling on my head.

Why was I saying “no” to one of the things that meant most to me, to say “yes” to something that meant nothing to me. I was swamped with the housework and for what? At that moment I realized I needed to make a change. I needed not only less stuff but less house. As the saying goes “this house ain’t gonna clean itself.”

As I’ve researched minimalism I’ve come to realize that although it never crossed my mind this lifestyle is perfect for me. My family and my life mean everything to me; my stuff does not. There is no item that can ever be as valuable as the love from another person or the excitement from an adventure.

Since coming to this realization I’ve gone through each room doing a major clean out. It’s important to realize that minimalism isn’t about organization of stuff but having less stuff. We still have a LONG way to go but the steps we’ve taken have already shown so much freedom that we look forward to continuing this journey.

Previous

Tiny House, Giant Journey

Next

From Teacher to Homeschooling Mom

2 Comments

  1. Jami Paintiff

    Whew. This hit me hard. I may need to do some reflection in the coming days. Thank you for being so transparent.

    • kristy

      That moment hit me hard as well. It’s certainly a process and we’re still working on it but I feel something that our family will hugely benefit from. I must say we’ve already seen some improvements. The major one being that I downsized so much in our bathrooms that it take me far less time to clean both bathrooms than it did just one before, so that feels good that I’m seeing some sort of result!

Leave a Reply to kristy Cancel reply

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén