13 Ways to Simplify Your Wardrobe

January 24, 2016November 6, 201819 Comments

One of the easiest places to start downsizing your stuff is with non-sentimental, everyday items like clothing. We are usually quite familiar with our favourite items and know which ones we haven’t worn in ages. Having less clothing has so many advantages, such as simplifying decisions when getting dressed, cutting down on laundry and saving money. But how do you choose what to keep?

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If you’re familiar with the KonMari method, Marie Kondo suggests you keep only the things that “spark joy.” While I think this is a useful lens through which to edit your home, it really doesn’t work well for me as the only lens for making decisions. If I used this method to decide what clothing to keep I’d be left with 5 items: 2 dresses from Ace & Jig, a dress from Nico Nico, and a skirt and dress from Thief & Bandit (these are organic, small scale, north american made clothing lines). I don’t really like anything else that I own, in fact I feel guilt since the rest of it comes from big box stores, because that’s where I can afford to shop. I haven’t bothered counting the number of items in my wardrobe, there aren’t many. I know that I have one pair of jeans and one pair of shoes for each season. The rest isn’t much, but it’s definitely enough.

Putting the “sparks joy” method aside I have a few other techniques that can help you minimize your wardrobe and keep it that way:

1) Empty your closet and dresser completely: When you do this you will likely be overwhelmed by the volume and will be highly motivated to reduce your stock of clothing. This is a good technique if you have a lot of clothing, making a big mess of it you’ll surely want to part with a lot of it when you see the massive pile.

2) Follow the “plus 1” rule: You only need enough of a daily item, like socks, to go one week plus an extra day. Otherwise you will keep going through your 42 pairs of underwear and 37 pairs of socks until there are none left and then do the laundry (and spend way too much time trying to match up pairs of socks). You need 8 pairs at most. Sure, you might have special underwear and seasonal socks, but for those that are for daily use, limit yourself to 8.

3) Hang as much of your clothing as possible: Having clothes stare you in the face is a good way to remember what you have, and realize what you don’t wear, because it isn’t at the bottom of a pile feeling under appreciated. I don’t own a dresser or clothing rack. All my clothing is hung in my single closet, my socks and underwear hang from a basket in the closet too. Limiting yourself to just closet space forces you to minimize your clothing and frees up floor space in your room (bonus!). I have done the same with the children’s clothing, no dressers, just closets.

4) At the start of each season reverse your hangers: (Reverse: meaning to hang the hanger with the opening of the hook facing out of the closet, as opposed to the conventional manner of hanging of the hook opening toward the back of the closet). At the end of the season all the hangers that are still hanging backwards have items on them that you do not need. If it can be worn in the current season and you didn’t wear it, then donate it to someone who will.

5) Eliminate back-ups: Just because you have 6 white t-shirts and 8 blacks ones doesn’t mean you should. ‘Basic’ is not a blanket exception for keeping a stash of clothing. Unless a t-shirt and jeans is your daily uniform, get rid of those extra shirts. At most you need two of each. Adopt a similar approach for other notorious back up items in your wardrobe, like extra cardigans and jeans. By the time you NEED to wear them, you will have a new back up. Get rid of them now! (But don’t throw them in the garbage, donate them, someone out there does need them.)

6) Keep only items that you love to wear or wear every week: You don’t need occasional items, they are just making it easier for moths to move into your cozy over-stuffed closet. You might not love all your clothing, like office wear, but if it’s in regular rotation and making it into the laundry most weeks then you should keep it. If not, donate it!

7) Keep things that suit your lifestyle: If you don’t wear a suit to work, you probably don’t need it. Think about how much time you spend doing things and what clothing you need. Do you need 12 pairs of yoga pants, when the last time you went to yoga was 3 months ago? Even if it was last week, you probably need 2 or 3 pairs. The more pairs you have the bigger your pile of laundry gets…

8) Keep clothing that is versatile: The more places you can wear something, the smaller your wardrobe can be. That means less time picking your outfit, cleaning, folding, ironing, and hanging clothing. More time to enjoy life!

9) Don’t focus on how much something cost: If you aren’t wearing it, it’s not adding any value to your life. Let someone else enjoy it. Donate it or find a consignment shop to sell it through.

10) Keep things that fit: Don’t save something because it will fit you when you lose or gain weight. When you reach your goal weight you will probably be excited and buy yourself something new.

11) Keep things that are your current style: We all have things in our closets that are cool, stylish, or insert another adjective: trendy, artsy, dressy, but that aren’t really our own personal style, they may be an aspirational style, but they aren’t our style. Admit to this, and then donate those items.

12) Let go of nostalgia: Take a photo of items you are saving for memory’s sake, you don’t need the actual item to re-live the memory. (Think high school sports jerseys, bridesmaid dresses, etc).

13) One in, one out: When you get something new, get rid of something old. This will keep things in check, and will make you hesitate with spontaneous purchases, because you know you will have to give something up when you get home.

There are many easy ways to get rid of your unwanted clothing without the need to put it in the garbage. I find the easiest way is posting to Kijiji, a free online classifieds service. I post ads offering “free bag of women’s size small clothing” “free bag of infant linens” “free miscellaneous kitchen items”. You can also drop bags off at local charity bins, shelters, churches and municipal offices (usually). If your clothing is still in good shape and you’d like to earn some money you can search online for local consignment shops.

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Interview with a Minimalist: Anna

January 23, 201613 Comments

A few months ago I came across a lovely new Instagram account @our_simplestory sharing the life of a minimalist family (formerly @minimalist_mindset). I was especially excited because the word ‘minimalist’ was used. Most families and people I come across who take an approach of ‘less is more’ to their life resist using the word. I suppose it may be resistance to trendy words, feelings that one isn’t minimalist enough, or just a general malaise with labels. That’s all fine. But part of my goal with these interviews is to explore all the different ways one can live through a minimal lens, just like there’s more than one way to be a woman, a mother, a teacher, a writer, there are many ways to be minimalist. In so many ways less is more.

Anna is a minimalist, design enthusiast, and homeschooling mother of three, and the woman behind @our_simplestory. I’m excited to share her perspective on and story of finding her passion for minimalism. I hope you enjoy the read, let me know what inspired you.

Anna, let’s start with a little bit about you. Who are you? What’s your background?

I’m 32 and married to my college sweetheart. After finishing my degree in journalism and working in the field four years, our first daughter was born. That’s when my days at home raising our kids began. Today we have three young daughters. Our typical day consists of homeschooling, reading good books, going on nature walks, and creating. As a family we enjoy simple adventures. Camping at the lake and strolling the farmers market are among our favorites.
What part of the world do you live in?

The Midwest [USA].

How many children do you have and what are they like?

I have three amazing little girls. I can’t even begin to explain how different they are from one another, which makes it all the more fun. My oldest is an affectionate extrovert, my middle is an artsy introvert, and my youngest has a bit of everything going on. Being with them every day has been a blessing, and one I take for granted far too often.

I believe there are many ways to be a minimalist and many forms of minimalism. What does minimalism mean to you?

For me, minimalism is about having less. As a family of five in a small home with a tight budget, we have to be mindful with all of our purchases and what we bring into our home. We have discovered how much happier we are with less things. So, what is your story, how did you start on a path toward a minimalist lifestyle?

I have a very strong interest in design, particularly interior design and architecture. Clean lines and clutter free spaces have always drawn me in. We bought our first home five years ago, and have been designing and renovating since the day we moved in. Because our home is small, we chose to keep it open, airy, minimal, and bright. We have a lot of negative space to keep it from looking overly crowded. For example, our tiny eat-in kitchen (which also serves as our classroom) doesn’t have any upper cabinets or storage. We only have a small pantry, six drawers and a couple of base cabinets. People are surprised when they see our lack of storage, but it suits our needs so well. Living in a small space doesn’t mean you have to create more storage. It really forces you to think about what you bring in and what you hold on to.

So, after integrating minimalist design into our home, I began to analyze each and every little thing we had, and if it was necessary or not. That is the when I realized my passion for a minimalist lifestyle.

Are there any books, websites or other resources that have inspired your minimalism?

On the design side of things, Remodelista, Kinfolk, and Dwell are my go to sources. When it comes to minimizing possessions and wardrobe, The Minimalists and Un-Fancy have great ideas.
In what ways/areas do you struggle with keeping things minimal? What is your weakness?

Clothing and shoes have always been my weakness. However, I’ve recently downsized by creating a capsule wardrobe for each season. I currently have less than 40 items in my closet. I highly recommend this to everyone. You are faced with fewer decisions every time you get dressed, you only wear pieces that you love, and you put your money into high quality clothing that will last. Have there been any struggles with the other people you live with about living in a minimal way?

Not really. My husband is a furniture and fixtures designer, so he’s all about minimalist design. I think that helps him understand the value of minimalist living. My kids have been great with it too. We are constantly purging their things. I try to keep their selection simple and thoughtful, keeping only what draws out their imaginations, talents, and interests. For the most part, they are involved in decisions on what stays and what goes. They understand that they don’t need a lot to be happy or to keep busy. What have been some unexpected experiences (positive or negative) you’ve had with minimalism?

When you’re a minimalist, you don’t leisure shop as much. Instead of spending time and money shopping for new things, you have more time to spend with your family, and of course it’s easier on the budget. I’d say that’s a definite positive!

What advice can you offer to people interested in living a minimalist lifestyle?

You have to start small. Don’t feel pressured to give away everything you have. Just keep what you absolutely need. Start in one area of your home. The kitchen is always a good place to begin. Stuff can accumulate like crazy in all those drawers and cabinets!

Do you have any goals for this year or the next few that you want to share?

My husband and I have been dreaming about buying land somewhere in the country and building our forever, small space home. Lord willing, that day will come. In the meantime, we’ll keep looking for inspiration.

Thank you Anna! Readers you can find Anna on Instagram @our_simplestory

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You might also like:

Confessions of a Minimalist

The Mathematics of Love

Interview with a Minimalist: Katrien

Top post: Any Occasion, Sustainable Gift Guide for Children

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2015: My first year of blogging

January 19, 20163 Comments

Time flies when you’re blogging. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been blogging for almost a year now. I rarely feel as though time passes quickly with my children. A year ago in their life, seems like ages, definitely not the blink of an eye. Thank goodness for that! But blogging for a year? It seems like just yesterday I started, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of all the things I want to share.

I started my blog because I wanted a space where I could ramble on at greater length than an Instagram caption allows. I wanted to share more photos than is polite on Instagram or Facebook, a space that captured more of what my children were doing, how they were developing, and what they loved. I also wanted to build an archive of all the people that inspired me, and that I hoped would inspire my readers. I hoped optimistically to create a blog space that felt like a hub of inspiration, by connecting inspiring women with people looking for inspiration, by connecting conscious consumers with great small, sustainable businesses, and by sharing pieces of my own life, which is fairly ordinary, but shows how the simple things in life are truly the best things.

Those of you who’ve been around a while know that I’m passionate about the natural world: spending time in it, creating from it, sustaining it, cultivating our bonds with it. Really, everything I share in some way stems back to this, explicitly or implicitly. Whether it’s a project or adventure with the children, the way in which I review products, or the people I select to interview. Some of my favourite posts about things we did were: our botanical advent, making a mother nature leaf dress, making (garbage free) cashew milk, urban adventures, strawberry picking, drawing a day project, making a flower crown.

Botanical advent

Mother Nature Leaf Dress

Making cashew milk (photo credit: Kylah Dobson)

Strawberry picking

Hippie in Disguise Ottawa River Wildflowers

Urban adventures

Drawing a day project

Making a flower crown

I started off my first series of interviews sharing the words and wisdom of Inspiring Mothers, women who live creatively, consciously and connected with nature. Thank you Ashley, Carina, Bree, Tiff, Danielle, Jo, Jessica, Nelly, Josie, Sara, Kristin, Dana and Hannah. I have more of these interviews lined up for 2016 so stay tuned!

A little later I introduced a second series with Creative Mothers, these are interviews with creative and entrepreneurial mothers who inspired me to pursue my creative interests and who I thought could inspire readers to pursue their dreams of independent, creative work. Thank you Kaity, Lauren, Sophia, Alana, Erin, Peta, Heather, Rebecca, Amanda, Heidi and Kimberley for sharing your stories and experience so others can be inspired. I’m excited to introduce you to a few more creative mothers in 2016.

Styling and photo by Kaity

Painting and photo by Erin

Dolls and photo by Sophia

Then my series on minimalists followed. Most of the people I interviewed would add a qualifier, like “aspiring” or “novice”, because something, it seems, about minimalism makes it seem as though we aren’t ‘enough’ of one (even though it’s all about less…). Hmm. (More on that in another post, where I’ll look back on these interviews to glean the common and uncommon points from them.) The minimalists I interviewed focused minimalism in many different ways: in the kitchen, in a zero-garbage home, in maximizing a small space, in making career decisions, in raising their children, and more. I wanted to enlarge the concept of minimalism beyond the simple understanding that it is about the number of things in your home. It can be, but there’s so much more to this concept of less.

Photo by Katrien

Photo by Tiffany

Photo of Brian

Devine Family Garbage Free Bee Eco Wraps

Photo by the Devine Family

Kellie Diguanco artist Interview with a Minimalist Vancouver

Photo of Alison

The Interview with a Minimalist series has become my most popular one. And I look forward to adding to it in 2016. Thank you Alison, Carina, Kellie, Kylah, Brian, Amanda, Tiffany, Katrien, and the Devine Family for sharing your story. If you would like to share your experience with minimalism, good or bad, I would love to hear from you. Please email me!

In August I teamed up with Melanie of Geoffrey and Grace, and I’m thankful for what this connection and our Slow Living Project developed into. The project has had a profound, positive effect on me. Similar to minimalism, people live a slow lifestyle differently, focusing on different aspects of their day and how a slow, mindful approach can be brought to bear, so that the moment can be enjoyed more wholeheartedly. Seeing all the beautiful moments shared on Instagram, has been a huge inspiration to me to apply a slow approach to habits and activities that hadn’t occurred to me. Thank you for sharing! And if you haven’t shared yet, please join in anytime. In January we are focusing on the word ‘renew’.

Photo by @petalplum

Photo by @thedevinetribe

Photo by @weevintage

Photo by @suchwildgrace

Photo by @mer_mag

Photo by @fareisle

Photo by @faithevanssills

Finally, it seems odd, on a blog that focuses on sustainability and minimalism to talk about stuff. While I think we should be mindful of what we acquire and minimize as much as possible, we all need shoes and clothes, and other goods to sustain us. The realist in me knows that if I tell everyone to buy from thrift shops, this will fall on many deaf ears. If the choice is thrift or a prior default store (such as Target/Gap/Joe Fresh), many will choose the latter. Sometimes Target is cheaper, sometimes it’s cheaper and nicer. I get it. But if there is a third choice that might steer people away from big box shops toward buying from small, sustainable companies that make beautiful goods and clothing, then I feel compelled to share that. I know some people will never be comfortable with thrift. I know some of you would rather spend more money on one nice fall sweater than buy three fleece hoodies at Old Navy. I know that some of you would shop sustainably if you just knew where to go. So, I made a choice to help spread the word about excellent companies making things in sustainable ways to encourage people to purchase from them when they need something. Not to encourage conspicuous, trend driven consumption, but knowing that we do need good quality things to make our life work.

On that note, I wanted to thank all the lovely small shops and brands who sent us their beautiful sustainable goods or who supported our blog and family in 2015 in other ways, sharing our posts, referring friends, and sponsoring our work. You can find most of them by searching “label love” “shop love” on this site. If you are interested in sponsoring us in 2016 please email me.

If you’ve made it this far through my post, first: thank you, second: please consider subscribing to my blog, by email or Bloglovin (see side bar or below), third: thank you, again!

A big thank you to my readers, you make this space feel like a community and encourage me to keep sharing. Thank you to my children and partner for inspiring me every single day to enjoy the little things: small, slow, less is best.

Looking forward to 2016 and what next year’s recap will look like, most likely quite different than this one!

xo, Danielle

ps – If you are curious, as I was, my Top Posts last year were:

The Mathematics of Love (our story of growing our family)
Confessions of a Minimalist
Children’s Gift Guide

My favourite posts, aside from interviews, were:

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glimpses into our home: at {mine}

January 11, 2016January 11, 20176 Comments

I’ve said more than a few times that I’m not inspired by interiors. But I suppose what I meant to say that I’m not inspired to photograph them. Really, all I want to photograph most days are my children’s activities and the beauty of the natural world. However, I’m very much inspired by the function and beauty of interiors and I love to look at beautiful interior spaces and design. But, am I compelled to pick up my camera and take pictures of interiors or my own space? No! And this is because I am most interested in capturing moments, more than beauty. Spaces without action don’t feel like moments to me. Interior home spaces are a retreat from action, as I see it. Our home interior is styled as a place of calm, like a sanctuary away from the busy outside world. At home I need to feel stillness, peace, and calm. As much as I love the bursting natural colour, texture, and busyness of the natural world (as depicted in the majority of the photos I share here and on Instagram) the same is not true for our home.

My ideal home interior is a predominantly white with small touches of colour manifested in:

pieces of the natural world (the world of flora: flowers, sticks, branches, pinecones, acorns, leaves, but also stones and shells);
useful items that can add colour temporarily to a space (like hanging a beautiful dress or hand spun yarn on a hook on a white wall), and;
art, handmade goods and heirlooms.

I hadn’t put much focused thought into what my interior style was until I joined at{mine}, an online social network focused on sharing real home interiors and the stories behind them. I’d always decorated the spaces I inhabited based on intuition, meaning: what made me feel comfortable in the space. But knowing that I was now putting my interior space out into the world, I wanted to sit back and reflect on what thesis our interior space put forward. With Instagram, having a large following, I am inclined to share moments and ideas that I hope will ignite thought, inspire action or create pause; having a large audience I reflect on what good could come from what I share. And so, I took this approach to my at{mine} page.

Now, our home is not entirely in sync with how I would love our home interior to feel, but that’s okay, I’d rather take a slow approach to decorating, and update things to my taste and comfort when updating is needed. Case in point: our home had been freshly painted when we moved in. Ro’s room was alternating bright orange and green walls. Yikes! (She called it her “pumpkin room”, not affectionately). However, we waited six years to repaint it, because environmentally speaking we couldn’t justify painting over perfectly good paint.

Dried flower crowns made in the summer hung as decor (post: “Mindful Picking”)

So, coming back to my interior’s thesis, I reflected on the spaces in our home that felt right to me, that aligned with my sensibility, and then asked: ‘What do these spaces evoke? What do they look like?’ Well, first, they are white. A white canvas, not to be coloured in physically, but mentally. A blank slate upon which I can daydream because I don’t feel overstimulated visually.

Second, these spaces have small touches of bright colours from flora or useful objects that infuse energy and liveliness. My emphasis on natural objects comes from an interest in bringing nature and natural colour into the home, reminding us of our embeddedness in nature, that we are not separate from nature, but are nature. When it comes to decorating with useful objects, this is me in my ‘minimal mode’. I do not like having things around that are not used (except for art, which serves a different use function, see below). You will not find a knick knack in my home (if the term ‘knick knack’ is not colloquial to you it means: household trinket or ornament). I know that many people are quite the opposite, my husband is one of them. He loves a space jam-packed with things, for him this visual stimulation leads to new connections of ideas, it’s stimulating in a good way. (Don’t worry, I let him clutter up the basement to his heart’s content.) But for me external clutter, clutters my mind. The bad kind of stimulation, over-stimulation.

So, back to useful objects. I like to decorate with useful objects such as clothing with beautiful textiles, hand bags, balls of yarn, copper mugs, and so on. These items add colour to a space, but serve another, more primary purpose in the home. I like this especially because the decor can change easily according to mood and season. With a white canvas background, there are infinite possibilities when you decorate with low cost, dual purpose items.

Mustard peasant skirt by Nico Nico hung on a cupboard hook, living wheatgrass grown in an appetizer dish

Finally, art marks our interior space significantly. As I’ve said before, I live in family full of professional and amateur artists. Literally, everyone but me is an artist. Because of our family fortune — that is, being born into a family of artists — we have a lot of beautiful art to hang and display, mostly paintings and illustrations. We also dedicate a good portion of our wall space to display Ro and Sen’s work. Our walls are not covered in art, because I do need white space to calm my mind (I know what you’re thinking: “Danielle, you need to meditate more!” I know, I know). But living in a space filled with art is important to us. Art is beautiful, and beauty in itself is important. But art also has a use function in terms of intellectual stimulation and inspiration. It’s always been important to Matt and me that our children are exposed to art, fine art, public art, all art, and that the children always have access to art materials. Every room in our house has a piece of art hanging, something made within our extended family, that is beautiful and inspiring. Going to a gallery is one thing, an important thing, but more important to me, is seeing the beautiful things that people we know, people we share blood with, made. In this way, the children don’t see art-making as out of reach, they see it as part of their everyday life.

One of Ro’s first weavings, from her cardboard loom, hanging from a window hook

So, all this long-winded intro is a way of saying that I’ve been thinking about our space and what I wanted to share with and inspire in others. You’ll see on my at{mine} page that I’ve shared my approach to interior spaces:

“interiors inspired by minimalism and nature, decorating with useful, beautiful, artful and organic objects.”

Pretty simple, right? But it took a while to get there. What I intend to share with this ‘philosophy’ is a sort of mindful decorating informed by our human connection with nature, our need for beauty and creativity, and conscious of environmental impact. Mindful decorating is slow, conscious, thoughtful. Slow decorating means decorating once. Not every few years to update with trends. It means knowing yourself so that you bring objects into your home that will always bring you joy. With my philosophy on decorating a little more refined now, I’m excited to be part of the at{mine} community so I can explore how others set up their spaces. As always, I’m primarily interested in what feelings are evoked by a space, more than the stuff that fills them. But for those of you you may like to know where items in others’ homes came from the photos are often tagged with the store source. I would love it if you joined the community or visited my page, it’s free and super easy. Like, easier than signing up for Instagram! And you can join without having to share images, if you are just looking for inspiration or to connect into conversations about interiors.

Visit my at{mine} page: at{danielle chassin} (to see the photos I didn’t share here)

Or, explore the at{mine} community from their homepage

If you are on at{mine} comment below and leave me your user name so that I can follow you back!

I would love to know your thoughts on interior space. How do you approach decorating your interiors?

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Zero Waste: Wrapping Gifts with Fabric

December 22, 2015November 23, 20185 Comments

About 10 years ago, Matt’s mother decided to wrap all the Christmas gifts she was giving in fabric. A frugal, creative woman she didn’t enjoy, nor see the point, in wrapping a gift in beautiful paper only for it to be torn off and wasted, it seemed like a bit of an obscene luxury and careless of the environmental impact. For a few years already, Matt and I had been carefully unwrapping gifts so as to be able to reuse as much of the paper as possible, but admittedly it took a little fun out of the whole gift exchange. The fabric wrapped gifts she brought, on the other hand, were beautiful and appeared fancier than traditional paper wrapping and bows, and no extra special handling was needed to unwrap them. Win-win!

Photo not mine, view it and it’s source via my Pinterest board

A few years later, and I don’t remember how I came across it, I learned about the practice of Japanese fabric wrapping using a wrapping cloth known as Furoshiki. I’m certainly no expert in furoshiki, but I can tell you that from the idea of furoshiki developed a set of wrapping techniques, where fabric is used to package things for transport or gift giving. It is said to have been developed out of a sense of waste consciousness and caring for the environment.

Since this time I’ve used fabric to wrap gifts when I have some on hand (otherwise I reuse paper).

If you ask Google you’ll find there are different techniques for boxes and bottles and other general shapes too. There are also lots of tutorials if you search ‘furoshiki’ on YouTube and I’ve pinned some favourites to my ‘ g i f t ‘ board on Pinterest.

Aside from gifts, there are also techniques for wrapping picnic lunches and meals for transport, where the fabric folding and wrapping comes out looking like a little basket. There are also folding techniques for shopping bags, flower bouquets and more. All this to say, if you want to wrap something in fabric as a gift or to travel with, then there is a furoshiki technique that can do the job. All you need is some scrap fabric (old sheets, scarves, silks, linens) to work with. No tape, no string, no glue. Although sometimes it’s fun to embellish the wrapping with a scrap of ribbon or yarn.

Photo not mine, view it and it’s source via my Pinterest board

Don’t be fooled by how pretty the furoshiki wrapping looks and assume it is complex. Every technique is simple and involves very basic folding and knotting. Gift wrapping in under 2 minutes — 1 minute for a pro.

This year I used some of Ro and Sen’s play silks from Sarah’s Silks to wrap gifts. The play silks we have are long rectangles, so I folded them over in thirds so I could work from approximately a square shape, but there is no great precision required in the size of the fabric relative to the size of the wrapped object, but generally a bigger piece of fabric is easier to work with. Using play silks to wrap gifts for children has the added bonus that the wrapping is a gift itself. Imagine a child unwraps a gift and is just as excited about the wrapping!

sarahs silks play silk furoshiki zero waste gift fabric wrap

Photo care of Sarah’s Silks

Overall, gift wrapping with fabric is easier (and faster) than wrapping with paper as you don’t need tape, ribbon or scissors. In my experience, people react positively to fabric wrapping: children find it extra fancy and adults usually have an ‘aha’ moment, like “hey, what a great idea!” In addition, fabric wrapping is more economical, encourages reuse and repurposing, and is environmentally friendly. Win-win-win! Try it out and please share the idea!

Make sure to check out my Zero Waste Gift Guide, which is great as a zero waste starter kit or for experienced zero wasters. Lots of ideas!

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Children’s Art Prints by Tuta & Coco

December 18, 2015November 12, 20192 Comments

On the Christmas of Ro’s second year, a family friend made us and our extended family a custom photo calendar featuring photos of Ro that he’d taken and gathered from family. This was nine years ago when photo calendars were not yet readily available. It was a simple, but very thoughtful gift, and ended up stealing the show Christmas morning. Everyone enjoyed pouring over the photos he’d selected and reminiscing about Ro’s development over the year (children change so much in a year at that age). The calendar was enjoyed that day, and everyday for the rest of the year.

As someone who, for a long time has felt dis-ease with excess and has had a hard time with Christmas mornings, seeing the lovely gifts exchanged and knowing that many will not be loved for long, it struck me how loved the calendar was. So, each year since then we have given this same present to everyone in our family and circle of friends: a photo calendar covering our life in the last year. That’s it. Simple gift, but one they will enjoy the whole year.

I’ve thought more than once that I’d like to make a calendar that features the children’s art work but wasn’t sure how to. This year when I found a local shop, Tuta & Coco, out of Montreal, that produces high-quality prints and paper products from children’s artwork I was really excited to put my idea into print. Working with Tuta & Coco was a breeze, I sent them scans of the art work (thank you Dad for scanning all those drawings and paintings!), Tuta & Coco then processed the digital files and emailed me drafts of the calendar until I was happy with it and then they printed it. The work was done.

The hard part came before when I was sifting through and selecting which artwork to include…while I’m minimal in many ways saving my children’s artwork is definitely a weakness. Hashtag understatement of the year.

It was a lovely surprise to find when the calendar arrived that each month was it’s own print (separate sheets), the calendar is held together on a small handmade wooden clipboard, so after a month has passed you can continue to enjoy the print off the clipboard (there’s no perforation to ruin the print). The clipboard is a nice clean design. And, in Sen’s opinion the clipboard is “Amazing mama! But, do I have to wait until the end of all these months to use it for me?” Seriously, it is the cutest tiny clipboard!

I absolutely love that all aspects of the calendar product will remain useful and loved after the year has gone by. The prints can be taped to the wall, used as postcards or any number of other ways. The clipboard is a fun and functional small size, especially good for children to use, and will be great to bring along in the summer for sketching out in the wild.

One final cool thing with the calendars is that you can start with any month, since each sheet is separate. This means you can give the calendar to anyone (including yourself) starting in any month of the year. Bonus!

You can find Tuta & Coco’s shop here, they ship worldwide. You can also find them on Instagram here and Pinterest here. **This is not a sponsored post, just sharing a cool find 🙂

Tuta & Coco kindly included a favourite piece of artwork from Ro and Sen in their children’s gallery on their site, which the children are pretty proud about!

You might also like my post:

Creative Mother: Erin Wetzel, artist

Interview with a Minimalist: Kellie, artist and mother of 4 boys

Drawing a Day

Talking Slow Living on Ruth & Ragnar

December 10, 2015Leave a comment

I get asked a lot about slow living and minimalism and how I bring these to life in our family. Well, first I should probably tell you that most of my week is anything but slow. I work full time outside the home in a very hectic job. I work in politics in Canada and not only are the days hustled, they are highly unpredictable, chock full of emotional people and high stakes situations. I’m a naturally calm person, people often describe me as “zen,” which is probably why I’ve survived in my job. However, after working in this environment for a few years I started to notice that I carried that hustled, stressed energy home with me. I would furiously clean and tidy all evening, I would speedily move from one task to another, and multi-tasking was the only way I did anything. On the weekends I would hustle around doing errands, taking Ro and Sen to a list of activities and catching up on my social calendar. I couldn’t seem to find a slo-mo setting… Read the rest of the post over on Ruth & Ragnar.

You might also like my post:

Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica — May 2016

Interview with a Minimalist: Katrien

The Mathematics of Love

Interview with a Minimalist: Katrien

November 27, 2015November 25, 201610 Comments

Continuing on in my Buy Nothing Day programming, I have a second interview with a minimalist, Katrien.

Check out my first post of the day to read a bit more about Buy Nothing Day — a day of protest against consumerism.

Minimalism isn’t just or only about having and buying less stuff, as I’ve tried to explore through this series of interviews. It is more about applying the notion of ‘less is more’ to one’s life, or aspects of it.

Katrien Growing Wild Things Interview with a Minimalist

Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset

Katrien is a Waldorf-inspired homeschooling mother to twin toddlers, she’s passionate for all things natural and handmade. She’s Belgian by birth, a traveler by nature, and living in Italy for the sake of love. I only recently started following Katrien on Instagram, probably at some point last summer or spring. I was drawn to her images of her gorgeous mountain top life and the beautiful simplicity of it. When she mentioned her interest in minimalism to me one day, I jumped at the chance to interview her for the blog. And I am so glad I did. Katrien shares insightful and inspiring stories and ideas that will interest parents raising young children, but also professionals looking for more meaning in their life and adults pining for a simpler existence.

Katrien, let’s start with you. Who are you? What’s your background?

Before I met my husband I was working my dream job as a freelance writer and researcher for a Belgium Museum. I was a workaholic (with secret dreams of finding a house on a quiet hill somewhere). I loved the high of being at the very end (or very beginning) of a project. That rush of work. The late hours, and sleepless nights, the apotheoses of a grand opening… And in between these exhausting projects I usually threw some stuff into my backpack and traveled the world to find a place where I could rest and heal the damage I had previously done to my health and my spirit… But then I met this boy from Italy. He was a traveler just like me, and when we met he was taking a break from being on the road, and working on his parents organic farm. They had sheep and horses, and made their own beer, and suddenly that secret dreams of a house on a hill came flooding into my daily life. One year later I started working part-time, and two years later I resigned from my job to move to Italy. It was about then that I realized that it is possible to have a meaningful life without the roller coaster of highs and lows. And so I chose to live with less. Less work, a lower income, but more time for life itself.

How many children do you have and what are they like?

We have two three year old identical twin boys. They were born two minutes apart, and although they are very similar in some respects, they are complete opposites in others, complementing each other perfectly. E. (who is the older twin) is a real ‘Big Brother’. Strong, independent, extrovert. He loves to help and get his hands dirty… His ‘younger brother’ A. is more sensitive, more of a thinker, a dreamer. (I often feel like his feet never really touch the ground.) He takes his time to get to know people before opening up to them, but makes really deep connections when he does. But no matter how many differences there might be between them, they have the strongest, most amazing bond I’ve ever seen between two persons. Being an actual, physical, part of each other, much of what goes on between the two of them can remain unsaid. They simply understand. Sure, they also know exactly how to get to each other as well, and we do get quite a bit of fighting at times, but in the end they always seek out each other’s company.

Do you have a favourite quote or words that inspire you?

“Our children come to us with a deep destiny that needs to be honored…A little grace is needed…for them to develop into the people they’re meant to be, especially in a world that is constantly bombarding them (and us) with the distractions of so many things, so much information, speed and urgency. These stresses distract from the focus or ‘task’ of childhood: an emerging, developing sense of self.” (Simplicity Parenting, Kim John Payne)

We live in a society that wants us to ‘need’, to desire, to crave. Marketing strategies speak to us of more, and more and more. But reading this book we realized that our children were craving the exact opposite. They needed less. And as we started making some changes in our parenting style, we discovered the same was true for us.

You say you’ve only just begun to pursue minimalism, what is your story?

Five years after moving to Italy, my dream of living in a house on a hill came true. A friend told us about this amazing house that was going on sale, and even before I had seen it, I just knew this was the one. A traditional stone house, perched on a hill, and surrounded by nothing but miles and miles of forest. The price was exactly what we could afford, and it looked like she didn’t need much work, and so we made the jump and started packing to move to a different region, and a whole new life.

But as I started filling box after box, I felt I wanted to go with nothing. Leave it all behind, and start afresh with only the things that could fit into the car. Me, Francesco, the boys, and some of our most precious things. But of course we didn’t. Instead we packed up as much as we could fit into a rental van and stored everything in a room we were told was ”nice and dry”.

As soon as the worst of winter was over, Francesco started working on the house. We started off with the renovation of an old, partly ruined barn that was to become our kitchen and living area, and then the rest was going to need a mere ‘freshening up’. Much to our horror though, we soon discovered there was a lot more to do than we had anticipated. We ended up having to change most of the roofs of the house we had just bought. This came as a huge shock. Especially since that meant that the budget we had calculated to rebuild the house, and to live off for a year, was now insufficient. And so we needed to adapt. In the end we could only prepare a small portion of the house for us to live in, and even there, much work remains to be done. But we didn’t give up, and were happy when we were finally (sort of) ready to move in. It was then that we noticed that most of the things we had stored, had been damaged by water leakage. Books, furniture, clothes… Gone. Ruined. And no money to replace them. But to my surprise I wasn’t sad or angry about losing so many of the things I previously thought indispensable or precious. Instead I was relieved. A weight had been lifted. We owned less. And it felt great. And so the desire grew to get rid of more Things. Things that hàd survived the winter, but that somehow didn’t feel like they had a place in our lives anymore.

I believe there are many ways to be a minimalist and many forms of minimalism. What does minimalism mean to you? And, in what ways are you a minimalist?

Being fuelled by the fact that we live of a very tight budget, minimalism first of all means spending less money. We only buy the strictly necessary, and try to make, produce or grow as much as we can ourselves. We grow our own organic vegetables and potatoes in the garden, as well as most of the herbs and spices we use in the kitchen and for herbal remedies, and soap. Furthermore I spend every quiet moment I can get knitting or sewing clothes for me and the boys. That way being minimalists saves us money. But that’s not all. To us minimalism also means making ethically sound choices about the things we do need to buy. Spending less is one part, but we also feel very passionately about the environment, and about not harming others through the choices we make, and so whenever we do need to buy something, we prefer to buy organically produced, ethically made or second-hand. And lastly minimalism has brought us to be (very) selective about how we spend our time. We put family time before anything. Even if that means turning down social or professional engagements. We all need to work, and we can really use the money, but we do not want to take jobs that somehow compromise the way we have chosen to live our life as a family, or go out on social occasions for the sake of going out.

Are there any books, websites or other resources that have inspired your minimalism?

I haven’t read any books, or visited many websites about minimalism, but the book Simplicity Parenting has had a big impact on our parenting style, and on our lives in general. Kim John Payne advocates a (Waldorf inspired) form of minimalism when it comes to the toys, activities and information we expose our children to. He suggests we strip their lives of the ‘unnecessary’ to allow them to come to themselves to realize their full potential, their destiny, their spirit.

We haven’t got a TV in the house, and live a very quiet and simple life, so cutting down on activities and information wasn’t much of an issue. (Except for that part about not talking about adult stuff in front of your children…) But where toys were concerned, we both felt there was room for improvement. Our boys never had much toys, but since we took out some of the toys we felt did not stimulate them to engage in meaningful and creative play, we’ve seen a change in ways we didn’t expect. Long stretches of uninterrupted independent play have now become quite common, and we noticed that they tend to pull out much less toys (only to dump them two minutes later) than they used to do. Toys that are being taken out are now actually played with. And so things started to shift… we started talking about what a similar change could do for us; as parents, as a couple, and as individuals. And suddenly this idea that it actually feels really nice to live with less had a name. It was called minimalism, and we firmly believed there were very good reasons for pursuing it, and to take it a step further than we had so far.

In what ways/areas do you struggle with maintaining your minimalist goals? What is your weakness?

Yarn. I know this might seem silly, but I love beautiful yarn, and if my budget would allow for it, I would probably buy insane amounts of it. Natural, hand spun, plant dyed… No chocolate or clothes, bags or shoes could measure up to that. But unfortunately there’s only so many hours in a day, and so I struggle to use up all the yarn I buy. Hence I tend to ‘stock’ it for later projects, but then of course, meanwhile, more beautiful yarn comes my way… Time to start emptying my knitting chest before buying any more I’d say.

Have there been any struggles with the other people you live with about living in a minimal way?

Not really. We expected it was going to be hard to eliminate some of the toys we had traveling around the house, but in the end it wasn’t. We started out by talking to the boys about ‘getting rid’ of all the things that were broken. After that, we took away some of the plastic toys we didn’t really like to begin with, and as a last step we reduced the amount of books they had in their room by putting together a seasonally inspired bookcase, and storing all the remaining books for later. In the end we were really surprised to find that our boys initially didn’t even notice some things had disappeared, and when they did, they were ok with the fact that we gave them away to charity, because we had enough anyway…

In what ways has minimalism improved your life?

This last year and a half things haven’t always been very easy. Going from having enough money to do whatever you want, whenever you want, to having none at all can be terribly daunting. And yet the most difficult times weren’t the ones when we struggled to buy the things we needed. The most difficult ones were the moments where I wànted something. Just for the sake of having it. A dress. A pair of girly shoes. A pizza night out. Something to give to the boys as a present… To not be able to hàve those things made me feel ‘poor’, and frustrated. But now I find those moments just don’t happen so very often anymore. I guess I’m just happy with what I do have now… even if paradoxically, that is much less than at those times when I felt I needed more. Sure, sometimes I do see a nice dress, or that Perfect Bag that would match every single thing in my closet, but then I remind myself I don’t really need it. (Especially when it comes to ‘fast fashion’ items.) And for some reason that feels great. To be able to say no. To have only what I need. To not spend ages in front of my wardrobe, trying to decide what might possibly look nice on me. (And to know that I won’t be bringing that dress or that Perfect Bag to the charity bin next time I feel like the contents of my closet are coming at me like an avalanche of resentment and guilt.)

What have been some unexpected experiences you’ve had with minimalism?

When I started getting rid of things I felt were just ‘too much’, it was all about making space in rooms and cupboards. I strived to create a visually pleasant and calming living environment. I wanted to have a minimal home. But as we’ve come further in this journey, I have been amazed to see that minimalism has brought us so much more than that. I guess somewhere down the line the meaning of this transformation we are currently undergoing shifted from ‘having’ to ‘being’… it wasn’t so much about things anymore. It was about us. About who we could be. And how we could live.

What advice can you offer to people interested in living a minimalist lifestyle?

Start small. And start with things that you feel you aren’t going to miss. You don’t have to start by throwing away your baby’s first pair of shoes. (In fact, maybe that is one of the few things you might want to keep.) But as you start reflecting about all the things you surround yourself with, I’m sure you’ll find that a lot of things aren’t quite that important to you. Or better even. That you might be better off without some of them. Every object you own has a life, a story, a message. And not all of them are nice messages, so why not get rid of those things first? They are an easy place to start. Think of that ugly thing you got as a gift (but can barely stand to look at), those clothes you bought because someone told you you looked fabulous in them, but that always get taken off just before you leave the house. And then think of keepsakes that somehow remind you of painful experiences. (Yes… those letters from your ex-boyfriend for example (my case), or souvenirs from a holiday that was actually the Worst. Ever.) And then take a break. Just see how it feels.You’ll know what to do next.

Do you have any goals for this year or the next few that you want to share?

Oh yes! Next year, we’re clearing out the basement and the store room. The basement is still full of things that belonged to the previous owner. Things like old windows and half rotten furniture, so that can go. Furthermore we have decided that everything that hasn’t been taken out of the boxes in the store room since we have moved into the house can either go to charity, or will be thrown away. If we haven’t ‘needed’ it the last 18 months, I guess we won’t really need it in the future either.

Thank you, Katrien, for such a lucid interview, so much to think about! Readers you can find Katrien on Instagram @growingwildthings

Check out these other great interviews in this series:

Interview with a Minimalist: Kellie (artist, children’s book lover and mother of 4 boys living in a small space)

Interview with a Minimalist: The Devine Family (off the grid family with 4 children living in a tree house down under, completely garbage free)

Interview with a Minimalist: Amanda (mother of 2 girls with a third on the way, minimalism in the home to unleash her children’s creativity)

Interview with a Minimalist: Carina (artist living in the small space capital of Canada with her 2 children and partner, maximizing life through the great outdoors)

Interview with a Minimalist: Alison (mother of one, the small space living queen of Canada)

Interview with a Minimalist: Brian of Less Means More (travelling around the US with his partner and unschooling their boy)

Interview with a Minimalist: Kylah (organic farmer and vegan chef raising 2 girls off the grid with her partner)

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Interview with a Minimalist: Tiffany

November 27, 2015November 25, 20161 Comment

In honour of Black Friday, which I know (conversely) as Buy Nothing Day, I am posting two interviews about minimalism.

Buy Nothing Day started right here in Canada over 20 years ago. I had a fun and activist school teacher at the time, who introduced me to Buy Nothing Day at a ripe, young age (planting the seeds of minimalism!). I have observed the day of anti-consumerism ever since.

Buying less is the single most effective thing we can do to help protect our natural environment and the earth’s resources — because we are not creating demand for resources. And…having less and doing more is probably the most effective thing we can do to find greater happiness and contentment in our lives. I’d call that win-win.

all photos by Tiffany Cecchini

The first interview I’m sharing today is with Tiffany, and while she doesn’t use the word ‘minimalism’, everything she says and lives resonates as minimalism to me. I’ve followed Tiffany on Instagram for a long time, probably two years, which is a life time in social media terms. After a series of life events, some of which she talks about below, she had an epiphany that shaped how she has lived everyday since. While my path to living with less has been different, I share a similar experience with Tiffany.

In late September 2015, while Matt and I were camping with the children in Gloucester, Massachusetts, I had this heavy feeling, but a happy heavy feeling. I never wanted to leave. It wasn’t because I was on “vacation” (I do call camping a vacation, but our style of camping isn’t exactly leisure or glamorous, so it’s only vacation in the sense that we are away from home). I had been on vacations before, even really nice ones, and never had the feeling that I wanted to stay forever, that I had found my perfect place and space in life. When our family camps we bring and do the bare minimum, very little gear and equipment, very simple food. And I love it. The barest form of simplicity (for us). There are no extras. We bring nothing we don’t use. There is no schedule to observe except the natural rhythms of hunger and sleep. I feel complete peace. This simplicity feels like the greatest abundance. This ‘less’ is ‘more’.

I’ll let you read on to hear about Tiffany’s experience, but first a little more about her as way of introduction: Tiffany works as an x-ray tech and is a self-described plant hoarder. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two boys.

I hope you enjoy her perspective on life and the stuff that fills it. I know I do.

Tiffany, let’s start with a little bit about you. Who are you? What’s your background?

I’m a 35 year old girl! And by ‘girl’ I mean I have very few adult tendencies. I was one of four children growing up in an extremely small town outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We were surrounded by corn fields and cows and even though I wouldn’t change a thing about my childhood, I prefer the suburbs.

What are you passionate about? How do you like to spend your time?

Absolutely passionate about my relationships. Not just my kids, but my husband and myself as well. I think that your relationship with your spouse is just as important as the one you have with your children. When I’m not spending time with them, I’m spending it by myself! I’m a bit of an introvert, so this is something I crave often. And when I get those moments of solitude I usually find myself taking pictures, gardening, or crafting of some sort.

How many children do you have and what are they like?

I have two boys, Cooper and Elio. Cooper, my oldest, is my calm. The sweetest soul, that boy. He’s hypersensitive, introverted, and full of wonder. Elio is my wild. The dreamer, the charmer, and wanderer. He’s super affectionate and already has the wittiest sense of humor. It’s amazing. You love your children equally, yet for so many different reasons.

Do you have a favourite quote or words that inspire you?

JUST. WING. IT

Seriously, it makes life way easier.

What is your story? What drew you to minimalism?

The term “minimalism” was never actually used. We kind of fell into it. Every year I take my boys camping and we pack for pure function. I finally realized why I couldn’t wait to go camping every year. It was for the simplicity of it. You pack what you need. And on those weekends when we were sleeping in a tent, hanging out outside all day, eating food off a fire I was completely relaxed and present with my boys. I love that. That’s what every mother wants and struggles with.

Watching their smiles and their little hands grace the rocks as they hunt for pebbles to skip on the lake. I wanted that every day, but it’s so hard to do at home with a million distractions and a million things to clean up. By the end of the week after our first trip this season I was overwhelmed by everything at home and struggling with dividing my time between everyone and everything. And that was it. I looked at my husband and said: “I want to camp at home”

I wanted just what we needed. And I knew if I erased a lot of the clutter, unused items, and toys I’d have less to think about and less to clean up after. And it’s so true. It really does work out that way. We have two small appliances, a toaster and a hand mixer. We now only have six plates, six bowls, and six cups. Even clearing out what was behind the closed doors helped clear my mind.

I believe there are many ways to be a minimalist and many forms of minimalism. What does minimalism mean to you?

It just means simplifying life. If you simplify your surroundings there’s more time to explore and really concentrate on your relationships with others. To love and to feel. To actually have the time to enjoy those little hobbies that you otherwise wouldn’t have time for. I don’t think it means your home has to be bare, my home is decorated. Even though I like the look of somewhat bare room, it’s just not me. We just don’t have anything ‘extra’. And now, when I’m at the store I really question my purchases.

In what areas do you struggle with maintaining your minimalist goals? What is your weakness?

Ah! My closet! I’m a girl. I still have a drawer full of jeans. To be fair, they make so many options for us. Skinny jeans, flare jeans, straight leg, dress jeans. It’s my biggest weakness, but also what I wear the most of. I have cut out a lot of other clothing though. I’ll be real, I don’t have time for dresses. I’ve kept a few for special occasions. I work full time so I’m mostly in scrubs and when I’m not I’m usually in some form of dirt with the boys so there’s no point in wearing nice clothes. I always fall back on the same pieces anyway, so it was kind of pointless for me to keep the others. I’m not as bad about shoes as most women, but I’ve always been the type to buy quality shoes that I know I’ll wear and will be timeless. And I kind of wear my Chuck Taylor’s with everything (even my wedding dress).

I love that Tiffany doesn’t struggle with the number of plants in her life

Have there been any struggles with the other people you live with about living in a minimal way?

My husband is all for it and my oldest son actually seems to understand. when we went through toys to donate, he knew the toys he didn’t play with were going to another kid that didn’t have as much. He’s also my logical thinker and it just made sense to him.

In what ways has minimalism improved your life?

I can’t begin to tell you. As a full time working mother, the struggle (and guilt) is really there when you’re trying to divide yourself between everything. I’ve always been the mom to take time out in my day to at least do something little with them. But still, before this, my mind wasn’t there. And I always felt guilty for that. And not only am I able to have more time for them, I have more time for myself. And who doesn’t want that?

What advice can you offer to people interested in living a minimalist lifestyle?

Just do it. You’ll be amazed at the difference in the quality of life your living. But, take it slow. You don’t have to do it all at once. We didn’t. We started one weekend and a few weeks later did more. In those few weeks you start looking more at what you can do without. And guys, you’ll be amazed at the amount of money you save. You really do start to question your purchases. Somewhere along the line, life became a contest to see who had better things. THINGS. I was buying things I didn’t NEED just to “keep up.” I don’t want to compete. I don’t even want to be in the race.

What are your dreams for the next year?

I really don’t think that far ahead. I just take it day by day. Life is better that way. For me, anyway.

***

Thank you very much Tiffany for sharing your story. Readers: You can find Tiffany on Instagram here

Let’s be friends! Please come find me in other places:

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Interview with a Minimalist: Amanda

October 8, 2015October 7, 201610 Comments

When a baby is on the way, there’s often an intense need to nest and prepare for their arrival. Cleaning, arranging, and accumulating. Making sure the stuff baby needs to survive and thrive are at the ready. When I learned that my friend, Amanda, was expecting her third, I was curious to know how she was approaching nesting this time around, after all nesting is most often an instinct and not an intellectual decision. Other people I know have no less prepared and accumulated stuff for their third than for their first. But, Amanda is a minimalist. I wondered curiously whether her minimalism was affecting how she felt about preparing for baby this time around. We chatted, and I learned a lot more than just about her baby prep, I learned that Amanda’s story of coming to minimalism was a lot like my own. For me, there is no lofty intellectual or artistic story to tell. I didn’t aspire to a particular home decor aesthetic. It was a completely practical decision. Faced with never ending tidying, exhaustion from work and mothering, I made the decision that our home needed to have way, way less stuff if I was going to save my sanity. Some people are comfortable in clutter and disarray, I’m not one of them.

Amanda is a stay-at-home mother and a photographer. I asked her to share her story of finding minimalism and how it is now part of her everyday life. I think you will find her answers refreshing and engaging. She speaks in a very honest and practical way, with beautiful snippets of revelation here and there. I absolutely love how Amanda so clearly sees that minimalism doesn’t stop with your living space, it permeates how you live and how you make decisions. Minimalism changes how you think about your schedule, your grocery shopping, your texting, everything.

I hope you are inspired by Amanda’s story.

Let’s start with a little bit about you. Who are you? What’s your background?

I’m 28 years old. I’m the oldest of four preacher’s kids. Born, bred and breeding in the desert of Southern California. I was 20 when I married my best friend, who turned me from a preacher’s kid to a preacher’s wife. Together we have two daughters and one on the way!

What are you passionate about? How do you like to spend your time?

Although I would not describe my transition to motherhood as smooth, I am passionate about my little ones and relishing in the beautiful and short years that they will be with me. My photography business has the ability to keep me busy, but I love being able to set my own schedule and create more space if that’s what I need. It’s also been a wonderful creative outlet for me during the chaos that accompanies these years with young ones all around.

How many children do you have and what are they like?

My firstborn, Jaryn Rose, is 5 going on 15. She’s articulate and sassy, with a sensitive side that craves down time and quiet. Raynen, my soon-to-be middle child, is a little ball of fire and attitude. She is stubborn and hilarious and fearlessly daring. She has speech apraxia and sensory processing disorder which plunged us into the world of therapy and special needs, but everyday she makes me more the mama I want to be.

Do you have a favourite quote or words that inspire you?

“If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo. But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to be meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either” – Donald Miller: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

“We never fully realize how strong the grip of consumerism is on our lives until we try to remove it.” – Joshua Becker

This could not have been more true for me. I thought I was naturally minimalistic. I don’t hold onto every scrap of paper my kids scribble on and I regularly clean out my closet and donate old clothing. But saying no to new and unnecessary things required another kind of determination. Saying no to the patterns of first world consumerism meant taking a hard look at what I owned, what brought me joy, and what story I wanted to write.

What is your story? What drew you to minimalism or what motivated you to become a minimalist?

I used to joke that laziness is what made me become a minimalist but in reality it was exhaustion. Pure exhaustion. All day: cleaning up and putting away and organizing and stepping on toys. Constantly telling my kids to pick up after themselves. And still, it seemed, at the end of every day my husband would get home from work and the house would be a disaster. A trail of tutus and blocks and coloring pages and books, down the hallway and invading every room. All day: trying to keep the kids entertained. Coming up with new activities and reminding them of all the stuff they had to play with, just to be told how “bored” they were. It was maddening. How could they have so much and be so discontent? How could they have bins and closets and drawers of toys that “encourage imaginative play” and never use their imagination? At first, I thought maybe they weren’t old enough or maybe imagination was something that had to be taught. But as I slowly removed the excess, I realized imagination isn’t learned and has no age requirement, but it is easily smothered. Their imaginations were buried beneath a layer of unnecessary excess.

I believe there are many ways to be a minimalist and many forms of minimalism. What does minimalism mean to you?

When I started this journey, I believed minimalism was purely about the usefulness of what I kept in my home. If I used it on a regular basis, it could stay but I needed to stop storing things that I didn’t use all the time. I also wanted to be intentional and thoughtful about the quantity of each thing I was keeping. Now, I’ve learned to part with things that, yes, I could use, but not often enough to keep in my house. I’ve also found items that have more than one purpose so I can eliminate the need for multiples. I found this useful with kitchen items. Yes. I purged my kitchen. Who needs 15 mixing bowls anyways?

One of the things I didn’t expect was how it would change my view of “bargain shopping”. I used to love to find a deal. Get something cheap. Find it for a low price and buy 4. Now I have less qualms about buying something quality that will last longer, accomplish more, and allow me to have just 1. I’ve applied this to my clothes shopping as well. I’m not my kids, I don’t need new sizes every 6 months. And I know what I like. I found that I wore the same outfits often and kept lots of clothing that never made it out the door with me because I would go back to my favorite pieces. One rule I put in place for a while to help me purge my closet was that if I put it on while getting ready and took it off to change into something else, I would purge that piece of clothing. If I wasn’t going to wear it in the moment it actually made it off the hanger and onto my body, I was never going to wear it. Bye, bye.

Minimalism also means living out from under the weight of obligation. There was so much I kept because I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. This mainly applied to gifts. If it isn’t useful or beautiful to me, I had to let it go. And just because I loved something once, doesn’t mean I have to keep it forever.

Lastly, minimalism has affected my time and how I fill my schedule. The same way I’ve learned to say no to overfilling my home, I’ve learned to say no to overfilling my schedule. The same way I’ve created empty spaces in every room and drawer and closet, I’ve created empty spaces in my days and weeks and months. And the same way owning less has given me the freedom to enjoy more, doing less has given me the freedom to say yes to the ones that matter most to me.

Minimalism is not just a one time event. A yearly purge. Or the same as spring cleaning. Minimalism is intentionally choosing to live with less. To live with room. To live for experiences instead of things. To have time and space for events and items that bring me joy.

“Minimalism isn’t deprivation, it’s liberation.” – Joshua Becker

Are there any books, websites or other resources that have inspired your minimalism?

www.becomingminimalist.com is an amazing website that got me started. The founder, Joshua Becker, also wrote a book called Clutterfree with Kids and it really helped me take things to the next level. It doesn’t just explain the “how” behind decluttering and the minimalist lifestyle, but includes the “why”, which I think is so important for maintenance and any long term change.

In what ways/areas do you struggle with maintaining your minimalist goals/values? What is your weakness?

My greatest struggle is clothing. As someone who has struggled with weight issues for years, I battle the desire to keep old sizes and buy new sizes and then save the sizes I’m no longer wearing. I also think I purchased clothes because I believed if I had something new it would make me feel better about my body but that never turned out to be true. In fact, I always ended up wearing my tried and true favorites from brands I really loved and in that way, minimalism has been a perfect fit for my wardrobe. But it’s still been hard to say no when I see something I like or think would be flattering. The part that’s made it easier is thinking about the amount of clothes I’ve donated since starting this journey. I remember specifically a few items that still had the tags on them! If that doesn’t make you pause long and hard before a purchase I don’t know what will!

You have a third child on the way. Has minimalism influenced how you are preparing for your newest addition?

Almost two years of intentionally pursuing this lifestyle, preparing for another wee one has shown me what a huge change has really been made. Obviously with the first baby, it’s hard to know what you’ll actually need. You have to just go with what everyone is telling you. And giving you. So of course, I have experience on my side this time around. But even so, there’s plenty of “things” that I could use or buy or hope for. I could buy lots of clothes and register for multiples of everything. Instead, I narrowed down my wish list to actual needs (a place to sleep, something to wear, and blanket to keep warm) and then I choose to only bring a certain number of these items into my home. I don’t need 30 newborn outfits. Or 12 swaddling blankets. I bring in smaller amounts of the necessities and say no to the rest. It’s so freeing not to feel a pull toward all the things. I don’t feel weighed down and burdened while waiting to bring a new life into the world. Instead I can focus on the beauty of what my body is doing- the rest that I need to stay healthy- and remind myself I already have everything I need to welcome another little one earthside.

Have there been any struggles with the other people you live with about living in a minimal way?

For the most part my husband has been totally on board. I know this isn’t the case for lots of couples, so I’m grateful. I think his biggest concern early on, watching trunk loads of home goods being donated, was that I was giving it all away to eventually replace it. It took time, but eventually I was able to prove that was not the case. He learned my motives and my determination and has been fully supportive ever since.

My older daughter also showed some resistance when we first began. Suddenly, toys she hadn’t played with in months were her greatest treasures. But when I showed her the pile of clothes I was giving away and decorations and jewelry, she warmed up to the idea knowing I wasn’t only purging her things. Since then, it’s just constant conversation about why we live this way. Making sure they understand the “why” behind the lifestyle and inviting them to be a part of it.

Have you had any positive or negative experiences with friends or family related to minimalism?

Both sets of grandparents currently live within a 15 mile radius of us, and there are so many reasons this makes us lucky. But it was also part of the reason our girls had an overabundance of… well… everything. And in the beginning their responses varied from disappointed confusion, to totally ignoring what we asked and buying lots of gifts anyways.

One of the things that helped was making suggestions of what to give the girls as gifts instead. I appreciate their generosity and their desire to spoil their grandbabies, so I didn’t want to rob them of that entirely. Encouraging ice cream dates, and train rides, and Disneyland tickets and taking them to ride the carousel — making them realize there’s still ways to give them something special without it being wrapped in a bag and bow, helped them get on board. I think it also got easier for them when they saw the reactions to the “experience” type gifts versus the toy aisle type gifts. Not only were the girls more excited and engaged, they remembered it and talked about it at every family get together for months afterwards. It wasn’t just another doll collecting dust under the bed.

In what ways has minimalism improved your life?

I don’t spend as much money. I don’t spend as much time cleaning. And cleaning. And cleaning. I have more free time. More: yes time. More: play time. I don’t see bigger houses and feel envy and desire. In fact, sometimes I feel downright grateful that I found minimalism before I slaved my way into a home that would really serve as a giant storage unit. A place to put all the things that I’ve accumulated and have no use for. It’s improved my life because I’m lighter, freer, more content, and more available. That’s the kind of wife and mother and friend I want to be.

What advice can you offer to people interested in living a minimalist lifestyle?

Start somewhere. Anywhere. Start small.

Don’t tackle the sentimental stuff first. Don’t let your first project be the entire garage. Start with the countertops. Start with a drawer. Start with the easy stuff. Clothes with holes and stains. Toys that are broken. Then go another layer deeper.

Go through your entire closet. Donate the shoes you don’t wear. How many winter jackets do you need? What’s shoved on those shelves that you can’t even reach? Is it time to let it go?

Watch yourself feel lighter. The decisions will get easier. Repeat the process as many times as necessary.

Lastly, find a resource. Bloggers that inspire you. Books that give direction. There are so many resources available. And there are so many ways to pursue minimalism.

You can find Amanda on Instagram @mytinytribe or her photography website www.amandarose.photography. Thank you, Amanda, for sharing your story and tips.

Readers: if you are a minimalist or know someone who is that may be great for an interview on my blog, please be in touch with me by email at hippieindisguise1@gmail.com or via direct message on Instagram.

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Hippie in Disguise

slow living, minimalism and connection with nature

Tag: minimalism

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