10 Practical Steps to Minimalism for Moms

Increase Time, Energy and Reduce Stress with this Lifestyle Change

I struggle with holding on to too much stuff. It’s suffocating. I have knick-nacks from college days that I still hold on to. And I am now a mother of two, and my house is just getting fuller and fuller. We barely buy anything besides food, but some how the stuff just gets in! These practical steps to minimalism for moms have helped me feel less overwhelmed.

Through the generous love of grandparents and friends, you can find stuffed animals hidden in drawers, in boxes, in closets. These things are multiplying I tell you!

So I have decided to change.

My house is not a storage space, but a living space.

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I am trying my best every day to adapt these tips below, because I know they will help me live a life with more energy, time and less stress. And I need those things if I am raising a family and running a blog. As a work from home mommy, I need to simplify my life. Do you struggle with the same issues?

Let’s embrace minimalism, the practice of living with less and owning only what you need or love.

Have you ever thought of how embracing minimalism, even just a bit, can improve your life as a mom blogger? If not, let me help paint the picture for you.

And if you’re not a blogger already, why not start a mom blog, make money, and work from home?

Why Take Steps to Becoming a Minimalist?

When you have less things, you have less to clean, less to organize and less to pack away every night at bedtime.

• Cleaning will be easier. Instead of fighting with the tupperware cabinet to try to fit one.more.container in there, why not get rid of half of them? Do you really need that much tupperware?
• You’ll be able to find things. If you have a one place for your stationary, you’ll know where to go to find your pair of scissors, instead of having two or three junk drawers throughout the house.
• You will shop less. Once you step away from the consumerist mentality, you will curb your spending and save the time of taking a trip to the store for more stuff.
• You will have more time. Apply minimalism to your activities too. Make room for the most important things and learn to be able to say no to the unnecessary activities that take you away from what you love. Speaking about time, here are 10 Time Management Tips for Moms!

What is a Minimalist Lifestyle?

Minimalism is the practice of living with less. Less things to take care of and worry about results in less stress.

• Your mind is clearer when you have less things around you. Instead of getting stressed every time you walk over the sea of toys on the ground, wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were just less of it all?
• You let go of the past. Donate those old shoes from college, you haven’t worn them in years. Trow away that stack of magazines, it’s all on Pinterest anyways. Donate your old books, extra mugs, and take pictures of all those unicorn coloring pages and cards to store them digitally.
• You do things more simply. Like using colorful post it notes to organize your life. Find out how I set my priorities and become more productive with my super simple weekly schedule.

Mess Creates Stress.

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Minimalist Living Tips Through Practical Steps for Moms

1. Complete unfinished tasks
   • Do you keep things in plain sight as a reminder of what you have to do? Are you keeping that piece of mail on the counter as a reminder to pay the bill? Take the 5 minutes to write the check and mail it. Done.
2. Have a donation box in the garage at all times
   • Throughout your daily cleaning find items to put in the box. If you stumble across something that does not bring you joy, or that is a duplicate of an item you already own, go put it in the box.
3. Decrease your trinkets
   • Is your house full of stuff? Trinkets and decorations and ornaments? Half it. It is more stressful to keep your kids from breaking the items, or knocking them over, and constantly cleaning around them. Have you checked the layer of dust on them lately?
   • Even better, before you have kids, make sure to setup a minimalist baby registry and share it with your friends and family.
4. Turn around the hangers in your closet
   • This trick has been used by many! At the beginning of a new season, turn around all the hangers in your closet. As you use the items, put the back correctly. At the end of the season, donate those clothes that have not been turned around.
5. Open junk mail next to the recycling bin
   • Don’t store extra junk in your home, especially junk mail. Recycle it as you sort through your mail.
6. Get rid of your ‘junk drawer’
   • What does it say about your life if you have a junk drawer? Take everything out of the drawer and throw away what you do not need.
7. Clear out your medicine cabinet
   • This one is for me! I know over half of the bottles and pills in there are expired. It’s high time I clean it out.
8. Avoid the sale racks
   • Don’t waste your money on three items you kind of like because they’re $12 each. You will just end up avoid wearing them. Instead, buy one nice item which you will cherish and love.
9. Have one location to store kid toys
   • Once that one location is full (the closet, the toy bin, etc) donate the extra toys. The more toys kids have, the less grateful they are for the ones they do have. Grow their love of nature by embracing the outdoors, instead of overwhelming them with too much stuff.
10. Don’t just reorganize
    • Don’t go to Walmart and buy more clear containers to store things in the attic. They will stay there for years. Instead, get rid of your extra, unused, unloved items. Just moving things around your home into storage bins or boxes will not help you regain energy and time.
11.  Here are 10 More Ways to Simplify Your Life and Declutter and Simplify Your Digital Life

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Tips to Help You on Your Journey

Ask yourself these two questions as you sort through your things.

1. Does this item bring me joy? If not – get rid of it.
2. If my house burned down today (God forbid), will I buy this item again?

Additional Resources:

• More mom blogging resources to help you on your minimalism journey! (with free printable downloads!)
• Want to read more about this? Joshua Becker has been living the minimalist lifestyle for years!
• Here is a whole blog dedicated to being a minimalist as a mom.
• Or learn from the experts on how minimalism for moms.
• Be more with less – you can do this!
• Change your life with these 20 tips – so you can find more happiness and joy!
• Learn more about the idea of joy from Marie Kondo, the author of “Spark Joy“. This is a highly recommended book by many of my friends to help you embrace minimalism as a mom.

My Favorite Things I Love

 I love using my diffuser to relieve headaches and help me sleep. This Levoit Essential Oil Diffuser is great!

– It infuses the air with lasting fragrances for up to 14 hours at a time;

– It operates at a near-silent 22dB, ensuring it won’t keep you up at night;

– It has 7 colors with 2 brightness settings add to the diffuser’s soothing ambience.