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We recently had the opportunity to interview Rosie and Adam from the Irish Mummy Podcast. They interviewed us a few months ago on patient parenting so we were excited to have them on our podcast too. Rosie and Adam have been on a minimalist journey with their family. They recently moved back to Ireland into Rosie’s childhood home. They had cleaned it out before they left, but when they came back, they realized how much stuff they still had. They also are planning to renovate their home and wanted to create a minimalist home. As they’ve been going through their home and donating the things they don’t want or need, they had some great tips to share with us on how to make your home simple while creating minimalism for families.
Minimalism for Families
Something that Rosie and Adam talked about was that minimalism for families doesn’t mean just having nothing, it means being intentional about what you have. It’s about having a more simple home so that you can spend more time on the things that really matter. So instead of spending hours on laundry and cleaning up and organizing toys, you’re able to spend that time with your children, or on outings, etc.
Clothing
Something interesting that they did was to choose a color palette and then only keep clothes with that color palette and donate the rest. So there was purchasing involved, but they only bought things with certain colors. This also meant no more character clothes for the kids.By doing this, the laundry is more simple and can be easily washed together. It also allows their kids to dress themselves and still match!
Another idea is to look at the clothes you’re holding on to for other children. If you have a child the next size down and they can use the clothes, definitely keep them. But if you have a child of the same gender that’s a few years younger, you’ll be holding on to bins of clothes for years! Instead, donate the clothing and free up the space. This also allows someone else to use the clothing rather than letting it sit in a box untouched. To me, I thought I was saving money, but realistically, clothing styles change and you end up buying new clothes. Or the clothes are too used to re-use. If you want to live more abundantly, then give the clothes away and believe trust that your child will be able to get the clothes they need when they need them.
Kids Toys
When trying to get your kids’ toys under control, there’s a couple different things you can do.
- Create a dedicated space for toys. This can be a separate play room or a specific play area. That way when you’re putting toys away, it’s just in one space rather than all over the house.
- Keep only the best toys. Invest in some well made toys that will last through all your kids. The cheaper toys are enticing, but they usually end up breaking. Rather than buying a lot of small things, try buying a few better quality toys. This will help with the mess and your kids will be less overwhelmed by all the options. Their favorite toys are always available and in sight.
- When you’re trying to see what your kids’ favorite toys are and which you can get rid of, try hiding the toys. If they ask for it a few times, put it back in their play area. If they don’t, they must not love it, so go ahead and donate.
- You can also rotate the toys by packing up some in boxes or bins. Then after a while, take our the packed toys and put some of their other toys in the box. This will help the toys that your kids see feel new and they’ll be more likely to play with them.
If you’re looking for more organization ideas, check out my blog post on Keeping Your Family Organized.
You can also visit our Amazon storefront for a list of our favorite toys and games that we love for our kids.