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NAPR: minimalism

bandwifebandwife
in Attachment Parenting

I know some of you are interested in living counter culturally/a bit different. My DH and I (I guess DS too) are starting our journey towards a minimalist life. I'm blogging about it at theminimalistmom.com.

If anyone here is a minimalist/has life simplified I would love to hear more. Especially around raising a child with fewer things. We expect as DS gets older (currently 11 months) we will focus on experiences and activities rather than things/toys.

The naysayers in my life tell me this is impossible to do and I will get sucked back into the buying lifestyle as he gets older. They also say we will have to get cable again and will move out to the suburbs when he is older. Hoping to prove them wrong.

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Re: NAPR: minimalism

  • TabithaGoinsTabithaGoins

    Love your blog, I'm not a minimalist (anyone can tell that from my wrap stash Stick out tongue)..although sometimes wish I were in other parts of my life.  Your blog has inspired me to de-clutter my closet and cabinets.  They need it big time

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  • Jelliebean1982Jelliebean1982

    I think that if you truly want to have less stuff with your child then the only way to do it is to let your DC play outside.  I see a lot of toys as a parent's futile attempt to keep their child inside the house and "safe" while out of mom and dad's hair. 

     

    If you let your kid outside with their friends they entertain themselves for hours and they actually find stuff to do without you.   My neighbor has an almost 4 year old and our kids disappear when they're together.  Most of the time they're just looking at the chickens, playing hide and go seek, eating the vegetables in the garden, or playing with sticks.  I find that toys cause more conflict when the kids play together. 


    All that being said, sometimes I think my kid has too many toys, but she does play with them all. 
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  • feverof103feverof103
    No tips from me, but I really like the blog. Minimalism is something I'd love to do but don't have the guts to try just yet. Props to you and good luck, I'll be following!
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  • bandwifebandwife
    imageJelliebean1982:

    If you let your kid outside with their friends they entertain themselves for hours and they actually find stuff to do without you.  

    I completely agree with you. That was my childhood experience - days spent outside exploring the neighborhood, climbing trees and building forts out of scrap wood. 

    It will also be huge challenge for us as we live downtown. The plus side: we have a half dozen parks within a 5-10 minute walk plus a great community centre, library and two pools. 

    As part of this change in lifestyle we are hoping to live off of one income - possibly DH and I both working part time. We hope the equation will be less stuff = less work = more time as a family.

    Thanks for the good wishes everyone!

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  • beccerbeccer
    My husband and I definitely own too much stuff. This summer we moved from out 2 bedroom with a garage apartment to a one bedroom, no garage. We have some stuff in storage but I'd like to go through it and get rid of stuff we don't actually need. We actually got rid of 4 boxes of DVDs, video games and old college text books by trading them into amazon. With the amazon credit we got a new camera and a crib mattress.
    I went through my clothes before we moved and got rid of stuff. Ive gone through it again after we moved and I have another big bag for Goodwill. I'm trying to be realistic about keeping things we won't ever use or don't really need.
    We moved to a one bedroom so we could save up money and hopefully get a house when the lease is up. The last thing i want is our house cluttered with crap we don't need. I really respect you making this commitment! Good luck!
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  • seethesmilesseethesmiles member
    I'm definitely a minimalist by nature. I hate "stuff" and knick-knacks. I usually dread Christmas because I get a bunch of stuff that I feel guilty throwing or giving away but I also don't want it in my house. I actually convinced my family to take a trip together for Christmas this year and skip the exchanging of presents. My brother and sisters and I all live in different states but we're meeting up in Orlando with my parents the week before Christmas. Instead of seeing everyone for a day or two, we'll get to spend the week together and in the end, we'll have lots of great memories rather than lots of new things that I have to find a home for. For us, living as minimally as possible doesn't mean living a frugal or inexpensive life, unfortunately, since we spend a lot on travel and "experiences" but I can see how for some people it could lessen expenses. Good luck to you.
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  • mr+msmr+ms member

    I am going to bookmark your blog for some inspiration! I'm trying to reign in the mess that's in our house and donate, reuse, recycle or trash random stuff.

    I'm not militant about living simply, but I think about it a lot and try to plan purchases with thought when we do get stuff. I love organized, clutter-free and easy to maintain living spaces. I'm always trying to be more efficient with cooking, too, so we have less food waste. We try to conserve energy and water.

    I am guilty of buying way too many clothes and toys for DD, though. It's totally true what PP said about trying to keep kids busy indoors. The first year, however, was a lot easier to do without extra baby gadgets since we BF, coslept, wore DD out, etc. 

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  • Married2MrWrightMarried2MrWright member

    Love your blog!  I am right there with you...wanting to pare down things and live more simply and less hectic.  Gradually, we're getting there.  Years ago we gave up buying gifts, etc. and opting for share experiences instead...a dine dinner together, a weekend in cabin, tickets to the ballet...rather than another bottle of cologne or a new watch.  Now that we're parents, we hope to extend that to our LO.

    I also have been wanting to clean out the clutter...we do a fairly good job of it, but it can be SO much better.  We just canceled cable and are getting rid of our TV (donating it).  Next up is clearing out our closets of things we haven't worn in the past year. I look forward to following your progress on your blog...kudos to you!  BTW, here's a link you might be interested in:

    https://www.thirdpath.org/index.htm

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  • Married2MrWrightMarried2MrWright member
    imageseethesmiles:
    I'm definitely a minimalist by nature. I hate "stuff" and knick-knacks. I usually dread Christmas because I get a bunch of stuff that I feel guilty throwing or giving away but I also don't want it in my house. I actually convinced my family to take a trip together for Christmas this year and skip the exchanging of presents. My brother and sisters and I all live in different states but we're meeting up in Orlando with my parents the week before Christmas. Instead of seeing everyone for a day or two, we'll get to spend the week together and in the end, we'll have lots of great memories rather than lots of new things that I have to find a home for.
    Love this.  We have been doing this for years and since then no more ugly Christmas sweaters or tchotckies that no one really wants or needs and tons of laughter and memories made instead!  Now that we have LO we really want to reign in all of the Christmas presents (I cannot stand to see little kids overwhelmed with 30+ gifts...so ridiculous!) and have decided we will do three simple gifts...small books, a teddy bear, etc...especially since her bday is one month later and we can do a bigger gift (like a bike, etc.) for that celebration!
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  • OctGirl80OctGirl80 member

    DH & I decided that we want our little ones to have more experiences than toys. I didn't have a lot of toys growing up and as such had to use my imagination whenever Saturday morning rolled around my mom would literally kick us out of the house to play in the yard (grew up in the country, our yard was about an acre). I don't have alot of stuff, but DH is a pack rat/hoarder so minimalist is not a lifestyle I can have. We have already discussed holidays for our LO. We are fully prepared to tell his siblings that we don't want a ton of toys for the baby (one SIL in particular).

     

    We are travelers so we're hoping to teach our children to enjoy everything the world has to offer. To us, life is about experiences and memories, not stuff.

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  • bandwifebandwife
    imageMarried2MrWright:

    BTW, here's a link you might be interested in:

    https://www.thirdpath.org/index.htm

    Great link - thanks! I read a book while pregnant, "The Mommy Trap" I think it was, that discussed shared parenting. Inspired me at the time but we have yet to put anything like it into effect.

    Thanks for all the good posts about less toys and a more experience driven life. DH and I are travelers and are hoping to continue on with that. We've done three 2-3 week trips in Europe in the last five years, fairly expensive as we have flown/driven around to see more cities and countries while over there. We are now looking into home exchange as a more frugal and child friendly option. Also, if we don't have to work as much we could go for a month or more.

    Great tips on Christmas too. My side stopped with the gifts a long time ago and we usually sponsor a needy family instead. DH's side is slowly coming around and last year we didn't do adult presents. Also, when MIL was asking for gift suggestions we asked for and received a family membership for the art gallery.

     

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  • EmmieBEmmieB member

    I'm with you - we tell people we don't want a bunch of stuff and they respond with everything from "good luck with that" to "that's just mean!"

    I've added your blog to my reader :-)

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