6 Great Reasons Less is More
At first glance, “living with less” or “minimalism” might feel like you’re depriving yourself or your children of the things you want. But over the years, I’ve found the opposite to be true: Less is More. By intentionally focusing on what is most important to us and removing the things that don’t add value to our family or lifestyle, I’ve found that we have more.
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6 Things I Have More of Now that I’m a Minimalist:
1. MORE TIME
One of the greatest benefits I’ve found is that I have more free time because I’m not spending my time continually managing our belongings. Every item in our home requires time and attention. We have to pick it up, clean it, put it away, organize it, and repeat, repeat, repeat. The more things we own, the more time we spend taking care of them.
Obviously, a lot of our things are worth our time and attention because we need them, use them, or enjoy them. For instance, we use dishes and clothes every day, so washing the dishes and doing the laundry becomes part of our daily and weekly routine. If you’re an artist, then cleaning, organizing, and taking care of your art supplies is also worth your time and attention.
But minimalism recognizes that there are unnecessary things in our homes that do not add value to our life, and by removing (or even just reducing) those things, we free up more of our time to spend the way we choose.
2. MORE ENERGY
Dealing with excess clutter can be both mentally and physically draining. I can remember being a young mom and having a house full of stuff and how exhausting it felt to me. I felt like so much of my energy was being used to maintain order and tidy our home each day, but with three young children to take care of, I didn’t have extra energy to spend on keeping up with unnecessary things.
I finally realized I didn’t have to live that way. I could actually Choose Less. After all, I was the one making most of the choices about what was coming into our home. When we don’t have to constantly deal with the excess decor items, abundance of toys or art supplies, and unneeded clothes, we have more energy to give to our family, friends, jobs, and hobbies.
3. MORE QUALITY
Once I began de-cluttering and getting our belongings under control, it naturally led me to become more aware of the miscellaneous items that I was buying and bringing home. I stopped impulse shopping and spending money on things we didn’t need. I no longer went to Target and came out with the latest decor piece to add to our home. I stopped buying clothes and shoes we didn’t need just because they were on sale. I stopped buying seasonal decor that I would need to pack away and store for most of the year.
And over time, I realized that by intentionally buying less, we were able to thoughtfully invest in better quality items that we wanted or needed. In the long run, this also saved us money because I was much more satisfied with the items we did buy and not nearly as likely to want (or need) to replace them with something new.
wicker chair / sea grass basket
4. MORE PEACE
For many people (me included), clutter brings anxiety because there is an underlying sense of things being out of control. When closets, rooms, and surfaces in your home become cluttered with too many things, it feels overwhelming and maybe even paralyzing because you don’t know where to begin to clean it up.
But once I removed the unnecessary items, our home automatically felt more peaceful. And even though our house still gets messy because we’re living and using our things daily, it’s much quicker and easier to put everything back in order. An uncluttered home naturally feels more peaceful than a cluttered home.
5. MORE ORGANIZATION
Clutter breeds chaos and disorder. It’s hard to find what you need when you have to rummage through over-stuffed drawers, shuffle through cabinets filled with kitchen gadgets, or sort through junk drawers to find a battery. And it’s almost impossible to organize your things when you have too many to begin with. Because no matter how many cute bins or baskets you buy or how many different ways you re-arrange your closet, often there’s still too much stuff to fit tidily in the available space.
When you de-clutter your belongings, you create breathing room in your cabinets, closets, and drawers. This extra space makes it easier to both organize your things and keep them organized.
6. MORE REST
If something in your home isn’t adding value, it’s actually creating extra stress for you. Your stuff constantly demands your time, attention, money, and energy. Having excess clothes, decor, household gadgets, and toys to constantly pick up, clean, and organize is stressful because it drains your time and energy. Over spending on things you don’t need is stressful because it strains your finances. Not being able to find what you need in a timely manner because your home is cluttered and disorganized is stressful because it steals your peace.
But when you remove the excess and choose to live with less, it automatically removes many of those stressors. This in turn brings more rest into your life, home, and family.
How have you discovered that living with less is actually giving you more?
Simple Step : Just start de-cluttering the easy things that have lost their value to your family … worn-out or outgrown clothes, broken or discarded toys, dried up art supplies, old newspapers or magazines, extra towels, sheets, or blankets. Don’t overthink things, if you’re stuck on an item, put it aside and move to the next thing. Keep it simple, but keep going!
