Minimalism - Find Your Why
Many people shy away from the term “minimalism.” And I totally get it! I used to think it was a crazy idea where you only had one dish for each person in your house and 5 pieces of clothing. I thought if you called yourself a minimalist your home couldn’t be decorated and you had to only own sleek, white, IKEA furniture. But I was wrong.
Minimalism is being intentional with the things that take up space in your life. Only the important things are allowed.
When I feel tired and don’t want to do something that is on my cleaning routine, or I want to leave that load of laundry in the dryer until tomorrow, or I don’t want to take the time go through that box that I’ve put off, I remember my why.
Anxiety is something that has been a part of most of my life. For a while I didn’t know that’s what it was called, but it was there. Fast forward to my early 30s and it was quite a bit stronger than it had been. I had all the things going on. Most were really good things, but there were a lot of them. I also was beginning to accumulate all the stuff. We had planted a church, had a new baby, a soon to be teenage son, and a new-to-us beautiful home. This was the first home we had owned since we were married and I felt like I needed all the things. And so I slowly accumulated “stuff”. I’m a really frugal shopper and have found some incredible deals, so it wasn’t like I was blowing the budget.
Here is the funny thing. Perfectionism is another one of the things I have struggled with. And I had been asked a few times if I was a minimalist due to my clear countertops and tidy pantry. I always laughed and said, “of course not!”
But when I begin to realize that freeing my home of the things that aren’t important. When I began to be intentional about what I allowed in my home, things changed. I mean, they REALLY changed.
It no longer takes me hours to clean out a closet. I can usually deep clean most spaces in 30 minutes or less, because there isn’t really much to clean out or RE-organize. RE-organizing, organizing again, and again, and again was something I used to use a lot of my time to do.
When my daughter takes all of her toys out. And she does take them ALL out fairly often, I don’t feel panic wash over me. We can pick them up in just a few minutes.
When I’m exhausted and ready to climb in the bed, I know it will take 10 minutes or less to do my nightly pickup and have a tidy main level to walk into the next morning.
When someone needs my help, I can usually find the time to step away from my responsibilities and help due to the margin I’ve worked into my schedule.
When I feel overwhelmed and worried that I won’t get it all done, I stick to my planner and know that I can. (Because I haven’t overcommitted my day.)
When I find out we have friends passing through and my husband failed to mention that they might stay the night and I find out an hour before they come, I don’t freak out. (And trust me, five years ago I might have cried.) But I know the guest room is ready and we can quickly tidy the house to be ready. One of my favorite things in the world is having friends over and have them comment that they feel comfortable and at home in my home.
These are just a few of my whys.
Just last week I was had put my little girl to bed and was really looking forward to falling in the bed myself when I remembered that I hadn’t cleaned the bathroom yet. The day had been crazy and a few things took quite a bit longer than expected. I took a deep breath and took the 10 minutes to clean it. (I’ve timed it for those of you who follow me on Instagram - it takes so much less time than we think it will.) I took the time because of my why. I love having a clean house. Does it look picture perfect all the time? No way! I’m looking at some random things right now right past my laptop. But I knew I would start fresh the next day with a clean bathroom and I grabbed that why and cleaned it.
When you find your why, it will be the thing you hold on to when you don’t want to do yet another purge of your kids’ toys. You will think of it when you’re in Target and tempted by those really good end-cap clearance deals. You will think of it before over-buying Christmas presents that are only things to take up space.
Take some time and write down what you want your home to look and feel like. What do you want your schedule to look like? That is your why. I know you can find margin for the good things in your life!
Please share your why in the comments. I would love to read them!