Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words. If you’d like to participate, click here for details.
Today, Marissa tells us how her new baby inspired her to reevaluate and reduce her family’s possessions. By minimizing her stuff, she’s able to maximize the time and attention she can give to her daughter.
Marissa writes:
This is our path towards a more intentional life.
I’ve always had some minimalist tendencies.
I grew up in a suburb where our neighbors had in home saunas next to their pools and sweet sixteen celebrations the size of weddings. While we didn’t live to quite that excess, the gifts spilled out from beneath the tree at Christmastime and shopping bags never failed to fill with each trip to the mall.
Feeling a bit unsettled with my surroundings, I would, on occasion, purge my room of all of the items I thought were junk. Each time, though, my mother would go through the trash/donation piles and make me hold onto the things that I didn’t personally care to keep because they were gifts or had sentimental value to her. I had accepted the ‘junk drawer’ into my life and just figured that was how people lived.
It wasn’t until my husband and I were expecting our first child that things began to change. We were living with my parents at the time and, due to our uncertain future, gratefully accepted any baby related gift or hand-me-down that came our way.
When we finally moved into our own home when our daughter was just 8 weeks old, we were overwhelmed with the amount of things we had acquired for this tiny human. Our eyes were opened to how easily we had fallen victim to baby advertisements and the world of gift registries. Of all the items we registered for and received, we have probably made use of less than 25% of them.
We are taking our time to decide what belongings are helping us and what items are hindering us from living the life we are yearning to live. We are expecting this process of reevaluating our possessions to last the rest of our lives as our lifestyle and needs as a family shift.
What has been the biggest gift so far? Instead of setting our daughter down in something to tend to our other things, we’ve found that we now have the time and the energy to give our new daughter (and pets and each other) our full and undivided attention.
We are already living a much richer life.
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or subscribing to my RSS feed.}
Marissa,
Your story is very inspirational. I, too, have always had minimalist tendencies and to this day, I feel like my journey is still incomplete. I’ve gotten rid of more than half of my personal possessions and I try to be the best person I can be. But it is still a struggle. Most notably, I struggle with the label. Am I a minimalist? I don’t know. For me, it’s a journey that is still incomplete.
Thank you for the inspiration this morning.
Laura Beth
I once told my daughter if she didn’t clean up, her bridal registry would be at the dollar store. Seriously, it strikes me as amazing that people have baby registries at all. I once gave someone a box of Dove soap and a gift card. Most people I know get too many newborn size outfits and not enough paper diapers.
Congratulations on living a richer life with less, and thanks for sharing your inspiring story! :-)
You’re lucky you’ve discovered the value of minimalism now, while your daughter is young. All through my children’s growing up years, I was always thinking I was decluttering, but in truth I was just constantly reorganizing. What a waste of time! One of the best things that ever happened to me was finding Francine Jay. Finally, I was able to see the difference between moving things around and moving things Out. The. Door. So glad your life is richer. I feel the same!
Hi…I like your writing, but I don’t understand why you feature other people instead of writing about minimalism in general (like the post related to your bathroom makeover) or about how YOU live a minimalist life. I subscribe to the RSS feed, but I don’t really like the stories from others…would rather hear what YOU have to say. Thanks…I enjoy your book!
In the 80’s I read all the “tightwad gazette” books when I found them at yard sales. My brother used to make jokes about how cheap I was. One of our priorities was Travelling to family events. We always made room in our budget to see relatives. I really think other people just have different priorities. A friend wanted her daughter to be the best dressed girl in kindergarten.
I am frugal and have been for years. I see no reason to keep more than a month or two’s collection of anything around. Some things spoil, some things are not the best,etc.
I keep an empty shelf in each cabinet. I had an empty dresser and an empty closet. When my daughter got sick and had to move in with us it worked out well. She sold or donated garbage bags full of books and clothes. She also threw out a lot of stuff. I got a lot of beautiful china I have never used. I gave away much of it and now I am ready to donate more.
My daughter just filled another bag for the free table at the food pantry. She had four sweat shirts that she didn’t need. I added a few tee shirts and some art supplies. When I find new tee shirts for a dollar or less I will buy one. Even if the shirt says something odd, I can wear it under a sweatshirt or use it to sleep in.