This is a post in the series, My Minimalism. It’s an ongoing tour of posts with photos sharing areas we have simplified, what minimalism currently looks like for us, and what it may look like for you.
Minimalism will look different for all of us, and I think it’s important we don’t make stuff the focus of this journey. Minimalism is only a vehicle to remove the non-essential so that you can live a more intentional and meaningful life. So please, take my minimalism as just a drop in the bucket and create what works for YOU.
I have four young children, ages 3-11. I spent the first few years of motherhood unable to keep their stuff organized. As I began to de-own my excess stuff (and life), the burdens I allowed in my child’s life became evident. I had enabled the clutter, busyness, and noise to invade their childhood and their bedrooms. I was setting them up to struggle, trapped in the endless cycle of taking care of too much stuff, just as I had.
Thankfully, I found a better way.
This is our three and four-year-old’s bedroom. We made or 725th move nine months ago, and I haven’t gotten around to hanging anything on the walls in their room. (And I don’t feel bad about it at all.) We move often, and I never know how much wall space their new room will have.
They each have a trundle under their bed. One houses a spare bed and the other a few books and stuffed animals.
Their trundle pulled out with a few books and stuffed animals that they love! They do have other toys in the toy room.
Here is our youngest enjoying the carpet space.
Here is their shared closet. The paper bags on the top left hold out of season/size clothing and the plastic bin contains their of season/size shoes. The blue bag is out of season clothing for my eight-year-old. You can see his bedroom here.
Thanks a lot for the tour !
I have minimized most of my house but I struggle with my kids toys as most parents.
Could it be possible to have a tour of the play area to see the volume 3 kids need to entertain themselves. My girls are 5 yrs and 18 months old and I feel they way too much of everything, even though compared to other kids they don’t have that much. They seem to need next to nothing to have fun and yet they have plenty… it’s a daily struggle not to let anything in… 😉
Anyway, thanks for your blog, I love it !
Thanks so much, Cecilia! The struggle is real — things have a way of creeping in 🙂 I will be posting a tour of the playroom next. In the mean time if your up for an experiment, box up and set aside all but roughly 15 toys (give or take). (A bin of legos would count as 1 toy). See how your kids play–maybe they won’t miss much? This technique has been instrumental to help us find ‘our enough’.
I think a good place to start is a toy rotation. Box up ~1/2 their toys and put them away, out of sight. We try to do a toy rotation every 6 weeks-2 months and by doing this we get a pretty good idea of what is ACTUALLY being played with. Toys that have consistently not been played with over a few toy rotations show me that those toys can be moved along to other kids who may find joy with them.
I love this so much Zoe!!!!
Thank you, Robin! xoxo
I love the trundle beds for storage! As well as the dressers – what a great size for kids. Would you be able to share where you got the furniture? Thanks!
Thank you, Bonnie!
The beds were purchased from Pottery Barn and the dressers are inexpensive shelf/drawer combos that you can purchase at most places like target and Lowes.
If we didn’t move so often I would most likely purchase a mountable shelf unit for the closet wall and place it lower for small children.
Hi! I enjoy reading your blog! I’m a member of Joshua Becker’s Uncluttered group and found your blog through our group. Where did you purchase the trundle beds for your children? They are perfect! Thanks!
Hi, Janice!
Thanks for stopping by! I purchased the trundle beds from Pottery Barn — about 8 years ago I think!
So I have to ask….how did you make the transition a smooth one with kids? We have three kiddos and everytime we try to declutter the rooms it is like pulling teeth. Lol. There are so many tears and it becomes such a battle! How did you make this a positive experience?
Hi Kimberly,
I started when my first two kids were 3 and 5. I looked for every opportunity to shift their perspective about stuff. I’ve done this through fun games, consistent casual conversations, sharing our WHY and helping them identify what their why might be and a consistent focus on giving. Of course, their age and personality determines the specific approach but the idea is to think about what would motivate them to let go and embrace something better – like experiences over possessions. Here are a few examples:
Make it fun: We have decluttered the living room/toy bin together and then celebrated with movie night (popcorn and hot chocolate included) in that room. Their efforts had a direct reward that they wanted. Another thing you could do is ask your child if they’d like to set up a tent (store-bought or make-shift) for the weekend in their room for fun (flashlights included–but in order to do so they’ve got to clear out some stuff for the fun. Have them box it up and set it out of sight. This can show your child how less stuff can make more room for fun and maybe even that they didn’t miss the stuff they packed up.
Casual conversations: Rather than tell them how they should feel (grateful) and what they needed to give away (a ton of toys), I focused on inserting little nuggets of the benefits throughout conversations. They might hear me say, I’m so glad (xyz) is all we had to put away, not we have a little more time at the pool!
Sharing your family’s why and help them discover what their why might be. More time doing (xyz). I talked about downsizing as trading. Trading taking care of stuff for spending time at the park.
My kids have also enjoyed looking at the photo documentary Where Children Sleep. It’s photos of children and their bedroom from all over the world. This broadens their perspective and helps them see others have needs and most of the people in the world live with much less and nor do they need 80 toys to live a happy life. Of course, serving the needs of our local community does that too.
At the start of the holiday season, before our kids tell us what they want for Christmas, they write a list of what they’d like to give this holiday season (help a neighbor, hold the door for someone, give a hug, etc). It’s not about stuff, everyone has something to offer without ever going to the store.
Hope this help! Thanks for visiting and commenting. Sorry, my reply took so long.
So I have to ask….how did you make the transition a smooth one with kids? We have three kiddos and everytime we try to declutter the rooms it is like pulling teeth. Lol. There are so many tears and it becomes such a battle! How did you make this a positive experience?
Love this so much! I’m looking for the the trundle beds you bought. Where did you get those? Also looking for the shelving in the closets with the open shelf at the top. I can’t seem to find them in any google searches. Having same trouble with the cubbie shelving in your other son’s closet. Could you share where you purchased those in a reply to me? I would be so grateful! Having another baby in October and we’re running low on space in the house. 🙂
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for visiting! Congratulations! We got those trundle beds 9 or so years ago at Pottery Barn. The shelving is just that really inexpensive storage shelves sold at Lowes or Home Depot. We are always moving so these have come in handy for toys, clothes, and many other things. Hope this helps. Reach out if you have any other questions!