Minimalism with Kids: 5 Things You Need to Remember

Downsides / Minimalism

Inside: Minimalism with kids looks so different than the picture painted by certain minimalist bloggers. If you’re feeling disillusioned, you need to remember these five things.

What drew me to minimalism is what draws most moms these days:

  • the promise of a cleaner house
  • the time to do all the things I wanted to do
  • less exhaustion at the end of the day

Minimalism did give me more time and less exhaustion.

But that perfectly clean house? Well, I’m still waiting on that one.

I love Allie Casazza and Joshua Becker and most of the other strong voices in minimalism today. I agree with their message one hundred and ten percent: less stuff will change your life.

However, moms with little kids sometimes hear that message and add on to it, without even realizing it. They also forget that while single minimalists are able to make their own choices about what to get rid of and what to keep, we moms are dealing with multiple, possibly conflicting, voices and opinions.

After hearing gushing testimonials, moms jump into minimalism with unrealistic expectations about what minimalism can (and can’t) do for them.

How do I know? Because I did, too.

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How Minimalism Can HURT Your Budget

Downsides / Finances / Home / Minimalism
a downside to minimalism, minimalist consumer

Inside: Minimalism promises freedom from consumerism. But what should you do if instead of setting you free, minimalism makes it worse?

The kitchen displayed so perfectly in the photos was divine. The clutter-free marble countertops (granite, maybe?), called to me.

I couldn’t help but glance around my own kitchen with dismay. 

The blogger mentioned the few items surrounding her sink, one of which was a simple human soap dispenser. The second I saw it and read what she loved about it, I knew.

I wanted that soap dispenser – two of them, actually: one for dish soap and one for hand soap. They looked both functional and beautiful, something I look for specifically in anything I buy for our home, new or second-hand.

I hopped over to Amazon right away and was SOOOO close to clicking “add to cart”…until I stopped to do the math.

I realized that together, they would cost $30.

Thirty dollars. Not that big a deal, you say.

Well, it is a big deal when that thirty dollars is about half the wiggle room you have in your budget every month.

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A Challenge to Minimalist Moms (from the Heart of a Child)

Downsides / Minimalism
minimalism moms

Inside: How we do minimalism with kids will affect how they see minimalism: for better, or for worse.

My son cried today. Not just a whine or a single tear, but deep, gut-wrenching sobs.

Did he get hurt? Did one of his siblings hurt his feelings, take away a toy, exclude him from a game?

Nope. It wasn’t any of those things.

It was me. I did it. And I caused those tears by doing something any minimalist mom might do.

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The Cost of Minimalism

Downsides / Minimalism
cost of minimalism

Inside: Minimalism has amazing benefits for moms, but if we aren’t careful, our desire for control over the stuff in our homes can negatively affect our relationships.

It was a purple airplane with orange wings – big, ugly, and cheap-looking. Such a simple thing, but it taught me such a profound lesson about another potential downside to minimalism, one I had never really thought about before.

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The Downside to Minimalism (that no one likes to talk about)

Downsides / Minimalism
minimalism white privilege, minimalism for the upper class

Inside: Minimalism is life-changing, but there are downsides to minimalism, especially if you start from a place of less.

Minimalism is in. Marie Kondo has become a household name, and even Emily Gilmore jumped on the decluttering bandwagon!

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