This article will provide you with a few tips on how to create a minimalist family home. A minimalist family home is not about creating a house that is sparse and empty. It is about creating a space that has everything that you need and nothing you don’t. A place where the things that are there are beautiful, comfortable, and functional. It’s also about removing unnecessary clutter and therefore chores from your household and life. The more things you have, the more things to clean. The more cluttered your house is, the longer it takes to find things and put things away, and essentially, the more cluttered your mind can become.
What is a minimalist family home?
Family homes are often cluttered with toys, clothes, and other things. However, a minimalist family home is not about how much stuff you have but rather how little. It’s a home that doesn’t have any unnecessary furniture or decorations that take up space. It’s about only having exactly what you need and use, whilst having minimal decoration and no clutter.
Creating a more minimalist family home isn’t just about having a neat and tidy home, it’s also about freeing up your mind and time so you have more time to do the things you enjoy and spend less time cleaning constant clutter! It’s about creating a positive living space for your mind and body.
It’s not for everyone, but if you are overwhelmed with stuff and want a simpler life at home, then a minimalist family home could be the solution. Minimalist homes are not just for adults, they also have advantages for children. If it sounds like this will make your home your happy place, then read on to learn the benefits and some tips for creating and maintaining this lifestyle.
What are the benefits of a minimalist family home?
A minimalist family home is a great idea for those who are looking to simplify their lives. Minimalist homes are less cluttered and more open, which can make them easier and more enjoyable to live in. Minimalism helps to keep the house tidy and organised by reducing the amount of stuff that needs to be stored in it. It can also make it easier for you to find what you need when you need it!
As well as this, a minimalist family home can help provide ample space for each member to do their own thing without interfering with others.
The benefits of a minimalist family home can be summed up in the following points:
- There’s less clutter
- The house is easier to clean
- There are fewer objects so less things to worry about breaking
- It’s easier to maintain
- There’s less stress
- More relaxed lifestyle
- Find things easily when you need them
- Save money on storage space
How to create and maintain a minimalist family home
A minimalist family home is one where the occupants live with only the essentials. The idea of this is to make your home comfortable and clutter-free, while still having everything you need. Here are some tips for how to create a minimalist family home and how to maintain it:
Declutter
Therefore, the first step in creating or maintaining a minimalist family home is to declutter your space. This will allow you to see what you actually need and what you don’t. If there are items that are not used regularly, then it’s time to either donate them, sell them, recycle them or as a last resort, throw them away.
If your hoarding is out of control and you need some more help then check out these decluttering tips for hoarders.
Organise the remainder of your belongings
For items that are used regularly, it’s important to store them in an organised way so they’re easy to find when needed. There are some instances where you will need to keep some excess items, for example, spare sets of bedding, spare winter jackets, spare towels and so on. Plus, if you have kids, young children in particular, then they will have some toys. So it’s simply a case of implementing storage solutions and spaces for these things to go when they are not needed or being used, to maintain a clutter-free home.
This doesn’t have to be daunting or complicated and you can find some affordable and practical zip-up storage bags from companies such as Lifewit who sell storage solutions on Amazon. Storage bags can be used to store bedding neatly in cupboards and maximise the available space. They can also be used to store bedding under the bed or toys in a child’s bedroom.
Get storage drawers with dividers for your underwear drawers and other drawers with bits and bobs that could do with organising so you can easily find things, easily put things away and stop a tangled mess from occurring.
To organise clothes in your wardrobe use hangers for tops and a hanging closet organiser to fold and store trousers, maximising the space available from the bottom to the top of the wardrobe.
Got nowhere to store your shoes? Try an under the bed shoe storage organiser to keep shoes together in pairs and off the hallway floor! Or, if you have the space, add shoe shelving or a shoe cupboard to keep them neatly tidied away.
Stay on top of decluttering
In a family household, it can be very easy to build up a lot of belongings again as the children are constantly growing out of clothes and toys, tastes are changing and they each have birthday presents and Christmas presents bringing more stuff into the house several times a year!
The best trick is to stay on top of this potential clutter by being organised. For example, hang a bag in each child’s wardrobe where they, or you, can put their outgrown clothes as soon as this is noticed. The same for toys, books and other belongings once they no longer want them, use them or need them. Then, once these bags are full you can either sell, donate or recycle the belongings. Staying on top of this task with a bagful to sort at any one time will make it an easier task, rather than leaving belongings to pile up for years and being overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that needs sorting.
Bonus – you can make money from your unwanted goods!
You can even make money from your unwanted items that are in good condition by selling them on eBay or other similar sites. It’s quick and easy to do with the eBay app. Again, if you find this too overwhelming if you have too much stuff to begin with, then break it down into a more manageable task. Start by listing one item per day, then two, then three. Eventually, things will begin to sell and your pile of unwanted belongings will go down. Plus you’ll have some extra money from the sales which can inspire you to keep going and sell even more stuff you don’t need!
Of course, you can always donate good quality items to charity shops or give them away for free to your local community using Facebook. I did read an article once about how giving to charity shops themselves is not always the most eco solution and eBay can sometimes be better. Some charity shops are apparently overwhelmed with clothing donations and they end up sending them overseas or to the rag trade, or they even end up in landfills. Simply because they get too much and can’t sell it fast enough. This does make me think they need to sell things a lot cheaper in charity shops! Some of ours sell things at almost the new price! But that’s another story. On eBay you can sell to a person who you know is going to use the item and you can choose to donate the profits or a percentage of the profits to a charity.
Stay on top of the clutter and mess
As easy as it is for more belongings to creep into your family home, it’s also easy for the mess to creep in. Make tidying a habit – little and often, rather than leaving it all to build up into one massive chore. Some tips to keep your family house tidy and clean with ease are:
- Put things away after using them, especially in easily cluttered spaces like the kitchen and bathroom.
- Avoid overbuying items like cleaning products or toiletries and needing more storage solutions for the excess! Simply buy what you need and one spare max! Once the one has ran out, it’s time to use the spare and now you can buy one more to replace the spare. Or even have a go at making your own cleaning products.
- Pop things on the bottom of the stairs that need to go upstairs and make sure the next person to go upstairs takes them up. Oh, and actually puts them away. And vice-versa with things coming downstairs.
- Get the kids involved in tidying. Use storage boxes for their toys so they can easily put their own toys away. Get children’s sized wardrobes so they can reach the hanging rail.
Stop buying poor quality goods
Another good point to make would be to reassess the quality of the things you are buying. Is your home full of things because you buy cheap goods of poor quality and then need to buy another product of the same soon after? Instead of always looking for the cheapest product or item of furniture that could lack longevity, instead spend a little more when you can on a higher quality product that will last. This will also help you save money in the long run.
Final word
Maintaining a minimal family home is not about living in a tiny house. It’s about living with less stuff. The idea is that you have the basics, but not too much more. Reducing your possessions can be a great way to save money and give you more time for what matters most to you. It’s also an easy way to reduce your environmental footprint and live more sustainably.
The benefits of a minimalist family home are endless. It is free from clutter. It is spacious, clean, and calm. Mindless hours wasted tidying up stuff and things are no more. It’s certainly a lifestyle choice and easy to maintain once you are on top of it and dedicated.
I’ve started buying more quality products that last longer!
Very interesting, thank you. It’s surprising how much strategising storage can take, but once it’s figured out it makes things so much easier.
Looking forward to getting this big W and the blog is a good read to. Thanks.
I love a good declutter. I don’t think we’ll ever have a minimalist home as my husband is a bit of hoarder, but I can at least keep it contained 🙂