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Archives for June 2016

7 Ways to Make Fitting Multiple Kids in One Room A Lot Easier

June 16, 2016 by Allie Casazza Leave a Comment

There are lots of reasons you might have to fit multiple kids into one bedroom. We’ve done it in most of the houses we’ve lived in. We’re renters, and we enjoy moving from place to place, so things change pretty often for us. We’re also minimalists who like to spend our money on experiences over square footage, so at this point, fitting our kids into one room is a choice that our whole family is used to and enjoys.

We have four little kids (they’re all age seven and under right now), and our oldest is our only girl. So typically we put the three boys in the same room, but we’ve re-arranged that set up over the past few years. One thing is for sure… I’ve learned a lot about the right way to fit multiple kids into one bedroom, and I think I’ve got it down by now.

Whatever your reason for reading this post – moving, downsizing, saving money, or just curiosity – I hope you find my tips for this little lifestyle tweak helpful!

1. Use vertical space whenever you can! This is number one on purpose; it’s the best, most impactful tip I’ve got. Using vertical space over horizontal space is huge for shared bedrooms and small spaces! You can use vertical space in lots of different ways – bunk beds, hooks, shelves, and simply turning things like shelving units on their side to lay tall rather than wide.

2. Utilize the closet in a way that suits your needs best. Kids clothes are shorter, giving you lots of floor and wall space for storage underneath them. We’ve fit an extra dresser under the hanging clothes in a closet before. We’ve also used that area to store the toy bin, shoe racks, we’ve hung hooks under there to store backpacks and hats… get creative, but ask yourself what you could use that space for more than anything else. The added benefit of using this space is that it’s got a door, and can be hidden, so it doesn’t have to be holding pretty things.

3. Another note on the closet – use the top shelf! Because it’s a kids’ room and the top shelf in the closet is obviously too high for them to reach without climbing, lots of parents let it go unused. This space is awesome for that very reason! Use it to store things you don’t want your kids to have free reign on – Lego’s, puzzles, messy art supplies, etc.

4. Apply minimalism when it comes to clothing. We all know I will toot the horn of minimalism until I can toot no more (most awkward sentence on the blog, for sure), but it is really beneficial when it comes to clothing, particularly in a shared space. Our three boys share one large IKEA dresser. You read that right! They have only the clothes they need, wear, that fit currently, and are not stained or damaged. They aren’t lacking any clothes they need, and I don’t store any spare clothing elsewhere – and it all fits just fine into one large dresser. Your kids don’t need as many extra pairs, spares, and hand-me-downs as you might think they do. Go through their clothes and create space by asking yourself the following questions about the articles of clothing they’ve got in there now:

– Does this currently fit and is it in season?

– Is it stained, ripped, or damaged?

– When was the last time this was worn? (more than 4 weeks? Chuck it.)

By the way… This is the dresser we use, and we’ve painted it a bold and bright shade of yellow.

5. Save space by storing things in other areas of the house. Toys (minimalism is huge here too!) can be stored in a bin that goes in the hallway closet, behind the sofa in the living room, if you have a dedicated playroom, get the toys out of the bedroom! Coats, backpacks, and school stuff can be moved to the entryway or mudroom. Hooks serve a marvelous purpose here! You could also opt for something a little different and more of a statement, like we did. We have a set of four lockers that we painted a bright white. Each kid has an assigned locker, and that’s where their daily-use stuff goes.

6. Use wheels to make room-sharing with young kids easier (and quieter). Put things that your kids like to use in carts with casters so they can roll it out of the room when siblings are napping. We do this with favorite books, art supplies, and things like puzzles and block sets. This way, if the baby needs to take a nap, the older boys can wheel out their activity cart and use it in the living room. We have two activity carts and could honestly use a couple more for different purposes!

7. Solve the problem of chaotic early morning wake ups once and for all! You know how once one kid wakes up, they’re all up? I’ve been forced to come up with a solution to this common parental woe because it was do or die for me. Here’s my solution:  a giant digital clock. Get yours, hang it up, and explain what time it has to say for them to use loud voices and/or come out of their room. Get ready for a couple weeks of being annoyingly consistent! But then, all of a sudden, it works. One of two things will start to happen.

They’ll either decide it’s not worth waking up if they can’t come out and begin to sleep longer, or they’ll catch on to the rules and stay in their (somewhat) quietly until the magical time appears on their wall. Stick with it, and it gets awesome. I promise.

Filed Under: minimalism, motherhood

How Minimalism is Biblical

June 8, 2016 by Allie Casazza 2 Comments

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We live in a society of who’s got more? Who’s house is cuter? Who’s better off? We’ve waved goodbye to keeping up with the Jones’ and entered into Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Things are high stakes, go big or go home. 

In this world of extremes, it all boils down to stuff. We glorify it, can’t stop buying it, seek it out, idolize it. But it’s a dead end, and people are starting to figure that out.

Minimalism is really starting to make an impact and people are discovering the incredible freedom that comes with letting go of excess.

There is so much tied to the philosophy of minimalism. It’s a life spent pursuing what really matters, saying no to anything that distracts from that, and intentionally living with less.

I think minimalism often gets tied to the modern, New Age belief system – being centered, focused, purposely going without things for the sake of getting closer to the universe and inward progression.

I think a lot of people picture a meditating hippie who boasts about owning less than a hundred things, to be blunt. And while that exists and there’s a whole other world about that, it has nothing to do with how I live, and there is another side to it.

Minimalism has been a part of my life for over three years now, and through my journey, I have seen how closely knit it is to my faith.

As a firm believer in God, Christ, and as someone who walks hand in hand with Him, I would like to point out how minimalism lines up directly with what I believe and how it has bettered my walk with Jesus.
 


FOCUS ON YOUR PURPOSE

The Bible has a lot to say about material things and the love of our possessions. It’s very clear that we are called to be focused on our purpose, on God, and on the people in our lives. There are an alarming amount of verses on this topic, yet most people live their lives like there are none. This isn’t really talked about much, other than the love of money, which is not the same thing at all. God has been very specific with us regarding the love of possessions in particular.

 

POUR LOVE INTO ETERNAL THINGS

We are to be untied to our earthly possessions. God’s called us to pour our love into eternal things. He tells us something we need to remember about our hearts – they are in what we treasure most.

 

PRIORITIZE WHAT MATTERS MOST

There is so much more to be gained in focusing on living a godly life and in being a content person. Nothing is truly ours, and we can’t take any of it with us when this life is over, so why prioritize it now?


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live intentionally

Living intentionally is our calling. We are not supposed to get distracted by this world and what it values. We are called to more than that!

 


 

Every single one of us has a purpose laid out for us by God Himself. Minimalism, for me, is about removing anything that would keep me from the pursuit of that purpose.

I know my purpose is to stand by my husband and do life with him, to raise my four kids to be world-changers, and to minister to my fellow women through words. Living a minimalist life is one of the only ways I can do all that.

Without the distraction of constantly having the TV on, without mountains of laundry needing to be washed, without loads of dishes needing to be rinsed, and without tons of toys, books, and random things needing to be picked up and put away all the time, I would be lost, distracted, and not at all purposeful.

WANT A LITTLE EXTRA MOTIVATION?

HERE’S AN EPISODE of the purpose show that’S RELATED TO THIS TOPIC!

 

 


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Filed Under: intentional living, minimalism

How to De-Stress Your Home in Ten Minutes

June 2, 2016 by Allie Casazza Leave a Comment

You know that feeling when the baby’s crying, the toddler needs his butt wiped, dinner’s burning on the stove, the laundry hasn’t been switched in eight hours, and you can’t remember when your last shower was?

Yeah, I know it well. That’s why I did a live stream about it the other day. Hashtag mom life, right?

Well, sort of. I mean chaos is the name of the game when you’ve got little ones, but the thing I’ve learned in my mommy years is that there are things you can do to calm the chaos and cut the clutter in your life, and that’s such a comfort in the desperate years! I’m gonna break down a few key ways you can de-stress your home in just ten minutes.

Note: maybe your mess is too much to knock out in ten minutes – that’s okay! Just work on one of these things for ten minutes, and if it’s not perfect when the timer goes off, at least it’s better than when you started. Progress, not perfection.

Ten Minute De-Stress Ideas

  • Go through the pile of dirty laundry you have waiting for you. Are there any pieces of clothing in there that aren’t really needed? Anything that doesn’t fit anymore? Anything that’s super worn out? Anything that you don’t really like? Get rid of it! Work through the pile till you only have what you know your family likes, needs, and wears regularly. Now Laundry Mountain is a little smaller!
  • Give the surfaces in your house some attention. Is there paperwork or clutter on any of them? What about the unexpected surfaces like the top of the fridge, microwave, or cabinets? Do a surface clean-up for ten minutes. Throw away trash, sort paperwork, and put toys and random items in the rooms they belong in.
  • Get a large empty laundry hamper. Go through your house with it collecting anything and everything you see that isn’t where it belongs. When you’re done, carry the hamper with you throughout the house and put everything away.
  • You can do the above idea the same way, but with items that you don’t even need to keep! Carry the hamper through the house collecting any items you see that are not something you really need, that’s used regularly. Dump the items in the hamper into a trash bag and put it in the back of your car for a trip to Goodwill this week. Doesn’t that feel good??
  • Take your kids into their bedroom (or wherever their toys are kept) and tell them there are lots of kids who are poor, and do not have any toys. Give them a box or bag and excitedly tell them they get to choose ten toys they don’t play with that they would like to give to another child who needs them. Make it a happy, exciting ordeal! Take the toys to the donation center with them this week. You purged, helped someone else out, and taught your kids empathy all in one shot. Awesome!

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  • Go into your bathroom and take a look at all your hair and makeup products. Put everything you don’t use on a weekly basis into a box. Throw it away. Wipe down the counter tops, toilet, and edge of the bathtub. Voila! Clean and organized bathroom in ten minutes.
  • Head into your kitchen. Set a timer for five minutes and wash dishes until it goes off. Spend the next five minutes wiping down counters and sweeping up crumbs. Maybe your kitchen isn’t completely detailed, but it surely looks better and you feel a lot better!
  • Go through your house and make all the beds. If your kids are home and old enough, have them make their own. Made beds make for a tidy house and a happy mama!
  • Go through your house with the mindset to straighten up. Fluff the throw pillows, rearrange the pillows on the beds, wipe down and rearrange the items on the nightstands, put a cute stack of books on your coffee table, pick some flowers from outside for your dining room table, straighten up for ten minutes and see how much better you feel afterward!
  • Focus on the entryway. This is the first things you see when you walk in your house, so it’s important! Straighten it up. Put shoes in the closet they belong in, hang fallen coats on the hooks, arrange the kids’ backpacks in a way that looks better, sweep, wipe down the baseboards. All clean!

There you have it. Some simple, doable ideas to decompress the stress in your house in just ten minutes. Sometimes things like this are the difference between a horrible day and an “Yay! I made it!” day. Keep on keepin’ on, mama.

 

Filed Under: motherhood

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