intentional living

Ep 065: The Beginner’s Guide to A Minimalist Home

August 22, 2018

I'm allie

I'm here to shake things up and challenge the status quo of motherhood. Let's throw out the old rulebook and create a new narrative where moms are living their dream lives unapologetically.

hi, friend

Feel like you need a total revamp?

gimme

I get it, daily routines can be overwhelming. But you? You're seeking life ownership. Dive into this beloved guide and tap into easy self-reflection, without overtaxing your brain.

How do you feel when you walk your home? Do you feel happy? Calm? Overwhelmed? Angry? Depressed? Resentful? Blessed? Do you feel like you just don’t even have time to care about how you feel? Because I’ve been there. And now I want you to answer this: How do you want to feel when you walk into your home? Do your answers to those two questions match? If not, I want to help you get to the place where they match and you feel good walking into your home.

There is a connection between minimalism and motherhood. We have to move beyond organization and dive deep into decluttering to experience the joy that comes with minimalism. Once we do that, we can truly enjoy motherhood more! I promise I’m not going to offer you some kind of ridiculous cleaning schedule or a set of tasks to check off every day, because that’s unrealistic. I am here to give you something that will last – I am giving you the gift of less so that you can have more.

 

 

 

In This Episode, Allie Discusses:

  • How minimalism and motherhood are connected.

  • The difference between organization and decluttering, and the value decluttering brings that organization doesn’t.

  • Practical ways you can begin to declutter your home from room to room.

Mentioned in this Episode:

 

 

Mom life. We are surrounded with the message that it’s the tired life. The no-time-for-myself life. The hard life. And while it is hard and full of lots of servitude, the idea that motherhood means a joyless life is something I am passionate about putting a stop to. I’m on a mission to help you stop counting down the minutes till bedtime, at least most days. I want you to stop cleaning up after your kid’s childhood and start being present for it. Start enjoying it. I believe in John 10:10 “that we are called to abundant life” and I know mothers are not excluded from that promise. Join me in conversations about simplicity, minimalism and lots of other good stuff that leads to a life of less for the sake of enjoying more in your motherhood. I’m Allie Casazza and this is The Purpose Show.

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Hey, sweet friends! Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Purpose Show. Whether it is your first time listening or you’ve heard every single episode, I am so glad you’re here and really thankful for you and you’re listening. It helps me out so much when you listen and even more when you leave a review. So hit me up over there and leave a review for me.

Side Note: if you do leave a review, email hello@alliecasazza.com with a screenshot of that review and you’ll be entered to win a giveaway of any course of your choosing. We give away a course from reviews every single month. So get on it!

Okay. Today I want to give you the beginner’s guide to a minimalist home. If you’ve been around here for a while, if I’ve already helped you minimize your home, maybe you’re a student in Your Uncluttered Home or Unburdened, or you were in my Monthly Membership Site, or maybe you’ve just kind of taken in some of my free stuff and you’ve kind of done a DIY version of your house, this could serve as some re-inspiration for you. We all need that every once in a while, right?

But if you’re new to this idea or you don’t even really see the connection between minimalism and motherhood, you don’t really know why I’m talking about this or you’ve done nothing yet, I’m super excited for you because this is everything to me. This is what I do and this is the foundation of my story and how my entire life changed for the better.

My motherhood got so much lighter, simpler, more positive and more intentional. I will link to my story in the show notes for this episode. You can find that at alliecasazza.com/shownotes/065. I’ll link to my story there just in case you’re new here, you found me some way and you don’t really know my background and why I do what I do and where it all started. It’s really important, integral and really a powerful story that I’d love for you to read.

But I want to ask you to start this off, how do you feel when you walk your home? I seriously want you to maybe press pause, think about it and answer to yourself. Right now. I don’t want you to just skip over this part and just think it’s a rhetorical question. It’s not. I really want you to pause and ask yourself that.

Think about the last couple of times you walked into your home or maybe don’t think about that. Think about in general over the span of your motherhood, how do you usually typically feel when you walk into your home? Do you feel happy? Calm? Overwhelmed? Angry? Depressed? Resentful? Blessed? Do you feel like you just don’t even have time to give two craps how you feel? Because I’ve been there.

But I just want to encourage you to really stop for a second and kind of just say out loud the first emotion or thought that popped up for you when you asked yourself that question. How do you feel when you walk into your home typically?

And now I want you to answer this: How do you want to feel when you walk into your home? Do your answers to those two questions match? If not, this episode is specifically for you sweet friend.

I know how you feel because I have so been there, but let me give you a virtual hug and a big, big heaping scoop of hope. It does not have to be like that anymore. Really it doesn’t. I promise I’m not going to offer you some kind of ridiculous cleaning schedule or a set of tasks to check off every day that’s unrealistic. I am here to give you something that will last – the gift of less so that you can have more.

All around us magazines and Pinterest graphics are telling you how to get organized and organization is the answer and rearrange the way that you have things set up and they kind of thrive on the fake, fresh-start syndrome.

Think about how you feel when Monday’s rolling around. Somehow this week is going to be different even though you haven’t really done anything to change how things are going to go and so the week goes the same as all your weeks do. “Tomorrow I’m going to start eating healthy and everything’s going to be different.” But you didn’t really go shopping, meal prep, and come up with a plan. Do anything different than you normally do. So tomorrow, guess what? You’re gonna get discouraged. You’re going to probably fail. You’re going to feel like a failure and you’re going to eat the same way that you always do come the afternoon.

Organization is that way. These magazines and Pinterest articles thrive on that fresh-start syndrome. “This is your solution. You just need to get organized. You don’t need that. You just need to rearrange the way you have things set up. Here, let us tell you the ‘secret.’ (These people love that word.) Let us tell you the secrets of what you’re doing wrong and this is going to help you.”

All organization is going to do is have you moving things around that you don’t even need. They’re still in your way. When you move things around and you get organized, you really just rearranging stuff that you don’t even really need. It’s not working for you.

And what’s going to happen to all that organized stuff. It’s going to end up back on the floor, back on the dining room table, spread across all the surfaces in your house, back everywhere that you don’t want it, that you organized it off of in the first place a week ago.

Because organization is not a real solution. It’s a band-aid on a bullet wound. I want you to actually let go of the stuff you have in your home that you don’t need, the things that aren’t adding to your life or helping you fulfill your purpose.

When you have less in your way, you have more time, more energy and more space. I mean space emotionally, mentally and physically so that you can focus on what really matters.

This is where my story comes in. Again, please head to show notes to read my story if you’re unfamiliar. It’s super crucial when I talk about this.

I am just here to tell you, it’s literally the biggest smile on my face that you can feel at peace, that you can feel happy and relaxed and fulfilled when you walk into your home on any given day. Even if you’re kind of out of sorts. Even if your house isn’t perfect. You can still breathe and know that you don’t have to run around like a headless chicken trying to keep up, trying to keep things clean, because they just stay cleaner and things are easier and less maintenance when there’s less stuff.

You can spend about 30 minutes of your day maintaining your house instead of 4 hours. Truly.

I always say that I spend about 30 minutes every day just kind of maintaining the cleanliness of my house and I’ve heard that statement echoed in student after student after student in Your Uncluttered Home because when you go all in and you really make this happen for yourself, you really do this, you really declutter, you let me take your hand (virtually) and ‘talk guide’ you through every area of your home, you don’t even realize all the junk that’s been in your way. All the stuff that was holding you back. You can get things down to 30 minutes or less of regular, just picking up, maintaining your house maintenance every single day. You can spend your weekends enjoying your family instead of catching up on the laundry. How awesome would that be?

I want you to really think about what that reality would feel like for you. I hope for a lot of you listening, it’s not far off from what you have now, but if it is far off, I want you to understand that this is real. This isn’t some random dream I’m describing to try to bait you. I’m here to help you. This podcast is free. I’m here to help you and tell you there’s hope.

And I want you to also think since you kind of thought about what your home feels like for you, what does your home feel like for your family? Maybe you’ll be brave enough to ask them today. Maybe you kind of know based on their actions and their words. If you’re afraid of their answer, I’ve been there too. I remember nagging Brian, my husband, about how hard keeping up with the with my role was and just how I wish he helped out more pretty much every night. It was just a constant struggle of whose job is harder, and “Oh my gosh, I wish you would would’ve come home sooner. It’s been so crazy today. I have so much to do.” Spending my evenings rushing around, cleaning up after the kids went to bed, instead of sitting on the couch watching The Office with him, which is what I really wanted to do.

I remember being the mom who yelled. The mom who was always behind, always cleaning up and really never enjoying her family. I want you to know that your home can be a true haven for you and your family and it all starts with you. You set the tone.

If we can get you simplified and feeling lighter, it’s going to show on your face. It’s going to show in your voice and that’s gonna have a massive, incredible, positive impact on the people that you love who share your space.

I think a lot of us think that keeping our home needs to take up the bulk of our time, but when you choose to let go of what you don’t need, of what isn’t serving you, you have less to maintain in your home and less time to spend on it.

Minimalism is so much more than a clean house. I mean, that’s definitely a perk. I love that part of it, but it’s really not about that. It’s about creating the time and space you need to be a present mom, to live a purposeful life that you love. It’s about getting to your 80th birthday party and knowing you were there. You didn’t just clean up after your life. You lived it.

So how do we get there? I really believe it all starts at home. It did for me and I’ve seen it start there for thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of other mamas all over the globe. I’m super passionate about this. Now that I’ve built this up for you and made you see the weight of this, the hugeness of this awesomeness that is a minimalist lifestyle that doesn’t have to be stereotype, irritating and all white with succulents and no furniture, that you can have a beautiful home that fits your personality and however you like to decorate and it’s just about not having extra crap in your way taking up your time and that you feel that. You understand it.

How do you start though? How do you get to the 80th birthday party place? Obviously, you’re going to have to do some work to get to that point. I mean, anything that beautiful doesn’t come easily. Right?

And so, I want to walk you through just a few of the main areas in your home and how you can start to implement minimalism there. We’re going to keep this real basic, real brief. Okay?

All right. Let’s start with the kitchen. I don’t think any room is as integral as the kitchen. Everything happens here. Even if you’re not much of a cook, school lunches are prepared there, their family dinners are made there or unpacked there, if you’re a takeout kind of family, coffee is brewed there. This room is basically grand central station for you as the mom in your family.

So start simplifying in here by getting rid of some of the dishes. Most of us have way more dishes than we need and it’s kind of weird. I don’t know why we feel like we need three different sets of dishes all the time. Unless you’re the Duggar’s, you don’t. Take a look at your cups and your mugs. How many do you have? Why do you have so many? What do you really use and love? What kind of a person are you? Do you host a lot? Do you need extra mugs and extra cups? That’s fine. Maybe you could store them in a separate cupboard than the ones that your family uses day to day. That way people aren’t able to grab so many new ones and they have to rinse and reuse their cups from earlier that day. That’s going to create a lot less dishes for you. You could do the same thing with your plates, bowls and your kids’ plates. All of that.

Let go of the excess. Why do we have so much?

So just to give you an example, we have gone through many different seasons in our family. We originally had just enough cups, plates and bowls and all that for our own family and maybe a couple spares for if somebody came over. I was in a very, very much survival season of my life. My husband was working 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, sometimes 7. He was gone all the time. It was very much a solo parenting time of my life. I am very thankful to Brian for that time because he provided and I was able to stay home. It was just a different season of our life and I very much needed to simplify it every way possible.

I did not have a spare second to lose. I needed to preserve my energy and be able to be present with my babies. I had four kids under 5. It was crazy. It was total chaos and I needed every single second counted. So I kept everything incredibly minimal. We were on a very tight budget. We weren’t doing a lot of hosting. It was survival mode season and my minimalism reflected that.

Now, fast forward about six years later and things are just very different. I have the business. Brian and I are home together all day, kind of running it side by side. We homeschool the kids. Money is different. Our schedule is different. We love to open up our home and host. We invested in the home that we have now, the actual home itself and the way that it’s decorated and how much we poured into it because we love to open it up.

We just hosted some friends of ours for about nine days. We’re constantly hosting things. I’ve got a movie night here at our house for my church’s mom’s group tomorrow, and then the next day is book club at my house. We are literally constantly hosting. I have lots of extra cups and mugs in my home. They are just in a different cabinet than my daily ones, like I said earlier.

So you’ve got to know who you are. You’ve got to know your season. Why do you have what you have? Do you really, truly need it? I know that my extra mugs and cups are going to get used at least once a month. That’s bare minimum. If they get used once in a month, that’s rare for us. We usually host something every week, so I know that for me.  But before that wasn’t how I was. I didn’t have all that extra stuff. I just didn’t need it. I wasn’t there.

Where are you at? Who are you as a mom. Who are you as a family?

And then after that, take a look at your appliances. Those are such space hogs and a lot of the time we don’t realize how many we’ve been storing for years and not using at all. So sometimes you’ll find that one appliance has the same features as another appliance you already own and you don’t need duplicates. So pick one.

For example, I recently noticed that I had two milk for frothers. I don’t really know how that happened, but I did. I had two milk frothers, so I donated one of them and kept the one that I liked and used the most. A lot of people will have a Kitchenaid stand mixer as well as a Kitchenaid hand mixer. Do you really need both of those? Pick one. What do you use the most? It’s okay to say, this is an awesome item and it costs money, but I really never use it. I haven’t used it in a year. I’m going to donate it or I’m going to sell it.

Let go of what you don’t use. Go through your kitchen with this mentality. Re-listen to this episode and play this section again. Why do you have what you have? Do you really need it?

Side note: there is a free guide that goes with this. It’s all about decluttering the laundry and the dishes. It’s one of my most popular downloads because it’s really straightforward, but detailed and helpful for the two biggest time suckers in your home. So head to alliecasazza.com/shownotes/065 and get that for yourself. It’s totally free. It’s a fan favorite and it’s super helpful.  

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Hey friend! I’m so excited to tell you about my upcoming free online class: 3 Weeks To Minimalist Motherhood.

In this class, you are going to learn the secret to not living your life in a state of constant overwhelm. It’s minimalism and it’s going to have you cleaning, yelling, stressing, and nagging a whole lot less. I’m also going to show you how you can take a bite out of this secret process and start right away.

We’re going to go over the three biggest time and energy sucking areas of your home and I’m going to show you how to get started in those areas – Now!

In 3 weeks, you will have a much more minimal motherhood and you’ll be feeling a lot lighter.

I’m also going to give you an exclusive discount on my course, Your Uncluttered Home, and show you the next step after you get started so you can go all the way and change your home and your life for good.

These online classes are always in serious demand and they don’t come around too often, so I want you to snag a spot. Make sure you get one and sign up.

You can go to alliecasazza.com/freeclass. It’s totally free!

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The next section of your home I’d like to walk you through is your kids’ rooms. Most people think that kids equal clutter, there’s just not much you can do about it, it is what it is, but I completely disagree.

I think kids mean messes, but not clutter. I believe mothers need minimalism more than anybody and that kids need it too. I think you can start by simplifying your kids wardrobes easiest. A lot of the time, we keep a lot of clothing options and hand-me-downs for our kids just because it feels weird to get rid of them when we “might” need them, but what it does is just gives us overstuffed drawers and extra things to clean because if it’s in the dresser the kids are going to put it on at some point because kids change a billion times a day if they have enough clothes to do so.

So, pare down what you know your kids don’t like and don’t fit in. Keep just what your kids like. What do they fit in? What do they actually wear? What are you okay with them wearing? I’m not a big believer in “play clothes” a.k.a. clothes that are stained and torn and awful that you are okay with your kids getting dirty in. But then when you need to run out to the store or it’s time to go to a dinner thing with family members, you have to change your kids again. You just created extra laundry.

So, what I do is I shop for my kids at places like H&M, or Target. I do some “small shop shopping” because if you’ve hung around my Instagram at all you know that I’m a big believer in supporting small shops, but I’m also realistic and have a budget and I love stores like H&M and Target and things like that that are more affordable, that are cute and stylish but can just be worn by my kids anytime.

And if they get it stained, I’ve got stain removing techniques. I can try to get the stain out. And if I can’t, oh well, it’s not the end of the world. I don’t believe in having extra clothes that are just totally worn down that your kids can dirt get dirty in. It’s way more work for me. It costs double the laundry for me. That’s just not worth it in my opinion.

So, I’ve got my kids’ clothes and they have nicer church kind of clothes. Every Sunday we go to church and the kids will wear a button up shirt and nice jeans. Bella will wear a dress or a nice blouse and skinny jeans, something like that. Sure they don’t go on the trampoline or to the park in those clothes, but I don’t believe in having disgusting, totally distressed, awful stained clothes that my kids are allowed to get dirty.

I like to get them dressed in the morning, brush their teeth, fix their hair, and that’s it. They’re ready for the day. They can play outside, they can go to the park, they can jump in puddles. Whatever they want to do. They’re kids. Kids’ clothes are kids’ clothes. Kids’ clothes get stained and they don’t last long. I don’t want quadruple the laundry just because you know, I wanted my kids to stay in their clothes.

Also, in the past I have had play clothes and you know what happens? Nothing different except extra laundry. The kids still go out and play. Then I feel like, “Oh, don’t go out and play because you’re wearing your regular clothes. Let’s change into these pieces of crap first.” It just doesn’t work for me.

I don’t see the merit of it at all. If you do and you’re like, “Allie, you’re the worst. I hate everything about you right now.” Go ahead and do whatever you want, but in my opinion, play clothes just cause more laundry. It’s extra work for you. It’s not worth it. Let your kids be kids. Get them basic clothes they can wear day to day for playing, for going to school, whatever, and let them be kids. Then have your nicer dinner event, church-type of clothes for things like that. That’s it. Really pare down to what you know they like, what you like, what fits them, and what they actually wear.

Next, you can go on to the toys and I know that this is a really sensitive area for some people because a lot of the time there’s guilt when it comes to simplifying the toys. But listen to me carefully, my friend. Your kids will play so much better with less to choose from.

Studies back this up. Google it. You’ll be so surprised by what you find. Just get rid of the excess. Start by getting rid of what you know isn’t played with. Even if it’s something that you wish they played with. If it’s broken, if it’s missing pieces, or just no longer used, let it go.

Keep things positive by talking to your kid about how their toys will change the life of another child who’s less fortunate than they are. I find that when I make decluttering about blessing other people, my kids kind of light up and it’s a win, win. You’re getting rid of stuff you don’t need and you’re teaching your kids empathy and bringing them into the process of paring down and raising little minimalists. Let your kids be a part of that process. Show them where you take the donations. Make them aware of what kind of kids are getting their old toys and teach them to give.

Okay. Next section I want to talk to you about is the bathrooms. The bathroom is a fantastic place to start if decluttering really overwhelms you and you’re afraid to make decisions. It’s really easy to make decisions about what to let go of when it comes to your bathroom because typically not a lot of people keep anything that’s precious or full of memories in their bathroom. It’s typically just old eye shadows and hair tools that don’t work anymore. Things that you don’t use that are an easy yes or no. This makes the bathroom a phenomenal starting place to build some confidence and momentum so that you feel inspired and ready to move forward.

So, I’m going to list for you, I’m just going to go down the list, some of my top tips for taking on the bathrooms. Can you tell I talk about this all the time? I’ve just got this on the back burner of my brain.

Okay. First, don’t let the kids’ bath toys take over anymore. Choose 2-4 of their favorite bath toys or let them choose and get rid of the rest. Bath toys are ridiculous. My kids mainly bring their normal toys that are allowed to get wet into the bath with them. We don’t even have “bath toys” anymore, so set yourself free from that. I mean if you’ve got a baby that’s a little bit different, but still, why do you need more than four bath toys for this baby? What’s going on?

I feel like bath toys so easily just run the whole show when it comes to your bathroom and it kind of sucks. So, let those go. Clear out your tub. It’ll look cleaner and clearer. It’s less for you to rinse off and it just is a good starting point.

Sometimes decluttering is less about, “Well, is it really going to save me time if I have less bath toys in my tub?” And it’s more about gaining momentum and living a minimalistic lifestyle.

Okay, next tip for the bathroom. If you haven’t used it in the last month, it’s probably not something you should hold on to. That’s a great rule of thumb.

Also, it’s unsanitary to keep old makeup, so use that as your excuse for trashing it and let go of the guilt. It’s gross. Let it go next.

Keep what you know that you use regularly, but be honest with yourself.

Next, only keep one of each toiletry. One shampoo. One conditioner. One soap. One lotion. Buy a new one when you run out. You don’t need multiples. If you have multiples right now and it’s the brands that you use, it’s not like you’re holding onto shampoo because you bought it and you shouldn’t have when you’re never going to use it, if you have bought bulk of the stuff that you use regularly, that’s fine. Don’t throw them away, but maybe hold off on stocking up so much, let yourself go through what you have and then put it on your list when it starts to get low. That’s what I do. When something that I use regularly starts to get low, if I’ve got a few more days left, I’ll put it on my list. Every week I run my errands or I’ll order it from Amazon or whatever it is. But you don’t need a bunch of multiples, especially if you are in tight spaces in your house.

Okay. Every bathroom dweller has a secret grooming product obsession. This is the thing that you buy multiples of. It’s kind of like your fetish bathroom item. Mine is nail polish. When you’re faced with more than three of anything in the bathroom. Use the law of numbers. Keep two favorites. Let go of the rest. I will say I have broken my own rule here and I think with nail polish you do need more than two. Two nail polishes? That’s  ridiculous.

So, if you have something like that, like maybe you never paint your nails and you don’t care. Me, with painting my nails, I’ve talked about this before, it’s a weird little quirk of mine that I just feel extremely beautiful and put together when my nails are painted. They’re pretty much painted all the time. It’s pretty rare for me to have a butchered manicure and desperately need one. Maybe like a few times a year that happens. Typically, my main mode of self-care is either painting my own nails or going to get them done. I bring my own polish because I don’t like to depend on the salon to have the right color. And also, like I said, I do my own nails very often. So, I have one drawer underneath my sink full of nail polish.

So, sometimes you can break the rule of two (keep two favorites, let go of the rest.) Sometimes with things like this, like the nail polish thing works really well for me. This is my self-care. I do this all of the time. Do you see where I’m going with this? For me, Allie, as a person, having two nail polishes just doesn’t work for me. I need more than that.

So, when that happens, you just get a little section. Where am I going to keep this? Maybe it’s a shelf in your medicine cabinet. Maybe it’s a drawer under your cabinet. Maybe it’s a drawer within your cabinet. Whatever it is, choose a spot for it and then when it’s full, you have enough.

So right now, if I wanted to go get a new nail polish, I would have to get rid of one that I have because the drawer is full and I’m implementing a one-in, one-out system at this point. I hope that makes sense.

If you’ve got a bunch of stuff and you’ve got way too many of one thing in your bathroom, you can either keep two favorites and let go of the rest if that will work for you. But if it’s my nail polish situation, but something else for you, maybe it’s eyeshadow for you, whatever, decide where you’re going to store it and then when that place is full you may have no more. You have to declutter some. Okay?

Okay. The next section I want to talk to you about, and this is our last section for this episode, is the master bedroom.

So, I’ll be honest, I used to use my master bedroom as sort of a holding cell for all the junk I didn’t have time to put away. I used it to dump clean laundry that I didn’t feel like folding. Basically, at the end of a very long, draining day of mom life, I would climb the stairs and enter an abyss of stress and it was terrible. Sometimes I still fall into this habit, but it’s pretty rare now because I’m a lot better at it.

I think your bedroom needs to be a place where you can rest and recharge. It just does. Motherhood is not easy and we need somewhere we can go to be revived and I don’t think we should have to leave the house for it all the time. I think we can make that happen in daily life right where we live, and I think that’s the main purpose of the master bedroom.

Side note: this is also where the magic happens and the magic (I’m winking at you guys because I know your kids are probably listening, and are going to be like what’s magic?) but the magic is a lot more magical when the floor isn’t covered in crap, right?

Do yourself a favor and make your room more of a sanctuary. Start by removing all the things that are being kept in your bedroom that don’t belong there. What have you thrown in there because your mother-in-law was about to drop by and you panicked?

Go through there. Really question what’s in there. Or use my favorite trick and grab an empty laundry hamper. Put everything that does not belong in your bedroom in that hamper and then take it around the house with you delivering things to their proper homes.

Next, clean up your nightstands. These little tables are serious clutter collectors. I don’t know what it is, but myself and everyone I know just struggles keeping these things free of clutter. But you need to create a clean area there on your nightstands because that’s where you start and end your day. So, what do you want there?

For me, I’ve got my Himalayan salts rock lamp. (I don’t know if you guys have heard of those. They’re awesome for your sleep. I’ll link to one.) I’ve got mine on there and I got this little pretty stone tray and it’s got some linen sprays like a lavender linen spray, a candle and a coaster, and the book that I’m reading currently. And that’s what’s on my nightstand. On Brian’s, all there is is his alarm clock. That’s it.

So, you’ve got to know who you are, what you need. Make it minimal, make it pretty. Don’t put a bunch of crap in there. And if you have a drawer in your nightstand, don’t let that be an excuse to keep random junk.

Next, pare down your wardrobe by using the reverse hanger trick. This is one of my favorite tips. After you wear something from your closet, hang it back up and reverse the hanger so it’s facing the opposite way of all the rest of the hangers. After a few weeks, maybe put an alert in your calendar for 2-4 weeks from now to remind yourself to check, look and see what is still forward facing. You probably don’t need those items as much as you thought you did because you haven’t worn it in a few weeks.

This is a great trick for you to actually get a visual and see what you are and aren’t wearing. Because most of us wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time and the other 80% is, isn’t getting worn. It’s not worth keeping. Why would you keep that? It’s total clutter.

I mean there’s exceptions, like your little black dress or whatever that you pull out when it’s needed, but you know what I’m saying? Your regular clothes that you intended to wear on a regular basis and you’re just not. Get rid of it. Don’t hold onto it.

Okay, so that’s all we’re going to cover in this episode. I kind of wanted to just give you like a surface scrape of the main areas in your house, but if you’re sitting there and you are wanting to just go all in and totally make over your motherhood through minimalism, you have got to check out my online course, Your Uncluttered Home. It has earned me global praise for the simple, busy mom-friendly philosophy of realistic minimalism for families.

I will take you through every single step, A-Z, room-by-room of minimalism until you come out on the other side, and then even further, through maintenance mode, and lifestyle shifts like dealing with relatives who won’t stop giving and things like that. What if your husband’s not onboard, what if your kids are not cooperating? I’ve got your back in this course and I’m ready to make it happen with you.

So, go to the blog, check it out! alliecasazza.com/shownotes/065 to learn more and don’t forget to go there as well to get your free Guide To Decluttering The Laundry And Dishes. It’s going to be super helpful for you if this episode was your jam.

_______________________________________________________________

This was an episode of The Purpose Show. Did you know there is an exclusive community created solely for the purpose of continuing discussions surrounding The Purpose Show episodes? And to get you to actually take action and make positive changes on the things that you learn here? Go be a part of it. To join go to facebook.com/groups/purposefulmamas.

Thank you so much for tuning in. If you are ready to uplevel and really take action on the things I talk about on my show, and get step-by-step help from me, head to alliecasazza.com. There are free downloads, courses, classes, and ways to learn more about what the next step might look like for you and to focus on whatever you might need help with in whatever season you are in right now.  

I am always rooting for you, friend!

See ya next time!

Hey mama! Just a quick note, this post may contain affiliate links.

 

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