Some may think of a minimalist home as boring, bare, and bereft of feeling, while others find it aesthetic, artistic, and uncluttered. Whichever way you see it, a minimalist home is less stressful and safer, particularly for those with small children. And, since you have small children, an uncluttered home is easier to clean, so you have more time to spend with your children instead of constantly cleaning.
What a Minimalist Home Looks Like
Depending on your taste and how extreme you wish to be with your minimalist home, how it looks will vary, but the traditional Japanese home is a good example. It should have fewer furniture pieces, simple accent decorations, and nearly clear surfaces without much stuff stacked up. The less you have, the less you will have to dust and clean. You’ll find it much easier to find the things you need immediately. You won’t spend precious time trying to find your misplaced keys because your surfaces are clutter-free.
Those 10 Steps to Be Free of Clutter:
Step #1 – Room by Room
Unless you’re moving into a new home, the simplest approach is to redo your home, one room at a time, completely. Many prefer to start with a small room, such as the guest room, which should be fairly clear of clutter anyway, while others prefer to start in the living room because that is the room visitors see first.
Whichever you choose, could you not put it off? Get started immediately, but make sure you have enough time to complete one room once you begin, or you may end up putting it off and never finishing.
Let’s say you start with the living room and choose a small entertainment center without many shelves, just enough for the TV, stereo, and video game if you have one. Keep one coffee table and a couple of lamp tables at each end of the couch or a love seat if you do not have an overhead light.
Focus all your energy on that one room and let that inspire you to do the others. Then go room to room, so the clutter doesn’t find its way back into the rooms you have finished.
Step #2 – Modest Decorations
Break out the boxes and pack up those knick-knacks, take down that moose head and oversized fake paintings that you never cared for anyway. Have a garage sale or store those in the garage, basement, or attic.
Step #3 – Clear the Walls
Clearing walls might be a good time for fresh paint, a bright white, or simple pastel color.
Step #4 – Simple Artwork
Choose two or three nice simple pieces, a family photo collage, or a classic painting in a simple solid color frame.
Step #5 – Simple Furnishings
Choose your furniture carefully and only keep what will keep your family comfortable and, again, in simple solid colors.
Step #6 – Clean & Clear Floors
You may want to change your carpeting after you’ve painted. If so, choose a simple pastel color and remove all the other stuff on the floor except furnishings. Move those stacks of books and paper to the garage, and trash what you no longer need.
Step #7 – Keep the Essentials
Don’t just move a lot of stuff into your closets or cabinets because they will wind up back on the coffee table or the kitchen table, store it if you don’t need it.
Step #8 – Clear the Other Surfaces
As mentioned earlier, clear all your surfaces of any clutter. Keep a couple of simple decorations and store the rest.
Step #9 – Store Unwanted Items
Of course, this will require some hard decisions about what to keep and store. Be tough on yourself, make sure what you keep is necessary and tell yourself you are just storing it, and if you need it, you can always take it back out later.
Step #10 – Simple Window Adornments
Use simple solid pastel-colored curtains or louvered blinds. Too much around the windows makes it look cluttered.
Store What You Do Not Need
Remember, the key to maintaining a minimalist home is to store the things you will not use and eliminate those broken items you have promised to fix. If it’s too hard to throw away for some sentimental reason, put it in storage, and then if you find the time and energy to fix it, you can take it back out of storage with the express purpose of fixing it.
Decluttering your home will make it that much easier to clean every day, and putting things away when you’re finished with them means you won’t have to handle them again when you clean.
CP Slippers were created with a minimalist mentality, one piece of leather cut and crafted without adornment, buckles, buttons, or ribbons, just simple comfort.
