The Less is More Approach
By Julie Schmale
It’s been a different year this year. Chaotic, stressful, overwhelming, uncertain, lots of changes, lots of adjustments, lots more time spent at home. I actually enjoyed staying at home with the kids for the most part, but the emotional ups and downs have been harder to deal with.
The world has felt and still feels chaotic -and I have found that when that happens, I need my immediate surroundings to be less chaotic. Whether that be relationships, commitments, or my home….
Enter: Minimalism.
The pictures running through your head as you read the word “minimalism” are probably the same ones I have running through mine….. white, clinical, restrictive, boring…. and that isn’t exactly what I am talking about, or even trying to achieve. Minimalism in itself is actually just living with less. “Curated versus cluttered” -a description for a minimal home I really liked.
A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Something I have probably had most of my life, but didn’t present itself in my body physically until life took a turn on our family and became extremely stressful. Things I had eaten my whole life all of a sudden became things I reacted to. It was explained to me in this way: imagine your body is a shopping cart, it can hold a certain amount of stuff -even if some of those aren’t good for it. If life fills up your shopping cart, so to speak, it’s full, and things start to “spill over”.
At this present moment, I feel my brain spilling over. I can’t handle as much chaos in my immediate surroundings because it feels overwhelming -and the rest of the world is overwhelming enough as it is! I expect its just a season. I expect it has to do with all the changes and uncertainty we’ve all gone through lately. Nevertheless, I decided to make my home less chaotic, less messy, less “visually stimulating”.
You know how you can feel stressed but kinda push it aside and just keep going. Well, that was me for a while…. Until I read what Angela Rose shared in one of her IG posts: She has less stuff in her home and on her walls because she craves negative space…… ” WHAAAAAT??!!!”. Something clicked for me. “This is a REAL thing I’m feeling” I have that same craving for less. Less chaos, Less clutter. Less clean-up. Less STUFF! You have to understand, this is not always my go-to thing….. I don’t know that it has to stay this way -but for right now it’s what I’m rolling with.
The biggest thing for me is coming home to a chaotic house with pillows on the floor, various blankets strewn around, dishes on the counter, snack wrappers in the mudroom, dining room, AND living room! What?!! Lego everywhere. E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E! I don’t like coming home and getting angry with my kids after having not seen them all day -but all the chaos drives me crazy. Especially because they all know better!
So, after feeling the purging-bug for most of the summer, I finally decided to do something about it. I washed our throws and I’m putting them away for a while. Same thing with our pillows. Same with the kids’ Lego. If they can’t keep it contained to the playroom, they can go without for a while. I went through all their stuffies and toys and purged a bunch there too. I did go through my own areas of clutter too! My goal is to make it easier to keep things orderly at home, so I can enjoy relationship with my family rather than turn into crazy-mom yelling out lists of chores and repercussions if left undone.
One of the things I took from reading Chip and Joanna Gaines’ book “The Magnolia Story” is that our homes are allowed to change and evolve as our families change and evolve. She described a family that had triplets and made their formal dining room into a playroom. They needed the space in a convenient spot, and they were okay giving up their dining room for a decade to accommodate their family’s need, knowing that in years to come they’d get their dining room back. I found that so inspiring and so freeing -to be okay with changing how my home looks and functions at different times in life.
Right now, my need is for less. Less chaos in my home, so I can recharge and deal with the chaos in my head and in the world around me. I don’t think I will always feel this way, and I’m okay with that.
If you’re feeling the need for less, here are a few thoughts on how to get there…
De-clutter. Whether that means selling/giving/throwing out of a whole bunch of stuff, or just organizing it so everything has a place out of sight, or whether it’s just packing some stuff into boxes and putting it in a storage room for now. The goal is to have less things to create visual chaos, less to put away, less to clean! Having furniture pieces that doubles as storage goes a long way -as long as you actually put your stuff into them! For me, de-cluttering means getting rid of stuff. Especially things that no longer serves a purpose. Pairing down to what we actually use and actually love. Letting go is so freeing for the mind! (even though it is initially very difficult for some)
We all have clutter magnets in our homes. In my home it’s the mudroom counter and the island. Everything gets dumped here! And the more stuff is on there, the bigger the mountain of cleaning up seems to be. Areas like these need to be dealt with drastically! Throw away as much as you can, organize what you have to keep and try to become vigilant in keeping those areas organized! It takes quite a bit of self-discipline and almost no time at all to get out of hand. But again – the less you have around that needs organizing, the less stuff there is to make a mess.
Keep your kitchen counters as clean as you possibly can. I know this one is hard because there are so many things we need and use daily. But if it’s visually too much, store things you use a lot in the upper drawers. Another clutter culprit in the kitchen is the fridge. Maybe you looooove all the art your kids bring home every day, photos, and reminders….. I personally don’t…. But I didn’t realize this until I was researching how to stage your home when selling it. Everyone said to clean everything off your fridge. I had never done that before -but I did it then and I was like “Never again!” Read my staging blog if you need help staying sane while having your house on the market.
Keep your floors clutter free. For us, that means the kids have their toys in their rooms. We have no toys on the main floor. We had toys everywhere for years -but again, it just became too much! It has helped tremendously for both me and my husband, not having toys spread all over.
If you’re really serious (or you are now working from home) changing the colour palette to a neutral one is visually calming. No need to have every inch of wall covered with something -minimalism is about allowing your walls to have breathing room and for the few items you do have on display to be the truly meaningful ones.
But wait! You say…. Isn’t all this pairing down going to make my home feel more like those initial images I had running through my head? -clinical and boring?
None of us want our homes to feel bare, un-cozy, or clinical. So here are a few tips on living with less, but still having a home that feels homey:
Keep your colours neutral. It feels clean and calming. Lighter tones reflect light and have a positive effect on the mind. Keep it subdued with earthy tones like soft whites, beiges and greiges.
Buy quality over quantity. The more expensive pieces are the ones you’ll enjoy for longer, and often they show craftmanship and detail, that keep them interesting. Better quality items will stand up to use, and you’ll have less things that need repair, waiting for you to have time to fix it.
Use texture. This is not that easy if you’re trying to eliminate clutter, because often texture comes in the forms of pillows and throws. Adding trim to your walls, making it look like wainscoting is a good non-clutter option.
If you want to infuse colour and pattern, but don’t want it to end up a mess on your floor -use wallpaper on a feature wall. This will add interest without adding clutter. (We love wallpaper, as you can maybe tell!)
Area rugs add instant cozy feels, texture and colour -without adding clutter. There are so many great rugs out there! Just remember to keep it in the same simple, less is more style. A super vibrant rug can be too much for what you’re trying to accomplish.
Getting rid of stuff can be very difficult. But so is living with chaos around and within. But I promise you, that as you purge, you’ll find it freeing. You’ll have room to breathe, room to relax, room to enjoy your home with the things you have kept.
Here’s to all the coming ups and downs, and to staying sane through it all!
This beautiful Magnolia Home rug is available through Loloi Rugs