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Let me preface this by saying I never in a million years envisioned myself to have a more minimal home. I loved to shop when I was younger, spending $100's of dollars and entire $700 paychecks on clothes when I was 13.. ask my mother, she can attest to this. Furthermore, if I was offered something that was free I brought it into our home, and I RARELY ever decluttered. My husband used to joke with me saying I was a hoarder.. let's just say I wasn't very intentional about what I allowed into our home.
When we moved across the country into a smaller home then what we were used too, I realized just how much stuff we had. This house was supposed to be very temporary, so I thought I'd live with it for a year, until we bought a bigger house. At the time, I was running a few different businesses, while managing 2 little kids at home under the age of 5, homeschooling, & trying to stay afloat with the house & homemaking tasks. I was constantly looking for the latest and greatest organization baskets and storage ideas for our new small home. I just itched to make it *beautiful* and aesthetically pleasing, and I had the notion that after this project, or that project, or no.. maybe it's the next one, that the house would feel organized or *up to my standards*.
This left me in a state of discontentment and chaos in our home. Most days I was overwhelmed with the copious amounts of laundry to fold, and cleaning to do, while juggling my business and homeschooling. I felt like I just didn't have enough time in the day and I definitely didn't take care of myself. This lead to me being stressed out daily.
After my main income earning business completely failed after the pandemic hit, and 2 years into the house, I had to shift gears and I started cleaning for clients on the side! Fun Fact: I actually thoroughly enjoy cleaning. It's therapeutic to me.
After going into my clients homes for months, I paid really close attention to them not just because of my job but also out of curiosity. It made me realize what I loved... and what I didn't love about other peoples homes. & I say that in the most beautiful, non judgmental way possible. It was my life-changing "ah ha" moment, and I realized I felt at such peace in a more minimal and simple space. I envisioned what that could look like for me and our home.. instead of wanting more and more, why not go against the grain (I'm good at that) & focus on LESS. In my mind I had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. And after 3 years of living in chaos, my journey to minimalism started.
In January 2023, I started to ruthlessly declutter our house, and bought this book that guided me and changed my mindset about living a more minimalistic lifestyle. I filmed the entire process for my Youtube Channel to help hold me accountable, and started a messy to minimal decluttering challenge on IG. During this process, I exercised my decluttering muscles, and battled a few ideas in my head but with every single item that I decluttered, I felt such relief.. a weight was lifted off of my shoulders.
I constantly started to question myself.. WHY do we have so many kids toys? They don't even play with half of them. WHY do I need 7 pairs of jeans when I only wear 2? Do I reaaaaally need to keep this, or am I just holding onto it for x, y, z?
Now don't get me wrong, I still don't go by the name *minimalist* necessarily, but more so minimal ISH. (The term minimalist helps me rank, so if I'm using it it's for the algorithm LOL). Anyway.. I do believe everyone's idea of minimalism is so unique, however I know I have *more* then the average minimalist, which I why I say I have a more *minimal home* or *simplified home*, etc.
As I continue to embark on this journey of going from Messy to Minimal, I am ecstatic to be sharing it all on Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok in hopes to inspire you to create a simpler life so you can find more joy in doing the things you love.
Join our incredible community over there if you haven't already. & Stay tuned, as I cannot wait to share more on this topic here on the blog.
xoBW
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