Lately I’ve been getting some questions as to if I’m still a minimalist, so today I thought I would talk about this topic and clarify my current position as a “Boho Minimalist”.
What Is Minimalism
The minimalism definition varies depending on who you talk to. Some people define it as living with less, some define it as living with MUCH less, including bare walls and only a few changes of clothing.
Some define it as simply figuring out what is important and getting rid of what’s not.
Whatever you decide to define it as, it’s definitely a hot trend that has spread like wildfire over the past few years and for many good reasons!
Why I Broke Up With Hardcore Minimalism
Essentially, because I didn’t need it like I once did. There was a time being a minimalist was my lifeline to sanity. I adopted a minimalist stance at one point a few years back out of necessity. We used to be a family of 7 living in less than 1000 square ft of space, and to be 100% honest it was extremely difficult. So I became a minimalist because I had to. We only have a small amount of space for things like children’s clothing, shoes, school books, food. So I paired down as much as I possibly could.
But hard core minimalism wasn’t me and it never really made me happy.
What a lot of people don’t realize and what I ended up discovering is that with minimalism does come work-especially if you have a large family. I know that’s contrary to what many people hear! We always hear about how clutter takes time, and it’s true. But staying on top of keeping clutter at bay also takes time.
Here a couple great examples.
- If you are a food minimalist you’ll end up needing to take more trips to the store to restock. That takes time.
- If you are a clothing minimalist you’ll find yourself doing laundry more often because you (or your children) are out of clothing. In my hardcore minimalist years it never seemed to fail, it would be time to get ready to go somewhere and despite my best planning and preparation efforts a child (or two) dirtied all their clothes including the ones I had cleaned and ready for them in a day-and when it was time to leave the child had no clean clothes.
- The above situation would happen all the time with shoes too-so if your a shoe minimalist for your child and only have a couple pairs you’ll find they often get lost. One time we had to cancel plans last minute because it was snowing and two of my boys couldn’t find their shoes!
- Although this doesn’t necessarily take more time than doing huge loads of laundry I do find that clothing minimalism made me feel less in charge of my time and more like things like the laundry situation dictated my time.
- Being a household minimalist does take time because de-cluttering takes time.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still huge on de-cluttering! I de-clutter on a regular basis-just not to the point of being a minimalist.
Homeschooling and Minimalism
Another reason I broke up with hard core minimalism is personal-other homeschool mom’s may be the complete opposite in this area and that’s okay! I found that for me as a homeschooling mom, it was super difficult to combine homeschooling and hard core minimalism.
One example would be the following; although trying to create a minimalist clean look did create a space that made me feel more peaceful-all that peace evaporated once it was time to homeschool. I found that if things were stored away to create a less cluttered look then some books and items were never used because they were forgotten. I also found it frustrating to have to dig for things when I would prefer to have them at hand.
As a homeschooling big family mama this means we have more books around-the thought of even trying to keep books minimal stresses me out, and that’s not even considering the craft supplies and things kids bring home from field trips.
My Current Position, Boho Minimalist
I would just like to clarify that although I am not a minimalist when it comes to some things like walls, clothes, and books, I still am a minimalist when it comes to unnecessary excess!
I have a rule-if something is not useful, can’t go on the wall (out of the way) and doesn’t have a definite purpose or need I think twice about bringing it in to my home.
I also like to have a place in plan for things before I bring them in. If I don’t know where something will go once I get it home I think long and hard before I get it.
I love how family friendly the boho style is, and how it can beautifully accompany and enhance the homeschool journey (READ MORE ABOUT THIS HERE).
With that said, I’ve truly embraced and fallen in love with the boho home style and the boho minimalist style. So I guess you could call me a relaxed boho minimalist. That’s a thing, right? What is your position on minimalism and the minimalist movement?
Are you wondering what “Boho” means? If so read Stunning Boho Kitchen Updates With Industrial Touches next!
WATCH MY VIDEO THRIFTY SOPHISTICATED BOHO HOME TOUR HERE!
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