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Debt Free Living now has a Facebook page. Living With Less focuses on inspiration for living a simpler life in our consumer culture. It's not easy to break the habits of a lifetime and to stop looking to retail therapy and expensive things to make us feel better, so seeing some inspiration on your newsfeed helps. We also share links to other minimalist-inspired blogs and articles to help you on your way to saving money and saving yourself from the stress of debt and a cluttered life.

How to start uncluttering your family home

In the previous posts about saving money by living simpler and the benefits of uncluttering were discussed and how it can make you happier and live more free…but how does one actually go about this uncluttering business? You might feel like it will be very exhausting to try and sell all your unnecessary possessions. Not to mention, you will actually have to go through everything, sort it, bin it, box it, and clean the things you cannot part with. And then organize everything from the top down. Granted, this is very daunting, but taking small steps and seeing it as an on-going project to a better life is the key.

If you live with a family, getting them to help you will take some motivation. Luckily, once your other family members see how much better it feels to live in a house that is free from clutter, where everything is easy to find and clean, most of them will come around and help with the next room you sort through. For some, the fear of losing something of value that they could have sold is enough to make them help you sort the stuff. Don’t be scared to help them throw away something you know they’ll never use and listen to your family members when they tell you you’ve only used that foot spa once. When you’re all in it together it makes things much easier.

An uncluttered family room can still be comfortable, image by Posh Living, LLC

The same goes for keeping your home uncluttered: once your family values the new, open space they will be less likely to add new possessions or to allow others to bring in clutter. This may cause a few tiffs, but think of it this way: you won’t be fighting about losing stuff in your home as the fewer possessions you have, the less likely you will be to lose something and blame each other for not helping in the search for the car keys, the tog bag or the dog’s lead. Cleaning and tidying will also be much less of a hassle.

If you have kids, take the toys at the bottom of their toy pile and put those toys away where they can’t find them. If they don’t ask for the toy within the next month, they will forget about it. You can keep sneaking toys they don’t play with to the “missing toys” box in a cupboard they won’t look or the garage. Do this every few weeks. If your child gets bored with the toys that are left and asks for new ones, take some from the “missing toys” box and put the ones they are currently tired of in there again. Not only will they find toys exciting again after they were missing for months, making you smile because you don’t have to buy new ones all the time, but there will be fewer toys to lie around the house and clutter up their rooms.

Remember that it is an on-going project, that you have to tackle one area at a time and that it will take a change in your old habits and spending patterns. Kids will still nag for new toys if you go to the shops, so avoid taking them to the mall or toy shops. Not to mention, shopping will go much quicker and easier when you can focus on what you need to buy and you will spend less on things the kids want to eat. Normally, the things that your children want you to buy will be sweets or food with lots of colorants and sugar in them such as breakfast cereals and cool drinks that are expensive and have little nutritional value.

Not taking your kids to the shops will save you money or the guilt of buying them toys and “kids’” food when you know you are on your way to becoming over indebted. There are also much more productive ways for kids to spend their time: seeing friends, exploring new places, having picnics, doing crafts or starting a hobby will be of value to them in the long run. 

Where to start living with less

There’s so much to do!

Uncluttering can be daunting, but taking it step by step, room by room will motivate you. You will experience the freedom you feel when you have a minimalistic space.

Magazines, junk mail and books you have no interest in are major sources of clutter and easy enough to sort through, so start there. What you cannot donate, recycle. This is easy once you get the hang of it. Instead of putting junk mail or post on a table after reading it, throw it in the recycling or clip it on a board in the office space that says “to do” or “to pay”. Not only will you keep up with your bills and errands, but you won’t have newspapers, catalogues and letters piling up. Uncluttering makes life easier and saves you time in the long run.

Going through your cupboards is an important part of living with less. Not only will you be able to find things easier, but expired products won’t lurk in the back of your pantry and bathroom cupboards. When you know what is going on in your cupboards, you are much less likely to buy duplicate items and far more likely to notice when you run out of something. This will save you money and the frustration of wanting to bake a cake but there’s no flour.

A Japanese kitchen. The Japanese know the value of an uncluttered home
Image by Wootang01

Kitchen cupboards can be organized by only keeping the tubs that have lids and lids that have tubs, selling appliances you never use (waffle makers and potato shredders are nice, but do you really use yours?), throwing out the broken ones and putting the remaining things in containers that can be easily taken out and looked through. Sort things by type: you can even label your containers “bowls”, “large containers”, “lunch boxes”, “utensils” and so forth.

Once you have gone through located places, you can tackle the furniture in your home and sell furniture that no one ever uses. Keeping things off the floor is also an important rule: this will keep you from cluttering in the future and once you have no more piles sitting around, things will look and feel much cleaner and literally be easier to clean. Try keeping surfaces clear as well. Only have the necessary appliances in your kitchen and keep utensils in drawers or in containers in your cupboards where they stay dust free. We usually have way too many decorations in our homes of which most are rather unsightly. If you cannot bear to part with decorations, put them away and swop them around when you get tired of the ones currently on display. If you go back to them and you haven’t missed them, it’s time to sell or donate.

A minimalist home is not something you can organize and expect to keep if you don’t change your habits. Before buying something, think about how tidy your home is with few possessions, think about the debt you are trying to repay and think about what you are trying to achieve by making the purchase. Will you really be happier with a new TV or teacup set? Or are you trying to better your quality of living by accumulating things? As described in previous posts, life doesn’t work that way and owning less will mean less worries and more time to relax.

The best things in life aren’t things

A look at the benefits of living with less in your home

On your path to scaling down your lifestyle and the possessions you have, you might feel like you are being sold short of a lot of luxuries. In practice, however, this is not true. Living with fewer possessions, uncluttering your home, having less gadgets and fewer appliances are not just beneficial for those who are over indebted: many people have found that there are numerous benefits to this sort of lifestyle.

Of course you can sell everything of value you can live without to pay back your debt, but the rest, such as clothes and trinkets, can be dropped off at a charity’s shop or a less fortunate community. This way you not only unclutter your life, but you help others too and realize that you are indeed fortunate because you have the necessities.

Are you owned by you possessions?

Making your home minimalist means you don’t let your possessions own you: there’s nothing extravagant and you don’t buy the most expensive things, but the best quality you can afford so they last longer. When you own much fewer things, it makes sense that they are simple; to keep with the uncluttered life you are going for and to be value for money. The irony is that wealthy people tend to come around to minimalist living quicker than the rest of us. When you have all that you need and want, you realize that possessions don’t make you happier or calmer. Often the opposite is true.

When we don’t have large sums of spending money, we tend to think that something pretty, clothes or something to entertain us (magazines that will become clutter) will make our lives better. Yet, when you have less to spend, living a minimalist life will be beneficial to your sanity and your savings.

Less things to look after means more time for activities you truly enjoy
Image courtesy of Greg L. photos

The benefits you might not have realized

Besides having more money and getting free of debt, uncluttering your life of all unnecessary possessions and storing the rest out of sight has numerous benefits. According to Becoming Minimalist’s list of the benefits of minimalism, the second benefit besides having more money, is setting an example for your kids. Living with less teaches children that we don’t need possessions to feel secure and happy and that our worth is measured by more than what we earn. Teaching children this is very valuable in a very materialistic society.

When they experience happiness, contentment, entertainment and learning from a young age that is not centred around toys and gadgets, they will be much more balanced growing up. Seeking the approval of others is a part of growing up, but if children know that material possessions don’t make you fun or cool to be around, they will go through these growing pains much easier. They will also be able to discern which of their peers have fallen victim to relying on possessions for happiness and who are truly happy.

The other main benefit is being able to find your umbrella…or any other possession you truly need. When our homes are cluttered and our closets a mess we lose the things we really need much easier. Also, having one of an item means that you can remember where it is much easier. Furthermore, think how much easier it will be to clean a home with only one or two appliances or decorations on a flat surface and nothing lying around on the floors. Having guests over will be much less traumatic. You don’t have to worry about your home being tidy when there’s nothing to lie around, if they have small children the things you don’t want them to reach can be put away in a snap and if you have people sleeping over there’s much more space to put a blow up mattress – something you should invest in as minimalists also holiday in a minimal fashion, choosing camping and exploring nature over fancy hotels and seeing big cities.

Live a better life

When you don’t care to accumulate possessions you start to look at your life differently and make better choices. You don’t gravitate towards people who seem to be living the most glamorous lives, but have nothing more to offer. You look for a job that suits your personality, your values and is fulfilling because a salary is no longer your number one motivation. You don’t have the burden of fixing, organizing and cleaning so much clutter. You will find that your values and priorities change and that you no longer struggle to resist the temptations of shopping and using credit to accumulate better, faster, more expensive possessions.

Of course, you can’t achieve all this in a day. It takes a shift of your values and a re-evaluation of your life. Start with selling and donating the things you do not need and getting rid of the clutter room-by-room and see how much more free you feel in a clutter-free space.