We live in a two bedroom townhouse so until we finish our upstairs our three kiddos will be sharing a small bedroom. At one point we had bunk beds and did lots of co-sleeping with our babies but at six, four and two they are all old enough to be sleeping on their own so we created a space that would work for all of them.

Just like our bedroom we basically just started from scratch on their bedroom makeover. We bought these cute little beds from Ikea and emptied the room of all unnecessary items to make plenty of space for every ones clothes and toys. I looked everywhere for bedding for a boy/girl shared room and finally found these star duvets from H&M Home.

We are currently storing off season clothing and extra stuffed animals and books in the basement. They are allowed to keep two stuffed animals at a time and enough books to fill the bookcase. Then we have a one in one out policy when they want to switch things up.

In the toys bins they have magnatiles, tinker toys, wooden blocks, a shape sorter, action figures, a Moana toy set, matchbox cars and play phones. These bins are always changing based on new gifts and what they choose to donate. Then up in the closet they have dress up costumes and accessories and baby dolls. That is it for toys aside from outside toys and they also have games, puzzles, art supplies and a play kitchen.

For the kids wardrobes I pared things down to about seven but no more than ten of each item. I was afraid we would need more but I just replace as needed when things get ripped or stained and its no big deal. This has helped tremendously with the laundry situation. I can no longer go a week without doing laundry so I am forced to keep on top of it. It also has limited the issue of clean clothes getting into the dirty laundry which used to happen a lot before we had a good system.

At one point we were using our eat in kitchen area as a play room but they never used it. They would go in and make a mess and just walk away. We had way too much in there and it was just completely overwhelming! We donated tons of things that were no longer serving them and opted for toys that are creative and/or imaginative. Now they will play together for a long time in their bedroom! I also love the little containers for their toys so they can drag something into the living room to play.

Minimizing our kids toys and clothes was one of the best things we could have ever done for them. They are so happy and content with what they have and are happy to donate items when it feels like things are building up again. My oldest has even mentioned that she likes having less because its so much easier to clean up! #winning

If you are feeling totally overwhelmed by the toys and endless laundry definitely go check out Allie Casazza! She is a minimalism ninja and has tons of great resources to get you started.

Wishing you health and happiness!

Kaitlyn McCarthy

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How minimalism changed everything for our family.

It was 2016. My house was a disaster despite the fact that I felt like I was cleaning ALL day. I used to joke that it looked like we had been robbed. I was in a horrible cycle of finally catching up in one area of our home to turn around and find another area completely destroyed. The dishes covered the countertop , the laundry piles were more like mountains and the kids toys had taken over the entire house.

I COULD NOT KEEP UP!

I thought okay, well maybe I just needed to be organized! Organizing was always something I was naturally inclined to and I would spend hours rearranging my belongings as a kid. I even had a subscription to Real Simple Magazine as a teen and have always loved shopping for cute containers and organizers. However, I finally realized that no amount of organizing was going to make a significant difference. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. I needed a better solution. After weeks of searching I finally fell upon the idea of minimalism.

I had always thought the term minimalist was reserved for people who live in tiny homes with all white walls and only own 100 items. This was until I uncovered a whole world of bloggers living out the principles of minimalism with their families. My favorite influencers are Allie Casazza, Joshua Becker, Marie Kondo and The Minimalists and they all taught me different things that lead me on a path to becoming intentional with everything we have in our home.

It started with decluttering the kitchen and reducing our dishes to sets of 6 which helped eliminate the dish pile up since it forces you to do dishes before the next meal. Then I went after the clothes! We tossed or donated anything that we didn’t love and kept the kids wardrobes to no more than ten of each item. All of a sudden I was doing one load of laundry a day and not having huge mountains growing everywhere. The last big thing to go was the toys and we probably reduced the toys to about a quarter of what we previously had. From there I tackled just about every other area of our home from bathrooms to the basement. I loaded car load after car load of trash and donations until I felt like I could relax in our home.

It was like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders. I was no longer cleaning all day long and felt like I could take a moment to sit and play with my kiddos. They also agree that having less is easier because they can easily put their toys away and find what they were looking for. It’s a win win. They also stay much more focused on the toys they do have now because they are not distracted by #allthethings!

Its been close to two years since we started minimizing and we still find things to get rid of all the time but our home and possessions are completely manageable now! We also do mini purges every few months to make sure we stay on top of the things coming in.

If you are a Mama and have no idea how to get started with decluttering I highly recommend checking out Allie Cassaza’s courses at alliecasazza.com .

Wishing you health and happiness!

Kaitlyn McCarthy

Feed with such ID does not exist

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