If you’ve been following our family journey for a while, then you’ll already know that we’ve been steeped in the minimalist lifestyle for several years now. While our initial de-clutter might be in the distant past, the art of living minimally remains a constant discipline that we commit (and recommit) to as a family. Choosing to live a minimalist lifestyle has revolutionized our family life. If it weren’t for minimalism, we would never have traveled America the way that we have. We’d never have ended up in Northern California and built our dream Tiny Home. We’d never have taken the plunge into the adventure of a lifetime. 


If you are wanting to take the first steps into living minimally, then here is a list of 6 vital things that you should know. This list is full of wisdom and practical tips that we wish we’d known at the start of our own journey!

1. Family Comes First

Family is always our number one priority. While we have whole-heartedly chosen a minimalist lifestyle, we have foremost chosen each other. This means that we communicate, we listen, and we take steps together. It is a myth to believe that you can’t live a minimalist lifestyle if you have children! 


We have four kids who have all thrown themselves into the fun and playfulness of minimalist living. However, it is a team effort. This means we have hard conversations. We make sure our kids are comfortable and understand the ‘why’ behind our decision to live the way that we do. 


Family comes with a lot of clutter! There can be pressure to say ‘yes’ to the newest and most exciting toy. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Did you know that  U.S. children make up 3.7% of children on the planet but have 47% of all toys and children’s books…. 


We’ve learned how to make minimalism a fun experience and not a limiting experience for our family. Check out some of our resources such as our Minimalist Guide to Back to School Shopping, to learn how you can make a minimalist lifestyle work for the entire family.

2. Start with Duplicates

If you are anything like me, I like to dive whole-heartedly into a project. Debbie is more of a planner, she’ll read every article on the web, carefully research and strategize and make a foolproof plan based on her discoveries. I’m more of a jump right in it kind of a guy! But when it comes to minimalism, the key is in embracing the long-game. Rather than trying to Marie-Kondo your entire life in one day, create a series of achievable goals and ease your way into it. 


My advice: start by eradicating all duplicates. Take an inventory of your entire home, and gather together any item of which you have two. Perhaps you have two sets of the same book. Perhaps you have two sets of salad servers. Maybe you have two throw sheets for a bed that only needs one. Gather up all of your second sets, and try storing these items away for at least 30 days. At the end of the month, ask yourself to assess whether you truly needed any of the duplicates in your storage. 


If the answer is ‘no’, then take them down to Goodwill pronto! Start with the smaller, lesser items, and you’ll learn to trust your ability to take greater risks with what you can live without. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up like us, realizing that we no longer needed to live with two living rooms!

3. Automate Your Decisions

Minimalism is so much more than the art of living with less. It is a whole new structure of living: one that desires differently and ultimately experiences greater freedom rather than limitation. A minimalist lifestyle involves a fresh evaluation of the daily decisions in your life and values the art of automating, which is narrowing your options in order to live with less choice and more precision. 


For example, when we first moved onto our Skoolie, each member of our family was tasked with reducing our closets into a single ‘clothing capsule’, with a limited number of key pieces that we took with us on the bus. For me, that meant cutting down from 44 pairs of shoes to just 3! 

But a reduction of clothes is a fairly straightforward concept when it comes to living a minimalist lifestyle. What we also lent into, was reducing our wardrobe down to only greys, whites, and blacks. Seriously! Just have a scroll through our Instagram and you’ll start to notice that as a family we stick to a very monochrome palette. This is the true art of minimalism: it involves limiting one’s lifestyle down to several automated choices. In limiting our options, we actually limit our potential for decision fatigue - which is a very real source of anxiety for many people! 


Take a look at Steve Jobs. His recognizable uniform of a black turtleneck wasn’t meant to be a fashion statement, rather his consistent wardrobe was an automated decision, intended to grant him greater brain-space for the things that really mattered - like designing out of this world technology!

4. Don’t Let Sentimentality Stop You From Living a Minimalist Lifestyle

The biggest roadblock that many people face, when given the option to pursue a minimalist lifestyle, is that they have too many items that are high in sentimental value. Maybe you’ve inherited some family heirlooms. Maybe you’re the kind of parent who saves every single finger painting your kid brings home from nursery. Either way, choosing to live a minimalist lifestyle shouldn’t rob you of the joy of nostalgia. 


We’re just suggesting that these nostalgic keepsakes don’t need to clutter your house. Finding an affordable storage solution is a great idea. It helps you in the process of de-cluttering, without saying a permanent goodbye to key pieces or memories that you might wish to cherish again one day down the road.

5. Scrutinize Every Purchase

While the initial de-clutter process is a lot of fun, it is really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to living a minimalist lifestyle. The real process is in learning how to maintain your minimalism, and regularly commit to purging your house of unnecessary clutter at least once a quarter. 


As you get deeper into the journey, minimalism will start to become second nature. Until that point, you might wish to establish some healthy questions to ask yourself as a filter for making new and fresh purchases. Consider a list like this:

• Do I really need this item?
• Do I own anything that is similar / offers the same function as this item?
• Do I have somewhere specific to store this item?
• What would I be willing to exchange in place of this item?
• If I walk away from this item would I still be thinking about this tomorrow, or is this an impulse buy?


This little list of questions will help you to pause and to healthily evaluate your purchase choices to ensure that you’re making a wise purchase and not a brash one. If you do need to purchase something, try and find a high-quality item - one that isn’t going to break, one that has longevity, and one that is built to last.

6. Continue to Get Inspired and Seek Wisdom from Minimalists You Admire

Even today, we are constantly gold-mining from minimalists that we admire and look up to in the space, in order to learn and evolve in our own minimalist lifestyle. Find resources and dive in. Explore some of our more practical content, such as Debbie’s Minimalist Makeup Tips. Stay up to date on the latest trends in minimalism, such as Courtney Carver’s 2020 book, Project 333, which challenges you to live with 33 items of clothing for 3 months (it’s a great place to start!). 


Remember that every journey into a minimalist lifestyle is different. The key is going at your own pace, and setting yourself realistic goals that set you up for success. Enjoy the process. Savor it and don’t rush it. We can’t wait to see the fruit of it in your life. 

Seriously considering the minimalist lifestyle? Check out our previous blog post about what it was like to downsize our life!