How to Embrace the Mess (and Find More Peace)
What might happen if you opened that closet door and simply embraced the mess?
What if you observed the piles of clothing, crumpled receipts, and random cords without judgment?
What might be available to you if you embraced this mess, exactly as it is, without needing to change it?
Decluttering Your Soul
Over the past several years that I’ve struggled with my own mental clutter, I’ve seen valuable ways to combat these emotions– ways that have allowed me to dig deeper and identify what this clutter is, where it’s coming from, and healthy ways to move forward on my journey.
Why Moms Today Need Minimalism
But here is a word, that, when merged with minimalism, needs to be normalized: motherhood.
Minimalism and motherhood go together. Why?
Because minimalism—living with less stuff, fewer commitments, and more space to focus on
what matters—is a way to opt out of the overwhelm now accepted, and almost expected, to
accompany mom-life.
Top 10 Decluttering Tips for Overwhelmed Moms
“I don’t have the time to declutter.” I hear this all the time from my listeners and the hundreds of women in my free Facebook group. The truth is that you can declutter your home in small chunks of time – as little as 15 minutes a day – and I’m here to support you […]
My 5 Favorite Decluttering Resources
Overwhelmed by my full-time job, suffering from chronic people-pleasing, and struggling to get pregnant after an “unexplained infertility” diagnosis, I was seeking answers back in December 2014. Hoping to form some foundational habits, I joined the Sea Change Habits program with Leo Babauta from Zen Habits. By Leo Babauta’s recommendation, I read The Minimalists‘s book […]
4 Steps to Decluttering Your Home More Effectively
The following is a guest post from Julia Ubbenga of Rich In What Matters. The more I read and listen to decluttering experts’ content, the more I realize that I decluttered our home in a nonconventional way. I was several months postpartum with our second child when I dove into minimalism, and I felt as short […]
3 Questions to Help You Remember What Matters
Regardless of how long we have been on a journey to pursue a life with less, we can sometimes find ourselves off track. We know certain things or activities aren’t adding value to our lives or helping us live in alignment with what matters most to us, but we stick to the status quo. In […]
Kick These Four Clutter Culprits to the Curb
“No matter what I do, my home keeps getting cluttered. Help!” I hear this time and time again from my readers and podcast listeners. They get on a decluttering kick, only to look around a few months later and wonder how the clutter returned. Perhaps you can relate? Clutter culprits are like unwelcome freeloading roommates […]
3 Reasons to Embrace “Messy Minimalism”
I’ve always considered myself a clean and tidy person. There were hints all the way back in elementary school that I would pursue something in the decluttering and organization field. When we had indoor recess, I would clean and organize the desks of other students for a quarter (I am a child of the 80’s […]
Budgeting 101 for Minimalists
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Kara Walker. What does a lawn mower in the kitchen, eight can openers that you don’t need, and a relative dropping off keepsakes you don’t want (but don’t know how to tell her) have in common? A waking nightmare for minimalists! There is so much freedom from […]
My 3-Step Roadmap to Live More Intentionally in 2023
As I grow older, I become more and more weary of New Year’s resolutions. I welcome the “fresh start feeling” of a new year, however, I have learned time and time again that I am part of the 91% of Americans that don’t achieve their resolutions. I have become consistent in many areas of my […]
Want to Boost Happiness? Limit Your Choices
I was excited to meet up with my best friend for a pedicure to celebrate her birthday. It had been a long day and I was looking forward to relaxing and catching up. As soon as I walked into the salon, the technician pointed to the wall of nail polishes. And when I say “wall”, […]
5 Things I No Longer Buy as a Minimalist
Making room for what matters most includes letting go of what is no longer serving us. We can declutter every room in our home, however, and turn around one day to be surrounded by clutter again. Why? Because unless we have changed our purchasing behaviors, our decluttering efforts will be in vain. Acquiring less is […]
Why is Decluttering so Hard? Exploring the Three Layers of Stuff
Where do I start and when do I find the time? When I coach other moms, these are the same two questions I get over and over again. And I get it. When you’re overwhelmed, it’s hard to believe that something that requires so much energy and focus is something you can handle when you’re […]
Want to Live More Intentionally? Harness the Power of Regret
Last September, I wrote an article about how the book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by palliative nurse Bronnie Ware provides a roadmap for a living a life with no regrets. Specifically, the top regrets that Ware discovered over her years of sitting at the bedsides of dying people included being true to […]
Permission to Let Go
One of the benefits of being a Disney+ subscriber is that I often watch (and re-watch) animated favorites with my kids. Recently my husband selected the movie Up, not realizing the first ten minutes are pretty heavy for our young boys. For those of you who aren’t familiar, the movie opens with the life story […]
4 Tips to Help You Reduce Decluttering Indecision
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Julia Ubbenga. After honing my decluttering skills over the past few years, I’ve developed a theory. Goes like this. Our ability to declutter grows in direct proportion to our ability to make decisions. Think about it. The minute we dive into decluttering, we open wide the decision […]
Seven Ways Clutter Affects Our Well-Being
While “getting organized” is one of the top New Year’s resolutions, it is difficult to find the time and motivation to declutter. A September 2021 study showed that “lack of time was an almost universally endorsed reason for clutter” from the research participants. The task is often overwhelming, even with the huge amount of books […]
The Cycle of Minimalism
Long before I even knew what minimalism was, dresses were my kryptonite. One look in my closet and you could see the inordinate amount of time I spent looking for them. Scrolling ModCloth for hours, going to Ann Taylor and filling my arms with dresses to try on. I was searching for the “perfect” dresses […]
My Ten Non-Negotiable Daily Habits (and How I Stick With Them)
I am fascinated by the topic of habits, especially daily habits. They are the underlying, oftentimes unconscious architecture of our lives. Habits are difficult to change because they are so deeply engrained in us. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits and one of my favorite writers about habits, paints the picture perfectly, “The task of […]
Simplify These Five Areas to Save Time Every Day
On an almost daily basis, I come up to bed at night and greet my husband with a long, dramatic sigh. “What’s wrong?” he asks. I sigh again. “There’s all these things I want to do but I never seem to have the time to do them!” It is the complaint that has plagued me, […]
Stop Chasing Happiness. Choose Joy Instead.
It is the time of year where we hear a lot about joy. We sing Joy to the World when it comes on the radio or at church on Sunday morning. We receive Christmas cards from loved one that wish us “Peace and Joy”. We spend most of our time obsessed with the pursuit of […]
Finding Contentment with Your Home, Even When It’s Not Your Dream
Note: This is a guest post from Mollie Donghia of This Evergreen Home. Home. There’s no place like it, as Dorothy said. For each one of us, home can be seen as many different things. A safe place. A location where our most fond memories are made. A setting to host friends and family. An […]
Four Lessons Learned from a Season of Pruning
I was not born with a green thumb. I struggle to keep cut flowers alive, even when they come with plant food. I tend to forget about our plants and shrubbery on the back patio until they are so overgrown that I can’t stand it anymore. Then I take out the gardening shears and get […]
My Ten Favorite Quotes from The Minimalists’ Book Love People, Use Things
The Minimalists’ book Everything That Remains introduced me to minimalism back in December 2014, and completely changed the trajectory of my life. After watching their most recent documentary Less is Now, I was excited to read their most recent book Love People, Use Things. The book takes readers through seven aspects of relationships: stuff, truth, […]
Five Things I Learned About Habits from Exercising for a Year Straight
What does it take to maintain a daily workout habit for a year? Many people want to make exercise a priority, and according to one study, “doing more exercise or improving my fitness” was the top New Year’s resolution for Americans for 2021. I’ve always been fairly consistent with exercising in the morning before my […]
Live Your Dash with No Regrets
My grandmother passed away on September 8, one week before my 41st birthday. As I wrote the poem that I recited at her funeral, I was in awe at what a full, amazing life she lived. The things that changed in her 102 years on earth is mind-boggling. But through it all, my grandmother stayed […]
9 Minimalist Tools to Help Declutter Your Life Now
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Julia Ubbenga. In a recent conversation with a good friend, I recognized myself three years ago. “I can’t stand the mess in our home,” she expressed. Following her toddler around the playground with her, I listened. “We can’t have people over like we’d hoped to when we […]
The True Value of our Stuff
One of the heartwarming stories coming out of the 2020 Toyko Olympics is that of Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk. Andrejczyk, who won the silver medal, announced on her Facebook page on August 11, 2011 that she was auctioning the medal off to help fund the transportation and life-saving surgery of Miłoszek Małysa, an 8-month […]
Cycle Syncing: The Secret to Successful Decluttering
Like many stay-at-home moms, I love listening to podcasts while doing otherwise mundane chores – laundry, meal prep, dishes, and cleaning to name a few. Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about cycle syncing. Cycle syncing means you “adapt your diet, exercise routine, social calendar, and even important work engagements to the different phases of […]
Heard of SMART Goals? Try SMART Habits
If you’ve ever read a book or listened to a podcast on productivity, you have likely been introduced to SMART goals. Developed in 1968 by Dr. Edwin Locke and then expanded upon in 1981 by George T. Doran, SMART is an acronym for the ideal characteristics of successful goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. […]
A Beginner’s Guide to Digital Fasting: Five Lessons Learned from an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle
I was recently introduced to the lifestyle of intermittent fasting (IF). IF is a voluntary eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and non-fasting over a certain period of time. While there are numerous resources and plans available, I read two books by Gin Stephens: Delay, Don’t Deny and Fast. Feast. Repeat. The same […]
The Me That Could Be: 5 Steps to Deal With Aspirational Clutter
The summer sun is blazing and it’s another humid day in Virginia. I see a few pairs of shorts in my drawer, but I pick a pair of cropped pants again. The shorts are too tight on me, but they’ll fit me next year. Right? I step outside to do some weeding in the front […]
From Tightrope to Balance Beam: Minimalism and My Mental Health Journey
Yesterday before I dropped off my sons at school, my oldest asked me to hold his hand as he walked along the playground border that separated the sidewalk from the playground’s wood chips. I steadied him as he carefully walked across. “I want to go to the end,” he said. I looked ahead of us. […]
Instead of “Does It Spark Joy?”, Ask This Question When Decluttering
If there was such a thing as a decluttering guru, Marie Kondo would be it. Her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up was, in a word, life-changing for many. In fact, I believe it caused a global paradigm shift when it came to our relationship with our stuff. Kondo encouraged us to take everything […]
Five Steps to Transition into a New Routine Without Feeling Overwhelmed
Now that COVID-19 restrictions are lifting in some areas, including where I live, people are transitioning into new work, school, and home routines. When my kids and I go for a walk in the afternoon on the main road near our neighborhood, there are signs of rush hour traffic again. Sports activities have resumed and […]
My Ten Favorite Definitions of Minimalism
I define myself as a minimalist, yet in conversations with others I often get the question, “What does minimalism mean, anyway?” I pause, smile and take a deep breath because it’s difficult to define a lifestyle like minimalism succinctly. To someone new to minimalism, the word seems very restrictive. It has the word “minimal” in […]
Digital Minimalism: 10 Ways to Limit Distractions and Reclaim Your Time
The following is a guest post from Julia Ubbenga of Rich In What Matters. A few weeks ago, I sat watching our kids play, baby on my lap. It was a beautiful spring Sunday—one we chose to fill with quality family time at a nearby park. Resting on the park bench, I was feeling grateful […]
Five Mindset Shifts to Help You Let Go of Clutter (Plus 15 Questions to Help You Figure Out Which Ones You Need the Most!)
When I read Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the following quote struck me: “Until you have completed the once-in-a-lifetime event of putting your house in order, any attempt to tidy on a daily basis is doomed to failure. Conversely, once you have put your house in order, tidying will be reduced […]
Three Common Misconceptions About Minimalism
I’ll be honest – I don’t like the word minimalism. “Minimal” implies the least possible amount, and therefore can raise quite a few eyebrows if someone isn’t familiar with what it actually means- a lifestyle that gives you more– more time, energy, money, and freedom just to name a few. Imagine if your girlfriend told […]
Living With the End in Mind: How Minimalism Changed My View of Death
Recently my husband and I were talking to our four-year old son about death. It came about because he wanted to break a branch off a tree to throw into the neighborhood stream. My husband told him to take a stick from the ground because it was already dead. Thus started the inevitable questions about […]
Subscriber Q&A with Willow Nature Wood: “I saw that I was on the path to becoming just as bad of a hoarder as he was.”
Willow Nature Wood is a self-described “rustic poet”, full-time author, and recovering hoarder who has been exploring minimalism since 2018. She is also a Simple by Emmy subscriber who has a fascinating story about her minimalism journey I just had to share with you all! If you would like to be featured in an upcoming […]
5 Reasons Why I Love Buy Nothing Groups (and You Will, Too!)
One of the hardest parts about decluttering is the guilt associated with letting go of excess belongings. We are psychologically predisposed to hold onto our stuff because of what we paid for it, because we own it, or even merely because we are exposed to it day-to-day. We also feel guilty about parting with items […]
My Ten Favorite Quotes from The Minimalists’ Documentary Less Is Now
After watching The Minimalists’ documentary Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things on Netflix in 2016, I was excited to watch their most recent film Less Is Now which premiered January 1, 2021. Although there is some overlap in the topics covered in both films, including consumerism, the role of advertising and the media in […]
A Sensory Approach to Decluttering Sentimental Items
I don’t own a lot of sentimental items, but the largest by far is the upright piano in our family room. My dad gave it to my mom when I was a baby, and when my mom played I was instantly calm. It was the piano she taught me to play on many years ago. […]
Remembering Gratitude in 2020
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, and I’m reminded about a blog post I wrote this time last year about cultivating a present moment gratitude practice. It’s hard to believe that just months after I wrote the post, we would enter the era of COVID, a time when a consistent gratitude practice is more […]
How I Learned to Thrive While Pregnant During the Pandemic
This is a guest post from Ali Cornish of Everthrive. Pregnancy is a time of great joy, anticipation, and excitement as families await their newest members. This 40-week period comes with both positive feelings and negative feelings – it’s natural to feel overwhelmed and scared as a baby’s due date approaches. A new mother may […]
Three Writing Prompts for a More Intentional Life
Every morning, my two boys grab their bags of cars and trucks, dump them out on the floor, and happily line them up into traffic patterns. At the end of the day when it’s finally clean up time, my husband and I patiently hold the bags open while they put them back into the bag […]
Five Steps to Get Your Family On Board With Simplifying
So you’ve decided to start the journey to live with less. Congratulations! You’ve taken the first step toward a life with more time, energy, and space to pursue the things most important to you. There’s just one little problem…your family hasn’t come to the same decision. When I ask my readers the biggest challenge they […]
Grounding and Letting Go During Turbulent Times
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the fasten seat belt sign. We are about to enter some turbulence due to the storm. Please return your seats immediately and keep your seat belts fastened. Thank you.” Anytime I’ve been on a flight that hit turbulence, I immediately respond by steeling myself for the inevitable jostling […]
Four Words To Declutter From Your Vocabulary Today
My home and calendar reflect my minimalism journey over the past five years. I have decluttered the physical items I no longer use or love, and have removed the commitments from my calendar that I was doing out of guilt or obligation. I continue to struggle, however, with what’s going on in my head. I […]
Live for Your Eulogy, Not Your Obituary
What is your greatest fear? According to Dr. Karl Albrecht, there are five fears that all humans share: fear of extinction (ceasing to exist), fear of mutilation (think spiders and snakes), loss of autonomy (physical and social restrictions), separation (abandonment, rejection, and loss), and ego-death (humiliation and shame). I’m not a fan of spiders and […]
Disruption, Discomfort, Discovery, and Decision: Life During COVID-19 and Beyond
As I think about the impact of COVID-19 around the world, one word keeps coming up: disruption. In a matter of weeks, every facet of our lives has been disrupted: health (physical, mental, and/or emotional) finances work and education relationships with family, friends, and the larger community leisure access to and availability of products and […]
Embracing “Involuntary Simplicity”
Five years ago, I discovered minimalism when my husband and I were struggling with infertility and starting our treatment journey. I knew that in order to prepare for a baby, I needed to make space: physical space in our home, white space on my calendar, and emotional space in my overwhelmed mind and spirit. The […]
5 Questions Minimalists Ask (Plus 45 More!)
Minimalism encourages constant self-inquiry. This self-inquiry can take many forms, but usually boils down to one question: “Why?” Minimalists examine their motivations before making a decision to ensure their actions align with their values. They also look at past decisions to see how they have impacted their present thoughts, habits, and environment. These decisions include […]
What Do You Need to Offload?
When Apple designed the iPhone, they paid special attention to one detail that is excellent at getting the attention of their users – notification bubbles. They could have used a calming blue, a pretty pink, or a nature-inspired green for the notification color. But no, they chose a bright, alarming red. I don’t get many […]
5 Ways Minimalism Helps You Maintain Healthy Habits
There is a reason that most New Year’s resolutions fail. Behavioral change is hard. In fact, the book Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts–Becoming the Person You Want to Be describes it this way: “Adult behavioral change is the most difficult thing for sentient human beings to accomplish.” Yet every January, like clockwork, we tell ourselves that […]
Broken Pieces Make You Stronger: Remembering 2019
With 2020 approaching, I have my new planner in hand and have been excitedly leafing through the first pages. Casting my vision. Setting my goals. Picking my word for the year. I feel the hope and promise of a new year, a new decade. A year where I will also turn 40, experience a “milestone” […]