My New Heartbeat — Minimalist Mamas: The Art of Decluttering

By: Katie Saltz

Left: Katie Saltz with CeCe & Ezra

Have you ever knelt in a pile of your child’s toys and felt the urge to break one just so you could justify throwing it away?

Or while staring at a mountain of laundry fantasized about setting it on fire?

I swore after our last move to a new home that I would never again allow us to acquire so much stuff.

But after the chaos of the holidays, I looked around my house and realized how badly I had failed at that promise.

Our closets are overstuffed, we have enough kitchenware to feed a small army, and a cluster of toys is scattered in every single room.

Minimalism is a big trend in my mom circle right now, and I happily hopped on the bandwagon. Minimalism has many definitions.

Some people want to live with only the bare essentials. Others find it’s about making sure your possessions bring you joy.

Many use the minimalist approach to simply declutter to reduce stress.

The concept may seem impossible to a mother because we are conditioned to think that our children need so much.

They need all these extra clothes because they get dirty/grow so fast/have their favorite character on the front.

Children need all these DVDs because what if we drop cable/Netflix isn’t working/our laptop chargers disappear?

They need all these toys because this one is educational/this one was a gift from Grandma/this one she loved as a toddler (even though she is in middle school now.)

In reality, what we all need is less stuff and more space.

For me, being a Minimalist Mom means being very intentional about what items are in my home. Nothing sticks around “just because” anymore.

I’m already feeling the benefits. With fewer toys, my kids spend more time and get more creative with each toy.

Laundry takes less time when there are fewer clothes to wash.

Chores are simpler when there are fewer possessions cluttering up the house.

At the end of the day, the effort of decluttering has been well worth it.

Less stuff to clean and put away – what mom doesn’t want that?