My name is Arianna and I am a minimalist wife and mom to three girls! Four years ago our family made the decision to live with less. We learned what I meant to live intentionally. I want to share relatable minimalism with as many families as possible, and show them that is it possible!
i am 18. growing up ive always wanted to be able to get pregnant and have my own babies. a year ago i was diagnosed with hEDS. i even have dreams about being pregnant, but i wake up depressed and dreading my life ahead because of how scared and sad i am. ive always been terrified of death, both for a baby and myself. i dont have many options, as hemmhoragging and everything is a very scary risk. thank you for being inspiring and helping me know that i COULD. i could do it. it could be okay. its so terrifying, but i think itd be okay. i didnt even realize how safe it could be, or even anything that could be done.
9:27 i was diagnosed w/ GERD a few years back after they saw that my lower esaphogeal sphincter was loose, i was put on i think it was zantac for a while but eventually got off of it but the MCAS, indigestion, heartburn stuff is still there for me. i mention all of this though because i also have neurgenic bowels from having spina bifida so how can someone like me get proper testing for bowel function abnormalities if i was already born with one?
My kids are really into Schleich too! We recently looked up how to pronounce it and it’s with a hard “k” sound at the end. The company itself has a little video that says think of it as a rhyme “I like schleich.” Lol Thanks for the inspiration to go get rid of stuff!!!
What's the lego set that Rev was playing with in the play room? Looks fun. 🙂 Looking for fun lego ideas for my friend's little girls (6 and 8 yrs). I love all the toys your kids have, lego and schleich btw. 😊👍 We have some legos and will be starting our schliech collection soon! Yay! 😊
Do you find button or zipper better? For button do we need the ones that button all the way at both legs and bottom or is the one from top down to one leg enough? Does this make changing harder having to take out the two legs?
Lol! As a mom of the 90s, I never fed my kids donettes for breakfast. If I didn't have time to make a full breakfast, they usually had oatmeal or cereal. Also, when your kids were napping, you should've watched the soaps. Bo & Hope 4eva. 😅 The dishwasher and the tuna casserole were spot on, though.
Where did you buy the woven brown and white baskets ? (shown in the play room at 4:45 ) I love the idea, how it looks and I'd like to do the same thing on a shelf for my friend's kid's toys. They're getting more into open ended toys/ play. ☺
I love the room idea I am not sure why parents want each kid to have their own rooms I loved sharing rooms with my sisters it was the best memories and maybe I hated when I was smaller but I remember nothing but good things
Isn't it normal for kids (and people in general) to want things and ask for things? Do you ever think your children will grow up and have any impulsive or buying issues from essentially being taught they don't "need" things that they "want" ? (Serious question, no hate at all! I love you and have been watching for years. ) I have 4 kids and the amount of "stuff" is suffocating, but I grew up poor and not getting most things I wanted, and now I have an addiction tied to shopping and the good feelings that come with that. I've tried many times to live minimally but I always come back to the idea that spending the 5$ on the dinky toy gives them joy right now even if it's trash in a month 😬 also my older daughter is very into fashion, how do you manage keeping less things when your kids are interested in being "in style" with clothes and makeup etc.
I definitely understand that concern! I think people get minimalism confused with a restrictive living mindset. Our kids still have plenty of things and experiences they don’t need. Like horse back riding lessons, and a pony, and tons of farm animals, etc. They do still get new toys for birthdays, Christmas, and they have their own chore money that they can purchase things with when they so choose. It’s not a restrictive mindset, or a poor mindset - it’s about teaching children to appreciate what they have and see how less stuff makes you able to live more fully. When it comes to children or people wanting things being normal. Has it become normal in this society? Oh yes! But that doesn’t mean it should be. Adults have a “more more” attitude now a days, and that’s not healthy. It’s why adults end up in a lot of debt 😅 Of course how you were raised certainly can have an affect on that, but that is mental health related. I struggled with that myself when I went from a well off childhood, to never having groceries in the house as a teenager. It’s tough, and I fall into myself. I think I’ve done a video on minimalism when you love buying! But it is possible to have totally opposite outcomes of lifestyle whether you grew up low income or well off. It’s not a direct correlation to how you were raised, so much as what you do with that experience from there out and how your brain processes it. Our brains are pretty dang impressive…but they don’t handle trauma well. I can attest 😅 These last two years I fell into that “just give them the thing, it makes them happy for now” because I felt bad about living situations. We saw a direct result of change in our children where they gained expectant attitudes. That’s just not the reality of life as an adult, so you don’t want to teach a child to have an attitude of expecting things when you go out. It doesn’t mean it never happens, like giving Rensly the little pillow she wanted that she didn’t have for months lol. Or a child who’s just having a rough day and I go buy them something to cheer them up. But with shifting back into my minimalism mindset, I would choose an experience over the little toy they’re asking for. Like taking them for ice cream or something along those lines. The biggest thing that I mentioned at the very beginning is to remember that minimalism is never about restricting. Back when I did minimalism content regularly, I constantly would repeat that “minimalism is keeping what helps you live intentionally.” It’s not about keeping only what you need. My children don’t need a play room full a schliech toys, or legos, or playmobile, or the endless outside things they have to do on our farm. But it serves a purpose for them and we organize toys in a way that makes it less overwhelming for everyone, including them. I hope this helps explain better! ☺️
Oh I forgot one more thing and the fashionable child question! I wanted to mentioned that for this experience, I’m not sure if we said it, but we didn’t force the kids to get rid of anything. The only child I made decisions for was my youngest, cause she is only 4 and she isn’t mentally capable of those decisions quite yet. But my oldest children were handed three bags. Trash, donate, and keep but remove from the house. They were specifically given a bag that they were on the fence about but they wanted to experience living without it to see if they even thought about it. We asked them to just live without that stuff for a few weeks and then if they wanted anything specific back that they remembered, we would get it! No questions asked. Sometimes even as adults, we aren’t sure about whether we still need or even like something until we remove it from our space for a bit: So every decision regarding our older kids stuff was their choice, unless they asked my opinion and we would discuss and brainstorm the thing together. For clothing they chose their color and I gave them a number to stick to. They had no issues removing stuff or handing it down to their sister for when she gets bigger! Kids will surprise you honestly with how much they get it, and are even willing to partake when they understand why you are doing it. When it comes to an older stylish kid, or older kids in general, I will always be of the mindset that that child is their own person and nearing adulthood. Minimalism in general for any age kid (that is old enough to understand) should never be forced on them. No adult should have minimalism forced on them either (like forcing a spouse to minimize - it doesn’t work out well). The goal is to lead by example mainly but also help them learn how to live minimally and why they may enjoy it. Now where my opinion is, an opinion - assuming this older child is a tween/teen with makeup and such…I wouldn’t be buying anymore than the minimum. Base layers (jeans, shorts, basic t’s, etc) and letting them use their allowance or money they earn from working to get anything else they layer on top for fashion. I wouldn’t discourage fashion ever, but I also would not be doing their laundry 😅 if that’s their passion and they are wanting to go to school for it, I would encourage them by purchasing things that help them learn. That’s the homeschooler in me haha. Such as fashion drawing guides, or books on fashion design, or maybe there is a local fashion show you could take them to!
@Arianna. thank you so much for your response, that helps alot. I do see how my kids constantly ask for things every time we go out and I guess because it's an every day occurrence it seems normal, and I remember doing the same thing as a kid and always getting turned down and feeling discouraged. But I often think about how if we didn't live in a capitalist/ consumerist society, we wouldn't be dealing as much with these situations. I feel like every time I take one step forward with minimizing, it all gets undone because I just want my kids to be happy even if it's "momentary". But I want to set them up for success and not debt or chronic overwhelm like I've been suffering through! It's hard also because I feel like I missed out alot in my childhood and when I buy certain things or have common interests with my kids that I can put money into, it almost feels like I'm getting to "re-live" that part of my childhood that I didn't experience due to neglect. That's my issue and that definitely colors the way I react when my kids are upset about not getting things. I tend to over think and go back and forth about most things parenting related.
The only thing I do really not het is when you say less clothes is less laundry. If you wear a set every day you wash as much in a week when you have 7 or 14 sets. It may make a difference with putting them away because with less clothes you will wear some sooner and not putting them back in the wardrobe. Or am I thinking wrong?
When you have more clothes, you let laundry build up more. With children it also results in clothing ending up all over the floor when they’re trying to find something specific, then what’s dirty versus clean gets confused. You end up cleaning clothes that may have not even been dirty. With smaller amounts, you clean laundry more actually, but with smaller loads. So while you are cleaning laundry more, you are actually doing less laundry because it’s simple and quick to put away and there is less mess during the in-between because it’s easy for your kids to find what they need and they don’t make a mess of their already clean clothing. I think this one has always been a hard one for people to understand, we get the question/confusion a lot haha! But I promise you, less clothes equals less laundry. We have lived 5 years as minimalists and 5 years as not minimalists (3 years at the beginning of our marriage, and these last 2 years). I can without a doubt say that minimal wardrobes makes a huge difference!
So excited for this video! Thank you for sharing. The long length was actually really nice. You inspired me…I think we’ll be going through our home soon!
Ren and Ryan with the pillow and then you whispering had me dying. Definitely something that would happen in my home.😅 Also, I saw you had Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Did that book work for your girls with learning to read?
It did not end up working out for us unfortunately! That’s one of those things I need to purge still 🤣 We are using All About Reading successfully though! It’s actually a very similar concept, but it’s just a bit more interactive and seems to really click.
They are Schleich! We have been purchasing the animals since the girls were very young! They just started getting into some of the other parts of the line like the barns and things. But their animals are so sturdy and last for years! I love that they’re waterproof too, so they go outside and are used in the bath/shower as well.
I do a big de-junk seasonally. It's absolutely essential to our mental health and functioning! 4/5 of us are neurodiverse and clutter stresses us so much.
My partner is a “ just in case” fanatic. I was inspired I have cleaned out my kitchen cupboards, and have 3 bins ( keep, donate, garbage). I eventually ended up with 3 large bins in my car to take to the donation centre tomorrow and 3 bins in garbage. You inspired me! Thank you. 31:05
My partner suffer with axiety,depression and ptsd it's so hard she gets random anger outbursts and takes her anger out on me saying horrible things and sometimes she gets physical aswell which hurts me alot😔 my family don't get it and always tells me to leave her and stuff but I can't just give up on her😫 I love her too much to do that and they don't like her cus of things she's says to me when she has her outbursts but I know it's not her fault any advice I could have please cus I'm not one to just give up and walk away😔
I am wondering what a minimalist list for summer newborns. We have twin 2 year old boys but are having a girl in July and hubby REFUSES to spend on anything so I'm trying to find the least amount possible for clothing.
Hey Nicole! Just seeing this now. Congrats on your pregnancy! Have you watched my minimalist newborn wardrobe video? I would honestly still do a similar set up because homes are typically cool with air conditioning and you likely aren’t going places often with a newborn. A couple zipper sleepers, a nightgown or two. Then the change I would make from that video is less sleepers and add some onesies with like 2-3 pairs of pants and socks to put on if needed! Button up kimono style onesies are a game changer with newborns too! Traditional style is much cheaper, but if you can splurge a little, I saw a couple short sleeve options on Amazon if you search “kimono onesie”. They’re definitely worth the investment from my experience!
I hope all went well through your pregnancy. I have eds and am hoping and praying to go through IVF in 3ish years. My preconception maternal and fetal medicine appointment is soon and I'm getting really scared because hopefully after an appointment or two with them I'll be on the path to IVF but it may be a path toward a hysterectomy instead.
