How To Be Minimalist With A Family - BEFORE AND AFTER MINIMALISM 

I make photos of the drawings my kids make and make a photobook so you still can enjoy them and it does not take up a lot of space

Finally a realistic minimalist. When it comes to food 7 years old is so picky I no longer buy in bulk. And we also do the container for memory items n go through them every school year. Glad to see someone that still keeps games and arts n crafts items cause we do to. Thankyou

Thank you for addressing the minimalism with kids topic. 3 kids here and I've been on minimalism journey for over a year. I just looked around one day and thought this is not even a home anymore just like a storage unit. I felt like I couldn't actually live because I was just forever organizing and cleaning and it was absolutely never ending and soul sucking. Nothing I tried was working. I couldn't find a working routine or system that I would stick to or my family would stick to. So I just started getting rid of stuff and I noticed I was a lot happier as well as my kids. There started to be way less things to pick up at the end of the day and then I just have started following minimalism vlogs. (Coming over from the Minimal Mom). I'm still working on food and clothes. Loving the no pressure holidays!

Buying for the future🙋 absolutely guilty, thought I was the only one🙈🙈

Taking pictures of arts and crafts projects and making a small photo albulm for a kid is a great space saver

I love the food idea. We just started to do that by making two menu using only recipes that we all love to eat. We rotate and its the same ingredients. Our grocery bill has cut in half.

I haven't finished watching the video and I'm already inspired! No long introduction at the beginning, no chatty talking, just facts with visual examples, you speak clearly without 'ehrm' and silly laughs - great job :D and great tips, because as you said correctly: the most minimalist I found are students, people who live in a shared flat or singles. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

Love seeing the before and afters! Great tips Shannon!!!

Glad to see families being minimalist.

Not buying for the future! Total lightbulb moment!

This is my goal! I just want to spend less time dealing with stuff and have less negative impact on our environment! Thanks for the encouragement!

I really appreciate these tips. Thank you from Indonesia! I currently am doing 2019 No Buy Challenge, and yesterday my husband brushed our dingy rubber cell phone cases that they looked shiny, clear, and like new again, so we did not need to buy new ones. Having simplified life definitely makes life richer.

Memory boxes are so great. I’ve made one for my husband and one for myself. If the boxes get too full, we sort through them to just keep the best of the best. I don’t feel guilty about keeping anything in the boxes

Great tips for kids. I did the same thing and noticed that they started playing together more and created their own games. Less toys is less stress for everyone in the household.

Majorly decluttering our house these past two months at home with my 16 year old girl home. She’s been so helpful and loving getting organized and rid of stuff we really don’t use anymore. College boy arrived home last night so hopefully more decluttering to happen this summer in his room.

When my children were younger I did keep a lot of their clothes to pass down to the next child. When I had 5 children it DID save a lot of money so it was worth it. I now have nine children so I have actually whittled down our stored clothes to one bin of girls and one bin of boys stuff. These bins are stored in our crawl space. I have also majorly simplified our food. I don’t make meals with tons of ingredients and I have even gotten rid of heaps of herbs and spices too. Another area that I have changed in is I will immediately donate unwanted gifts. I wasted too much time and sanity keeping things out of obligation. If some people just REFUSE to honour me in any way or even spend time with us but dump stuff on us then I feel unburdened by getting rid of the items. I know a lot of people get rid of older items but if our toys are LOVED and already minimised and played with daily I am not going to make us get rid of that stuff for something we haven’t even expressed an interest in in the past.

Love your take on minimalism with a family. I’m trying to curb my own “shopping ahead” habit. It’s so hard to go from shopping to being content with where you are at.

Talk abou buying for the future. I buy books for 7-10 years old when my daughter was about 3. Some of them ended up missing or broken when my daughter actually grows up to the age she can really read them.

Thank you. This is exactly what I wanted to know when we started our minimalist journey last year with two toddlers.

Thank you for sharing your minimalist journey with having a family. I have 4 kids, and I’m in the process of becoming more minimalist. It feels so good to have less.

I agree with so many points you have. I just started to simplify the food situation and it is very freeing. Thank you for sharing!

I definitely had issues with buying clothes for the future. You have so many great tips! Applying minimalism to food really does make things easier on all fronts. With mine at a younger age it made him more willing to try new things! I was blown away 😂 Thank you for sharing!

I remember the first video I saw of yours and you talked about getting a hobby and stop shopping. That really helped me. Thanks for your great tips and showing us you can be minimal with kids.

Great video! I love the fact that you use bins to store everything so parents and kids are able organize anything that needed to be organized

You have no idea how much you have helped our family! You apply this art to those of us who have families! PAPERS are our weakness.

This is such a solid video with clear explanations and no extra nonsense. It satisfied my soul.

Loved this video Shannon! So many great tips and I love seeing how minimizing things have simplified things in your home! 😃💕💟Great video as always! 🤗

Perfect video for the topic!!! I keep my children’s best art on the fridge for one week, then it either goes into the KEEP bin, or in the paper recycling bin.

Thank you! I am on the minimalist way and I dreaming about a big family of 10 of us (there are 3 at the moment) and videos like yours are so informative and inspirational! Thank you for your effort! ✨🙏🏼✨

I have been throwing all of my stuff now i don’t have alot of stuff and i changed my apartment it’s so modern and minimalist i literally lovee its all white and open ... and I love watching videos like this it motivates me to declutter even more ❤️yaaassss

Thankyou, i really enjoy your videos, such a huge difference from your videos i started watching 2 years ago. i love your sons room, its so simplified and calm.

finally a useful minimalist video for me! i have an 8 month old and i feel like the house is cluttered with toys and clothes!! i know it’s only going to get crazier the older he gets so i found these tips super useful. thank you so much!

I agree with everything except for the food suggestion! For us, it’s super important to make our kids keep eating things even if they don’t like them, because they will be exposed to other cultures’ dishes and I want them to learn gratefulness, no matter what they are offered. We don’t make different meals for each of our kids, either. We could do better about food waste, though.

“Trying to actively live with less” yesss, that’s exactly it!

I wish this video was around a few years ago when we started our journey! Agree and have adopted many of the things mentioned! Thank you for sharing! ❤

I love the idea of having a memory box!

These are great tips Shannon! It's amazing to see how minimizing has made such a positive change for your family! 💛🤗

Loved your comment on the simplified food for your kids! My kids love simple foods too!

I recently discovered your channel and love it!!! Thank you for the tips. As a family of four too we are constantly thinking of ways to simplify our home!

Such a useful video, so much relevant to my life at the moment!

I now simplifying my wardrobe- especially what I Wear to work.

I love this. I try, and it works well since we are a military family and we move a lot! The problem is my 7yo daughter, she'd keep every little thing 😬 It's easier with my youngest and it was easier when she was little, but now she has her opinions, and yesterday she told me she wants a bigger house when we move next so that she can fit more toys in her room 🙈 truth to be said we are in London UK now, our house is small, and her bedroom is tiny, but it's helping us to keep our stuff in check

Great video for beginners on their minimalist journey, thank you!

Thank you for this video. Great advice for families!

Hi Shannon , Thank You for another Fantastic video :) I agree with so much of what you have said.I try to live a very similar lifestyle.Minimalism is always a work in progress.

You came up on my recommended feed! Can’t believe I hadn’t subscribed. So good to see you on RU-vid, Shannon! Loved getting to know you and grow with you in the Create Your Blog Dream FB group!:)

Totally agree with what you said at the start of the video Shannon - so many minimalists are single people or couples with no kids - much easier when there are less people involved! That’s one of the reasons I love your channel 😊

You’re such a good mom! I love your creative ideas..your boys are darling😀

Thanks for sharing. Always enjoy your content.

For my family: I have been buying only dish washing liquid and diluting with water to clean everything in the house. I cut down on dishes over the years and been cutting down more and more so to point where we can get through them in 20s mins or less/ so no need for dishwasher detergent. My son has been an aspired artist for a long time and brings home lots of art work. We take pictures and put it on a cloud but now trying to get him to draw on his tablet which he loves but we keep the really coveted pieces. Also he only wears dark colors (minimal laundry sorting and longevity) bc it’s like his style with cool t shirts and jeans anyway. But he only have 5-7 pairs of pants, no more than than 10 or so shirts: long sleeve, short sleeve, sweaters. And 1 pack of socks and 4 pairs of shoes: sandals for swimming, two pairs of sneakers and boots. Whenever he needs something new I get no more than that. I used to buy way more than that and he never touched it. I have the hardest time buying gifts for ppl so I just give gift cards they can use for anything including bills. I also have a cubicle storage bins with the shelves and put everything in them like toys, shoes school stuff. He has a 9 storage bin shelf and that’s enough for everything besides clothes. He has a loft bed that’s a desk, dresser and bed all in one. I love it. All he needs is one dresser used to have more. He gets allowance and saves for things he wants- we don’t buy him things anymore besides necessities. He actually makes great budgeting decisions bc of this and really appreciates his things more. He’s also really good at moving on from toys he doesn’t use anymore. For his parents, I’ve gotten down to one dresser as well as his dad and have some closet space to hang a few dresses up. I buy quality over quantity even more so but just key favs I re wear and will most likely wear throughout the return cycle of the seasons. I continue to get rid and keep new things out unless something needs to replaced or want to replace something worth replacing

Feeling inspired by this video! Really working hard to reduce the clutter in our home over the next several months so we don’t feel so overwhelmed and in disarray in our own home. I love decor and have an eye for making things look cute but with that come a desire to put more little cute trinkets and it’s just unnecessary!

Another Great Video!! I hope you guys have a Great Weekend!!! 🙂

New subscriber!! On a minimalist journey for myself and it’s been so freeing!!

Hey. Shannon! I noticed the curtain in the kitchen... remembering your posts on IG about that. I think it looks great! Have a wonderful day 🌟

Thank you so much for this!! 💗

hello from England 😄 this video is just what i needed, we are a family of four too. We started our minimal journey last august, it’s so nice to hear from another mum and realistic 🥰 thank you!!!!! i am now about to watch all your videos 😂 xx

It is so good to see this video about minimalism and being a family of 4! I like how you commented that most videos are of singles, couples and their tips on minimalism, but it's a bit different when you have kids. Thank you so much for the great tips!

Not sure if anyone has touched upon this- but your energy is so calming. I enjoyed this video a lot. I am a single mom with an 11-year old son. Ever since we bought our new condo in the city (which forces us to also purge!) we did the KonMari way. Then I realized that I wanted even more minimalism instead of just tidying up- which I believe is probably the basis, but wanted. to really downsize. I've noticed that my energy dips when things are cluttered. Maybe it's due to my innate Virgo tendencies (I'm virgo sun + ascending). My boyfriend of many years just moved in with us- and he is SUPER neat! But he is a chef and now my kitchen feels overwhelmingly cluttered. I'm going to search your videos if you talk about kitchen clutter at all.

👍🌟I love the idea of a memory box for both yourself and the children. I’m holding on to so many sentimental items-probably because I moved countries in my early adulthood and want to keep myself connected with my grounds-but they get in the way of using my regular stuff. Same for my children. I really should make a memory box and keep it all contained.

I agree about the food. Food waste is a huge problem. Simple nutritious meals with zero waste should be our goal!

Thank you so much for this video. I've been looking for years some help in being minimal with kids @_@

Just found this and it was super helpful thank you so much.

Thank you for sharing and for the great tipps.....I like to watch your videos. 🙋💛

Thank you so much for this video. Looking forward for more😍

Very helpful thank you !

Oh wow i just find the channel that i needed. I am a mom and i am becoming a minimalist.

Great tips Shannon! One of the reasons I love your channel is because you show a practical look at becoming minimal. I think when people come across those extreme minimalist channels - where they are single or married without kids - it can feel like you just can't be minimal. Thank you for sharing your journey!

It would be nice to know some tips and tricks how you minimalized kids toys because everything seems important to them

I used to also collect their school drawings and arts and first test etc.. etc.. and it will take so much space as time goes by lol so then I now scan it instead and save it because all my kids will do is look back to those to those memories.. i kept the most important projects of course. their choice.

I LOVE thrift store shopping to save money and the environment so future shopping is a bit of a necessity for us. I try to keep track of it though and have a list on my phone of the things that I have bought and I know that we won't need more than 5 t shirts, 5 pairs of trousers etc.

First, great hair. Second, the food thing - great, great tip. My daughter is super similar and I always feel like I’m wasting money and food. Thank you

Great tips!

I agree with you on clothing. While I do have totes of clothing that I got for free, I learned with my second child that they truly may not fit clothes that you store for later. (My daughter is almost 2 and could still possibly fit into 0-3 month clothing) Since I already have the clothes and we are unsure of what we want to keep, we will "borrow" pieces from the stored clothes, use those items to build a capsule wardrobe, and then donate the rest. Also for paper clutter my son started Prek this year as well and we do get tons of artwork sent home. A few things have made it into the trash, but I have kept mostly all of it in a small plastic filing bin. When school ends next month I will go through it all and choose some things I want to keep. In the plastic file bin I have one hanging file folder for each school year which I will keep a few pieces of art work, awards, important papers for school/sports, and things like that. When my kids are older I will give them their 'memory bins" with the pieces I collected from when they were growing up (my mom had totes and totes of memory things for me and I found this to be the simplest and easiest way to give my kids their memories)

Such a helpful video. ♥

Great video. Btw, the kitchen curtain turned out great!

THANKYOU! finally a Minimalist family ! it was really frustrating seeing backpackers in Japan etc as you said because when you have children you do have stuff.

Love this channel 😊 I have to say though, as a mum and wife, I think I'm the biggest clutter creator in our house - I can't blame it on the kids 😂 but you have given me some great ideas so I'm going to take a look this weekend and see what changes I can make.

Minimizing the AMOUNT of toys your kids have out is so SO key. Kids play so much better when they have more space and less toys. We do a toy rotation because we have the luxury of storage space. We have one toy/activity on the main floor (like barbie house a few dolls) and then a couple in the bedroom. Then, when we are stuck inside, we can rotate out the toy that's on the main floor and it's like it's brand new

Great Video 😊

Great idea 🤗

It might sounds weird but I found most of the clutter toys are gifts from birthdays, Christmas gathering parties, relatives reunions etc. So from my daughter’s 6th birthday I start to announcement for no toy gifts together with invitations.

You are awesome 🎉 great information

Thank you as a mum with 2 kids under 3 watching the single adult minimalists makes me so jealous and sad! I am a very clean person so I spend way too much time cleaning when I could be reading or sleeping or gardening. I am going to do a MASSIVE clothes and craft throw out this weekend.

I have all the pix now on my google display instead and of picture frames.

I do the same with wardrobe.

I finally stopped buying kids clothes ahead of time. It always seemed like in the meantime, we’d get hand me downs or they would end up changing their tastes by the time they fit. So much was wasted.

For me, we have limited income so when there are solid pieces that are quality made and are easy to mix and match on clearance or at the thrift store, I do buy them and store them in one small tote for each kid. We can’t afford to buy a bunch of clothes at full price when they move up a size and most of our friends and family have kids in the same size or the same age so hand me downs don’t happen often. We do only buy the next size they will be in, and between the handful of clearance items and birthday/Christmas gifts we haven’t had any problems within the past 2 years of doing it. I think storing clothing in larger size is okay as long as it’s limited in items, and storage space.

Love your videos! Very inspiring! Now if only I had the time to declutter!!! And love the tip of buying in the NOW and not for the future, we buy bulk food & clothing & finding a lot gets wasted, kids grow so fast & barely get a chance to wear everything & food spoils before getting to eat it :( One question, did you or do you find it difficult trying to get the boys to bed & settle in for the night even with their toys in their room?? It's not too distracting for them? Any tips?

Your boys are adorable. Our sons are grown men now. Enjoy this time.

I need to do this I've just moved from a large flat to a much smaller flat so will have to de clutter major league I'm so like my mum who keeps everything so it's going to be tough

You can also take pictures of their art with your phone

I'd love that lego train for my daughter. Can you provide an amazon link?

As far as gifts, I don't wait until my kids receive new gifts to get rid of old toys. I have a guideline that I follow. Although, I do get rid of older toys close to Christmas/birthdays. We talk about the toys they want and I firmly/gently let them know that it's time to let go of older toys if they want brand new toys. While they were 4yrs and younger I just got rid of old toys while they were out of the house like at grandmas. They never noticed. Now, that they're older it doesn't seem right to get rid of their stuff behind their back. I tell them their toys are going to donations were another kid can find them and take them home. As they're getting older their gifts are also getting simpler. No more noisey toddler toys.

I've just found your channel, i also follow Sarah Therese who is in the same mindset. Ps i like what you do !

What are some minimalist tips you have? Thank you for watching how to be a minimalist with a family! Check out our decluttering for a year video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kYzxPLQk004.html

👍😀👍😀👍😀 Thanks!

Loved ur vid!! I also made a video on minimalism. I think your lifestyle is very cool

Where did you get those cute baskets from? (The wooden ones with the black label on the outside, I think you used them in your bathroom)

Arghhhh.....this is hard!! I'm a minimalist at heart, but I live with a husband who likes to keep stuff and 2 kids who are....hoarders?? They refuse to get rid of anything, it's so frustrating! Every craft, stuffed animal, Halloween costumes, book, etc! Comes in, never comes out! The only relief on th subject is knowing that one day they will have their own house and they will move all this stuff out! (Ahah!)

Any comment on how that wooden Ikea bed at 8:09 stands up to kids jumping on it?