Large Family Minimalism

What are the basic necessities and comforts that make a loving and happy home? If we took the time to make a list, we might think of things like family time playing together, freedom of time to pursue interests, eating good meals together, open communication with engaging, respectful conversations, faith life/prayer…. Likely, many or most of the necessities and comforts on our lists would not include the material items we have in our homes, overpacked schedules, or long to-do lists. Large family minimalism can be simple and easy following the strategies listed below.

Large Family Minimalist Living

Simple/minimalist living has become increasingly enticing as our family has grown. Yet, as a homeschooling family of 8 with two home businesses, a mini homestead, and plenty of hobbies, it can be easy to accumulate way too many indoor and outdoor items. We’ve learned minimalism or simple living is an ongoing process! While a good decluttering can feel amazing, we also have to be mindful to restrict the flow of items coming into the house. I was not aware, until I became a mom of toddlers, there is such a thing as “house rocks”. Such things must be limited while allowing our families to be joyfully whimsical. It is a humorous balance.

Large Family Material Overwhelm

If you have a large family, you understand the sheer volume of necessary items in the home can become overwhelming without good home organizational systems. Take a coat closet: the number of jackets, snow pants, boots, tennis shoes, and sandals needed to clothe our families through all seasons takes up physical and mental space plus time and energy to manage. Finding “house rocks” in the overstuffed coat closet, or tripping over toys on the way to open it can raise a person’s stress level.

So how do we find balance? What practical tips can we apply to our families to have peace and calm, while everyone feels happy and well loved in the home? Let’s remember our “happy home” lists at the beginning of this post to hold perspective of what is truly important to our families as we tackle the large family living strategies.

Large Family Minimalism Must Haves

Your must have list will vary from other families, as it will reflect your family’s values and interests. For example, we have a lot of fishing gear. Our family spends a lot of time enjoying fishing together, so it cultivates play, happiness, and freedom of time to pursue interests together. Your family might share these values, but may have a backyard firepit rather than fishing gear. Our family “must haves” include:

1. Time and equipment to spend outdoors together. For us, this looks like comfy shoes and strollers to go for walks, bikes and scooters, a garden, small homestead animals, a fire pit, and roasting sticks for healthy homemade marshmallows.
2. Good books to read together and separately that cultivate and grow our family values. These can be borrowed at the library for free. We do make room for several purchased series that are family favorites that we will read multiple times to multiple children over the years. Here is a list of our favorite family books that spans multiple ages and interests.
3. An unhurried schedule with plenty of “free time” for each family member to pursue their own learning and interests, as well as time for family outings and field trips. We are careful with our commitments, limit 1-child extra curriculars, and our calendar reflects our “happy home” values.
4. Healthy meals cooked at home have been a nonnegotiable for our entire family’s physical and mental health. We follow a budget friendly, nutritious meal plan that has helped us heal from autoimmune conditions, allergies, brain fog, and sensory seeking behaviors. Essential to healthy meals are healthy ingredients. I wrote about our list/strategy to transitioning to a whole foods diet here. I love having a minimalist kitchen with limited kitchen items to make the cooking process simple, easy, and enjoyable. Here are my large family favorite kitchen must haves.
5. Evergreen toys, tools, and art/craft/building supplies have allowed our family many to grow in imagination, artistry, business skills and creativity. We have become pickier over time about these items. They have to stand the test of time for quality and engage multiple age groups of children. A few examples of family favorites toys are things like Magnatiles, Nugget couches, wooden blocks, and animal figurines. Crafting examples are things like sewing supplies, stencils, sticker by number books, and paint supplies. Our children have enjoyed creating for HOURS with duct tape, scrap wood, a drill, hammer, nails, screws, popsicle sticks, sanding paper, and “how-to” building books.
6. Memberships/Annual passes to places that encourage outdoor time and physical activity, such as state park passes, fishing and hunting licenses, YMCA memberships, and field trips are a few ideas.

Large Family Minimalism Must Not Haves

Again, our list will be different than yours, as each family has different values. Through time and experience, our family has tended to limit:

1. Screen time. While we use screens for learning and business, we limit the use as passive entertainment. This seems to improve the mental and physical well being of us as parents and our children. We create more time for fun outings, creative projects, and play together.
2. Cheap toys, decorations, and trendy items. Items that break easily, will bore a child after 1 day, or items (clothing, decorations, entertainment, etc) that will go out of style or interest after the season create more clutter and stress than the momentary satisfaction they provide. I include stickers on this list. They are all but on my banned from the house at this point, ha! Like “house rocks”, I have found “stairwell stickers” and too many other interesting surprises
3. Excess clothing. I used to save so many clothes from and for hand-me downs, thrift finds, etc “just in case”. I found the more clothing we had, the less of it we actually wore. Our closets were stuffed and I spent too much time managing changing seasons and sizes. Our kids also had a hard time matching their outfits (striped socks, polka dot pants, plaid shirt combinations…). We now limit clothes, capsule wardrobe, and donate or gift what we will not be needing in the next year or so.
4. Impulse and sale item purchases. We can fall into the trap of thinking that because something is available or on sale, we need it now before it goes away. When we (both children and adults!) want something, we invite the family member to add the item to their birthday or Christmas list or create a planned purchase with extra income earned to purchase it. More often than not, the coveted item loses its allure before the next birthday or allowance money comes along and it is something we are glad to not have wasted time and money in pursuit of.
5. Cluttered surface areas. We do not store any items on our countertops, tables, or floors unless it is furniture, an appliance, or a decoration, such as on a mantle. Research shows a woman’s stress level is directly related to the number of items in a home. Additionally, we are created/wired to frequently and subconsciously scan our environment for threats. When we have visual clutter, our brain has to re-process these items each time we see them, ensuring we are “safe”. Just looking at clutter causes stress, let alone needing to sift through it to find needed items. Instead, we try to have a “home” for every item and work daily to keep surface areas clear and clean.

Decluttering With a Large Family

When trying to reduce the number of items in our homes or on our calendars, it is important to get family members on board. A few strategies that have worked for our family to feel comfortable and happy with a simple living lifestyle are:

1. Having a “home” for everyone’s items. If a dresser drawer, closet, toy basket, tote bin of building supplies, craft corner, kitchen cabinet, etc are overflowing, it is time to choose which items to keep and which to release. This helps us manage the flow of items coming in the home. When “only” 25 nerf guns fit in a tote bin, we will donate one before acquiring a 26th, rather than creating a second bin.
2. Rotating books, toys, and outdoor equipment seasonally. We keep liturgical books and items, such as Christmas books, lenten peg dolls, and holiday specific craft supplies in tote bins in a closet or attic. When we take out one tote for a new season, one from a previous season goes into storage. Same for sandbox toys, baseball bats and gloves, gardening supplies, scooters, bikes, etc. We store these away when weather becomes cold and take out the sleds and outdoor winter items. Thus we rarely have an overwhelming amount of books, decorations, toys, gear, or crafts to manage at any time. We frequently rotate everyday toys and crafts as well to keep things fresh while limiting the amount of clean up each day.
3. Children helping with daily clean up. Children do not want to be overwhelmed by too many items in the home or on their schedules either. When we teach our children how to keep a bedroom or living space organized and clean, they quickly realize the job is much easier and quicker when the items are fewer and every item has a home. They learn over time to put an object away before getting something else out, or they are interrupted at an inconvenient time to put it away properly. Our seven year old recently said, “Mom, I do not want all this extra stuff in my room! It is too much to keep organized and clean!” Allow enough space and time on the family calendar for children to enjoy time to play, read, and be good stewards of their items.
4. Invite the whole family to calendar coordinate. Decluttering the family calendar is a huge step toward creating better balance and peace in a home. Ask family members what is important to them in the upcoming month and season. Put a magnetic calendar on the fridge or somewhere the whole family can see it daily. Teach children saying yes to one thing means saying no to another thing. Do we want to create time to have lemonade stand sales and raise homestead animals this summer, or do we want to travel instead? Do we want to have more time to go fishing or more time to play sports? When they are part of the planning, they learn to prioritize and manage time. When someone wants to take on a learning project, such as learning how to make soap, we write it on the calendar together to make sure it happens.
5. Make a daily routine to clear all surface areas, counter tops, and floors before dinner or bedtime. Waking up to a reset house makes all the difference in getting an organized, fresh start to the day. When the daily decluttering becomes a habit and way of life, the “big” decluttering days are fewer and farther between.

What are your favorite ways and strategies to live simply with your family? I would love to hear more about them below!

Resources

Posts

5 Home Systems That Simplify and Reduce Overwhelm
Healthy Marshmallow Recipe (GAPS, Paleo, Vegan, Sugar-Free)
Wholesome Book Lists For Kids
GAPS Diet Meal Plan
How to Start an Ancestral Diet (without Overwhelm)
Large Family Kitchen Essentials + GAPS Diet Must Haves

Shop This Post

• Backyard Fire Pit
• Magnatiles
• Wooden Blocks
• Animal Figurines
• Refrigerator Calendar

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