How to Live a Minimalistic Life With Kids

Living a minimalistic life is so beneficial for many families. If you are keen to start living one but are worried you can’t because you have kids, think again.

Here is your guide on how to live a minimalistic life with kids!

1.   Lead by Example

It all begins with you. You must live that lifestyle first. Even if you have older children who don’t want to change, you can still live a minimalist lifestyle. Once you get a grasp on it with your things, it will be much easier to change for the whole family.

This also goes along with your thoughts and the words that you say. Everything you do will make a huge difference for your children. Be careful what you say, especially if things aren’t working out for you. Children tend to remember those things the longest.

2.   Start Young

The younger you start, the better! If you have toddlers, they can easily adapt, and they wouldn’t even know a different way of life. However, just because it is easier to start young doesn’t mean you don’t have hope if you have teenagers. You can always make the switch at any age.

Children change their minds and habits a lot faster at a younger age. If you start when they are born, they will believe that it is completely normal to only have a few toys rather than a room full. 

3.   Explain Why

Children will understand and make the change a lot easier and faster if you explain the reasons why you want to live a minimalistic life. You can even teach young children how to live this way and why. Kids need to know why you want this change, or it won’t matter much to them anyway.

Kids deserve to understand just like we do. Even though they are small and might not understand completely, try your best to teach them throughout the entire process. You can create a list with them to help them visualize and see the actual benefits of this change.

4.   Experience Gifts

One of the easiest ways to switch is to do experience gifts with your children instead of physical gifts. Experience gifts are where you do something instead of receiving an actual toy for birthdays, Christmas, or any other celebration.

This could be in the form of a family trip during Christmas or separate experience gifts for each child. You get to choose how you go about it. Not only with experience gifts clear up space in your home, but it is also a way to excite your kids about this change.

Here are a few examples of some experience gifts:

• Family trip to a theme park
• Go ice skating
• Go rock climbing or bouldering
• Arcade night with the family
• Go see a film at the cinema
• Ice cream date
• Trip to the seaside
• Holiday to Disneyland Paris
• Go watch a football game
• Visit a museum

There are so many fun and simple experience gifts that will do a lot more than a toy for children. These are the memories they keep even when they are adults. Experience gifts do not have to be expensive or exotic. While those are fun, do what is within your budget. Your children won’t know the difference between an expensive trip and a budget-friendly one; they will just enjoy the fun times together.

5.   Focus on Positives

There are pros and cons to every way of life. If you are struggling with the change but know you want to live that way, your kids will grow up hearing the struggles and negatives about living a minimalistic life.

Instead, focus your attention on the positives. You can find so many amazing benefits to this lifestyle. Once you focus on the good that comes from it, so will your children. They will start to lose focus on the negatives until they love this new way of life.

6.   Include Them in the Process

Kids will understand and want to help. What better way to teach them than to include them with the switch? They can declutter and donate stuff they don’t use anymore. When you include your children, they learn crucial values that will stick with them forever. With a minimal lifestyle, there are countless values to learn; it would be a shame to lose that if you try to do it without them.

7.   Make it Fun

If your children only see it as getting rid of all their things, they won’t enjoy this new change. They will dread it and try to fight it. However, if you can make it fun, it will help them to stay positive throughout the journey!

Experience gifts are one way to make it more fun. You can also do competitions to see who can declutter and donate the most things or celebrate when you achieve a certain milestone. Make it like a game for your children, and they will love it.

8.   Declutter Often

Even if you try your hardest, you will still end up with things you don’t need throughout the year. Try to declutter once a month if you can. This helps keep things balanced and makes living a minimalist lifestyle easier with kids.

Just like your body needs to detox every few months, so does your life and home. Decluttering is a quick process to help you “detox” and start again fresh.

Start now and help your children live minimalistic lives! This principle will stay with them and help them for the rest of their lives. Use these eight tips to help make the transition a little bit easier.