Not too long ago, I received an email from a reader inquiring about the demographics of minimalists. She was wondering if the urge to purge had any correlation with being the oldest, youngest, middle, or only child.
That’s a great question, but I’m unaware of any polls or studies that have been done on the subject. I’m an oldest child myself. However, there’s someone in my family even more minimalist than me: my younger brother.
Believe it or not, my brother’s lifestyle makes mine look maximalist. He’s single, completely carefree, and has mastered the art of location-independence while working a professional job (he’s a self-employed engineer, and his clients are scattered all over the world). He hasn’t owned a car in over a decade, and all his possessions fit into a carry-on.
Most of the time, I have no idea where he is. Last year, he realized he could live on-the-road for less than he was paying in rent, and has been globetrotting ever since. He plans nothing, and just hops the next cheap flight when he’s ready to move on. While I’ll stay somewhere for three months, he’ll pick up and go after three weeks.
I see him every so often, when he happens to turn up in my neck of the woods. We last met up in Paris, when I was there for a long weekend and he was passing through. We spent the evening at a little bistro, catching up while practicing our not-quite-fluent French.
So I was surprised to receive an email from him recently, saying he was in town for the night. We planned to meet for dinner, but at the appointed time, he still hadn’t shown. I called him on his cell phone, thinking perhaps he’d hopped a last minute flight to some exotic locale.
“Uh no, I’m still coming,” he said. “I’m just having a laundry issue.”
It turned out that the one dress shirt he owns had somehow gotten stuck in the hotel’s washing machine. The concierge had promised to resolve the issue, but still had not done so by the time he had to leave for dinner. To make up for the inconvenience, she asked his size, ran down the street, and purchased him a brand new shirt. He threw it on in the lobby as he was heading out the door, and managed to show up only fifteen minutes late.
Not only was he completely unfazed by this wardrobe malfunction, he was quite pleased with his new shirt. He wasn’t upset or frustrated, but rather amused by the whole experience. It’s a perfect example of how he lives: going with the flow, and trusting that exactly what he needs will come along when he needs it.
A common barrier to minimalism is the compulsion to plan, stock up, or own things “just in case.” When we’re decluttering, we’re often paralyzed by the fear that we’ll find a need tomorrow for what we throw out today. However, as the story above illustrates, things will likely work out just as well (maybe even better!) if we let go, live on the edge, and let things occur as they may.
Anyway, I digress—this post was supposed to address the impact of birth order on minimalism, although I really don’t have the answer to that anyway. I also don’t know (but am curious) as to whether minimalism runs in families. I’m sure my parents wonder what they did to produce two children with such an aversion to “stuff.” We grew up in a neat, well-maintained household with what I’d call a normal amount of possessions—so we certainly weren’t influenced by an extreme environment.
So let’s take an informal poll in the Comments. If you’re a minimalist (or conversely, struggle with clutter issues), are you the oldest, youngest, middle, or only child? Do your siblings or parents have similar tendencies? It’ll be interesting to see if any patterns emerge…
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I’ve been a minimalist since birth, and I’m the oldest of three.
I am the youngest in my family. My parents and brother are clutter-bugs while I was always neat and straightened up behind them growing up. Especially when I was having someone over.
I like everything organized and in its place and am gradually working toward minimalism although, DH is slightly messy.
I’m the youngest of two children. Both my parents are clutter collectors as is my brother. Worst of all was my grandfather on my father’s side. Every inch of his property was covered with stuff and buildings to hold his stuff. He was an avid scavenger and always believed he could make money on something he bought at a yard sale or auction. When he passed away, it was up to my grandmother, father and his younger brother to liquidate some of that stuff. More than ten years later and it still isn’t all gone.
Collecting stuff seems to run in the family. It seemed natural to me to be surrounded by so much stuff until a few life changing events in recent years made me realize how owning so much stuff is a hinderance not a blessing. I finally reached the end of my rope when I was contemplating a move from the east coast to the middle of the Pacific and literally had panic attacks at the thought of figuring out how to move all my stuff and how I was going to afford it. In the last year and a half I have gotten rid of at least half of what was in my house and I still have a long way to go. Eliminating the excess has become addictive as I have felt that weight of the responsibility of owning so much stuff lifting from my shoulders. Someday soon I hope to be light enough to fly off to my island paradise and be completely unemcumbered by the need to own so much stuff.
i’m the youngest, my two sisters are about 10 years older than me. one (with family) could be considered as european average. the other one is a packrat (can’t handle money either).
i think it has more to do with personality and the parents’ lifestyle. my mother could be considered as quite a minimalist by nature, and very frugal. (my dad not. but he was at work most of the time.)
when i was little, my mom gave me a box for all the little knick-knacks a little child collects and this was the place for them – if it became more, i had to declutter. i never had much clothes or much stuff in total although i’m female and had a really horrible goth phase at age 17 (oh dear, all those long velvet skirts and corsets… very impractical clothing).
decluttering was a seasonal ritual at my home and i still love it. my sisters don’t as much (the packrat doesn’t declutter at all, i suppose). my dad though, but he uses the space to buy more stupid stuff (often stuff he threw away last year…).
I am the younger of 2 children, and my parents are the opposite of me, believe it or not!
Oldest of 3, younger 2 are boys. Grandmother and mother more minimalist. In fact I wish they had not always been so quick to clear stuff out so that we had a little more family mementos. I have definite hoarding tendencies, though not in the shopping sense. Don’t buy just to buy. Have mild OCD. Just have trouble clearing out stuff that ends up in house or is given to me. One daughter who is not a hoarder, not a minimalist (middle) and a daughter (youngest)who is severe OCD and
leans toward no clutter. Oldest is son and I can’t tell…I think he has slob tendencies…still in that post college stage yet.
I’m the oldest in my family and am striving to purge all excess things–my brother, the only other child–hence also the youngest, is much more minimalist minded. Our parents are not very minimalist at all.
Excellent post and great anecdote; makes me want to get back in touch with my more carefree self.
Also, I am the youngest child of two.
I’m the youngest of four kids; no one else in my family is a minimalist. My parents have a LOT of stuff (though it’s mostly in storage now), and my siblings have a “normal” amount of stuff.
I am the eldest sibling, and am an aspiring minimalist, particularly as my nest begins to empty of children. My sister, the youngest, numbers among the most enthusiastic pack-rats I know. She even begs and borrows storage in other’s garages. Our mother has become a bit of a hoarder–replacing people and relationships lost–with stuff. HER mother was a dedicated minimalist, and years before her recent death, had whittled her household possessions down to ONE person’s worth of stuff plus a few mementos (meant to be handed down or sold for their value). Her efforts were admirable, gracious, realistic, and much appreciated by those left to handle her estate.
I think my own keen interest in downsizing comes from the contrasts amongst the women in my life (none of us has much money). When I think about the eventual ‘big clean out’ of my mother’s things–as much as I love the woman, oy, can she collect crap–it drives me to pare back. This even spurred a game that was both amusing and therapeutic in the dark and cold of post-holiday winter. The ‘5 Things’ game. I got rid of 5 things a day, books, CDs, clothing, kitchen crap, junk drawer dregs, old paperwork, etc., for 2 months. I loved it, got some friends to join in, and now we have an annual tradition (methinks). Generally, 5 things easily became 10 or even more…but 5 is still good.
The danger in the game, I suppose, is succumbing to a ‘garbage in-garbage out’ way of celebrating Christmas, so I’m working on that ahead of time…
Laura, Everytime I leave my parents house, I come home with the urge to purge! Seriously, I’ve tried to help them see the light and start downsizing their possessions in their 3700 sq. foot house, but nope…can’t part with anything yet.
Very interesting! In my family, my dad and I both have minimalist tendencies. I am the younger of two and my dad is the youngest of 6. My mom (the older of two) and my brother (older of two) are major pack rats. I don’t know if that has so much to do with birth order though. My dad and I are very alike in most aspects of our personalities whereas my brother and mom are a lot alike too. My dad and I are more introverted, studious, quiet bookworm types. My mom and brother are extroverted, life of the party types. I wonder if the introversion/extroversion spectrum has anything to do with minimalism. A lot of minimalists I know or follow online seem to skew toward introversion–very in tune with their own inner worlds, introspective and such. Seems to me that that fits with the view that our “stuff” or lack thereof is tied with the quality of our lives & the quality of our selves.
Interesting thought about extroversion/introversion.
I am the oldest of three children, have always been a neatnik, and always enjoyed purging unneeded stuff, though I have become more minimalist as I’ve gotten older (I’m 50). My younger brother is a major packrat, and my youngest sister (who probably has the most disposable income of the three of us) is not a hoarder but has quite a bit of stuff. She “collects” several things, and has large lighted display cabinets for her collections (sort of like a museum at her house). Both of my siblings are more extroverted than I am; my brother is the most extroverted.
My mom is the oldest of six children — everyone in her family is a packrat, though she justifies hanging onto everything by having it very neatly and attractively stored in what Don Aslett calls “junk bunkers.” One of her brothers does this too. He has the neatest, cleanest, most stuffed garage and storage sheds I’ve ever seen.
My dad was the oldest of three, and my personality is very much like his was. I think he would have been a minimalist if he hadn’t lived with my mother. He kept a few mementos from his childhood home in the West Indies, but other than that I think he would have preferred to live with only the bare bones. His younger sister, however, is a major packrat. You can’t use the counter in her bathroom without clearing away the collection of ceramic animals (the entire house is like that).
Very interesting post and comments!
I also think the introversion/extroversion spectrum is an interesting question. My sister is more extroverted and while not quite a packrat, is very messy. I used to be a packrat, but find minimalism appealing and have been getting rid of stuff. I’m very introverted. My sister is a lot busier than I am, so has less time to clean.
I’m the middle of three females. Both of my sisters have way more stuff than I do. My mum was also a ‘collector’ which I think was because she didn’t have much as a child. The idea of buying things because you want them was passed down to us. Both my sisters are married with children. I am not. So, I wonder if my desire for less is due in part to my overall lifestyle of wanting simplicity and freedom to do things rather than have things?
I’m an eldest who follows in the footsteps of my minimalist dad – also an eldest. A middle sister in our family of six kids is also minimalist. I don’t think it correlates with birth order.
I’m a middle Child and my 17 year old son who is also a minimalist (unlike his older brother) is the youngest of 2. I think minimalism is related to being a perfectionist. My older son wants to do things perfectly so he has a hard time parting with things and deciding how to edit. My husband is the same way.
xo jana
Oldest. I had close relationships with my Depression-Era grandparents on both sides. Perhaps that is where the minimalism comes from – only purchasing what is necessary, needed and useful. However, at least one pair of them had the need to save things “just in case”. In their defense, “just in case” normally happened. They owned lots of rental properties and never wasted one thing – moving and replacing and refurbishing. They would move and reuse whole front porches of houses, for example. Who does that? My youngest sibling is an avid consumer; the middle child is frugal, but a hoarder in the sense that nothing is ever thrown away, (not clutter, but lots of stuff).
I am the oldest middle child (oldest biological, but third in age with two older adopted siblings). I am one of two minimalist of five (oldest and middle child). The second and fifth children are complusive shoppers and hoarders. And the fourth? Well, he is pretty average in terms of the amount of “stuff” he owns. He accumulates a lot over time, but has no problem throwing as much as he needs to out at any time…he has no emotional attachment to his things. My father is a minimalist and my mother is a packrat/complusive shopper.
I am an only child. My dad died when I was 12 so I’m not sure about him, but my mom is a packrat- keeps absolutely everything! She has check stubs and pay stubs back to the early 1950’s!! I think I am rebelling aganst turning into a packrat!
I am an oldest and as far as I know the only one to struggle with these issues. My sister, her husband and two grown buys live in a Victorian house she has crammed with stuff, from her own holiday decorating things to her guys’ sports equipment. At one point, she replaced her too-big-for-the-room dining room table with a pool table; a few years later, the pool table navigated into what had been their bedroom, the dining room table returned, and they moved into the bedroom of what had been an apartment on their second floor. Bye bye apartment/renter. My brother I suspect has similar issues, but he has five kids under thirteen, all boys, so sports equipment is definitely everywhere. I am single with no kids, one car, and trying to purge/sell/throw out my excess stuff. I think I am the oddball.
This is wonderful! How I would love to live that way! for now, I can only downsize one object at a time. Miss Minimalist, I am so impressed by your pioneering efforts!
As Paul Gilding says in his new book called “The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World.” : ” the earth is full. The consumer-driven growth model is broken and we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less. “How many people,” Gilding asks, “lie on their death bed and say, ‘I wish I had worked harder or built more shareholder value,’ and how many say, ‘I wish I had gone to more ballgames, read more books to my kids, taken more walks?’ To do that, you need a growth model based on giving people more time to enjoy life, but with less stuff.”
Thank you again Francine, and please keep writing, you inspire us!
PS I’m definitely buying your Kindle book!
I am the middle child, oldest son.
middle of three
I come from a family of collectors/clutterers. Both of my older sisters have cluttered homes and are contiually collecting more “stuff”. When I am decluttering (an ongoing process), they become quite angry with me for throwing out “valuable” things. Usually, they take whatever I am getting rid of and stuff it in their (already) cluttered houses! Looking back on my process of becoming minimalist, I have noted that it has run concurrent with my having lost over 100 lbs. over the last two years. As I have lightened up my body, so have I lightened up my physical/material world and I am so happy! This whole process has helped me feel freer on so many levels. I only hope that I can influence my two children to live a simpler lifestyle by providing them with a good example.
Out of five kids, I’m second youngest. No one else in my family is a minimalist, nor are they excessive stuff keepers. If anything, I used to be untidy and a stuff keeper. Strange how these things work out.
Only child and moderately minimalist, I like order. My (German) dad is a neatfreak but will buy any gadget and then pass it on, which really bugs us! My (English) mom used to be a total messie but the older she gets, the neater she gets (I have also improved with age!) – she is also hell when she’s on cortisone and starts polishing door handles… My husband would like to be neat and minimalist but procrastinates and needs “help” decluttering – then he feels great!
Three daughters are pretty much like us – they try but don’t always win LOL! We all like interior design and for things to look “nice”, though.
In 10 years…????? ;))
I’m the youngest of three. I think my brothers have less than they would otherwise because they shared a house with Mom after their divorces so there was little room for their stuff. Mom collected salt n pepper shakers when I was a child but only displayed those that fit into two shadowboxes. She collected angels as an adult and displayed way too many of those for me. I’ve always disliked clutter preferring the clean lines and clear surfaces of Scandanavian furniture. But, I used to have lots of bookcases filled with books until I discovered I have dust allergies. Now I wonder if those allergies made me not like clutter without realizing it?
I am the youngest of four and come from a LONG line of borderline hoarders (in my opinion!). :) My husband is an only child and prefers minimalism to the clutter his extended family enjoys also.
I’m the oldest, I have a 2 year younger sister. My father and my sister are afraid to throw away anything because they might need it someday. My mother and I are more minimalist types.
I’ve been a minimalist for quite a few year. i’m the 5th in a fam of 6 brothers and sisters. I’m the youngest girl though. All!! my family likes to shop and purchase things and accumulate. I’m the only one who’s the opposite! :)
Really enjoyed your post!
PAULA
Seven years ago I was faced with the task of clearing a 5-bedroom, 3-bath home following the death of my parents. I have been decluttering my own life ever since. My younger brother has a house fully furnished – follows after mom. Older brother lives in an apartment and has a large storage locker. I find nearly empty rooms relaxing – and always have.
As the oldest of two children, I have purged and practiced minimalism from a very young age, with no prompting from my elders. My younger brother is a practicing hoarder who is filling up my family’s farm with old disassembled log buildings and other “antiques.” My mother keeps a tidy house but collects many small decorative objects, and my father has kept every broken-down machine part “just in case.” I believe it runs in the family, and the gene is dormant in me as I march in the opposite direction. Hopefully it stays that way!
I’m an only child, I’ve always been a minimalist and a declutterer. I find empty rooms and white empty wall relaxing, it makes me happy. My parents are not, not hoarders and not minimalist, just average I guess.
I find that shirt story utterly charming! It brought a smile to my face.
I am not an all-out minimalist…more a middle of the road minimalist. For example, I like to have a couch and full set of dishes. However, I get serious anxiety when I have stuff that I never use or when there is clutter. I am the oldest child. My younger brother is much more sentimental in keeping mementos and such.
I’m the oldest, and I am by far neater than my younger brother. My entire immediate family is recovering from being clutterbugs. The years after I’ve moved out have changed me significantly– I’m now borderline OCD about decluttering and being tidy… and am clearly on the path towards minimalism. My brother is still a messy, young male though. Nothing to be done about that but wait for him to finish growing up. :)
Fun and interesting!
I’m the oldest – of two – and my younger brother’s been on the minimalist road, too, for some years. He wanted to make some sense of his life and what he wanted out of it, and so started to let stuff go its own way. He’s single whereas I have a family, so in some ways he has it better(in minimalist terms) :D. Our parents are sort of regular when it comes to stuff, but in no way would I call them minimalist. My dad does have a habit of letting stuff go if he doesn’t need it anymore.
I am the youngest of two. Everyone in my family – extended birth – is a packrat, except for a niece, my sister’s daughter. She clears everything out about twice a year. Even her wedding dress went to Goodwill as she has no use for it. I am working at becoming a minimalist as is my sister, daughter and granddaughter. I get so inspired by reading all the minimalist blogs, especially yours. I think the world is going in that direction. We see that stuff does not fulfill us and we want more out of life. I love, love, love your blog.
I’m the youngest of three. I’m headed home this weekend to help my mom purge a HUGE amount of household items. My older brothers also suffer from a large house full of things. My husband, however, the youngest of two, grew up in a very minimal household and still has very few possessions of his own.
I’m the oldest of two and was a complete clutterbug until i embraced minimalism. My younger brother has no stuff he is naturally quite minimal.
He does have a crap load of stuff at my mum’s from his childhood etc which is being kept for him. Or Mum wants his ok before she chucks them – he is too lazy to do this. He will have to this summer though as my Mum has decided to clear house, prompted by my continual ‘the wonders of minimalism’ talk I think! She can’t quite believe I am the child she gave birth to that used to pick up every leaflet in the post office and store them with all the other paper clutter and 500 books in her room. :p
I’m the oldest of two.
Constantly struggling with too much stuff and clutter – my own, my son’s, my parents’ (they live with me and brought massive amounts of stuff) and my partner’s (also brought massive stuff). Life was always full of stuff even though we moved around a lot when I was a child.
Minimalism has huge appeal for me but success is WAY down the road. One step at a time.
I’m a minimalist and the eldest sibling in my family. My father is what I would call a “reactionary minimalist.” He thinks minimalism is pretty grand because my mother is a hoarder; thus, dreaming about a clear floor and table tops you can see is one of his favorite pass-times. My only sibling (brother) is 5 years younger than I and he attaches alot of memories to material things, thus he has quite his own houseful. My mother asked me recently, “Why do you want to live like a pauper?” I told her that she certainly had quite the elevated definition of “pauper.”
Im the oldest of two…my sister must have things squeeky clean…I can have dust but must be organized and clutter-free!
I’m the youngest of 4 although the other 3 are all half siblings and there is a large age gap between us so we never actually lived together!! My parents are both ‘just in casers’ and started my scrapbooks before I was born (and I admit to keeping them going, I’m late to the minimalism scene!!) I have every birthday and christmas card, show programme and entry ticket etc etc for my 33 years on the planet! I’ve started de-cluttering and I think my Mum is quite keen to join in!!
I made scrapbooks for my daughters too, but I guess I did it the “minimalist” way. I have one scrapbook for each, which is basically a double-page spread for each year of their lives (they are 22 and 19). So obviously over the years I threw out tons of stuff and only kept the “best” or particularly memorable (mostly pictures, a few drawings, ticket stubs, concert programs, baptismal certificates). I made an exception for my older daughter’s wedding and used 6 pages for the best photos. We have family photos framed on a wall, as well, but I think I’ve also gone the minimalist route there. Four photos taken over the years, all 8 x 10 and matted and framed alike. Lots of memories, but not a lot of stuff.
Oh, I’d like to add that now that my oldest is married I won’t continue to keep a scrapbook for her — it’s her “childhood” scrapbook after all. If I have a grandchild someday, maybe I will start a scrapbook for him/her. Or maybe not!
I’m a recent convert. My parents aren’t exactly minimalists but they are organized and emphasize saving and buying only what you need (I can already hear them in the back of my head telling me I shouldn’t have spent so much on items I don’t need). My older brother is definitely a minimalist; Organized and can be quite stingy with what he owns and what he buys. My older sister is a study in contrast; she is extremely organized to the point of OCD, but she does have a spending problem even when the budget is thin: clothes, shoes, phones, and fashion accessories. I’m amazed as to how uncluttered her room is despite all the stuff she owns. My other older brother does his best to keep balance, amidst the choas of two young kids, but he gets by pretty well.
All in all, I guess you could say, minimalism does run in the family to a certain degree. That being said, we all have refined a taste for luxury. My brothers and I for instance may be low on quantity of items, but we don’t mind dishing out cash for quality material. Eg. mac over pc…
Middle child, working on minimalism. My elder sister is fairly average with regards to stuff, but no knicknacks, and clean surfaces. My little sister is definitely a packrat, especially when it comes to clothes.
I’m fairly used to having to pare down my stuff as I (or my family when growing up) am fairly mobile. Even before starting down the minimalist path I would clean out unused items every season. I’m just being more aggressive with it now.
I’m an only child and was raised by my grandparents.
My mother has a slightly above average amount of stuff. My father is, no joke, living in an off-the-grid chicken coop on an island. My grandparents have always had an average amount of things until my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s worsened and she began collecting sugar packets and junk mail. My MIL is a full-blown hoarder though- to the point where the city issued her a citation because her home was in such disrepair and her yard was so junk-filled. She once had a wild opossum living in her closet and has gone without a working toilet for over a year because her home is too filthy and the wood floors are too rotten for her to let a plumber come inside.
My MIL is my worst-case scenario in every area (health, personality, finances, etc) so I’ve been a lot more vigilant about shedding my own clutter. Hopefully I’ll reach a minimalism comfort zone soon (without tipping over into my dad’s crazyland of free-range chickens as roommates).
I am the oldest of three, but at 17, there isnt much to be said about the other two.
My dad likes his stuff. There isn’t all that much of it, but he is by no stretch of the imagination, a minimalist. He is comfortable.
My mom however, has moved a lot. She shows a lot of traits of a minimalist, namely not keeping things. She is a perfect example of what your brother did with his shirt.
I’m the only child and my parents are average with stuff, they have what they need. I used to be quite a lot like them. Until my early 20ties when I stumbled upon a book by Karen Kingston “CLEAR YOUR CLUTTER WITH FENG SHUI”. Feng Shui… well that part I mostly skipped, but the part about stuff, decluttering and emotional ties to stuff, that got me on my minimalist path. Today I have a lot less stuff than all of my friends, who can’t understand how I can go to IKEA with them and buy nothing! :)
I am an oldest of 3, and struggle with clutter. Clutter drives me crazy but I shut down every time I try to get rid of more than a few things, because of both the emotional ties and the stocking-up mentality. I am an aspiring minimalist, and am partway there I guess – family of 4 living in a 900 square foot apartment, in a city where everyone with kids has at least twice that amount of space and stuff.
My parents have an average amount of stuff, and my mom is EXTREMELY organized. It was a wonderful environment to grow up in but I can’t seem to replicate the order and efficiency my mom has.
OH, and my little sis is an even worse packrat than I am. Can’t tell about my little bro yet, he’s in college, but he seems to be on the minimalist side of things.
I’m the youngest of two. My parents and brother are definitely big-time consumers, but somehow manage to stay uncluttered. Perhaps because I have been unable to manage the clutter, I have started trying to turn to minimalism.
I’m the 2nd of 7 children and all my siblings are various degrees of neat and tidy packrats. My older brother and his wife live in a home with 7 bedroom, just the 2 of them, and can’t imagine living in less. There’s also storage sheds involved. My next brother collects houses to live in, with 5 total to maintain. Next brother has rooms in his house that you can’t walk into because they’re filled to the brim with stuff. Another brother collects art and furniture meant to fill an addition that he’s wanted to build on to his house for 12 years. My sister who passed 5 years ago, collected everything and just the mounds of clothing, shoes, purses given out to family members after her death was jaw-dropping. My youngest brother has a collection of books and mementos that you can’t hardly walk around in his office. My parents live in a 3700 square foot house and can’t bear the thought to downsize. Their living room is filled from ceiling to floor with oil paintings.
So, it looks like simple living does not run in my family!
I am an only child, but I grew up with a mom who loved clutter and knick knacks. It drove me crazy and now I struggle with my husband who is not as bad as my mom, but still isn’t minimalist either. If I had my way, we would hardly have any furniture except for a Japanese futon that we could pack up and take with us anywhere. Instead, I am stuck with a 3400 square foot house with a husband and two dogs and it drives me crazy. He is now realizing we don’t need all this to be happy, unfortunately due to the market it won’t sell. Hopefully, we can learn to be a bit more minamalist next time around!