Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words. If you’d like to participate, click here for details.
This week, Frangipani Bloomfields celebrates her simple lifestyle with us—rightly noting that we don’t have to count possessions to call ourselves minimalists. Read more of her story on her blog.
Frangipani Bloomfields writes:
It has only recently dawned upon me that I am a minimalist. I have been reading Miss Minimalist for quite some time now and while I have thoroughly enjoyed the posts by other real life minimalists I have always thought I stood just outside the box. How could I be fully aware of the minimalist movement and not realize I was in it?
You see I have no intentions of limiting my wardrobe to 33 items, limiting the total of my possessions to 100 or only owning one of everything. I had thought that not having these goals meant minimalism wasn’t quite the right fit, but I have since realised we can still be a minimalist without these limitations.
A minimalist is someone who wants to live the simple life. They want to intentionally fill their time, mind and space with that of value and remove that which distracts from that goal. Minimalism is a mindset not a number!
So I am here to tell you –
-If you intentionally keep a collection of 100 smurfs and they bring value to your life, you can still be a minimalist!
-If you intentionally keep a box of maternity clothes in the cupboard because you know the child in your arms won’t be your last, you can still be a minimalist!
-If you have 60 glasses because the ability to entertain often is important to you, then you can still be a minimalist!
Perhaps I am stating the obvious but that has been a huge revelation to me!
My largest step towards living the simple life was recently when I became a stay-at-home mum with the intention to homeschool in the future. The extra time I have gained has afforded me the ability to start questioning the things that I do and the stuff that I own, because of this I have started taking some other small steps towards intentional living.
My journey has led me to question what we put in our bodies and the role that work plays in our lives. I am also following Francine’s The Joy of One series with my own series The Luxury of Less where I am documenting my own belongings to ensure I am being intentional about the stuff that is allowed to accumulate in my home. I have not counted my belongings before so this will certainly be a learning journey. Where Francine had one coat I had four, but I’m ok with that because each of them are of value to me.
Please come and join me on my journey into intentional living over at:
http://frangipani.bloomfields.net.au/family/category/minimalism/
but I’ll give you a fair warning – I am not the perfect minimalist – I’m not even sure what that would mean even just for me but I am on the journey, towards minimalism, towards intentional living, towards the simple life.
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or joining my email list.}
Lovely words, Frangipani! I’m the same kind of minimalist you are!
Thanks Alix!
I check out your blog and the homeschooling section
last week. Thank you for getting those resources
together for everyone. They have certainly been
helpful to me.
Thanks Candace, I’m glad someone is using them :-) I still have so many more links to put up, it’s just a matter of setting aside the time to do it (it’s slow and steady but Im progressing).
Frangipani
PS – loved “Some count their things, but I like to make my things count”, love Dave Ramsey, love the photos of your home! I think I will be reading more of your blog…
I appreciate your perspective. This is more or less what I’m striving for too. In my case, that means no car and no TV, but a lot more face cloths and footwear than most people who identify with minimalism would have. I’m not quite at the point where I have only the things that fit with living completely intentionally, but am on the road.
Thanks for sharing Alison.
We are tv free too. My husband and I ditched those when we first moved in together, the plan was for a tv free year but now we wouldn’t want to have one.
We cut down from two cars to one when I became a stay at home Mum. There are many factors why going down to one car simply wouldn’t work for us (distance to my husbands work, public transport, family interstate etc).
I loved your post Frangipani. I also felt like even though I wanted to live a more simple life and be in the minimalism movement, that I was somewhat outside of the box. Like you said, it’s a mindset and I think we have to decide what works for us as individuals. Here’s to the simple life! Thanks for a great post. :)
Thanks Cindy :-)
This is a very important post because it reminds us all that it is NOT the number of items we have but our intentions WITH those items that are important. My partner and I like to entertain and host parties, so the large amount of crockery and glassware is of little consequence. Minimalism allows us to focus on the activities that are most important to us, and if we need stuff to help us find joy in those activities then so be it!
Yes, it is quite a realization that you don’t have to limit what you own to a 100 to be a minimalist. I’ve never actually gone that far anyways, but at some point I felt that I should. In order to be a minimalist. :)
I started to simplify years and years ago and have been through times when I – and we – had less stuff than we have now, but I feel we’ve reached a place where we don’t buy a lot more but we have enough to be comfortable, and that includes a sofa, tv etc. Just not the biggest and most expensive ones, rather the opposite. Some people think that we’re poor or just weird, but if that’s the only price of freedom, I don’t mind. Also we don’t have any debt, and we rent our apartment, so it gives a lot of freedom.
Well said. Minimalism is not quantified by the number of your possessions. It’s a lifestyle that allows us to live more deliberately. As you pointed out, minimalism means different things to different people, but the common thread is that whatever you own is useful or has meaning.
I love this! This is the same sentiment I use to explain my brand of minimalism to friends and family. I don’t keep things around that don’t bring value to my life; however there are more than a 100 things that I value in my home and spark joy. So I feel like eliminating the unnecessary and focusing on those things that create the tranquil life that you want (and everyone’s definition of what they want is different which is great) you are following minimalism.
Minimalism isn’t a one size fits all and that’s why it is so enduring as a lifestyle. It grows and changes to support you along your individual journey.