My Secret Minimalist Heart

Secretly, deep down in my heart I yearn to be a minimalist. Not your Grand Designs minimalist, living in a concrete and plywood box with sleek furniture and uncomfortable chairs. I want to be a Kinfolk minimalist, where colours are muted and every piece in my house be it a greying farmhouse table or the hand carved wooden spoon, is beautiful and functional.However, my love of bright pastels and rooms full of brown furniture betrays my minimalist heart, so does every horizontal surface in my house. I think every parent of small children will at some point desire uncluttered bench tops and a meal free of brightly colour plastic plates. A home free from randomly scattered toys, books strewn from one end of the hall to the other. Piles of paper, unopened mail, children's artworks, unidentified pieces of food and shoes that are never ever where they are meant to be. I don’t want to just get rid of stuff for the sake of a minimalist lifestyle. I like, even love a majority of the things in my home. I just want our lives to function better, I want to be a more considered consumer, I don’t want to feel overwhelmed, I want to feel organized and in control but still be able to be spontaneous and creative. So imagine my joy when I read this article on 7 Tiny Steps for the Beginner Minimalist on Be More with Less. I think seven tiny steps is a very good place to start. Much less scary than 101 Steps to a Simpler Life, which sounds a little excessive, don’t you think? So my aim for the next few weeks is to start these steps. And see how we go, who knows I may want to tackle those 101 steps next. How about you, do you want to live a simpler life? Maybe you already do. What are your tips for a beginner minimalist?