I’m excited to share the first part of my minimalism series. I mentioned in my last post that every one has their own idea of excess, and the amount of things that make sense for them. Some might view my living as overcrowded, while others may think it it too little. It’s important to identify if you feel overwhelmed or stressed with the “stuff” in your life, what areas cause the most chaos, and aim to eliminate in that space first.

Paper roll for drawing is stored in the tent pockets, and books are in his wagon walker.

I read several books on Simplicity Parenting while I was pregnant with Morrison. Although his toys expanded past what I thought ideal then, we do try to keep it to a minimum. In the city we live in a one bedroom apartment, which means his play space is in our living room. In an attempt to not have it over run my entire space, we keep his toys in a canvas tent. We found that the Moses basket he slept in as a babe works well to store most of his things, smaller items like matchbox cars are separated into a couple of bins, and blocks are in drawstring canvas bags. Morrison loves cars and trucks so we kind of splurge on those when he wants something new. They are small and manageable. Other than that we try to keep new toys to a minimum, and usually ask that people give experiences or money as gifts.

When it comes to clothing we all fight for closet space in this house! Since Mike and I both work(ed) in fashion, we both have quite a few clothes! I have gotten rid of a ton, but consider this area my most cluttered. Since we had mostly gender neutral clothes for Morrison those were passed on to Marin. They share three drawers in our cube dresser. It isn’t the prettiest thing, but it holds a ton of stuff! The kids and I share it.

Ugly but efficient cube organizer that holds a ton!

I have their clothes separated by category. One drawer holds both kids tops, the next is pants and pajamas, and the third is hats, socks, and accessories. I comb through the drawers every couple of months to ditch the items that don’t fit, and assess what needs to be added. I also try to buy things that I know will fit for awhile. Morrison still wears a pair of drop crotch sweats that I got him when he was 6 months old!! High quality kids clothes will last. Some of my favorites are nununu, goat milk, and gap for basics. We also recently started buying things from ThredUp, an online consignment store that has great stuff and a return policy.

This cart was our bar before we had kids, now it is a changing table.

Mike and I went through an industrial furniture phase and this cart is one of our last pieces of rust haha! We still love it, and it has made a great stand for the changing pad. In the bin underneath we store diapers, wipes, swaddles, and burp clothes. The diaper pail is in the bathroom right next store.

Pants and pjs, hats and socks, tops, and the diaper bin.

Things are tight, and drawers can get a bit overstuffed, but I try to continuously purge when needed. It has become more important than ever with two to be mindful of what comes in. Since we co-sleep, and the kids don’t have a bedroom to hide the clutter we are super cautious about what we buy and if we have space. Hopefully this is helpful info and inspiration to clean out and donate some unused kids stuff that you may have lying around. Seriously, it has saved my sanity because it limits the amount of clean up daily.

tent from amazon, cubes from target, wagon from amazon, cart and metal bin are vintage, changing pad from giggle

Ditch the Excess: Kids Stuff