Minimalist Families Series

The 800 sq ft House that Comfortably Houses a Family of Five.

by theminimalistmom |
The 800 sq ft house that comfortably houses a family of five.
Ever wondered what minimalism looks like for other families? Today Brittani shares her less than 800 sq ft home with us and her story of downsizing to avoid upsizing costs. If you’d like to share your story of living minimalist-ish family life – any size home or family! – contact me at the minimalist mom at gmail dot com.

My little family is perfect. For me.

There’s myself (Brittani), the hubs (Ryan), the girls (Stevi – 11, Olivia – 5, and Anna – 6), our doggies (Lando and Lucy), and our cat (Occam). We have a very blessed life. Honestly, the first word that came to mind was “hectic”, but it’s not – it’s blessed. I’m blessed to be working in a full-time job I love. Blessed my husband is happy in his full-time job and is paid reasonably well for work that taxes his body. Blessed for the two older girls to be in a school I feel safe with (after homeschooling them up until this school year, that was a must for my own sanity). Blessed to have a daycare I can trust for the youngest while I’m working so that even though I miss her so much it hurts, I know she’s being well taken-care of each day. Blessed because I have an extended family (my mom and dad) who love to gather up the girls every few weeks for a sleepover so the hubs and I get a date night – usually spent at home, with a movie on, and some dinner we made that the girls won’t eat. Blessed I have the ability to appreciate the simplicity of my life. And especially blessed I found minimalism when I did, so I can truly focus on those things that bring me joy, instead of focusing on all the stuff we have that keeps me preoccupied with cleaning all the time.

I first stumbled across minimalism two years ago.

I was a stay-at-home-mom, and it occurred to me one day, after I fell into bed exhausted (again) that I’d gone yet another day without playing with my kids. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t ignored or neglected. I had, however, spent all my energy that day on cleaning up after them. Which, if you have kids, you know you can do endlessly. It’s like they follow you to try to make the mess right behind you. So I was cranky with my kids, cranky with myself because the house still looked like a dump truck broke down in my living room. Oh – did I mention we were trying to sell our house so we could buy a bigger one? The house had to be clean every day in case someone wanted to come see it.
I had the very clear thought – I wish we didn’t have so much stuff to pick up. Then I went to bed, and turned on Netflix – and found the documentary, “The Minimalists”. I swear – it was fate. I needed this, and the universe knew it. I got done with the documentary (which I’m still surprised by, because I was exhausted!), and looked at my husband, who was fast asleep. And I knew – I’d been bitten by the bug (this is a fairly regular occurrence for me), and I was about to become a Minimalist.
So I started researching as soon as I woke up the next day. I knew there had to be families who did this, and I’d seen enough of the Tiny House movement that I was intrigued.

We already live in a pretty Tiny house to begin with.

 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 760 square feet to hold 5 people and 3 animals.
I was excited, because I knew this was the way to go. My husband and I had already discussed how stressed we were about trying to sell the house, and how nervous we were about a bigger mortgage payment. We don’t like to move anyway, so it was really an easy choice for us. My only concern was how we were going to do it with the three kids.
After the initial cleaning-out-of-all-the-things, it was amazing to me how much bigger and clearer the house felt. There’s this indefinable something that happens when you take things out of your home. The girls’ room was the toughest – we cleared probably 2/3 of the toys they had, not without some persuasion from my side and theirs about what should stay and what should go. I was determined to help them make the choices – but they were not as motivated as I was. Hah! We did their room in stages. Their things were definitely the most challenging. Clearing through the things in the rest of the house was actually pretty freeing for me.
I started with things I new I didn’t have attachments to – like dishes. We pared way down on our dishes. Enough plates for everyone for one meal, enough glasses to make sure everyone has about 2 a day (kids – they cannot use the same glass more than once in a day, I swear!), and then I took all the silverware and got it down to one fork for everyone. Incidentally – this was too far lol. I had to go buy more forks at the thrift store because we need more than one each a day. Hah!

I really think the most challenging part of living a minimalist lifestyle is defining what is the right amount of stuff for you and your family.

Tied right in with that is letting go of what you think is the right amount of stuff for your spouse. My husband, God love him, still cannot get rid of clothes to save his life. That’s okay – it’s his ride, not mine. I help him, I encourage him, and I tell him how great it feels to have my stuff cleared out. Then I drop it. I also have to say the sneaky way possessions creep back into your house is pretty amazing. I’m just about to go through the girls’ room again because it has exploded with stuff since Christmas.
By far the most rewarding thing about living a minimalist lifestyle is the absolute assurety that this is the right lifestyle. There are constant affirmations.
When I walk in the house and it’s dirty – but not dirty dirty (like it would have been if we still had all that stuff) – that’s rewarding. When I see my two youngest in their bedroom playing on the carpet because they can see it – that’s rewarding. When my oldest says things like, “mom, can we just have 7 outfits? That’s all we really need and that way we’ll have more room” (true story) – that’s rewarding. When my husband says “babe, the house feels so good lately. I love being here” (also a true story), that’s rewarding. For us, this is the only way to go. Between working full-time, momming full-time, my radio show, my blog, my work with 12listen as a spiritual counselor, and having any time for myself – stuff had to fall off the plate. You only have so much room on your plate at any one time, and stuff was definitely what I wanted to let go of. Knowing I’m teaching my girls the value of relationships instead of things – that’s rewarding. 
 
I suppose I do see possible challenges for continuing this in the future – the “stuff creep” is something you have to constantly be aware of. Kids wanting more things as they get older, trying to find the balance for my oldest, who is considerably older than her siblings and is ready for her own space. We’re looking to build a loft up into our living room roofline – that should solve the problem, at least for the time being. But the nice thing is, we’ll just take things as they come. The benefits to keeping with this tiny home and minimalist lifestyle is the freedom it accords us from worrying about “where will we put all our stuff”? It’s not a concern – we’ll just have less stuff. And if my girls decide this is not the lifestyle for them when they are older, that’s okay too. The best Christmas I ever had as a kid was the one where my dad managed to scrounge together $100 for me. We didn’t even have power, and he managed to do that. Because of those experiences, I’ll forever view Christmas differently – and hopefully my kiddos will too.
Thanks for sharing your story, Brittani!
Places you can find Brittani: 

Interested in reading more stories from minimalist-ish families? Here are a few from the series:

  • Yes, less stuff means less stuff to pick up! But what I really love is that, after going minimalist, the house you had turned out to be the “right size” all along. It seems like a great happy ending to the story!

  • “I really think the most challenging part of living a minimalist lifestyle is defining what is the right amount of stuff for you and your family. Tied right in with that is letting go of what you think is the right amount of stuff for your spouse.” Good statement! I believe this is true; “minimal” is basically a relative term–defined uniquely by each individual.
    I love the idea of “constant affirmations” and that they are the little things we can easily take for granted. God help us to pay attention to them!
    Another true statement is this: “You only have so much room on your plate at any one time….” Unfortunately, our modern society doesn’t help us remember this. Even our own minds want to immediately create the reality of anything we might desire for the future, so we are vulnerable to trying to have and do everything at the same time, even though it’s impossible. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, there is a time and a season for things. Our lives are made up of different seasons.
    And that idea of change and shifts is another good thing brought out in this post. We all need to learn to adapt as we go through life. What’s needed today may not be of any value in the future. Be willing to let it go; don’t get stuck just because that’s what worked in the past!

    • This is very true. We (I) am a minimalist, but right now, we are raising 3 athletes who are also artists who love having lots of friends over. So, they have sporting equipment, extra bedding & pillows & blankets and towels and as much art stuff as they want to develop their artistic talent. But, we don’t have a lot of ‘stuff’ that isn’t needed…. so someone (a hard core minimalist with no kids lets say or less than 3 😉 could come in here and die of how much we have. But, this is our life.

  • I love how simplifying helped you to not have to upsize your house— now that’s tangible results —how rewarding!!!! ❤️

    • How many people have looked back and thought “if we’d only stayed in our “starter home” we’d be so far ahead”? I write about that a lot in my book Do Less. Forget your ‘dream home’ – make that starter home your forever home and save yourself years of working and stress.

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