I was recently talking to a mom on the playground about a trip to Europe my husband and I just took with our almost-3-year-old. She has a kid the same age and claimed that she doesn’t want to travel for a few more years. It’s just too much hassle with a toddler. And I agree all the extra packing and a long flight can seem daunting. (Scroll down to get straight to the Europe packing list for your toddler!) But many of us who love travel don’t want to give it up when we become parents. In fact, we’d like to share this passion with our children from a young age. I’ve made a quite a few long-distance and international trips with my toddler, and I’ve previously written about travel with…
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So many of us drift through life for years wondering in the back of our minds when we’ll “find purpose.” The challenge to this task is that everything in modern society is designed to distract us from our purpose. Every advancement in technology and shift in media formats is geared toward grabbing our attention. Given this environment, it’s no wonder we can’t focus long enough to figure out what’s meaningful to us personally. So, how can we start to find purpose? One of the best frameworks I’ve found for shifting my perspective and focusing on what matters is intentional living. Essentially, intentional living means “living on purpose.” Knowing what matters to you – and what doesn’t. And making daily decisions based on that. Sounds simple enough, right? But it can be quite…
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Preparing to have a baby? Wondering if you can possibly keep or start a minimalist lifestyle with a newborn baby? You’re in the right place. First, I can tell you it is possible. In fact, while I dabbled before, having a baby was my catalyst for major decluttering and a lifestyle shift. Below I share my best advice for parents (and future parents) for how to be minimalist with a newborn baby. Find advice about newborn essentials (and what you don’t need), baby room organization, and baby life hacks to stay sane as a newborn mom. Some Advice for Staying Minimalist with Your Newborn Baby Before we get into links with specific advice, let’s cover some general advice for baby planning the minimalist way. 1. Don’t add…
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While I share a lot of decluttering ideas and minimalism inspiration on this blog, I also love to explore how the concept of clearing clutter can apply to our minds and inner selves. When you clear psychical clutter, you feel relief, freedom, and clarity. I find that this goes double for mental clutter, though we don’t often talk about it. And learning about your personality type, in particular the Enneagram types, is one of the best ways to start on a mental decluttering project. If you’re looking to pursue personal development or even self actualization, you need to first understand yourself. I find that personality psychology is a powerful tool to gain that self-understanding. I’ve written before about Myers Briggs personality types, and I think the Myers Briggs Type Indicator is a fantastic tool. But the Enneagram is a unique personality typology…
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Preparing for a trip and looking to try out carry on packing? Or are you dreading traveling with baby and all the stuff you’ll need to bring? Whatever your reason for looking into minimalist travel and packing tips, you’re in the right place. This collection of posts includes detailed packing lists for vacation, including guides for traveling with just a carry-on – even internationally – and traveling with babies and toddlers without dragging the entire nursery with you. I used to be a hopeless over-packer. But years of frequent travel transformed me into a carry-on only traveler. After becoming a mom, I had to relearn how to travel light with a baby and then a toddler. The posts below…
