The topic of doing more with less is on my mind. Every time we’ve added a child to our family, my instinct is to clear out our space, to get rid of gear and simplify wherever possible. It probably has something to do with making mental space for this new person in my life.
Last week, I was packing for our trip to San Jose and thinking about what I should bring for June’s meals — she’s still mostly nursing, but she’s also eating 3-4 meals a day of solids. At first I was thinking several bibs, 10+ jars of baby food, a bag of rice cereal, utensils and bowl for preparations, utensils for feeding, etc. But finally decided it was a short trip, to a town with every convenience, and that all I would need was a baby spoon.
For breakfast, I found plain yogurt and oatmeal among the offerings and grabbed a ripe banana for when we were out and about. And I was able to find similarly soft foods wherever we were. During feedings, I kept a napkin handy to keep her clean and I was good to go. While I appreciate the helpfulness of things like bibs and lots of food choices when we’re at home, it was nice to be reminded that it didn’t take much to keep June happy and fed when we wanted to travel as light as possible.
Another example that comes to mind? The giant table we built after moving to Colorado. It is the most used piece of furniture in our house. We use it for entertaining, for homework, for art projects, for sewing projects, for building things. And when we’re not using it, it does its duty as a piece of furniture that’s nice to look at and that compliments the space.
What about you? What are your thoughts on doing more with less? What’s an item you have that you get the most use out of?
Doing less with more. … No cable or direct TV at our house. We acquire news through the Internet and watch an occasional episode of our fav shows through the Internet too. It creates more time too (not just money) … to do things together rather than in front of the TV.
I actually don’t wnat the phone – the doing less with more just really struck a chord. We are expecting number five (my oldest is seven) and I have whittled down the concept of what is necessary with each child. Its amazing how much stuff I thought we NEEDED with our first, that would never occur to me to use, let alone buy or borrow now. Viva the mommy learning curve!
My kids are 3.5 and nearly two. A couple of months ago I realized I was overcommitting all of us. My daughter had playschool class two mornings a week, and I was doing a weekly music class with both of them. Add playgroups and playdates, and it just got to be too much.
I’ve realized how little time I have with them before they’ll be in school for a big chunk of their day. Now I’m much more selective about where we spend our time. I want them to have memories of all of us sitting around the table coloring together, or me pushing them on the swings, or “eating” the meals they made for me in their play kitchen.
Every time I buy something I think, “OK do I NEED this or do I WANT this?” I try to keep my wants in perspective.
I shop all year for gifts and make as many as possible as well. This means less money spent and less stress at the holidays!
I recently stopped working to stay home with our first child so we are living on almost less than half of our income. In order to keep a float and continue to put aside some savings, we are only buying the essentials and a very few ‘wants’. When I can leave something at a store I know that I really don’t need, I feel like it a small victory in the effort to be financial secure to our family’s peace.
cleaning products. it was indeed very satisfying to find out that yes, most things CAN be cleaned with bicarbonate soda and vinegar. we don’t need that new formula, fandangled, power scrubbing grease remover with antibacterial whoosits and quantum powerball scum polisher, thank you very much!
I agree that it is easy to get along on the world with less and less…becomes more apparent after each baby we have. No more huge diaper bags for me…just a few diapers and wipes and we are on our way!
My husband works for the state health department, so his income is, well, very small. I want to stay home with our kids and we just had our third baby, so doing more with less is basically the theme of our lives right now. We go to the dollar theater to see movies, if we go at all. We use hand-me-down clothes and shop the crazy sales at Christmastime for new things. We use coupons for food and household items…basically, we do our best to do as much as we can and spend the least amount of money.
We have always done all of our own remodeling in our houses over the years, my husband is a carpenter and we “trade” work with his friends in the biz. When we need electrical work he does work for Russ in exchange, when we need painting done he trades work with George, etc…over the years we have also traded for plumbing, heating/air conditioning, plaster work, Really saves us alot of money. I’m also a freecycle nut lately…have gotten some really great stuff!
My phone is beyond antiquated..it isn’t a brick, but it may as well be! I can whip up a meal out of few groceries like nobody’s business! When times are tough, my creativity makes a quick appearance! I am thankful for that skill this year!
I like the example that Gabrielle gave, especially since packing light with a young child can be difficult. I like to pack light also. I take items that can be mixed different ways to make many outfits and include only one or two pairs of shoes. I also take free samples of toiletries because they come in small, travel friendly sizes. When traveling somewhere by myself, I can usually fit everything into one carry on bag. Then I don’t have to worry about lost or damaged luggage or wait for the luggage to arrive!
One way I do less with more is that I clip coupons. Over the last five years it has saved our family hundreds of dollars.
With baby number four on his way and only three rooms (one being ours another being my husbands office space) we are purging stuff like crazy and I can’t believe how freeing it feels! I have literally given away 10 garbage bags full of stuff that I honestly don’t even remember. Now the challenge is trying to keep from purchasing more stuff to replace what we just got rid of! I think with each child I am learning that less is more.
I do however really need a good phone so I hope I win! ;)
Oh Mama I can totally relate.
We just finished a year-long whole house renovation. We had all of our belongings in storage and moved only our clothing and basic toys (for our daughter) and important keepsakey-stuff into a furnished 2 bedroom apartment for 14 months.
We just moved into our newly renovated house last month and have gotten rid of so much. I have been unpacking boxes of stuff we haven’t used (or needed) in over a year and I’m finding new homes for it. Donations to charities, schools, nursing homes etc….its all going. I love it. We all feel less cluttered and have a new outlook on what we need and don’t need in our lives.
Thank-you Gabby for a great topic and Happy Thanksgiving to all!
I’ve been living on the road with Wicked now for almost 2 years. I have learned the bliss and hardship of living with little. I live out of 2 suitcases and a carry on. While I am somewhat known for packing as much as I can into my little space I have definitely learned to live life without everything I thought I needed to make me happy and comfortable. Zip-Loc bags save my life on the road :)
I love books. I love reading them and love browsing and buying them. My kids love reading just as much and we were being swallowed by books. So we purged big time and donated them and kept our favorites. Now we are using the library once a week and it feels so much better! Saving money and space.
I love that you traveled with only a baby spoon…inspiration for us with our first baby on the way!
I love the idea of doing more with less, but often lack ideas…I’m going to read the comments and see if anyone has any good ones!
A little story about traveling WITH a baby and WITHOUT baby food .
My mother and I took Baby H, aged 6 months, to Winterthur (a historic house/museum in Delaware). I forgot the baby food.
Well…it was the off season, so every nice little old lady docent had fussed over Baby H as we toured the house and grounds. They pointed me in the direction of the very lovely cafeteria where I was able to consult with the chef himself. He offered to put a small fruit salad in the Moulinex and puree it.
The cashier looked at the dish of mush. I said, “It’s a small fruit salad. It’s $3.” She said, “There is NO WAY I’m charging you $3 for that! ”
I don’t actually remember what I paid for it. But it wasn’t $3. Being cute has its rewards.
1. Only clean white sheets, go with everything, interchangeable, bleach-able.
2. Everything on display has to perform a service, vase holds the remotes, coffee table/ottoman holds video game controllers and blankets.
3. If we haven’t worn it, used it, read it, or played with it in 1 year, it’s gone.
I love going to go garage sales and finding those hidden beauties. I love being able to find a mirror or piece of rundown furniture for cheap, and then just adding a little paint or fabric and it looks brand new.
i love the idea of less is more…with money. i am a bargain shopper/hunter. i love to thrift, garage sale, flea market and renovate. Sprucing up is a passion of mine. I just bought a mid-century coffee table on craigslist for $35. I can’t wait to personalize it with a paint job. Another thing I completed today was a shirt for my 8 year old boy. I found a kelly green American Apparel t-shirt at a thrift store for $3. I appliqued a funky guitar on the front…very Mini Boden. I love the idea that creative fashion and design doesn’t have to cost a lot.
This topic has been on my mind. We are going to be moving 2 times in the next 2 years. I’ve been thinking about what we can get rid of to make those moves easier. I would like to set a goal to get rid of 100 things each month before we leave. Though I’m pretty sure we could get rid of at least 100 unmatched socks. My kids cleaned their rooms this weekend and I was a little disturbed by how many socks we found.
Toys! I’m always getting rid of extra toys. Too many just makes life complicated (for me and the kids).
Great post, especially as we near the season of “buy, buy, buy.” I read a handy tip once about going around your house and finding 10 things you can trash/donate/recycle. When I’m feeling cluttered/overwhelmed I love doing this and am always surprised how much I can do without! What a great message…thanks!
I have simplified cleaning and am doing it for less money by using baking soda, and vinegar, and also by making my own laundry and dishwasher detergent.
We’ve really tried to resist the temptation to buy additional clothes for our second boy, when we have all the perfectly good clothes still left from our first. I feel bad he doesn’t have the new clothes, but honestly they are in great shape.
We reuse a lot of things to give them a new life. Old newspapers become great pattern pieces or paper bowls. Cardboard tubes are telescopes, swords, you name it!
I would love to have a more usable photo album. Lets be honest, we are a social network of human and we want to share our lives through our phones, emails, etc. I want to show my kids, show their adorable artwork, and every part of their lives with the people special to us. It needs to be easier to do.
Wow…doing more with less. So many examples. If I had to think of one, it would be being able to being able to squeeze out more groceries out of the same budget every month with the help of coupons
More with Less is the title of a Mennonite cookbook that I use. We are Mennonites and conserving and using what we have and are given is a large part of who we are. I admit that I’m not great at it. We throw out more than I wish, but we also recycle and donate and share and reuse and repurpose as much as is possible.
We live in a pretty small place-on a pretty tight budget. It was something I thought was going to be very difficult, but as it turns out, I now realize how very little we actually NEED. And we are very happy! :)
i try to keep things uncluttered. in a small nyc studio having few things is key. i feel absolutely fantastic every time i bring a bag of clothes etc to the salvation army… we don’t really need half of what we have.
I regularly purge. REGULARLY. And have systematically been going through my house keeping only what we love and need and not feeling guilty about not keeping things out of obligation. Release them and let someone else love them.
Create context-based todo lists — that way when you are at your computer, your todo list only for things that you can do on your computer — not things you need to do in your yard or errands you need to do. a la GTD.
i think my kids definitely do more with their imaginations when they have less toys to play with :)
One thing I’ve discovered is that when you do more with less, you don’t have to dust as much!
I’m not really good at this at all. I keep things around because I just know I’ll need again sometime. I’ve been on too many trips where I didn’t have what I needed and so I overpack for every trip now. Better pick someone else, I’ll never win this one.
I use my laptop to do more with less! I email, connect to adults, cooking recipes, cleaning tips, mom advice, paying bills, printing coupons and so much more. Without my laptop I would feel lost because it would take me so much longer to do everything.
This is an interesting question. I think right now my only example is tearing wipes in half to use on my newborn – the regular size wipes are just too big for him. Thanks for the chance!
the clutter is growing again. it must be time to move.
we have moved 13 times in 26 years and because of that, we get rid of stuff. but now we’ve been here almost 5 years and the clutter is growing….i can see it and feel it. i wish i knew how to get rid of it without moving again…..
and that phone….swoon :)
i have to say how much I love the commercial for this phone. Makes me laugh every time! I am thinking every day how to do more with less so I can continue to stay home with my little chicks. thanks!
I have been literally getting rid of stuff here, and trying to remind myself to slow down on the amount of clothing I buy our children.
We got rid of nearly everything when we moved cross-country and as we’ve rebought the things we needed, it has been so pleasant to only get the things we really really needed.
We’ve been living in a tiny apt for years now. I do more with less by necessity. But it’s nice. I like having things be simple and exact.
I am loving this topic! I’ve also been thinking a lot about doing more with less. I’ve been going through all of my craft stuff and really asking myself if I use stuff…if it doesn’t get used, it gets donated, tossed, or sold on eBay. I’m looking forward to clearing more things out so we can actually enjoy the space we have in our home!
My husband and I have moved three times in the last year. We whittled down a three bedroom house full of furniture and belongings to items that would fit in our toyota camry and saturn vue.
We’re currently sleeping on an air mattress, and use the ironing board to eat at, and I’m the happiest I’ve been in years.
Less is more.
I would love to do more with less!
Maybe pack a bag per person and hike around Europe!?! Maybe sell everything and move my family to south America!?! Or maybe just a happy medium of having a huge yard sale, then donating the money to charity and have camp out in the empty living room.
Any option would work for me!
I live in a studio apartment. It makes me constantly throw out things I don’t need. Also the Library. Why own books that you are only going to read once when the library is a free service.
No more stuff! Anything we bring into the house anymore has to be needed or something we love. Moves are always great times to get rid of the things we don’t need (not that I want to move again!).