The abundant life with less
As a fun little bit of bonus content, I thought I'd start tracking the items I declutter each month just to update you on my continued minimalism journey and our progress in settling into our new home. A lot of the items decluttered this month are the result of unpacking old boxes that were in [...]
Here are a few lessons we've learned about important things to remember when building a home.
Finally sharing some long-awaited and very exciting news about building our house!
I wanted to chat this week about the tagline of my blog, "The Abundant Life With Less," because to me, that's what this is all about. I see minimalism as a means to an end—and that end is to find the abundant and joyful life that's waiting for you! Think about the amount of time [...]
Let's talk about the upcoming holiday season. In the past, I've put too much pressure on myself or wasn't honest about my own expectations. I crammed my calendar and felt like I was frantically running from one thing to the next and missing out on enjoying any of it. It's a work in progress. Over [...]
When I wrote a previous post on decluttering sentimental items, I hadn't considered it in regard to the passing of a loved one, and I wanted to write a dedicated blog to provide some gentle guidance on this topic. I haven't personally decluttered a loved one's possessions after they have passed, so I had a [...]
Consistency is a marker of a healthy and peaceful life. While we often think life is made up of these big, exciting, mountain-top moments, in reality, life is really made up of the small and sometimes monotonous things we need to do on a regular basis. It's made up of everyday moments, like drinking coffee, [...]
Welcome to the 4th installment of my Anti-Hustle Fall Series! This week I want to talk about a few fall habits that I'm working on implementing into my own life. I don't know about you, but I've found that September and January are typically the two times of the year when we're most focused on [...]
Welcome to Part 3 of my Anti-Hustle Fall Series! This week we're talking about clutter that builds up in sneaky spaces. Over the summer, we've been busy focusing on outdoor projects and spending as much time as possible outside. This means that a lot of things have gotten tossed into random places and I haven't [...]
Welcome to the second post in my Anti-Hustle Fall Series! This week, I want to talk about our schedules. Fall is a time of transition, and a natural point for many new activities and responsibilities to begin. Often we're tempted to say yes to too many things, feel overwhelmed, and sometimes even end up resenting [...]
Welcome to my new fall series! With the changing of seasons, (especially coming into fall), I'm often tempted to say yes to a lot of new things, and to too many things if I'm honest. I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks on an "anti-hustle" fall series. It's a reminder that as we [...]
We just got back from a week-long vacation with our family to the mountains! I don't know about you, but my house, vehicle, yard, and to-do list look like a tornado after I travel. It takes time to get everything back in order, and chaos seems to reign from every corner of the house for [...]
Often when we think of the things we own, we only consider their monetary value—how much did we pay for them? How much are they worth now? However, there's more to factor in than just the basic cash value. Each item we own requires a different level of care after we purchase or acquire it. [...]
We've been doing a lot of work over the summer on various projects around our house and yard, which means I've spent a lot of time looking at various platforms and photos for inspiration. While this can be helpful to visualize the project I want to tackle, it can also make me feel like our [...]
I am a staunch believer that minimalism isn't a label or a one-size-fits-all ideology. Just because someone gets rid of all their hats, books, throw pillows, kitchen utensils, etc. doesn't mean that you have to also! I do prefer simple living, but there are definitely areas of my life where I don't follow the typical [...]
Digital clutter is one of the sneakiest forms of clutter because we often don't notice as it's piling up until it's too overwhelming to deal with. I've found that doing these quick minimizing sessions with my phone helps prevent this! Before we begin, I want to do a quick definition of a term I use [...]
Choose small steps of progress to find joy and gratitude in each project.
Decluttering my closet is one of the areas I struggle the most to write about. Clothing can be so personal and have many emotional ties. Sentimentality, emotional baggage, and insecurity—all of these feelings can come to the surface when we're dealing with our wardrobes, and it also means that there's not necessarily one decluttering method [...]
I have a confession—I wrote this post last year and intended to post it in my Simple Summer Series, but in preparing for the birth of our first child this post ended up unpublished in my drafts. With the summer on its way, I wanted to revisit this topic and add some of my thoughts [...]
Use this method as a guide for where to focus your decluttering efforts and to keep your home simplified going forward.
I tried a technique called the No Mess Method by Dana K. White to declutter my whole house today! Full disclosure—this process actually took 2 days. But that's exactly why I was so excited to try it out—it allows you to declutter as you go, so even if you get interrupted, you don't have to [...]
I’ve taken a long break from the blog because there has been a ton happening here around the Harder Homestead! The main reason is that we're expecting our first baby this August! Getting ready for baby's arrival has been the primary focus for the past months, and also what inspired this blog post. We’ve started [...]
Decluttering is an amazing journey that lets you focus on what really matters...but here's a result you might not have expected!
There's no magic formula when it comes to decluttering...BUT, I can tell you that there is one question I've asked myself time and time again when I've found myself in a rut, staring at an overcrowded drawer full of junk, wondering where to start. What if? It's as simple as that. Stick with me for [...]
Let's talk about some decluttering math today—specifically a formula that's going to change how you actually keep clutter out of your home for good!
What do you give your attention to in a day? Let's attempt to answer this question with honesty. Do the things you give your valuable time and attention to in your day reflect your top priorities or do you find yourself getting distracted by the less important things—your phone, your email, the latest notifications on [...]
February is the perfect time to talk about New Year's resolutions. Hear me out. Now that the rush of January has passed and the potential enthusiasm for New Year's resolutions has waned, there's no better time to explore, create, or re-commit to your goals for 2025. While the world has been telling us that resolutions [...]
I've had a lot of changes happen in my life in the past 6 months—we've been building a house, had a baby, attended weddings and celebrations, and had changes in our work. During busy seasons, I tend to default into survival mode and put anything non-essential on the backburner—this time it included many of the [...]
The last few months of the year tend to have a shopping-heavy focus, and it inspired me this week to chat about how we can be a little more mindful when it comes to our spending habits throughout this coming year. When we choose an intentional approach for our purchasing habits, we'll ensure that the [...]
I thought I had been making great progress in my decluttering journey until I learned a lesson from my toddler the hard way. Most toddlers and children go through a phase where cupboards, drawers, dressers, and closets become the most magical sort of entertainment out there. It's a time where a whole new world of [...]
Does anyone else feel like December happened in the blink of an eye? The sheer amount of stuff we manage to cram into such a small period of time guarantees it flies by faster than any other time of the year. That being said, my monthly decluttering list ended up much smaller than the previous [...]
In continuation of the series I started last month where I'm keeping track of the items I get rid of and donate while I'm officially getting my house in order, here is what I decluttered this past month! As I mentioned in my previous blog, the list below is transcribed from my phone where I've [...]
Little Minimalist on the Prairies 