Large-Family Minimalism: How We Declutter 5,000 Things a Year

How many things do you own? You probably have no idea, unless you’re weird or a minimalist who can actually count them.

300,000. That’s how many things are in the average American home.¹ On top of that, 1 in 10 Americans are renting a storage unit.²

We have too much stuff. I think you would agree. We all feel like we have too much stuff. I know I do. Our family has been on the minimalism journey for several years now.

It’s a process.

That’s why we take a self-imposed minimalist challenge to rid our home of 5,000 things each year. Though it doesn’t seem like that much, given the figure above.

If getting rid of 5,000 things piques your interest, you might just be a minimalist in the making. But before we dive into what it means to be a minimalist, let’s talk about what minimalism isn’t.

What Minimalism is Not

Minimalism is not getting rid of everything you own.

It doesn’t mean your house looks like an unlived-in magazine photo.

It’s doesn’t mean living in a tiny home… unless you want to. As a side note, I love the idea of tiny homes, but we have a few too many tiny humans living in our house to make that work at this stage of life.

Finally, it’s not about never buying anything again, including food, and thus, eating out of dumpsters. That’s Freeganism. No judgement from me, but that’s not what this article is about.

When I mention the word “minimalism” to people, I usually get one of a few responses. They either joke about how having five kids isn’t very “minimal.” Or they’ll say “so you just don’t own anything?” And occasionally they are actually interested in doing it themselves.

It typically makes people feel better once they realize that we do own stuff, and our house isn’t as empty as they assumed. In fact, it’s quite cluttered still in our minds. Minimalism is an ongoing process to reduce. It’s not a quick change. That’s why the popular minimalist blogger, Joshua Becker, calls his blog, “Becoming Minimalist.”

What Minimalism Is

You can capture the concept of minimalism in two words:

Intentional ownership.

That’s how I define it. It really has little to do with the actual number of things you own, and everything to do with the reason you own them. It’s being intentional about every single thing you bring into your home.

If you want to take it a step further, minimalism carries over into every area of your life. Being intentional with your things, resources, time, relationships, etc..

It’s about cutting what you don’t need and keeping what you do. Across the spectrum.

I think everyone should consider minimalism as a lifestyle. It’s by no means a new concept. In fact, it dates back at least 2,000 years.

Jesus was a minimalist before it was cool.

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’”

-Matthew 8:20

The label “minimalism” isn’t what’s important. Labels themselves are rarely important. Think about your walk with God; the label “Christian” isn’t important. You can refer to yourself as a Christ Follower, Jesus Freak, New Jew or whatever else you can think up — the label doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t recommend “New Jew” though… that can be off-putting.

Whether you call yourself a minimalist or not, owning less will give you a greater chance of focusing on what truly matters. But calling yourself a minimalist, and then living like you’ve always lived, won’t help you much. Unless, of course, you’ve always lived like a minimalist. But if you’re an American, I’m sure you haven’t.

When Jesus was crucified, he had a handful of material possessions, and he could carry everything he owned on him. We all know that Jesus didn’t focus on material possessions. That’s no secret.

So should we follow in Jesus’s footsteps and sell everything we own? Yes! I’m kidding… no that’s not necessary. Unless you feel compelled to do so. In that case, go for it, you New Jew!

Possessions and Judgement

It’s not wrong to own things. It’s not wrong to have material possessions. And no one wants to get into a debate over how much or how little we should own.

The Christian with a $100k house may criticize the Christian with a $200k house. Yet, how does the third-world Christian view both of them, as he’s living in his mud hut? In my experience, the third individual is probably the least critical, though by this debate, he would have the most room for bragging.

There will always be people with more than you and people with less than you. There’s no magic number.

We can’t say “well, once you own a house worth more than $200k, you’re materialistic” or “if you own a shirt worth more than $50, you’re too caught up in your possessions!” What if I own a $49 shirt? Whew, I’m in the clear.

The point is, there’s no hard line or magic number. We’re called to worry about ourselves, not others. And that’s what this article is about: yourself.

If there is such a line that determines when you own too much, it’s when your material possessions affect your relationship with God. The person with a $200k house, who goes into her fancy study and reads her Bible every morning could have a much closer relationship with God than the homeless Christian who judges other Christians for owning so many possessions.

I’ve met rich people who were truly generous and showed a Christ-like love for others. I’ve also met poor people who judged everyone they came in contact with. I’ve met the opposites of each as well.

Our Minimalism Journey

We were in the process of slowly downsizing all of our belongings when we moved to Europe. It turns out, Europeans don’t own as much stuff as Americans. Who knew?

What did this mean for us? It meant that we went from a 2,000 sq ft house to a 1,100 sq ft house. This was a problem, because we still had a 2,000 sq ft house worth of stuff.

We liked the idea of being forced to downsize. We were uncomfortable until we did.

On top of that, it’s not easy to get rid of stuff in Italy, where we live now. In the States, there are thrift stores that will come pick up the stuff you no longer want, as well as many other avenues to donate and sell your things.

In Italy, it’s a challenge to get rid of an old television. Not only are there fewer places to donate here, but recycling laws make it almost impossible to throw some things away. So we’ve had to be creative, and downsize even more slowly.

I had always preached that minimalism was easiest when you forced it by moving into a smaller home. However, we still did it slowly to avoid a burnout. Now I can attest that it’s definitely more effective this way—the “forced” way—but I don’t know if I would say it’s easier. Regardless, it works.

Enough about us. Let’s get into how you can start minimizing.

How You Can Start Minimizing

I think minimalism is great. If you don’t like labels, don’t call it that, but the idea of owning less and living more appeals to me. We’ve been on a journey to own less for years, and we buy less now than we ever have.

We really have found that we’re happy as we own less.

So how do you start?

The first step of minimalism is to emotionally detach yourself. This is also the hardest step. Once you do this, not only will it be easier to get rid of things, but you’ll see how unimportant so much stuff is.

We have to realize that our memories aren’t held in the things themselves. What’s the point of keeping that old lamp that your grandmother gave you 15 years ago? Yes, she has passed away and you loved her dearly, but that lamp has nothing to do with your relationship. You’ll remember her without that lamp, trust me. It’s not the object that holds the memory. And you can always take a picture of it, if you can’t completely let go.

Before we dive into a complete home makeover, let me give you a few steps that work well as starting points:

• Get rid of your storage unit. Whether it’s your garage or an actual paid storage unit, you don’t need it. Odds are you haven’t touched that stuff in over a year. Let it go.
• Get rid of your distractions. It could be video games, movies or computer programs. Get rid of the things that take away from the more important things. This could even include your TV.
• Get rid of your excess. The books you don’t read and won’t read again, the clothes you know you’ll never wear. Whatever it is, get rid of what you no longer need. This could even include your car, if you live in a city with decent public transportation.

Those are some big rocks; it gets more difficult with the small pebbles. You know some things that you can blatantly do without, but when it comes to the rest of it, you must go slowly. Enter: Freedom5000.

Freedom5000

Set a realistic goal and go for it. We’re already a few months in to this year, so you could always set a goal that ends one year from today. Or try to catch up. Use your initial motivation to drive you, and then stick to a consistent habit of decluttering.

We’re doing 5,000 things this year, but I bet it will be more.

Right now we’re at 1,636, so we’re actually a little ahead of schedule. I’m not sure if we’re going to surpass the 5,000 mark, or if we’re going to start running out of easy things to give away.

What Counts as a Thing?

It’s easy to add up 5,000 things, without really getting rid of much at all. That defeats the purpose, of course. Here are the guidelines we follow to keep ourselves honest:

• Consumables don’t count. If you use a can of green beans, you can’t count that as one thing gone… and don’t even think about counting those individual green beans. Oh, was that just me?
• Small individual items count. If you get rid of 100 CDs, that’s 100 items, but the case and CD don’t count separately. You get the idea.
• Sell, donate, trash – it all counts. It doesn’t matter how you get rid of it, if it’s gone, it counts towards your goal

I keep track of the things we get rid of with Habitica. I have a “Daily” reminder to declutter. Each time we get rid of something or somethings, I open that reminder and update the total count. You can use any task or note app to remember the number.

Or make it fun and in your face by writing the number on a small white board in a place you see every day. That serves as a great reminder.

One final note on Freedom5000: You must also keep track of what you bring in, and the total net amount must equal 5,000. So if you bring in 500 things this year, you have to get rid of 5,500.

How to Stay Motivated

Like with anything else, you’ll have a lot of motivation in the beginning, and it may start to trail off. Seeing your home becoming decluttered over time will serve as a great motivator, but sometimes you need more.

We’ve used these 5 tactics to keep the motivation strong:

1. Read Books on Minimalism – I read constantly. About once a month, I will read a book about minimalism, decluttering, or living simply. Each time I am more motivated to continue the journey. If a book a month is too much, make it an article a month.
2. Talk About It Often – My wife and I have many conversations about why we’re minimizing, and how we could do it better. Keep the idea fresh, and the process steady.
3. Put Up Reminders – Put reminders in places you see often. Remind yourself that you’re minimizing, and especially why you’re minimizing.
4. Watch Documentaries on Minimalism – My favorite is the one that The Minimalists did, called Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. Here are some more motivating documentaries.
5. Don’t Overload Yourself – Taking it slowly is the biggest piece of success here. If you donate 5,000 things in one weekend, that may work for you. If it overwhelms you, take a step back and slow down. Remember, just 100 things a week will meet the 5,000 goal by the end of one year.

That’s enough reading about it. It’s time for action.

I’ll be publishing a series on how we decluttered every room and place in our home, but until then, you can get started with whichever room you choose.

Check out the resources below for more on minimalism. These are all of my favorite resources that I’ve personally used, and use over and over again.

Further Bible Study

• 1 Corinthians 9
• 1 Timothy 6
• Matthew 8

Further Book Reading

• The Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker
• Clutterfree With Kids by Joshua Becker
• The More of Less by Joshua Becker
• Minimalist Parenting by Christine Koh
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
• Minimalism by The Minimalists
• Everything That Remains by The Minimalists
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life by Leo Babauta
• The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
• Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki
• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Further Blog Reading

• Be More With Less
• Becoming Minimalist
• Break the Twitch
• The Minimalists
• Unclutterer
• Zen Habits

Last Updated: June 14, 2020