I want to start this post off with a shout out to Black Minimalist who have an amazing mini-course. If you get a chance to take it – do it! It’s a game changer.

For several years now I have been yearning for some kind of freedom from the monotony of laundry, toys and cleaning.

We started this journey off three years ago in a one and a half story house with a basement. It was filled. I have no idea where all the furniture even came from. I mean ok let’s be honest I do, I was given some, and most was bought on credit (🙄).

My desire to prove that I was accomplished manifested itself in consumerism. Yet I was still yearning. I never felt as if I was done, truly happy with what I had, and no matter the fact that I had storage and places to put things I was still spending a huge amount of time cleaning, and organizing.

When I decided enough was enough I had no issues giving it all away. Train table gone, random piece of furniture you put all your shit in.. bye bye – I felt great. But here’s the thing you cannot start this journey without truly knowing your values.

Y’all FREEDOM is my number one value. I’m going to say it again just in case you missed it. 🗣 I am trying to be free! I will do whatever I have to do to be free, of countless hours of laundry, of cleaning, of DEBT. Even though I can identify this now when I started I had no idea besides the yearning in my soul why I was giving everything away. So guess what happened? I gave all those things away and then filled their place with … more things.

Look, no amount of things can define us. Even with the big house and all of the crap inside of it I was no where closer to truly knowing who I was, what I was capable of and what my husband and my kids were capable of.

We now live intentionally. We live a life that is aligned with our values. We are debt free 🙌🏼and I only do laundry once a week. Nothing comes into our house that does not have a purpose. I do not keep anything including clothes that I do not absolutely love. If something comes in, something goes out. I’m not perfect at living minimally – and for us minimalism doesn’t look like bare walls and no toys. But it does look like a reclaiming of our space and a true love for our things.

Our home is my sanctuary. And after listening to this podcast, I was able to identify what I loved about certain spaces and how to repurpose our belongings to fill my emotional needs.

If you are just starting this journey into minimalism, or you have been on it for a long time, I hope that you find yourself in intentional community with others who seek liberation in this. I hope you consider what your values are, and if you are living in alignment with those.

This is not merely a co-opted trend for brown and black folx, this is freedom, liberation, sustainability and survival.

Until next time,

Amanda