Simplify: Less is More

With a new year comes a new start. We dream of slimming down-- and not just our waistlines. Oftentimes we notice that our lives have become cluttered, overrun by possessions and activities, causing stress and anxiety. We yearn for simplicity. This week's post serves as part one of my 'Simplify' series. As we enter the new year may we be reminded that less is more. Simplifying life and home brings freedom to enjoy the things that matter most.

One way I like to usher in this simplicity is through my home decor. This year as I stripped the house of Christmas past, I resisted the urge to fill it back up with more 'stuff'. I also ditched the holiday reds and colors and kept the palette cool and neutral as you can see in our kitchen.

My counters tend to be filled with home decor that leaves little space for the actual preparing of food. I made a deliberate effort to free them of clutter.

This gave me lots of space for how the kitchen is actually meant to be used--for spreading out the ingredients for waffle-making.

Next up was our game room. This is probably the most cluttered room of our house. It is here that kids drop bags, shoes, homework, forms to be filled out and everything else you can imagine. I purposely purged the shoe bin, table and baskets of everything we don't use or need. Instead of filling the space back up I kept it clean and simple. This simple olive bucket is more than enough decor for this table. It keeps the space open for use yet brings a classic farmhouse vibe to the space.

As I kept the 'less is more' mantra at the forefront of my mind when putting my house back in order after Christmas, I also found myself yearning to bring this same kind of simplicity into our family's life and schedule as well. January is a great time to make better choices in protecting family time and time for what is most important. As hard as it is to say no to good things, too many yeses can steal the time and energy needed for the people you love most. I don't want my family to get my leftovers or the leftovers of each other. I don't want to clutter my life or the lives of my husband and kids with so many activities that there's no space left to make waffles on a Saturday morning. Take the time to say Hello to this new year and the courage to simplify both life and home. Less is more!