A friend and I were chatting about our kids this morning. We are blessed to live in a lovely neighborhood. This neighborhood is fairly wealthy, which often means that the children have a lot of stuff. We’re somewhat less wealthy than the average, I suspect, given that we live in a smaller townhome. We love where we live, but the standard of living where we live can lead to many “I wants” from the kids.
If you’re trying to keep a minimalist home, you’re likely trying to manage the flow of stuff into your home. This might be for environmental reasons or for frugality reasons, or it may just be an attempt to keep a sane, manageable, and clutter free home. The wants get in the way of all this, so it’s good to tame them. Here’s how we manage our wants, both myself and my daughter.
Ask: Can I live with this want for a week?
Wants go away. Make a want list if you must, but live with the want for a week or more before you decide to get something. We go thrift store shopping every two months or so. By the time we get there, many of the wants are gone and the needs have been filled in some other creative way.
Ask: What would it take to make this object?
If you’re doing this for environmental reasons, think about the environmental impacts of making this. Does this make you want it more? Less?
Ask: Can I make it with something I have?
My daughter wanted a Smurf house. She had a tiny dollhouse with a round roof. We printed out some paper that looks like a mushroom, and she had a Smurf house for no money. No extra objects came into our house, aside from some ink on paper.
Ask: Can I get it for free?
Freecycle and Craigslist are great for this. For wanty kids, this is a great deal. Getting something for free takes ingenuity, but it doesn’t eat up the allowance. It’s a way to recycle, build community, and get one of those wants if you really do want it.
Ask: Can I get it secondhand?
We get 95% of our clothes secondhand, and we get most other items secondhand as well. This is a good way to recycle. If my daughter is really, really wanty, we have a stop off at Value Village every two months, and there she can satisfy her current want for baby doll clothes.
We are so lucky to have wants. So many people struggle to meet their needs. It’s a privilege and a responsibility to have more than food and shelter, and I try to keep this in mind when talking to myself and my daughter about our wants.
Image Credit: SloopJohnB