TOO MUCH STUFF!

Minimalism is a trend that is here to stay. But how does it work once you have kids?

- BRIDGET SCHOEMAN

“Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” All the hip and happening organisers of 2020 have a version of this quote in their books and shows, but it was first said by William Morris, a 19th century English textile designer, artist, writer, socialist and Marxist. Even the sentence itself is rather sparse, but at the same time profound.

Look up from this magazine for a minute, and scan the room around you. Is everything you see useful or beautiful? Minimalists do this often, and if the answer is no, the item gets passed on, sold or thrown away. Exhoarders that have converted to minimalism give testimony of how adopting this new attitude toward stuff can bring great joy. The rest of us are fascinated by the process, as evidenced by the popularity of Marie Kondo’s show on Netflix and the buzz around “Swedish death cleaning”. A lot has also been written about millennials who choose to have experiences rather than own things. They’d rather spend money on travel than buy a car or a house. Music, books and movies are owned digitally or streamed, and photographs and memories live on social media and in the cloud.

If all this sounds appealing rather than weird, you might just have the makings of a minimalist mom.