How to Create Freedom & Luxury Through Intentional Minimalism w/Meg Nordmann

Our world is moving away from an emphasis on accumulating possessions as a measure of success, and towards the understanding that time is the true luxury. 

 

Having more time gives us the power to pursue the things that matter most, and an excess of stuff robs us of that luxury. 

 

Minimalism is one of the most impactful ways to get more out of our time, especially as we head into the holiday season. This is the time people struggle the most with stress as marketing messages pressure us to buy and accumulate more stuff. 

 

The stress of excess possessions affects our kids too. By simplifying and paring down, we make their lives better and teach them to value what truly matters. 

 

How can we apply minimalist principles to our lives, homes, and gift receiving? How do we set the stage for our kids to see time, not possessions, as the true gift? 

 

In this episode, I’m joined by the author of Have Yourself a Minimalist Christmas, Meg Nordmann. We discuss how to navigate the emotional side of decluttering and why intentional minimalism benefits our children and gives us the space and time to focus on what we love. 

 

The word to focus on isn’t minimalism, it’s intentionality. It’s about trying to be more intentional about our stuff by simplifying, curating, and editing things down to what truly matters. -Meg Nordmann

 

Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

How clutter affects our children:

An excess of stuff in our places causes stress and higher cortisol levels. Our children also get just as overwhelmed, if not more when their rooms and our homes are cluttered. They aren’t built to manage the cortisol levels that come with clutter. 

The true meaning of minimalism:

Minimalism doesn’t mean getting rid of things we love. It’s all about being more intentional about what we own and buy. By paring down to what’s essential and what we truly love, we experience the luxury of having more time to pursue what matters. 

How minimalism can improve our holiday season experience:

The tradition around Christmas has been built around the anticipation of gifts and getting more stuff. Through minimalism and intentionality, we can teach our children to focus more on making memories as a family, rather than what we’re going to get. 

How to talk about minimalism with our friends and family:
 
Don’t use the word minimalism or decluttering because it might trip them up, scare, or confuse them. Lead them to understand that having more stuff means overwhelm, stress, and a lack of time. Once they understand this, we can steer them towards experience gifts and consumable gifts instead of things that create clutter. 

 

Guest Bio- 

 

Meg Nordmann is the author of Have Yourself a Minimalist Christmas, a new book that was published on September 1st this year in print, ebook, and audiobook formats and is intended to be read in the fall months in preparation for Christmas. Meg is also the mother of two messy little girls who were the catalyst for her becoming a minimalist, along with her goal to achieve financial independence in order to retire early. A former newspaper and magazine journalist and editor, Meg is now a full-time mother who writes, blogs, and speaks about minimalism and creating the luxury of time to pursue the things that matter the most to her. She recently launched a podcast on this topic called Journey to Freedom that explores how minimalism and frugality can lead to financial freedom and time freedom. She’s excited to share her tips on how to have a simpler, less expensive, and more intentional holiday this season. 

 

Visit http://megnordmann.com/book/ to learn more about Meg and her book.