Why Less Has Given Me More—And What My Kids Keep Teaching Me About Home

Why Less Has Given Me More—And What My Kids Keep Teaching Me About Home

For a long time, I really struggled with maintaining a home. Keeping up with dishes. Managing clutter. Everything always felt like too much.

It wasn’t until I had children that it finally clicked—I didn’t have a discipline problem, I had a “too much stuff” problem. When you have less to manage, life gets lighter. You clean less, organize less, and think less. You get more space—physically and mentally.

After my first baby, we were flooded with stuff. Baby showers, well-meaning gifts, and all the “must-haves.” But the truth is, your baby just needs you. All that extra stuff? It added stress. It made me realize: the more we have, the more pressure we feel to maintain it. And ironically, it makes us feel less.

So I began experimenting with less. Letting go of what I didn’t love. What didn’t serve our life. And what I found was this: ownership of less gave me more.

More time. More clarity. More presence.

And the biggest gift? My kids. They constantly pull me back to what matters. Their presence is my daily reminder to show up—not distracted or buried under stuff—but fully there. Watching the same trick 29 times. Reading the story again. Baking together without rushing.

That’s what I remember from my own childhood. And that’s what I want to give them.

I hold strong boundaries with my phone. I build rhythms around cleaning and tidying. Not because I’m rigid—but because those little systems let me be in my life.

There are so many “experts” out there. But lately, I’ve stopped listening to them and started listening to my own home. Becoming the expert of how we live. Our design choices, our daily habits—they all reflect our values.

I’m not aiming for a magazine-perfect house. I’m building a home that works. That holds us. That supports the kind of life we want.

And I’m doing it one small rhythm at a time.