Whenever I used to think of large mirrors, I would remember my grandma's not-so-appealing mirrored closet doors. Gratefully, now-a-days mirrors have graduated to official art status! Floor mirrors and large wall mirrors are also becoming so popular that many are framing and DIY'ing their own. I love having mirrors in our home.

Here are some reasons why a mirror can be a great investment for a minimalist:

• Common use product (viewing oneself)
• Wall art and focal point of a room using minimal space while making a big statement
• Adds a sense of wealth and class to the space
• Can emphasize the height or width of a room 
• Reflects light, bringing more light into the space so as to appear lighter
• Adds personality and compliments the room's decor style in the size, frame style, colors, etc 
• Reflects the other side of the space so as to make the space appear larger
• Can be positioned to reflect a window wherein the window's view is projected to the other side which is especially neat when the window has a scenic view

Not only does this mirror use almost the entire wall space, its frame actually dictates the style of the room!

Large wall art is not just for collectors anymore! When it comes to minimalistic decor - extra large wall art can be your best friend. Not only can it show off your personality, but it can take the place of 20 nick-nacks in a fraction of the space and decrease clutter in a room.

Hi All!

Between moving and taking an unexpected emergency trip to Brazil to visit my husband's father who was in the hospital (he's doing great now!) we have not been able to update our blog about cozy minimalism. We just want you to know that we are getting back in the saddle, so to speak and will be updating here shortly. We recently discovered that many of our linked images are not showing up on the website - and we have been working to fix this issue. We hope to have this resolved shortly.

I do want to leave you with a bit of encouragement: During our travels it was easier to forget about realities and to move away from staying minimalistic. Especially when you're touring another country and (for me) you see all the vibrant fashion and because of time limitations and also (for both of us) because you're on 'vacation' you become accustomed to eating out everywhere.

This is the great thing about living minimalistic. It affords you to be able to do those things because it will put money in your savings account - more than you would have realized! However, beware of the trap you can easily fall into when you return home. We noticed we hadn't checked out of 'vacation mode' until almost a month after returning home! We pulled in the reins and tightened our boot straps immediately. Being minimalistic is a number of things, but most importantly it is a mindset that leads a way of life. Along the way, it helps you realize beautiful things - for me, the greatest discovery was an intense sense of freedom because I realized I did not have to live the way I was in order to survive and that I also didn't need to live the way I was to be happy!

Happy minimizing! :)

- M & R

Hello! I wanted to recommend a wonderful blog link to becomingminimalist.com. Here, they have drafted up 7 Common Problems Solved by Owning Less or as I see it 7 benefits to becoming a minimalist. :D The comments are great too.

Since we have made these changes in our own home, I can testify to these truths. You truly do live happier by owning less! The socially acceptable and exalted idea that you need to "buy buy buy" is actually not to your advantage at all. Just a few reasons off the top of my head are:

1) You make others wealthier.
2) You make yourself less wealthier.
3) You invest your money most often in items you will never see a penny return on.
4) These little things (or even "big"things) that wont give you a return can and most often hurt you later on by not allowing you to start a business, stay home with the kids, invest in an idea or patent, have money for retirement, etc. The list is endless.
5) You spend more time with, taking care of or worrying about items than for family, friends or other more valuable and rewarding activities.
6) You have the potential to create a habit that causes you to be unhappy because the more you spend the more you see your own need for wealth to buy even more.
7) Sharp investments always give you confidence. Nearly everyday people find peace in things - but there is nothing more peaceful than having an account with thousands of dollars sitting off to the side for whenever its needed.

We had been purging our home little by little in the last 6 months and it worked out wonderfully in the end because we ended up buying our very first home on December 21, 2012 (yay!) Our first move took all of 4 hours and one medium Uhaul truck. We didn't have much time to pack because our jobs were nuts so we only loaded up everything that was absolutely essential. Our new house had everything we needed and a few things we loved; it was cozy and content. Can you believe that we still had half a house and a garage left at the old house? I ended up selling/giving away a good amount of the rest. When I went back and started to pack up what was left I thought  - this is still so much junk I don't even know why I didnt throw it out in the first round of purging. At one point I stood there and tried to remember or guess how much money each item cost and it was sickening - I had easily a couple of grand sitting right in front of me. Thats after I purged our house the first time. How is this even possible that I had no idea what I had truly done to myself?

In fact - the amount of money I could have saved in the last 5 years could be in the thousands easily. Since I was 16? (I'm now 26) easily in the 10s of thousands. Now if anyone had taken that 10s of thousands and invested it in a high return portfolio such as those offered at 9-12% (mainly mutual funds) you could have compounded a great deal more in a very short time. A wealthy person stays wealthy because they make their money work for them - not the other way around. Its very unsettling to see so many people waisting their hard earned precious money freely and on a daily basis.  Everyone wants to do what they want right now, but few will pay the price so they CAN do what they want when they want at a greater level later. Later doesn't even have to mean 30 years.  If a 16 year old invested the right amount every month its not a far stretch to become semi-retired at the age of 40 or 45.  And at that point its up to you to continue working and if you do - even more of a reason to save is to provide for loved ones. Studies show that most Americans believe they will work until they pass away. So, if money isn't the clincher enough, the article linked above will make it easier to enjoy living with less while your money works for you. Enjoy!

It turns out, googling (or pinteresting!) 'cozy simple' and 'cozy simple decor' gets you where you want to be for more ideas on cozy minimalism! I guess 'cozy' and 'minimalism' havent quite welded together yet... but I'm finding all kinds of jems today :) Below are just a few of my favorites and they generally fit into my idea of keeping the home minimalisic but cozy. As you can see, it has much more to do with colors and textures than the number of things, and letting spaces breathe. Again, I prefer more traditional/contemporary furnishings than modern ones.

Also, I discovered this fantastic blog post which provides a lovely list of how to add cozyness to your home without adding more things. Maybe this is old news and I'm just now jumping on the common sense train but I am loving all of this fabulous inspiration! I hope you do too :)

Stay tuned for more cozy minimalist decor ideas.

Enjoy!

Hello Reader!

Welcome to my blog! I'm so happy you stopped by :)

So how did I get into the 'minimalism' fad... well, before you run away let me just say its not what we think. I actually ran into it through a blog with a great post about how you can pack 10 days worth of clothes into a carry on, which intrigued me because I never use half of what I bring with me anywhere anyways and always hated it but just couldnt seem to let it go once the next trip came. (So many what-ifs! Girls you get me!) Come to find out, the author of that post is a minimalist to the core. BUT! Her story was even more fascinating because she went from being a complete shopaholic down to adorable basics - paying off 60K in debt within 18 months along the way. I'd heard of minimalism, but really didnt understand it so I started reading more of her blog and loved the concept. I believe my mind understood the concept of "withholding from every impulse and knowing you wont die" after I lost 25 pounds. I had never lost weight before and after I went through it I realized I didn't need what I thought I did - and that overflowed into other areas of my life. Though, to most true minimalists I'm probably pretty moderate.

For example: My first search for 'minimalism' in Google ended up with a bunch of fancy photos, one after the other, of the most modern looking houses, decor and furniture that money can buy, even if it there is hardly anything in the house. Is this true minimalism? I expected there to be photos of normal homes with normal furnishings and creative decor to embrace the idea of living simply. After looking at pages on end of my google search, I felt like I had to sell everything and buy a modern home with cool mod furniture in order to be a 'minimalist'. For most of us humble happy little folk, with families and kids, and cute charming little homes, that doesn't work too well. So, the search actually shocked me. How can those places be deemed 'minimalistic?' As much as I'd love a house that looks like a million dollar spa, the whole point of minimalism, as I understand it, is to live with less so you can actually have more, and that usually means living completely inside of your means, and perhaps then some. Most families and individuals live way outside their means and that, we have learned, leads to much more stress...so cleverly disguised in lots of pretty things we aquire. I know many people prefer the modern decor look, but for myself, I can't relax in a place that looks like an office or a white box. I have a hard time identifying emotionally with anything that doesn't resemble some sort of a personality (and I know we're not all the same blank white/grey canvases). Then... I thought, hey maybe there is a 'cozy' type of minimalism!

Nope! My second search of 'cozy minimalism' lead to the same results! There were a few gems..but overall that was pretty disappointing. :( Soooo...as much as I wanted to take part in minimalism, I was worried about parting with a lot of beloved items. I was worried my house wouldnt have anything in it and we would look poor. I was worried it would be stark and cold. I worried our home wouldn't be a mirror of our cute characteristics and passions. But, I realized soon enough that wasnt true! In fact, our home looked richer than ever!

So, I put on my big girl boots and did my first purge the following weekend. Tackling: The Bathroom. From the linen closet alone I threw out one full trashbag of old items, and filled four department store shopping bags of items to sell. (Unopened lotions, soaps, nailpolishes, towel sets that no longer match our bath decor, storage containers, even some curling irons I havent used for 5 years or more). That doesnt include what came out of storage drawers, and under the sink cabinets. After it was all said and done, I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. The bathroom shelves were airy and light, but still cozy and inviting (picutres to come soon). Everything was organized because there was much more space than was needed after the purge, and only items we actually used on a daily basis were sitting there. My husband was so suprised and happy - He kept asking me if I was ok (ha!). Girlish clutter is probably his biggest nightmare, but hes so good to me he let me torture him for years :).

My home is still a work in progress. I've since completed the Guest Room closet, the Storage closet in the Kitchen, the Hallway closet, our Livingroom (sold a China Cabinet, two 9 and 6 Cubbie Ikea Shelves and donated an old broken chair we kept around cause we thought someday we might fix it). Now, the home (recently decorated for the lovely fall season) seems so airy, open, spacious and relaxing, yet warm and comfortable at the same time. I had no idea things could actually create stress and discontentment - and the hold it had on us.

With each purging of everything in our home that was never necessary, yet still creatively maintaining a cozy homely environment, I feel more and more confident that living minimally was the best thing I ever learned. (However, we do have an emergency 6-12 month survival closet, and I believe especially for a family, that is very wise to have). Aside from this, my challenge is to keep the home a place of love, contentment, relaxation; comfortable, inviting and a palette of our character and quirks. I knew I couldn't be the only one who feels this way so this is why I have created this blog. For myself, its a place I can just blab about this whole wonderful journey. Pictures of my purges will be coming soon! But most of all, I hope it encourages someone to embrace the simple but cozy life too. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!