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Is your home starting to feel heavy again, even though it’s only January? You started to declutter, made big goals, but somehow it’s already chaotic again. Today we’re going deeper than just tossing stuff. We’re talking about foundational simplicity: what it really means, why it feels so out of reach, and the small-but-powerful steps you can take this week to shift from chaos to calm.
So if you caught last week’s post, you know we kicked off the new year talking about the 2026 items in 2026 decluttering challenge: getting rid of 2,026 items this year. And I love that challenge because it’s concrete, it’s doable, and it gets you moving.
But today, I want to go a layer deeper.
Because decluttering is awesome, but if we stop there, we’re only addressing part of the problem.
What I always hear moms talking about is this deep craving for something more than just a clean counter. They want simplicity. Like real, sustainable, breathe-easier simplicity. And honestly? That’s my word for this year. Simplicity. Not just in my home, but in my homeschool, my relationships, my finances, my purpose. All of it.
And I know you feel it too. Because we’re all tired. We’re overworked, overstressed, and overcommitted. And there’s no joy in living that way.
So today, we’re building the foundation. We’re talking about what simplicity actually means, why it feels impossible, and the mindset shifts that change everything. And then (because I’m all about practical action) I’m giving you one simple step you can take this week to start moving from chaos to calm.
First though, if you are not in our free Simplicity Mamas Community group, you should be! Don’t do this alone. Get in there with other ladies who are working through what simplicity means to them practically and how it’s changing everything for them.
Alright, let’s dive into what simplicity really means.
What Simplicity Really Means
So what is simplicity, really? Because I think we throw that word around a lot, but we don’t always stop to define it.
For me, simplicity is calm. It’s gentle. It’s not complicated or rushed. It’s systems that flow and days that feel peaceful instead of frantic. It’s not running around from one thing to the next, constantly frustrated that we’re behind.
Simplicity is cutting back. It’s saying no. It’s focusing on what’s truly important. It’s less clutter, fewer commitments, streamlined systems, and solid connections with the people who matter most.
I want to get my home back. I want intentional family time. I want our home and homeschool to run simpler, not harder. And I want a cozy, welcoming home space that I can invite others into without feeling guilty about the mess.
That’s what simplicity looks like to me. And I’m guessing it resonates with you too, because you’re here reading. You know something needs to shift. You can feel it.
Why It Feels So Hard to Create
But here’s the thing. If simplicity is what we want, why does it feel so impossible to create?
I’ll tell you why.
We are so tired and overcommitted. We have co-op and playdates and sports and activities and lessons. We’re doing so many things and going so many places that we forget to actually create our home and nurture our home.
And this is a big thing I’m focusing on this year: creating that cozy atmosphere within our home instead of just a thrown-together muddle mess and calling it “lived in.” We’re on a budget, okay, that’s fine. But if we don’t intentionally create a cozy space, it affects our mood. It affects how everything flows. It affects where things are stored, how the house functions and runs. It affects our moods and our relationships.
We want things to flow smoothly and simply. And that matters.
But simplicity feels out of reach because our houses are crammed with 300,000 items, most of which we don’t actually ever use, much less need. We have over-consumed to a point of breaking. Our kids are swamped. They never have time to just play and be kids. Screens have taken over our world. Marketing and plastic flow into our lives at the speed of light.
These are all very real roadblocks to simplicity. But here’s the good news: they can be overcome.
The Mindset Shifts That Changed Everything
There are a couple of mindset shifts you have to adopt first if you want to move toward simplicity.
You Don’t Need All This Stuff
First: you don’t need all this stuff. You don’t. Your kids don’t need all this stuff either.
It always shocks me that the more toys I get rid of from my kids’ space, the more happily they play with the toys that remain. If you haven’t tried this, I urge you to try it, and start with your younger kids. Preschoolers and toddlers are perfect for this experiment because most of the time they won’t even communicate that they notice things are gone. Sometimes they won’t notice at all.
I just did this with my three-year-old’s space. I cut out a lot of the clutter. I made it very simple. And just yesterday I was watching him grab a couple of little dinosaurs and run all over the house with them, playing. And I haven’t seen him do that in a while. So that was really cool. It reaffirmed that clearing his stuff out, getting rid of the clutter, is so worth it.
And I’ve seen the same thing with my ten-year-old. She got rid of over 400 things a couple weeks ago: things she’d just outgrown, moved on from, didn’t want anymore. And now she actually plays with the toys she has left.
You don’t need all the clutter. You don’t need all the stuff. That’s mindset shift number one.
You Don’t Need to Do It All
Mindset shift number two: you don’t need to do it all.
We are told to put our kids in all the sports and all the activities and do all the curriculum and all the co-ops and all the classes. But you don’t have to do it all. You can stay at home. You can do school outside. You can do school while you’re baking. You can do so much with so little.
You don’t need the fancy curriculum. You can get it if you want (I love a good curriculum in a box) but you don’t need it. And sometimes we have to step back from that and go simpler. And the simpler it is, sometimes the deeper the education and the conversations can actually go.
When we have this messy, busy life with a bunch of kids and a bunch of things going on and work and crazy schedules, simplicity seems impossible. But you can cut back piece by piece. Let go of little things here, say no to something over there, clear off the calendar here, clear the clutter here, make an intentional space here. And it will start to naturally simplify your entire life: your family and how your home runs.
The Gift You’re Giving Your Kids
Here’s something I think about all the time: a well-run home, a well-managed home, doesn’t just change your life. It changes your kids’ lives. It changes their future. You’re teaching them how to run their own home.
There are well-documented studies (I’ve read several books on this) that show if kids don’t grow up in a well-managed home with chores and responsibilities, if they’re not being taught these skills as children, they end up being adults who don’t know how to do those things or who really struggle with them.
So the best gift you can give your kids is teaching them these pivotal life skills: decluttering, organizing, respecting systems, managing and running a home. And I know it’s overwhelming. It’s hard to make that the priority. But every time I do it, I see the fruit. I see the results. Simplicity is so, so important.
A Living Room Story: From Overwhelm to Oasis
Let me paint you a picture of what this looks like in real life.
There are two rooms in the home that I think are absolutely pivotal for simplifying first, and that’s the kitchen and the living room. The kitchen can be a project. You’re not going to get it all done right away. But just chipping away at it, getting rid of the excess stuff you don’t use so that it’s simpler, your counters are clean, your dishes are being done every day, those are pivotal things that need to happen.
But the living room? I have been in so many homes as a professional organizer where the living room is a disaster. And I have lived it too. My kids have destroyed my room many times over.
But here’s what I’ve learned: a well-designed living room functions as a gathering space for the family. And when you design it intentionally (I’m not talking about high-end design or stuffy, expensive stuff, I’m talking cozy, family-centered connection) it changes everything.
A comfy couch. Some chairs. Open floor space to play and sit and play games and interact. Storage for books and games. A place to draw. A place to keep all the electronics hidden away. Those types of aspects create a hub space, a space that you can organize, that you can keep clean, and that the entire family is naturally drawn to. They want to come to this space. It’s where we come together as a family.
You as the parent are designing this space. You are curating this space. But once you do that, then we have to set resets into place. Because the family (the kids and the parents, everybody together) needs to reset this space at the end of the day so that it’s clean for tomorrow.
Teaching Kids to Respect Spaces
Kids will leave their stuff everywhere and just keep going. And then the room becomes messy, a clutter hotspot. You have trash, the floor is dirty, it just accumulates day in and day out. So we have to reset it back to clean every night. And the goal is for this to only take five or ten minutes. If your space is well organized and you do this all the time and everybody pitches in, it should be that way.
Initially, when you’re creating your room and setting this into place, it might take longer. There might be things that don’t have a place. The kids might not obey right away. But we have to teach them that we respect spaces and our items have a home. If an item has a home in the living room, we put it away at the end of the day. And if an item doesn’t belong in the living room, we pick it up and we take it back to its home.
We don’t want to be clutter-stuffing. We don’t want to be shoving things in corners. We don’t want to be tripping over stuff in the middle of the night. We want this to be a clear and clean space.
Because if you do not have clear and clean spaces in your house, maybe you don’t know that feeling. But I promise you, as soon as you get a clear and clean space, it’s going to feel like a rock was just removed from your shoulders. You’re going to be so happy, so calm in that space.
I’ve done this over and over with our living room. The kids had their stuff everywhere. I kept too many toys in there. Art stuff would just explode everywhere. And when we cleared all that stuff out, put systems in place, made it a cozy space, and did this daily reset, I was blown away.
They were happy because the space was clear. There was room on the floor for them to do cartwheels and wrestle and do all the things. And I felt amazing because there weren’t Legos in the couch. I wasn’t tripping over balls on the floor. It was such a relief to have this clean, clear space.
You know, they tell you that when you buy a home, the grass feels different outside. Well, when you clean your living room, the carpet feels different. And it’s just such an incredible thing.
If you don’t have this in your house, I want you to experience this. Because what you experience in that one room, you’re then going to take to the rest of your house and do it in all those spaces. And it’s just going to change your life.
One Simple Step to Start Today
Okay, so where do we start? Your first step to simplicity comes from two areas: you don’t need all this stuff, and we don’t need to do all the things.
Option 1: Clear the Clutter
If clutter is overwhelming your house, I want you to look around and see what you can do to make your living room or your kitchen simpler, whichever is the more pressing need for you. Which one do you need to start working on?
And then I want you to just start filling up a black trash bag. Obvious trash. Things you just do not need, do not use, do not want. Start filling up that bag and get that bag out of your house.
You have to start clearing the clutter. And I’m so sorry to have to say this, but you are going to need to throw away perfectly good things. We cannot keep things just because they cost money or they are in good condition. If you do not use it or love it, it is clutter. And it needs to go, for your sanity. And just getting one bag of trash out is going to be your first step toward having a simpler space.
Option 2: Clear the Calendar
Now, if your big thing is doing all the things, I want you to look at your calendar and just look at the next couple of weeks. Find one thing, one commitment, that you can say no to. One activity you’re not going to do anymore. One thing you committed to or said you would do that you don’t really want to do and it’s stressing you out. Maybe it’s a side hustle. Maybe it’s a volunteer commitment. Whatever it is, pick one thing, say no, and get it off your calendar.
You have to start taking these action steps. We can’t just say, “Oh, I want to have a simpler life,” and then not do anything. You have to do something. You have to take action. This is how we build momentum.
And I know it’s hard. It is challenging and it’s going to maybe be a little painful. But we have to make these sacrifices to get to simplicity, to get to a simpler, better, easier life. And I just want to encourage you that even though it might be painful to say no to something, even though it might be painful to fill up that black trash bag, the more you do it, the easier it’s going to become. And the more light you’re going to feel. The more joy you’re going to feel. And that is worth the little pinch of pain to get started in this process.
Final Thoughts
Simplicity is possible, mama. Even if right now feels like chaos. Even if your living room is a disaster and your calendar is packed. You can build a life of simplicity, one small, brave decision at a time.
Simplicity starts with one black trash bag. Or one thing crossed off the calendar. That’s it. That’s your foundation.
And if you’re feeling that pull for deeper transformation, where your home, homeschool, and rhythms are designed with peace and purpose, I want you to stay tuned. My signature system, Project Homeschool Simplicity, is opening soon for founding members. More details are coming in the next few weeks. But for now, start with that first simple step.
Let’s create simplicity that sticks, together. You’ve got this.
Ready to dive deeper? Download my free Homeschool Simplicity Staples guide and get my 6 sanity-saving tools to cut the chaos and feel in control. Your homeschool deserves more peace, and so do you.