After a weekend without the kids, we found ourselves doing a few of our favorite things–getting rid of stuff and cleaning.

What we realized is we are at “peak stuff,” as Kevin likes to call it.

I disagreed with his assessment at first. I felt that the Lego-Barbie dreamhouse-random little toy-phase had to be our peak stuff stage. I felt like I picked up all these little toys for most of my early 30s.

But then we tried to imagine fitting all our current stuff into our old apartment in Arizona.

Yep….he was right. Peak stuff.

I suddenly wondered– does this mean we are no longer minimalist? (Gasp!) Does it mean we are no longer pursuing simplicity?

Not necessarily.

Yes, we have taken our eye off the ball. With me working full time, the managing of the stuff suffered a bit.

But as we cleared out random drawers in each room and faced the back corner of junk in the basement, I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Within 2 hours our space felt back to simple and calm.

Yes, there are dozens of Squishmallows in my daughters room. But it’s a phase and she loves them.

Yes, there are usually 30+ library books busting out of the living room bookshelf. But we love to read and my kids go nuts if there are not plenty of books to grab at any given moment.

And yes, Yahtzee must ALWAYS be out in plain sight so we can play whenever the mood strikes.

What I realized as I cleaned and decluttered is that our life has evolved in the last 3 years. We have more space for things we need like bikes, sports equipment, and winter gear. We have more rooms which means more furniture. We have more space to spread out.

But we also still have some empty spaces. We intentionally left space.

And in a few short years all the Squishmallows and library books and sports equipment will be gone. Our house can be as minimal and empty as we want.

But the emptying of the stuff will also mean the leaving of the people that have filled it all these years with laughter, messes, joy.

So it seems our simplicity and minimalism still exists in a different way.

We still have what we need without much excess, but we have a bit of breathing room.

For now, this medium minimalism is perfect for us.

-Brittany