Like so many of us, mum-of-four Nici Garcia, 29, was drowning in stuff.
The family had mounds of stuff they just didn’t use, from clothes to toys, and realised they had a hoarding problem.
At the same time, Nici’s bills were piling up – and stress along with them.
In $46,000 of debt, she decided to make a drastic change.
Nici, from Arizona, US, said: ‘I had a miscarriage and was really struggling with bills and day-to-day life getting on top of me.
‘Cleaning up after the kids could take hours, and then having to dust and clean the rest of the house just really took it out of me.
‘When I came across The Year Of Loss by Cait Flanders, I knew it was the healthy change my family needed.’
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Nici chose to embrace minimalism, clearing out the home of stuff the family no longer used, sticking to a budget, and radically changing their buying habits.
Now, the family is clear of debt – and has a far tidier house to boot.
Nici binned, sold, or donated 70% of her family’s belongings, prioritised paying off debts, and gave all family members a limit of just 14 items of each type of clothing.
The family quit eating out and stuck to a budget for essentials, rather than spending without thinking.
Nici said: ‘When I first started out, I was really meticulous with money.
‘We would put money in an envelope at the start of the month, like $1,200 a month for rent and $600 for food and essentials.
‘Once the money ran out, it meant we couldn’t use any more money to buy things.
‘The first three months were quite rough, and we would end up going over what we had or going through the budget in like two weeks.
‘Eventually we got a hold of ourselves and ended up with money left at the end of the month – which we then put towards paying off debts and putting towards savings for a house.
‘In the space of a year we paid off our student loans and also saved $10K for a house deposit.’
Despite losing a huge majority of toys, the children Remington, seven; Emerson, six; Charlotte, four and Sebastian, one, have all been fully on board, and have embraced the minimalist lifestyle.
Their house is now plain and simple with minimal pictures and decoration, while the family’s remaining belongings stored away neatly.
‘We sold off and donated about 70% of our belongings.
‘The children had so many things that they didn’t need, because when you have kids, people tend to buy things for them, that you never have the heart to throw away.
‘All of their dressers were overflowing, and one of my girls had 57 T-shirts, half of which she had never worn.
‘Because of this, we decided on the number 14, 14 tops, 14 bottoms, 14 underwear, 14 socks and the system really works.
‘Each room in the house now has very minimal decoration, and we got rid of so much stuff through selling and donating.
‘The kids were very involved and helped with what toys and clothes they wanted to get rid of, their piles were huge.
‘It’s gone from hours at a time cleaning up after them, to between five and 20 minutes.
‘On Tiktok a few people have said I’m depriving my children, but I’m not.
‘They may have less toys, but they are still treated fairly and get given new things, we just have a one in, one out system now.
‘They love donating toys and clothes they don’t use anymore.’
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