minimalism
About us
An open, user owned community dedicated to the philosophy of minimalism and the minimalist way of life. All types of posts are allowed, as long as they are relevant to the topic of minimalism.
Rules
1. Be honest with yourself and others.
The goal is to develop yourself personally and as a community. Seriously, if you’re not honest with yourself and pretend to be someone else, you’re not going anywhere. The first step to progression is acceptance, isn’t it?
2. Be polite to others and respects each others opinions.
Your freedom ends where somebody else's begins. Remember that there are people that may see things differently than you.
3. Keep it theme-oriented, up to date and relevant.
In general, all types of contributions are allowed, but the relevance to this community must always be evident and presented openly by the contributor. Posts that do not meet these requirements will be removed after a public warning.
4. Use self-moderation measures first before reporting.
This community is fundamentally built upon freedom of speech. Since everyone understands minimalism differently and we do not want to exclude any kind of content a priori, we appeal to the individual users to block/mute posts or users who do not meet their requirements. Please bear this in mind when filing a report
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This is always a difficult question that I face every year! Sometimes there is a big item they need like a bike or a drawing tablet - but often there isn't anything obvious.
Something that I'll often do is get them digital goods, because they take up no physical space. Often, it winds up being a new downloadable video game or an expansion to a game they already own. I try to be thoughtful about what they like & I research the games in advance to find something unique to them and fits their interests. I download the game to a device in secret on Christmas Eve and then find something physical that they can unwrap (like cardboard with a game picture inside or something). Then as soon as they open it I explain why I choose it & why I think they'd like it & etc and I get in their hands quickly so it feels more visceral.
Others will disagree about this strategy, I know, but it prevents accumulating a lot of junky unnecessary items. My kids are in middle school & high school now & they have very few possessions compared to their friends. What's nice is that they take a sort of pride in only having few high quality items rather than a room full of junk.
We also stop buying them (& ourselves) "necessity"-type items like clothing beginning around September, and then they get to unwrap a bunch of boring things like socks & pants & and soap at Christmas. Lol! Are we the worst? Maybe.
This is a great idea having a physical representation for an intangible gift, thank you!