Why We Decided to Live a Simple Life as Parents

by Raymund Tamayo

Most people couldn’t imagine how to live simply with children. Kids do take so much of someone’s time, money, and effort – at least for those who are growing or are still toddlers.

However, I found out that simplicity and minimalism is possible for anyone and everyone. In fact, the main reasons why my wife and I decided to live a simple life is to teach our children that:

1. We don’t need material things to be happy. 

We own fewer things today than three years ago, yet we’re still happy. Or happier. Our joy comes from God’s presence in our family and our relationship with one other.

2. We don’t need to live like anybody else. 

We don’t compete with any family and we don’t aim to copy any family’s life. We don’t base our plans, ambitions, decisions, expectations, and actions from any family. The foundation of our family is God’s Word. We proactively live as the Spirit leads us to live.

3. We live within our means. 

Although our kids are still too young to understand, we are slowly inculcating in their minds the joy of being debt-free, and our family’s desire to stay out of it as much as possible.

4. We share to others gladly. 

Since we’ve simplified our life, our children have been a witness to us giving away most of our stuff. And they have somehow learned that toys are just toys, stuff are just stuff. (Well, at least for our daughter, Ryah. :)) They are meant to be used to build relationships by sharing with others, and not to hoard.

5. Spending time with them is more important than buying things. 

When we give our children gifts, we opt to giving them fun and memorable experiences more than something material. The happiest and most memorable moments of our days are the few minutes just before bedtime. We cuddle, wrestle, and play with each other’s cheeks and noses, until we’re ready to doze off.

Living simply has allowed us to focus our resources on our children's needs more than anything else. We have come to know that living a simple life is indeed possible even with children.