My name is Amy Slenker-Smith. I love to declutter, simplify, and live an intentional life with less.
I’m a wife to Steve, and a mom to Zack. And I grew up in a generous family with gifts for all the holidays and more was generally viewed as more. Understandably, this family of origin stayed with me into adulthood. After college, I started checking off all the boxes: marriage, career, new car, travel, and buying a house.
Then came the “Clutter Comment” which inspired my interest in a simpler lifestyle. The Clutter Comment rang loud again when we had our son because I noticed anything that robbed me of time with him. Reducing was more rewarding than organizing and soon, I was on this journey to live a simpler life.
My efforts were laser-focused on decluttering, donating, minimizing, selling, and sharing ALL of our stuff. There was joy in “sharing the wealth” and the realization that we did not need to own everything. I devoured every minimalist book I could get my hands on. The words of authors like Joshua Becker, Courtney Carver, Jen Hatmaker, and The Minimalists, were so impactful and confirmed my new path. My journey moved from stuff to other areas of over-consumption like schedules, kid’s activities, spending, media, and stress.
I realized that stress was high in my life. My schedule was jam-packed with little margin and no work/life balance. Even my husband could see that my health and relationships were suffering. Eventually, recurring migraines forced me to make a change. A change that would elevate two priorities: my health and a more balanced schedule.
I learned to say no to obligations that were not in line with my values. As a family, we made exercise, healthy eating, and relationships in our community a collective priority.
After two years of planning and inspiration from this article, I stepped away from a 19-year consulting career and launched “Simply Enough.”
Simply Enough is about more than helping you to declutter and organize your home. It’s about challenging you to live differently. Living simply means living with less but having so much more.