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I agree about books & art supplies. I'm really interested in this topic and have long felt the urge to pare down in general, though my husband is resistant to the idea!

Simplicity Parenting is a really wonderful book that,in part, discusses this idea.

I don't think I'm that minimalist, but I am forced to control the amount of toys due to space! If something comes in, something must come out! Also helps that I personally hate clutter!

I am not a minimalist. I regularly buy stuff to make my life easier. My son is the same.

My husband, on the other hand, is a minimalist. He really doesn't buy things "just because" and thinks on it. He often asks me if we really need something before buying it.

As for our parenting, I wouldn't call it minimalist. I am really big into learning tools, for example. Instead of printing off flashcards for free, I buy sight word games. Instead of the 8 pack of markers, I buy the 100 pack because I like colors and options. I think I could work on this and am trying, but it's not easy, we're bombarded with stuff and the ease of purchase.

Compared to some, I feel like a minimalist with my time. We dont do a lot of extra activities or even social things beyond our family. We could probably go an entire month without an extracurricular activists for the kids or without seeing friends/family more than once or twice.

@Bao: I mean ... no. I would like to but it's just an aspiration right now! That said, my son has one small basket of toys on the entire first floor of our house (the rest are in his closet in his room). I didnt think this was particularly minimalist until I visited a couple sets of friends with a child the same age. No exaggeration, there were over 150 toys on the main level/in the family room/taking over the downstairs. 4-5 ride-ons, play kitchens, bikes, 3-4 push toys, 20 puzzles, stacks of books, 10-15 stuffed animals, blocks, legos, tents, you name it! I was overwhelmed, but hey - whatever works for them!

It is extremely rare for us to buy toys outside of holidays/birthdays. Last year, I don't think I bought any toys at all for DS other than for gift giving occasions. He still got plenty of things from friends and relatives. I try to get rid of things often. I will sell or donate toys when I can. I go through stuff every 3-4 months and ask if my kids are ready to get rid of things. At the end of the day, they probably only play with 30% of what they have. I'm not very crafty, so aside from some basic art supplies, we don't have much. We do have a lot of books though, but that's mostly because we don't have easy access to a library in our language. So we buy books whenever we want and probably have around 200 children's books.

I've never thought of it that way but I suppose this is what we do. I don't ever purchase toys or even clothes for DD; we get so much from gifts and hand-me-downs from friends and Buy Nothing. She's about to turn 2 and I've amassed what I think is a very exciting pile of gifts for her just from my Buy Nothing group. I would also say we're pretty minimalist in terms of parenting strategy too - I'm a big believer in the value of unstructured play and independent play, so that means a lot of leaving her to direct her own activities rather than coming up with a million structured things to do or signing her up for a lot of classes. And I definitely think one box of crayons and one box of chalk is plenty!

[ETA] Oh yeah and we are very low-tech with DD. No TV or tablet unless we're on a plane trip. The most tech she gets is occasionally looking at photos or videos of herself on our phones. Plus skyping with grandparents.

We're "minimalists" in the sense that I don't think kids need a lot of stuff to be happy.

We have an art cart, and several baskets of things like magnet blocks, little animals, cars, etc., but that's pretty much it.

We don't do much screen time, and LO gets to do iPad coloring maybe once a month.

I am very critical about what comes into the house (toys, gear, etc.), and really try to focus on quality goods that have open-ended application vs. plastic junk that just promotes overstimulation. Our home isn't huge either, so that's one part of it.

LO1 is 2 yrs old, and LO2 is 3 months.

I consider us minimalists, and so is our parenting. For ourselves and our house, we buy what we need and strongly want. We try to be practical and frugal.

We are lucky because we received a lot of hand me down clothes, which I've saved to use for LO2 also. I have also bought a few things here and there to supplement.

We also received a very small pile of hand me down toys which we use.

We make a conscious effort not to get a lot of stuff for our LOs, only things we think are really worth it. We also don't use tablets or tv much. LO1 gets 1 Daniel Tiger show on the weekend, and she is allowed to get 1 video each evening of the family. Its treated as a privilege.

Kids really don't need much, and I don't think getting them a lot of stuff means they'll develop more/faster, be happier/less cranky, etc. AND think of what other stuff you can use the money for. I try to think of long term investments instead of the instant gratification.

Some of our friends have commented on how we don't get our LOs much, but I am a HUGE fan of less consumerism/more minimalism. Its saved us a lot of money and time.

@Pumpkin Pie: YES to your second to last paragraph! I really wish I had realized that when my first was a baby. It took me awhile to come around and not just try to distract all the time.

We are not minimalist, but I dislike clutter so I know we have a lot less toys than a lot of people we know. I've noticed when we are somewhere where there are a lot of toys she can't seem to concentrate and bounces from one thing to another, whereas at home she has a super long attention span and will color, play with blocks, or look through books for a long period of time. That difference alone makes me determined to keep as much junk out as possible!

I guess it depends on your perspective. I was reading Mrs. Bee's update on her family's life in the Philippines and compared to that (few possessions, homeschooling, no extracurricular activities, few meetups with friends, etc.), our lives seem very busy and typically American and not minimalist.

However, in terms of toys I would say we have fewer than most in our area. I overheard a kid at our holiday party saying "There aren't very many toys here" which I took as a compliment.

We ask for no gifts at birthday parties and haven't had a party at all for turning 1. We tend to give experience or edible gifts on gift-giving occasions. But we don't really limit what other people give so we have our fair share of plastic things that light up. We will occasionally pick up toys or clothes at Goodwill. For clothes, we mostly buy what we need when we need it.

I like this blog going around that's sort of related to what I think is a minimalist perspective:
What if All I Want is A Mediocre Life?
http://www.alifeinprogress.ca/?p=1065

I feel the same as @LemonJack: @SweetiePie: in that I am living very modestly when I compare to other family's homes that feel like a Fischer price factory. But it's not that I'm trying to achieve a minimalist philosophy or lifestyle, I just really dislike clutter and am very particular about the items that come into my home.

@SweetiePie: I feel the same. I would like to drastically pare down what my kids have- a bin of stuffed animals and dress up, a play kitchen, a cube organizer, blocks, a barn, an art cart, a rocking moose, and a bookshelf. That feels like a TON of stuff to me! However we will go over to friends houses and I am overwhelmed by the amount of kid stuff. We have all the toys in the girls shared not-huge room except the art thing which lives right next to the kitchen. I can't believe the number of families we know that have full bedrooms of toys for each individual child and tons of toys in common living spaces as well. It's insane!