A Sentimental Minimalist’s Gift Guide

Minimalists buy gifts! What a concept! Now, sometimes the gifts are not necessarily items but rather services. But still!

Over the years, I have accrued a few gems that deserve to be shouted from the rooftops. So this is my proverbial rooftop, and allow me to shout…

The Baer Minimalist

First things first. Before we can make memories - or preserve them! - we gotta get orgainzed. Give yourself or someone you love (who is overwhelmed with stuff) the gift of a professional organizer’s services. I truly believe that a calm organized space has a ripple effect throughout my life.

I start with this service because it is only when you declutter what you don’t need or want that you can uncover the items you love.

If you’re local to Indianapolis, the Baer Minimalist and her team are the best of the best. They deliver quality solutions and create systems you can maintain. What’s more, you can hire them for large projects or small ones! She just reminded her audience about post-holiday sessions. There is nothing more satisfying than packing the holiday decor in such a way that your future self thanks you.

Fill out TBM Intake Form and they will arrange the gift card for you! Perfect stocking stuffer.

Legacybox

Now that your space is in order, let’s get to memory-making! If you, or someone you love, is of a certain generation, you may have all your hard copy photos, VHS, and DVDs of home videos. Let’s digitize them to preserve them, m’kay?

Enter Legacybox. You order a box, they send it to you, you fill it up and send it back, then they digitize the entire collection. My online class teaches you to organize a digital collection, so whenever someone asks about the bins and bins of photos, I recommend Legacybox.

Storyworth

Three years ago, my husband and I bought four subscriptions to Storyworth - one for each of our parents. Now, we have four hardbound books on a shelf in our living room. But allow me to back up and explain how it works. For one year, once a week, Storyworth sent each of them a question/prompt for them to write about. At the end of the year, they had accrued 52 stories of their lives. Those are then bound into a hardbound book. I learned so much about each of them through these books and stories. We bought copies for all of our brothers. and their families These will be passed down to grandchildren.

The books are beautiful. So, they are not only essential reading; they are meant to be decor, too. These are the companions to all my albums. They are priceless, and I cherish them. You can, too.

The Loose Ends Project

If Less is Maura creates heirlooms with photo albums, and Storyworth helps you create memories with family stories, the Loose Ends Project creates fabric memories. They help complete the fabric art your family members left undone. According to their website, “Loose Ends is a non-partisan, non-religious, everyone-is-welcome movement that aims to ease grief, create community, and inspire generosity by matching volunteer handwork finishers with textile projects people have left undone due to death or disability.”

You guys. I am undone. This is peak sentimental minimalism. Finishing what was already started. Started by someone you love. An irreplaceable gift.

Mending by Meditate2Create

Another local option for my Indy folks! (So again, if you’re far, far away from me, search for a local mender in your area.) I recently hired Meditate 2 Create to mend a sweater that I adore. It belonged to my mom, I absconded with it sometime in college and have been wearing it ever since. They just don’t make sweaters like they used to. But also, somewhere in the muck that was moving during the pandemic, I dropped the ball in protecting it… and the moths were ready. By the time I brought it to Brittany, there was a HUGE unraveling hole in the elbow and about 174 tiny other holes.

Brittany worked with me to create a vision of its future. And now, with the deep dark blue spots twinkling all over it, I love it even more.

Sure, new clothes are great! I get a dopamine hit every time I buy something, just like everyone else. But more and more, I am turning to makers who can help me maintain what I already have. And instead of telling myself that I’ll learn how to mend and fix it myself (I won’t), I can use my money to pay a maker for their epic talent and capability. A maker like Brittany.

What’s old is new again. I can’t wait to work with her again.

Art 2 the Extreme,
The Original Rainbow Crayon

A local female-owned business that ships ANYWWHERE! I was introduced to Nicole’s incredible crayons when my sister-in-law gifted my daughter a name-boxed set years ago. My sentimental heart went wild. My minimalist heart did a cartwheel because: making old crayons new again by melting them down and making them works of art.

As stated on her website: “Art 2 the Extreme specializes in customized and personalized crayon design for your gifting needs. Our Original Rainbow Crayons® are multicolored, uniquely shaped crayons that encourage creative thinking and imaginative making outside the traditional crayon box.”

You can purchase on her website or her Etsy site.

These are the perfect stocking stuffers and are sure to create works of art. (Don’t worry, I can photograph and layout those masterpieces in an Emerging Artist’s Album whenever you’re ready.)

Less is Maura Albums

Last but not least: me. Haha. Friends, I love making albums. While it’s too late for an album to arrive in time to slide under the tree this year, it’s not too late to grab a gift card. Stocking stuffer!

From weddings to retirements, significant birthdays to the trips of a lifetime, I’ve been honored to be tasked with arranging layouts that tell the stories of your life. If you have a niche collection, The Themed Album is for you.

If you find that the kid art is taking up too much space, let’s empty those bins and allow me to turn cluttered kid art into curated albums with The Emerging Artist’s Album.

And, if you’re ready to tackle your OWN memory bin, may I suggest my newest offering, in partnership with Meghan Barich, The Keepsake Collection. I photograph your childhood art and create an album; she then takes the art and turns it into a mixed-media piece that can be displayed in your home.

Lastly, give yourself the gift of photo organization. Buy my class The Annual Heirloom Album, work at your own pace on your own timeline, and wrangle the 1,000s upon 1,000s of photos once and for all. It’s a simple system that I wish someone had taught me years ago. So, I taught myself and then turned it into a class. It’s the gift of memory-making relief.