

Sustainable Minimalists
Stephanie Seferian
Creating eco-minimalist, non-toxic homes (without the extra work). Although minimalism has experienced a rebirth in recent years, the "less is more" movement has been around for centuries. Yet today's minimalist influencers have resurrected minimalism with a decidedly consumerist spin, as modern minimalism is nearly synonymous with decluttering. While there's a lot of chatter about tidying, it's radio silence and crickets when it comes to sustainability. The result? Aspiring minimalists find themselves on an endless hamster wheel of buying, decluttering, buying more, and purging again. Overemphasizing decluttering and underemphasizing the reasons why we overbuy in the first place is thoroughly inconsistent with slow living as a movement; consumption without intention is terrible for the planet, too. Your host, Stephanie Seferian, is a stay-at-home/podcast-from-home mom and author who believes that minimalism, eco-friendliness, and non-toxic living are intrinsically intertwined. She's here to explore the topics of conscious consumerism, sustainability, and environmentally-friendly parenting practices with like-minded women; she's here, too, to show you how to curate eco-friendly, decluttered homes (without the extra work).
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 11, 2021 • 29min
Finding your Minimalist Mindset
Finding your Minimalist Mindset It’s often the case that we are our own worst enemies. It’s easy to fall back into old habits and old ways of thinking—it’s too easy, in fact, to revert to what we’ve always done. Indeed, in my capacity as host of this podcast, I often hear the same struggle from you, my listeners: it’s really darn hard to both find and maintain your minimalist mindset for the long haul in a culture that glorifies...
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May 4, 2021 • 37min
5 Tips For An Organized Home (With Kids!)
Tips for an organized home with kids Staying on top of tidiness can be stress-inducing, time-sucking, and never-ending. If it seems as though your home never looks or feels the way you want it, know that maintaining an organized space with kids is hard work, but it’s possible. This week, I speak with professional organizer Elise Hay. Elise believes there’s only one way to have a tidy home with children, and that’s to have the support of each and...
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Apr 27, 2021 • 30min
Pop Culture and the Environmental Movement Today
Pop Culture and the Environmental Movement Today In recent years, pop culture has raised important questions about the environmental movement today, and people are listening. Because while it can be easy to dissociate from media coverage surrounding global warming, climate change, and environmental racism, it’s much harder to do so when pop culture pushes the narrative. The relationship between popular culture and popular opinion is circular, and so a great way to jumpstart conversations with children and other loved...
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Apr 22, 2021 • 26min
Minimalist Beauty For The Conscious Consumer
Minimalist beauty for the conscious consumer Toner, exfoliant, emulsion, eye cream, and that’s all before breakfast: The average woman uses 12 beauty products each and every day. But are these products actually necessary? What are the benefits to a minimalist beauty routine, and how do you start simplifying your existing one? On today’s show we are applying the tenets of sustainable minimalism to our skincare routines by minimizing the excess, simplifying the process, and replacing what’s essential with eco-conscious...
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Apr 20, 2021 • 34min
Digital Minimalism In The 21st Century
It isn’t hyperbole: Technology is in many ways taking over our daily lives. Research has found that children spend 1200 hours per year on technological devices. And adults? We waste approximately 6200 hours a year—or up to a staggering equivalent of 44 years of our lives—staring at screens. In this era of technological-everything, is digital minimalism even possible?On today’s show I speak with Bill Brady, CEO of Troomi. As a father of five, Bill offers up his best tips for creating a culture within our homes that prioritize in-person time as opposed to screen time; he suggests action steps for adults looking to achieve digital minimalism, too. Here’s a preview:[4:15] Beyond cyberbullying: The wide-ranging effects of technology on kids[8:30] 3 House Rules that prioritize real-life relationships over virtual ones[13:30] The importance of technological time-outs for working professionals[20:15] How to know when your child is ready for a cell phone Resources mentioned in the episode:Upchoose.com * Want more shows like this one? Check out #0134: Raising Good Humans With Minimalist Parenting Guidance.* Like the show? Help it grow by leaving a quick review! On the Apple Podcasts app, hit the Library tab, scroll allll the way to the bottom past all prior episodes, then click on the stars to leave a review. (Thank you!)* Join our (free!) community here.* Find your tribe. Sustainable Minimalists are on Facebook, Instagram + Pinterest.

Apr 15, 2021 • 30min
Becoming A Zero Waste Chef
Becoming a Zero Waste Chef The daily habits zero waste chefs rely on to reduce food and packaging waste can seem daunting to the rest of us, to say the least. But in the era of meal delivery kits and takeout culture, cooking from scratch and ensuring nothing gets wasted may indeed be self-sufficient skills that consumers are in danger of losing. On today’s episode, Anne-Marie Bonneau, better known as The Zero Waste Chef, and I discuss cooking as...
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Apr 13, 2021 • 32min
Why 1000 Hours Outside?
The benefits of 1000 hours outside Most of us understand intuitively that spending time outdoors – 1000 hours outside, in fact! – is important. But what does science say about the role of nature in our lives? How can we make the outdoors a staple of our children’s childhoods without tears? The 1000 Hours Outside campaign seeks to match nature time with screen time, and that’s because kids spend approximately 1200 hours per year in front of electronic devices....
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Apr 6, 2021 • 32min
Accessible Sustainable Consumption
Sustainable Consumption for you and me Sustainable Minimalism (the book!) is available as an e-book, audiobook, and paperback now, and it dives *far deeper* into the topics we discuss on this podcast. Thank you for supporting my work! Sustainable consumption is confusing. What does it mean to be an intentional eco-consumer, exactly, and how does the identity differ from being a conscious one? There are problems associated with greenwashing, too. Assuming you want to be more sustainable in your...
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Mar 30, 2021 • 30min
“Good Enough” Environmentally Friendly Parenting
Environmentally Friendly Parenting that’s Good Enough Parents are tired. So tired, in fact, that adopting an environmentally friendly lifestyle may seem impossible. But the goal is progress—not perfection!—and so this week’s show is dedicated to parents who want to do better but don’t want to completely upend their lives. Today I am speaking with Stace Dixon and Taylor Shearer of DYPER. Together we outline low-waste parenting strategies that are *good enough* in that they don’t require lots of time or...
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Mar 23, 2021 • 24min
How to Simplify Picky Eating
How to simplify picky eating It’s the bane of parents’ existences: Picky eating. And while some children are certainly pickier than most, most moms and dads worry whether their kids regularly consume a variety of nutrients – and in the right quantities! – for optimal growth and development. What kids eat matters, and so this week I’m speaking with a certified nutritionist to help us both understand and simplify all the intricacies around feeding our children. My guest is Kaitlin...
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