When I wrote my last post, I had just discovered the becoming minimalist website after a friend happened to post something from the facebook page. Over the past two weeks or so, I've been eating up anything posted from becoming minimalist and I discovered that my desire for a simpler life aligns perfectly with minimalism. I didn't know it. I had always had it in my head that to be minimalist meant to be on the extreme side of simplicity, but now I know that it's not true. There are people who go the extreme route, but the general basis of a minimalist lifestyle is to have what you need, to not spend money on unnecessary items (putting yourself in a better place financially), and to limit the amount of clutter in your life. That is what I want and what I have been striving for.
Yes, it flies in the face of our society "norms" and I think I've already weird-ed out a couple of people by proclaiming my new found interest in minimalism. In fact, one person I know has barely spoken to me since I began my simplicity journey. As soon as I made the decision to not take part in the over-scheduled "mommy wars", I was shut out. And that's unfortunate. I'm not doing this to make myself feel like I'm better than anyone else or that I take care of my family better than other moms. It was a personal decision based upon the realization that my family suffers when I am overwhelmed and stressed out, and I didn't want to live like that anymore. Not everyone functions the same way I do and I can absolutely respect that, but I also know that my decision might make some people uncomfortable. I may lose more friends on this journey and I may gain some - who knows?
I don't see myself becoming an extreme minimalist. I have kids and they have toys, I like to own lots of books for mental stimulation, and I own more than two pairs of shoes. But I find joy in reducing our belongings and getting rid of the things we don't need - the things that clutter our lives and take up space. If it doesn't bring me joy, it doesn't need to be in my home. I enjoy seeing our bank account become stronger because I've cut down on our purchases. I want to travel with our kids and I know that the less I buy, the closer we get being able to afford those travels (without debt) and the memories that will come with them.
That's why I'm on this journey.
Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Friday, December 16, 2011
Frugality
Part of our journey to simplicity includes our finances. We're approaching this by learning how to be frugal. Not really because we NEED to in order to feed our family, but because it's the smart thing to do (hey congress, you might want to take note here). We do have debt that includes a mortgage, student loans, and credit cards - just like most people. We want to pay those off and we want to be able to be prepared financially for any emergencies that arise, like a layoff. We went through that before and having me work full time retail was not fun (although I am grateful that my employer at that time had enough hours available to bump me from very part time to full time right away). Being frugal is a way to make our financial life simple: No stressing about emergencies, knowing exactly what we can afford, and having funds for our future (retirement, vacations, etc). We're certainly still learning the ins and outs of frugality and we are learning from our mistakes. WiseBread has a great article on frugality today and I'd like to share it with you:
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Changes So Far
When I first got the simplicity idea about a month ago, I expected it would take at least a few months to see any sort of difference in our daily life. But here we are, one month into the idea (and that doesn't mean that everything I've tried so far has been happening for a full month) and I can tell a difference.
I've cleared out a good portion of belongings that we didn't need anymore and that includes some random furniture, freeing up a little bit of floor space. I've organized a few areas and have been putting things away when we're done with them and if I'm heading upstairs/downstairs, I grab whatever I see that should go with me. Just these few changes have massively cut down on the amount of time it takes me to clean my house. I've set up a housework schedule and yes, I actually schedule the housework like an appointment. I bought a day planner and I write down my housework to be done at a certain time. Example from the other day:
9:30am-10am: Basic tidying
10am-11am: Clean bathrooms (hey, I have three bathrooms that need to be scrubbed down and it very well might take me a whole hour some days)
1pm: Clean cat box and guinea pig cage
Usually, I won't schedule more than three household tasks (cooking doesn't count) each day. That way, I'm not overwhelmed with stuff to do and it gives me time to play with my kids.
I've been spending more time with my boys than I ever imagined. We've been playing games, going to the park more often, and having little baking sessions together. It's been great and their behavior has drastically improved. We've also cut down on our TV time because we're spending time with each other instead.
I noticed a huge unexpected difference this weekend as well. We were having a group from church over for dinner on Saturday evening and normally when we have people over, I'm stressed beyond belief. Spending an entire week before the get-together making sure my house is JUST how I want it, and when the day comes around, I still end up coming to the door out of breath and covered in sweat because I've been cleaning like a mad person. That didn't happen this weekend. At all. There was no stress. My house was clean already. I spent an hour or so on Friday sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and dusting, but that was it. I was fresh faced, relaxed, and happy when everyone arrived on Saturday. When I realized the difference from our past parties/get-togethers, I nearly cried. What a wonderful, wonderful change it was to actually enjoy having people over instead of worrying about how my home looked.
One month in and we are happier already. I can't wait to see how things continue to change as we get further along in our challenge!
I've cleared out a good portion of belongings that we didn't need anymore and that includes some random furniture, freeing up a little bit of floor space. I've organized a few areas and have been putting things away when we're done with them and if I'm heading upstairs/downstairs, I grab whatever I see that should go with me. Just these few changes have massively cut down on the amount of time it takes me to clean my house. I've set up a housework schedule and yes, I actually schedule the housework like an appointment. I bought a day planner and I write down my housework to be done at a certain time. Example from the other day:
9:30am-10am: Basic tidying
10am-11am: Clean bathrooms (hey, I have three bathrooms that need to be scrubbed down and it very well might take me a whole hour some days)
1pm: Clean cat box and guinea pig cage
Usually, I won't schedule more than three household tasks (cooking doesn't count) each day. That way, I'm not overwhelmed with stuff to do and it gives me time to play with my kids.
I've been spending more time with my boys than I ever imagined. We've been playing games, going to the park more often, and having little baking sessions together. It's been great and their behavior has drastically improved. We've also cut down on our TV time because we're spending time with each other instead.
I noticed a huge unexpected difference this weekend as well. We were having a group from church over for dinner on Saturday evening and normally when we have people over, I'm stressed beyond belief. Spending an entire week before the get-together making sure my house is JUST how I want it, and when the day comes around, I still end up coming to the door out of breath and covered in sweat because I've been cleaning like a mad person. That didn't happen this weekend. At all. There was no stress. My house was clean already. I spent an hour or so on Friday sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and dusting, but that was it. I was fresh faced, relaxed, and happy when everyone arrived on Saturday. When I realized the difference from our past parties/get-togethers, I nearly cried. What a wonderful, wonderful change it was to actually enjoy having people over instead of worrying about how my home looked.
One month in and we are happier already. I can't wait to see how things continue to change as we get further along in our challenge!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Why Simple Needs to Happen
You might be wondering why I up and decided that we were going to change our lifestyle. That maybe it seems a little sudden. But it's really not as sudden as it may appear to everyone not living in our house.
You see, I've been frustrated for a while and my family knows it. Frustrated with the lack of motivation to get anything done, frustrated with the messes that were constantly made, frustrated with the piles of boxes in our closets and garage, frustrated with being late to everything and not getting everything done that needed to be done because we couldn't adhere to any sort of schedule. I'd had it. I was tired of resenting my family for the chaos and tired of feeling like I wasn't doing a good job as a wife and mother. The kicker came when I realized I was forgetting basic things like feeding my children. I completely forgot to give them any lunch for a few days in a row (luckily they tend to get snacks for themselves if they're hungry). I was forgetting to bathe them. They went over a week without having a bath and I hadn't realized it. I started to forget to bathe myself. One day I realized I hadn't showered in three days and hadn't washed my hair in over a week. How on earth had I gotten to this point? It's appalling, embarrassing, and fairly disgusting.
Somehow our life had gotten so complicated, rushed, and chaotic that our quality of life was headed down the toilet. We couldn't continue that way and it needed to turn around fast. I searched for recommendations on books, looked at blogs, and started gathering basic ideas as to how to begin our transformation from crazy to calm. Because my brain has turned to mush, everything will be scheduled. Our lives for the next few months will be written out hour by hour in a planner. Eventually I know things will become second nature and I'll be able to scrap the hourly planner and go back to a daily one, but for now we need the strict schedule.
I'm not expecting this transformation to be easy. I feel tired and overwhelmed and don't expect to feel the real results for a while yet, but I am so excited to see how we can become better people because of this. And maybe we can be an example to others along the way.
You see, I've been frustrated for a while and my family knows it. Frustrated with the lack of motivation to get anything done, frustrated with the messes that were constantly made, frustrated with the piles of boxes in our closets and garage, frustrated with being late to everything and not getting everything done that needed to be done because we couldn't adhere to any sort of schedule. I'd had it. I was tired of resenting my family for the chaos and tired of feeling like I wasn't doing a good job as a wife and mother. The kicker came when I realized I was forgetting basic things like feeding my children. I completely forgot to give them any lunch for a few days in a row (luckily they tend to get snacks for themselves if they're hungry). I was forgetting to bathe them. They went over a week without having a bath and I hadn't realized it. I started to forget to bathe myself. One day I realized I hadn't showered in three days and hadn't washed my hair in over a week. How on earth had I gotten to this point? It's appalling, embarrassing, and fairly disgusting.
Somehow our life had gotten so complicated, rushed, and chaotic that our quality of life was headed down the toilet. We couldn't continue that way and it needed to turn around fast. I searched for recommendations on books, looked at blogs, and started gathering basic ideas as to how to begin our transformation from crazy to calm. Because my brain has turned to mush, everything will be scheduled. Our lives for the next few months will be written out hour by hour in a planner. Eventually I know things will become second nature and I'll be able to scrap the hourly planner and go back to a daily one, but for now we need the strict schedule.
I'm not expecting this transformation to be easy. I feel tired and overwhelmed and don't expect to feel the real results for a while yet, but I am so excited to see how we can become better people because of this. And maybe we can be an example to others along the way.
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