I have decided to spend a little dough and purchase a minimalist book. At first I thought to myself "This goes against what we're trying to do by not spending money" Let me tell you, I've spent money on a lot of silly things, but this was not one of them. I'm only 17% of the way through the book (says our Kindle), and I am very impressed. It's so much more than just "get rid of your stuff!!!". The first handful of chapters are just thinking about why we do things things, ect. It really opened my eyes so much.
We live in a culture that just lives to consume, not consumes to live. How much do we really need? Do we really need to keep up with the Jones'? Why? Why do we feel compelled to have everything, when we already have so much more than we ever needed? Yesterday the book had inspired me to go through a lot with a fresh mindset, and it worked! I was able to get rid of a lot. This past weekend I had a baby shower to attend. I had all these Mommy Necklaces (these are cute little necklaces basically meant for nursing mothers to give the baby something safe to play with while nursing, vs your hair). I kept them because they're so pretty and I do wear them once in a while. But then I thought about it, and I really thought my friend would get much more use out of them than myself. So, I passed all of them to her. Not only did it feel amazing to pass them on, but she really appreciated it, and even her husband thanked me later at church saying that they meant a lot to her. WOW!
Anyway. I feel so refreshed in my minimalist journey. I had already made SO much progress, but reading this book is really just energizing me more than ever! I want to change my whole way of thinking. Not just purge a few times a year, but keep bringing things in. I highly recommend this book. You can find it here The Joy of Less
Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Our daughters room. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN
Recently, we went through our daughters bedroom. She's our only daughter, plus she's the youngest. She was pretty spoiled to start out with, and it's calming down a little, but she definitely still had too much stuff! Not to mention, we have most of her brothers toys in her room as well due to his room being really small, and some behavioral issues we are working through with him. He uses toys as projectiles, it's not a fun time.
So, wall to wall, floor to ceiling, we did our thing. To include the closet! I was able to get rid of a lot of her clothes, and found quite a few broken toys and trash items. We pulled both our youngest kiddos in there when we were ready for them to make some decisions on which toys to give away to other boys and girls, and to our surprise, they were able to do this! We had a hang up on a tiny pretend kitchen, and cash register set. So we had them choose one to give away. Thankfully they chose to give away the little kitchen, because they already have a bigger one.
After all was said and done, it was SO much easier to clean because there weren't any toys and misc items all over the floor. It is now much easier for them to clean up because their toys fit into two bins. To be honest they don't have that many toys compared to most kids here in the US. We had started changing our ways a few years ago by keeping that kind of stuff to a minimum. We don't want our kids to be lost in a sea of toys, and we want them to value people and their time more than objects. We have learned that they are NOT at all bothered by this. I think we were more bothered by the idea of this in the beginning.
I think most of the time the reason kids have so many toys, is because of us, their parents. We love them so much, that we want them to never go without. We want them to enjoy their childhood, and have fun. They can still do this without a sea of toys, I promise. We are living proof of that. I have seen so much creativity come from my little ones, and be still my heart... They play SO well together now that there aren't so many toys to distract them. They pretend all the time. The two youngest are only 15 months apart, and I didn't think I'd see them grow into best friends still at such a young age.
So, wall to wall, floor to ceiling, we did our thing. To include the closet! I was able to get rid of a lot of her clothes, and found quite a few broken toys and trash items. We pulled both our youngest kiddos in there when we were ready for them to make some decisions on which toys to give away to other boys and girls, and to our surprise, they were able to do this! We had a hang up on a tiny pretend kitchen, and cash register set. So we had them choose one to give away. Thankfully they chose to give away the little kitchen, because they already have a bigger one.
After all was said and done, it was SO much easier to clean because there weren't any toys and misc items all over the floor. It is now much easier for them to clean up because their toys fit into two bins. To be honest they don't have that many toys compared to most kids here in the US. We had started changing our ways a few years ago by keeping that kind of stuff to a minimum. We don't want our kids to be lost in a sea of toys, and we want them to value people and their time more than objects. We have learned that they are NOT at all bothered by this. I think we were more bothered by the idea of this in the beginning.
I think most of the time the reason kids have so many toys, is because of us, their parents. We love them so much, that we want them to never go without. We want them to enjoy their childhood, and have fun. They can still do this without a sea of toys, I promise. We are living proof of that. I have seen so much creativity come from my little ones, and be still my heart... They play SO well together now that there aren't so many toys to distract them. They pretend all the time. The two youngest are only 15 months apart, and I didn't think I'd see them grow into best friends still at such a young age.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Do you have your Christmas decorations up yet?
I have to wonder what true minimalists homes look like during Christmas. I'm sure they still decorate, but it probably doesn't look like Christmas threw up in their house. I LOVE Christmas! I love the true meaning of Christmas the most, but I also love the decorations that really bring a lot of joy to families, especially children.
We (and by we, I mean my husband helped a tiny bit) pulled down all our decorations the other night, and put them up after our kids went to bed. I found a 4ft pre-lit tree, along with our 6 foot. See, when we got married, we lived in this teeeeeeeeeeeny tiny little apartment. While we lived there, it was just us, and our oldest son, Logan. We had no room to even move around each other, so getting a very small tree was a no brainer.
Then we bought our first home 10 months after we moved into that apartment. We decided it was time for a bigger tree, since at that point we had our second son, too. So, we got a 6 foot pre-lit tree, and we kept the smaller one with the idea that we could use that for the kids to decorate, too.
Well, that never happened, as we had a 3rd child, our little girl, only 15 months after our second son. To add to that, a tradition in my family is that the kids get an ornament every year. So 3 kids, 3 ornaments a year from us, my mom and dad still do it for their grand kids, and my grandmother also still does it. So that's 9 ornaments a year, times 4 years (this is my daughters fourth Christmas) YIKES!
So, needless to say, we've acquired quite a bit of ornaments. We decided with the lifestyle we are striving for, we really need to be a little more practical. That 4ft tree has never been used other than that first year. And instead of buying a ton of ornaments, I started (this year) giving them each one from my childhood. They think that's so special.
Once I went through everything, we really didn't have a lot of decorations to put up, but the home we live in really doesn't have a lot of space, either. So, I have decided to bless someone with our tree, and decorations we don't want anymore. I put an ad on Craigslist this morning. We did this another year, and the woman that came to get them was so grateful. She said they just moved and just got married, and just didn't have the money to get any yet. What an amazing feeling to help someone else.
We (and by we, I mean my husband helped a tiny bit) pulled down all our decorations the other night, and put them up after our kids went to bed. I found a 4ft pre-lit tree, along with our 6 foot. See, when we got married, we lived in this teeeeeeeeeeeny tiny little apartment. While we lived there, it was just us, and our oldest son, Logan. We had no room to even move around each other, so getting a very small tree was a no brainer.
Then we bought our first home 10 months after we moved into that apartment. We decided it was time for a bigger tree, since at that point we had our second son, too. So, we got a 6 foot pre-lit tree, and we kept the smaller one with the idea that we could use that for the kids to decorate, too.
Well, that never happened, as we had a 3rd child, our little girl, only 15 months after our second son. To add to that, a tradition in my family is that the kids get an ornament every year. So 3 kids, 3 ornaments a year from us, my mom and dad still do it for their grand kids, and my grandmother also still does it. So that's 9 ornaments a year, times 4 years (this is my daughters fourth Christmas) YIKES!
So, needless to say, we've acquired quite a bit of ornaments. We decided with the lifestyle we are striving for, we really need to be a little more practical. That 4ft tree has never been used other than that first year. And instead of buying a ton of ornaments, I started (this year) giving them each one from my childhood. They think that's so special.
Once I went through everything, we really didn't have a lot of decorations to put up, but the home we live in really doesn't have a lot of space, either. So, I have decided to bless someone with our tree, and decorations we don't want anymore. I put an ad on Craigslist this morning. We did this another year, and the woman that came to get them was so grateful. She said they just moved and just got married, and just didn't have the money to get any yet. What an amazing feeling to help someone else.
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