The Joy of Less

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

Don't forget about the clutter in your head!

I have to keep telling myself this is a journey. Think, marathon, not sprint. I keep hearing that, but seriously, it's the best way to describe it. I have slowed down a wee bit on minimizing while focusing on getting everything done that needs to be. It has occurred to me lately that I just have too much going on again. Some things I can't avoid, much as I'd like to. But some things I just reeeeeeeeeeally didn't want to let go of, though I know it was at a point where it was creating more stress for myself, and more to do.

Ever heard that saying "too much of a good thing"? I definitely think there is. When it gets to the point where there's more of something than you can use in a year, yeah... Too much. Especially if it's creating more clutter/stress. I have gone through some slight obsessions. For example, baby legs. Heard of them? They're itty bitty leg warmers for babies. Seriously adorable, and very useful. So I took that, and ran with it! My daughter had almost 30 pair. It was INSANE. To think of the money I spent on that, when a few pair would have sufficed.

I read my devotional today and it was talking about the American dream. You know, bigger, better, faster, stronger... More more more. It's so hard for my generation especially with all the mommy wars, and social media. Everyone wants what others have. I do too, sometimes. I was just talking with my husband about this yesterday, actually! Then to have it right there in my face today was almost like the answer I was looking for.

Back to my original idea for this post (I saw something sparkly, sorry!) I tend to think SO much. I get the gut feelings, but the I have to rationalize EVERYTHING. I pretty much just drive myself crazy. So, when you decide to take it from gut, to brain, ask yourself these questions. Does this add value to my life, or stress? Do I really need ALL of this, or just some of it? If you find yourself thinking a ton about it, maybe talk about it out loud with someone. You never know, the answer just may come to you in a really unexpected way.

But my point is, I want to stress less. I am going to be taking the time to face these things that are stressing me out, and find a solution to them. Getting rid of the mental clutter, as well as the physical clutter :)

Do you have anything on your mind lately you're trying to sort out? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I hope my journey is helping others who're wanting to try this out as well!

Less is more.

The idea is pretty simple, yet it's SO hard to really live by this. We live in an age where consumerism is constantly shoved down our throats. Think about it. You watch T.V., commercials come on, and it's "buy this" "buy that". Same with the web, radio, and just driving around. Think of all the billboards telling you what you "need"! Do we really need all these things to be happy? Or, is it possible that we are actually becoming a slave to our possessions?

Here's an example. Facebook. It can be such a great thing! Really! A way to connect with our family, and friends. But what else do you see on facebook? One thing that stands out to me, is what people show off. And I will be the first to say I have done it a number of times! My husband bought me a beautiful necklace last Valentine's day, and BOOM, off to Facebook land to show it off. Now, I'm not saying never buy someone you love a gift, and never let on that you like receiving gifts. What I'm saying, is, sometimes we are so excited about something we just got, that we want to share it with everyone. When it comes down to it, why do we do this?

I think partly, is we want to give thanks publicly to the person who gave us the gift. It's nice to be appreciated. But another thing it might convey to others, is, "neener neener neeeeeeeeener" We didn't have much when we first got married, so when we started having a little extra cash flow, it was so nice to get new things. A new T.V., a new computer, a new car, ect. You work hard, you deserve to have some things you want. But where do we draw the line? The age we live in says, we DON'T. We always need to upgrade. Bigger, better, faster, stronger... You know?

We have started to change this about ourselves. Sure, we still have things we want. Sometimes we still spend money on things we don't need, but we are trying to change that. We are turning away from all the latest and greatest, and trying to ignore it. Because when it comes down to it, is it really that important? Is it really going to make our lives better? No. It's going to cause more distractions from what's important, and it's going to keep our cash going out just as fast as it comes in. .

So, onto what I was getting at. My husband and I decided we are not going to bring anything into our house that we do not need, and we are going to talk about the things we bring in before we make that decision. We have debt. Car debt, house debt, and we want to climb out of it. We do OK, and we give to a lot of charities. We want to be able to do that more, too. We can't take our money with us, and in the end we don't want to be remembered by what we had, but rather what we gave.

As we are not making careless decisions with our money, we are hoping, and expecting our savings account to grow, so that we may pay off our debt. Our children are young, and now is the time to instill some good habits and lessons. We will probably never be that couple with the beautiful family photo's done every few months. We will probably never be that family who's home you envy because it is so big, and fancy. We will probably never be that family who has expensive cars, and all the latest gadgets. But we will (I hope, and pray) be that family who is happy, and loving, and gives more than they receive.

God willing, we will be able to keep the momentum going, and keep learning and opening our minds to this lifestyle.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and if you have any suggestions of your own. Please leave a comment if you feel compelled.