In recent weeks my desire for a simple life has snowballed. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I can finally explain my goals and motivation for simplifying. Well at least to my husband, I’ll be honest its long winded and multi faceted. It involves the physical purging of stuff, simplifying our eating habits and our budget, saying no to busyness, on and on.
As I’m able to consolidate and clearly explain my thoughts I might dive deeper into each area but here are the cliff notes:
Stuff- I want less, I want to purge out EVERYTHING we don’t need/use and not bring in anything else that isn’t a necessity or truly brings us joy. The mere act of owning so much is stressful, I have to clean it, find a place for it and pay for it. The volume of stuff we own has caused us to consider buying a new house not so that our daughters can have their own rooms, or that we can be in a better school district but simply because we need more space. Thankfully recently those thoughts have changed.
Eating Habits-We all have issues, myself with sugar, Mac with processed foods not to mention and these are hindering our heath and our wallets. Our bodies are able to take care of themselves much better when they are fueled by real nutrient dense foods. This is always important but very easy to see right now as Mac is recovering from surgery. So lets get back to basics, real food, whole foods and lots of veggies. I’m planning our menus out to use what we have and buying stuff on sale/direct from producers/in bulk as I can. This is harder for fresh produce but easier with meats (freezer) and canned goods (the only ones I use are plain beans and diced tomatoes.)
Budget- I’m not interested in tracking every penny long term, that would go against my idea of simplicity, HOWEVER we know we have areas we spend to much in and we want to save. I will be tracking for the next few months to make sure the facts line up with what is in my head. For now we are going with the easy method, a set cash budget for the trouble areas and a maximum balance that if we go above at any time $$ gets transferred to savings. We are also trying to save up for a destination wedding of a good friend next year AND pay off our truck early so 1/4 of everything we put in savings per month goes to the truck 1/4 for travel the other 1/2 is good ol’ savings.
We recently had a water pipe burst so this is on hold for the moment. I’m still tracking the ratios (1/2, 1/4, 1/4) but until the savings 1/2 is back up to an acceptable level we are holding on to the other parts. Once we get back into our comfort zone I’ll make a big truck payment and we have the other 1/4 ready for next years wedding.
Well those are the 3 big areas. Are you making any strives to a simpler life? Tell me what changes you are making!