You Can't Buy Experiences

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I was driving the other day and passed by an old elementary school friend's house. It struck me just how small that house was, maybe 650 sq ft, one floor. I vaguely remember a tiny eat in kitchen and little living room.
It wasn't a judgemental thought. It was the reality of it. You see, I had just assumed as a child that she was so lucky and her parents must have had so much money because they went to Florida every year or two and she got to do all these really fun things that I didn't.
But I'm assuming they didn't have all that much money. Who does?
They just knew where to put it. They chose to go on fun vacations instead of building that addition. They chose to spend time with her, and build that relationship with her, and to give her experiences instead of things.
After all children are only children for so long. Will they remember living in that tiny house? Or will they remember the time you spent with them and the experiences you gave them? What are your favorite memories as a child?
{One of my favorites is being wrapped up in a massive bath towel after my bath and being carried to my room with lots of cuddles and laughter.}
The things that are so big and important to us don't really matter to children it seems.

Corn Bread

My favorite corn bread recipe which is by Betty Crocker, substituted with stevia instead of sugar.

1c milk
1/4 c marg
1 egg
1 1/4 c cornmeal
1c flour
1/3 tsp Stevia
1 Tbsp baking powder

Heat oven to 400. Grease 8x8" pan. Beat wet ingredients. Mix dry ingredients and add to wet. Stir just until moistened. Pour into pan. Bake 20-25 min.

Kids and Minimalism - 10 Things You Can Do

Realistically, you have kids. They have toys.  You can purge all you want but you still want them to have toys right? So what else can you do?

1. Having toys out of visual eyesight in 'grown up' spaces for example in the living room we keep an armoire with Little Man's toys in boxes/containers which makes it easy to keep picked up if he only takes out one box at a time.

2. Have a space in each child's bedroom designated for toys. They can keep as much as will fit in that space. Examples could be a closet, cubby organizer, bookshelf, toy box etc.

3. Have communal toys for all your children except for one small box they keep under their bed which can be personally theirs.

4. Play outside A LOT

5. Keep bathtub toys hidden/put away.

6. Have a week and a half's worth of clothes for each child (summer and winter)

7. Keep only special artwork corralled in your yearly folder in a keepsakes tab

8. Do at least 1 thing with your children every day that they enjoy.

9. Do more activities that don't need toys or tv.
-Simon Says, Red Light Green Light, Baking, Hiking, Park, Visit Grandma and Grandpa

10. Involve them in the process. Ask them which toys they would like to keep and then donate the rest or have them sell their items online and save for something they'd really like. 

Tip: Keep Phonics Fridge Magnets in a ziploc bag and pull out to play with on a cookie sheet. 


Fact. Kids come with stuff. But that doesn't mean we need to let it take over our lives and homes. How many toys do they really need? To really let that question hit home check out this infographic by Frugal Dad.


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Just Do It #1

                                           {Source}

*Today, choose to spend 30 min playing a game of your kids choice. *

5 Steps to Making Goals...and keeping them!

1. Don't have too many. 

There's only so many things you can focus on at one time. Choose the top 10 things that are most important to you in life. Ex. Relationships, Time, Money, Housework, Children, Meals, Organizing, Minimizing, etc.

2. Write your goals in an active form. Don't write "I want to, I should" etc but instead write "I do," or "I am. 

3. Ask God or trusted friends and family what you should be focusing on. All to often we overlook the most important aspects of our life and what we need to change. An outside perspective will most definitely keep you in line. 

4. Tell someone what your goals are, and let them keep you accountable.

5. Write them down somewhere you will see them. As people we tend to drift easily, we need constant reminding of what our focus and vision is. So put this list wherever you have to to keep yourself motivated... whether that's taped to the front of your homemaking binder, on the inside of your kitchen cupboard door, on your bathroom mirror.

See my Goals for Simplicity here.

50 Creative Reuse Ideas

If you love to reuse then you have to check out this site, it's full of really fun ideas!

http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/creative-reuse/50-creative-reuse-ideas-to-keep-you-busy-this-weekend-122566

Here is one of my favs....

 

Also see this post by Generation Cedar where she shares some of her salvaged/homemade furniture!

God is in the business of up cycling. Beauty for Ashes.

Moist Applesauce Muffins

1/4 c. marg
1/3 tsp Stevia
1 large egg
1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
1 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c walnuts and raisins (optional)

Add wet to dry. Bake at 350 for 15 min.
This is a trial size, makes 6 large muffins. Next time I will triple the recipe at least and try freezing them.

Note: raisins raise the sugar content

What Minimalism Means to Me:

                               Photo Source

Having clean and clear surfaces that we can use

Having less stuff – furniture, décor

More room to move around and less to clean

Not having more than we need

Being able to clean the house in 15 min a day

Less time cleaning = more time on important things

Feeling less stressed and cluttered

Enjoying my home/being proud my home

Spending less money on stuff

Living within our budget

My Minimalism Journey

                                           {Lightbulb}

Before I begin, let me exclaim..."loightboulb!"  ...despicable me anyone? This is kind of the beginning of my journey, and yet kind of not since our ideas and journeys are always changing. This was the beginning of where I discovered minimalism and began to put it into practice.

Here you'll find what I decluttered and the emotions and ideas I was discovering at the time. This is the nitty gritty.

You'll also notice I did a few areas several times ex the kitchen I probably went through like 5 times and just didn't write down every time! Once you start getting rid of stuff it's so easy to keep getting rid of more!!!


July 1^st

purged baby girl clothes, closet, kitchen, linens

July 2^nd

decluttered bedroom

sold a floor rug

July 3^rd

Bookcase cleaned out and taken downstairs to organize fabric instead of bins

Declutter living room

Basement boxes – décor, bathroom

July 4^th

Decluttered Books (down to 42!), Fabric, Yarn.

Looking forward to yardsale. After realizing how much I've taken down to the basement to declutter upstairs it'll be nice to declutter downstairs too.

Enjoying new perspective on minimalism, simplicity and anti-consumerism.

July 9^th

Reorganized everything at back entrance got rid of décor table and all decorations on it. Amazing how many decorations I have that I really don't care about. I kept a nice pitcher I had painted.

Declutter: necklaces (only kept a few organized by season and thin pretty ones)

July 10^th Love Revolution – Joyce Meyer

God, how can you stand to see all that goes on in the world and do nothing.

“I work through people, I am waiting for my people to rise up and do something.”

Why don't I do more? Selfishness, Self-Focus, Self – Centered. To Do Lists.

Begin to think of what you can do.

Have people over more.

Who? Make a list.

Real love is costly: Investment of time, money, effort or possessions.

You can bring joy to the world by having a consistently Godly attitude.

I am going to go out into the world today and spice things up :)

What have I done today to make someone elses life better?

Be focused and clear in your endeavour to lift the lives of others.

Worship the Lord with your whole life.

July 13^th

Sold 29 Records

July 14^th

I'm finding decluttering/minimalism very addicting and having empty drawers intriguing.

I thought finding one thing a day to get rid of would be difficult but I'm currently at 10 + things a day. Seriously considering cancelling tv and internet.

July 15^th 2012

Still finding tons to get rid of – decluttering what I've already been through!

My yard sale pile is nearly insane. I've thrown out so much too!

I feel like we have so much more room and it's easier to breathe.

I'm apalled at how much JUNK I was keeping, cleaning and organizing.

July 18^th

I used to equate financial freedom with the power to buy anything I wanted, I now see it's the freedom to not buy anything where you find true happiness.

July 19^th

Sold Barbies, kept 3 from my childhood. I have one boy and one on the way so definitely won't be needing all those Barbies any time soon. 

Shoes and clothes again

Kitchen Cupboards again, got rid of unsures.

I keep finding TONS to get rid of.

Worried I'll find a lot more after the yardsale.

Still want to go through baby items and PURGE!

I have 2 boxes of 3-6 month boys clothes :P

Made $35 already – purse and barbies

Down to 19 pairs of shoes

July 20^th

Went through ALL baby clothes and cut down to about 10 short sleeve shirts, 5 long sleeve shirts, 2 dressy long sleeve, 2 dressy short sleeve, 10 pair pants including jeans, and a few sweaters. (0-3 months and 3-6 months I left a little more for accidents!) So got rid of over half of what I had.

Also went through all my regular size clothes (I'm pregnant right now) and got rid of 2 garbage bags full.

My system: I pulled out all the clothes of a size and put them in the different categories (ex long sleeve shirts) and then went through each category and pulled out my favorites. This always ended up being the perfect number to keep!

July 21^st

FAMILY YARD SALE DAY! Made $350

plus made $85 this week selling online

Donated all leftovers to Value Village (I shop at our local second hand store and didn't want to see my items calling to me again!)

Brought home 6 items from yard sale that weren't mine, they all had places to go and I got rid of more than that when I got home.

I'm very grateful that my sister in law and cousin were doing cash so I didn't know how cheap they were selling my stuff for! That's the most painful part, seeing things go one at a time for cheap :(

July 22^nd

Brought home some items that didn't sell at yard sale to sell online. If not gone in 2 weeks will post them for free to save a trip to second hand store :)

July 23^rd

Still feeling exhausted after the yard sale. Finding lots more to get rid of but not going to do any major purging in awhile. Time for a break!

I'm glad I'm not feeling very guilty about getting rid of stuff as I am a very frugal shopper so most of the things I bought I could sell for more or at least not lose money on. Thrift stores are my downfall. But I'm not eager to bring in more stuff after all the work I've gone through to get rid of it.

July 25th
I know that things will change, ideas, schedules, likes, but one thing I know for sure...I will  never again have this much stuff in my house!!  I am done with it. And finding it strange that I don't miss anything I got rid of.

July 26th
Selling a few more of my items online. Made $522 to date from clutter! So Exciting! I was able to buy some items we needed for baby.
Still finding more to get rid of. Completely reorganized the kitchen cupboards to make sense (food was everywhere)
Cancelled the upcoming craft fair since it's too close to my due date.
Finding it uncomfortable to not have to keep crocheting endlessly. Started cross stitch for new baby's birth record.
Need to learn how to slow down. And enjoy life.

July 27th
Psalm 86
Hear oh Lord and answer me for I am poor and needy. Guard my life for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts you. 

I'm loving seeing the 'empty' basement and not taking hours to clean up the house.
Household management seems...manageable.
Got a usb stick to hold all my pics and docs...too small. Need to buy a big hard drive to keep all music, movies and pics and docs. Will be so nice to get rid of all our dvds and just have everything available to watch and listen to on the xbox.

July 28th
Birthday party for the Little Man. Decluttered gift bags. Organized 2T clothes. Started organizing digital photos.

July 29th
Sold desk!

July 30th
Learn to Single Task! Stop, refocus and pick 1 thing to do instead of trying to do everything at once. Specifically at meal times. When the Little Man is in his highchair eating quietly I like to throw in the laundry, sweep the floor and tidy up but then I miss eating with him :( I would rather focus on sitting and eating and not getting out of my chair. So much harder than it sounds.
Organized scrapbooking and keepsakes. Bought small bookcase for office supplies and printer. 

July 31st
Feel like I'm getting too disciplined to organize and need to slow down and enjoy life since that is the major reason to do all of this in the first place.
Most of the work is taking pictures and listing everything online. This takes a lot of effort to do/organize. It would be so much easier to throw everything in a donate bin and be done with it but we could really use the extra money and it would seem like such a waste. But it is like having a part time job.
Wow! Just added the total from decluttering and surprised that we're at $590 already! That's crazy. It kind of seems like we're moving the house is so clean and so easy to clean.
I'm really sick of the decluttering 'clutter' lying around though. Everything I've decluttered is in the laundry room on my sewing desk which makes it look like such chaos in there! I'm not sure if/when I'll stop selling things. I think I'll give everything 1 week to sell and then donate it. And maybe pick a dollar amount to sell, under to donate. $10? I think that would be good. Small clutter takes up so much room and hardly seems worth the effort.
Although I've only decided to more drastically minimize lately, the goals I made in January are still perfectly in line with my mission today. It's like I just couldn't picture the end result like I can now. 
Cleaned the oven. Organized Pet Supplies. Craft Stuff. Inside oven drawer.