Thanks

I can't wait for this year to end. Yes, partly to move on from the deaths in the family and medical issues this year, but mainly because I know 2011 will hold so many wonderful changes for S. and I.

I invite and encourage you to join us on this path. I may sound like a crazy cult leader, but I truly believe many of these changes we are making would be beneficial to anyone who wanted to do the same.

Some blogs to inspire you:

Rowdy Kittens
Miss Minimalist
Bok Choy Bohemia
The Kind Life

You are so much like your mother...

Patience. My mother and I both have a hard time practicing it. When we get an idea in our head, we want it to happen right this minute. Whether it's getting our haircut or painting the bathroom, life is short so we should do it now.

So is the two of us living in the same house a good idea? Maybe not for our husbands, but for us it would work very well.

We've been preparing our house to put up on the market. Horrible time to sell, but great time to buy. I want to put the house up today, but I must have patience to get a few more things done. Damn you patience.

My parents are getting older. I am my dad's only child and I live closest to my mom, so it's inevitable that I will end up taking care of them. My dad lives two hours away, and my mom a half an hour, but soon she and my step-dad could be living with us.

I come up with many wonderful ideas. If only my minion would do my bidding I could have been a zillionaire by now. My latest idea is to buy a duplex with my mom and step-dad.

We could split the cost of cable, my minion could cook for all of us, we can take their dogs for walks when my step-dad is at work (mom has a bad back and is not very mobile), they could watch our cats when we went on trips, and other helpful things to both of us.

When was it that so many Americans moved away from co-habitating? Sure family can drive you crazy, but you can always close the door and pretend they were eaten by the moldy experiment in the basement.

Organization Starts with You.

I think when you organize, especially if you have children, you need to start with yourself. The best place to start is with your personal items, ie; clothes, shoes, make-up, purse, etc...
I know in most people’s closets and dressers there are items that they haven’t worn in over a year. Get rid of them.

The frugal part of me use to cringe and want to resist, but by giving items to people who could use it right now it helped to ease my resistance. And the fact that I can find stuff faster because I don’t have to dig through everything is a wonderful feeling.

I think the easiest way to do this is to make sure you have some boxes that you can put donations directly into and a garbage can to throw away anything that is in too bad of shape to be donated.

I use to suggest having a box to put items in that needed to be mended, but be honest, if those items have been sitting around for awhile now then you really don’t need them.

Each person’s situation is different so for me to suggest that you only keep two pairs of jeans and eight shirts is foolish. I will put out the fact that people only wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time.

Organized? Of course.

I always thought I was organized. Organized in the sense that I had a basket for my guest tolietries, a box for my bills, a cart for my rubber stamps, a rack for my magazines, a cabinet for my baking pans, and so on.
Since most of those items are gone, or greatly reduced, and the containers that stored them are gone also, does this mean I’m no longer organized?

I would tell friends and family members that I would come over and help them de-clutter/organize. I am still willing to do that, but now I think I would push for more things to leave the house. The less stuff you have, the easier it is to organize.
Who would have thought it could be that simple?

I usually wear the same two pairs of jeans and eight different shirts, and yet I had six pairs of jeans and about 30 shirts. I bet for most of you, if you really looked at what you wore all the time it wouldn’t be half of what you own.

A baking pan that makes 12 small loaves of bread, never used it. A round cake holder which I used twice in the past six years, and I think those two times were in the first year. And there are so many more examples.
But now, those items are gone. Donated to people who may actually use them.

Not so convenient

I don’t hate working at my job, I just find myself wanting to do other things.

I don’t want to check in 50 DVDs from one person, who has the time to watch them all, because I am paying for their benefits. I am angry that they have the free time, while 10 hours of my day is taken away from me.

S. and I have taken the steps to get closer to not having to work a traditional 9 to 5 job. I am not compensated enough for what I have to deal with every day. I know the amount is decent for this area, and more then many people are making, but I know my time is worth more.

I feel as if we’re at a precipice. That one small step can lead us in a radical direction, at least radical to many people in our society. But I want that step to happen now. I feel as if we’ve been working towards it for over ten years.

It may take some more time, but as S. can attest, Patience is not always one of my virtues.

On a completely different tangent... while I was working I heard a four year old ask his mom if he could have an apple. She said that they were out of apples, but he could have a fruit bar.

This made me sad. Instead of stopping by the store and running in to buy him something natural she was going to give him something with artificial ingredients. The child wanted something good for him, and was willing to eat fruit, but was denied.

That sent a very strong message to him, even if his mom did not realize it. Just eat something because it is more convenient. That’s what many people’s lives have become about; convenience.

Since beginning on a more minimalist path I have seen our need for convenient things lessened. We no longer own a microwave, instead heating our food on the stove or in the oven. It may take more time, but it’s time we use to pet the cats or get an extra chapter read.

I am not saying we are saints and are doing everything perfect, just life is about decisions. By paring down our stuff (material items and obligations) we are able to make decisions not based on convenience, but on what is better for us physically and mentally.

Consumer, Frugalist, Environmentalist, Minimalist

When S. and I got married over 12 years ago we were the type of consumers that the U.S. government likes to see. We had student loan debt, credit card debt, and a car payment.

We did not spend our money wisely, after all we could just put it on the credit card and worry about it later. If there was a book we wanted we bought it instead of checking it out at the library. If the food in the house didn't appeal to us, then we would just go out to eat.

We were lucky and although we never received money from our parents, they did give us hand me downs. I think in our first apartment the only furniture we bought was a box spring and mattress.

Then we were able to buy S's parent's home and not have to come up with a down payment. Now here's the point where I shake my head; this house had 2,700 finished sq. feet and another 800 sq. feet in the basement that could have been finished. It had a three car attached garage and an over-sized one car detached garage.

S's father lived with us for awhile, but then it was just the two of us and three cats. Before we finally sold the house (four years later) we had three huge garage sales, gave away stuff to family and friends, and were constantly putting things on Freecycle. We also hauled over 4 Tons of stuff to the landfill. (Shudder)
S's family had owned this house for 20 years prior, but still, four tons!

We had filled that house up with things because that's what we were supposed to do. To think of all the money we spent on stuff, even if it was on sale, makes my stomach churn.

I don't want it to seem like it was a horrible experience though. We threw very memorable parties, were able to let a friend live with us for awhile, and we learned what we didn't want to keep doing.

While we were being good consumers and lived in that big house, we started to turn into Frugalists. Even back then we knew we didn't want to work into our mid-sixties at jobs that didn't mean anything to us.

I started reading about frugal living and S. jumped on board. We started going to the library, we would wait and buy items on sale, I would order free samples online, we hung our laundry out, turned lights off, bought second hand, and did as much of our own car maintenance as possible.

This was great for a few years (and by my standards we're still frugalists), but we still continued to spend money on things we didn't Need, and we did nothing to increase our savings.

Now the items we bought were more pricey, like a computer or DVD player, but since we had done our research and got the best price it was okay. Even with our shiny new objects we were still discontent.
We still had a large mortgage payment every month, we needed to buy a more reliable vehicle, we were still paying on our student loans, and our credit card balance never went down to zero.

It drove me crazy when I would read the frugal boards and see a bunch of ways to be more frugal, but no one ever talked about what happens when you do every single frugal thing you can, and you're still not getting any further ahead.

About a year after we jumped the Frugal Express, I realized we were turning into Environmentalists. We were buying used items or getting them for free, we changed the light bulbs and would unplug items, and would make gifts from on-hand items.

It was over seven years ago when we took the first step that led us to present day. I called S. up at work and said, "How about we sell the house, and look for something smaller?"

We sold the house and lived in an apartment for a year so we could determine our next step. S. worked for the Post Office part-time and we had hoped it would turn into a full time position, but it seemed like that would take many more years then we had originally thought.
We decided to move closer to my parents, and to a town that had cheap housing. Enter, Wisconsin Rapids.

We've lived in Rapids for over six years and during that time have kept the same level of Frugalism (which to me is moderate to high), and increased our Environmentalism.
We have a compost pile, a small garden, have joined a farm share program, I don't get as many freebies because of all the extra packaging, my toiletries are all organic and natural (I love Bubble and Bee!)we hang our clothes outside or in the basement, and many more things.

And withing the past few months we are becoming more Minimalist. If you've read prior posts you know that we've donated many things and are looking for a smaller house.
This chapter of our lives is just beginning, but I can't wait to see where it leads us.

Smaller is better

Another load to the Family Center... I've lost count 7-8? My upstairs closet holds a shoe rack (which I may go through again), 3 rolls of wrapping paper and 3 coats. The closets use to be full.

Pictures to come soon, you would think with a professional photographer in the house there would be more pictures on this site.

On Tuesday our realtor will be coming over to give us some pointers on staging the house, and then we're going to see two houses. Both are only one bedroom and have between 450-680 sq. feet. One is without a garage and one is without a basement.... if we could combine them they might be perfect.
I would like a basement for the litter boxes and I would like a garage because living in Wisconsin means snow, ice and sometimes hail.

I was at Aldi the other day, and a mom in her mid-twenties was in front of me. She had a girl in the car about a year old and the child had a snotty nose that looked as if it hurt and she had been picking at it because it was a bit bloody.

After seeing what the mom had put on the conveyor belt I wanted to take her aside and encourage her to eat better. She had bologna, white bread, granola bars, honey comb cereal, pudding in a cup, and other processed meals.

I know it's difficult to eat well if you don't have a lot of money. But there were no fruits or vegetables. This may have been a mid-week trip to get some things, but I don't think it was.
Instead of white bread, get wheat, or even with all the gluten allergies you may want to look for gluten free alternatives. Everyone knows what's in bologna. You can make chocolate pudding without all the extra preservatives very easily.

I'm not saying she's a bad mom, the chances are that she doesn't know any different because this is what she grew up eating. I would love to see it mandatory in schools for lunches to be 100% healthy, that there are required to graduate classes on diet and fitness (not just gym class where you play kickball), and various money classes.

I know not many people would have said anything to the mom. It's not our place, but maybe it should be. Without knowledge and encouragement how is anyone supposed to grow for the better?