Loving Simple Living

Minimalist Kids … 2 years later

June 19, 2013 in Simple Family

My kids have been along for this simple living and minimalist ride for over 2 years now. They are my ‘minimalist kids‘.

We started changing our life when they were still young (4, and 7) but they still remember our life before. They have lived through us moving a bunch, dreaming a bunch, simplifying a bunch, homeschooling and trying to be intentional about our living. They have been great!

I really want my kids to learn from us to focus their priorities on God and relationships and to be comfortable questioning what society tells them. Hopefully we have been modeling that for them.

It seems like we (parents) should be able to figure life out before we decide to bring kids into the world. But the longer I live, the less I believe I will ever figure life out... so it is good we didn’t wait

Anyways, last summer I interviewed my kids about minimalism for the blog and the loved it. I figured I would do a update post to that and have the kids tell you about minimalist living and our new travel adventures.

Today’s post is brought to you by my darling children Read the rest of this entry →

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Simple Living Challenge – Week 3

June 17, 2013 in Simple Living Weekly Challenges

Organization - Simple Living Challenges Minimalist Living Image: by digitalart FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Today is the last day for the giveaway from last week. A beautiful necklace made by some amazing women.

Welcome to Simple Living Challenge week 3!

Week 3 is the week we do organizing of things we want to keep in our life, or sell more valuable things we no longer need.

Today we have an easy challenge, but one that will make daily life easier.

Let’s get started! Read the rest of this entry →

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The World is Small …Life in China

June 14, 2013 in Simple Living Travel

Living here in China has helped me understand that the world is small.

Sometimes it is easy to think people are different when they live far away, dress different, look different, eat different, or have different governments.

But this isn’t true

Sure, some of these things are different, but people are the same everywhere. When we start seeing the people behind the clothes, food, language and other surface differences we realize that we are all just people and the world is small.

Sometimes it is easier to group people based on these surface differences, or by stereotypes, because it just seems easier. It is easy to only like people who are like us and easy to think other people are wrong…. but that is because we don’t get to know the people behind these little differences.

What are Chinese people like? What do they think? What motivates them? Before I came to China I heard many different things about what it would be like here, but now that I have been here, the life and the people seem surprisingly familiar. Read the rest of this entry →

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Choosing The Best …without having it all

June 12, 2013 in Creating Simple Living

Choosing The Best - Minimalist Living - Home Organization Image:David Castillo Dominici FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When we started our minimalist living we knew in our hearts we were choosing the best for ourselves and our family.

Now that we are a few years into this simple lifestyle I am convinced we still are choosing the best.

But the problem is when choosing the best of something you have to choose against something else.

And this has been hard for me.

When choosing the best lifestyle for my family I have to choose not to give them other things they see other kids getting. It is hard as a parent to realize I can’t give my kids everything, I want them to have it all.

I talk about how much my life has changed on the blog a lot, but my kids lives have changed just as much (or more). Read the rest of this entry →

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Simple Living Challenge – Week 2 …and a Giveaway!

June 10, 2013 in Simple Living Weekly Challenges

Image: posterize of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Welcome to the Simple Living Challenges week 2 challenge for June!

… how did the storage unit cleaning go last weekend?

Week 1 was some hard cleaning and the reward is week 2. Week 2 is all about growth.

But this week we are going to reach a bit farther, past ourselves, and are even going to end up with an awesome giveaway!

So let’s get started! Read the rest of this entry →

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Simple Stories – Melissa

June 7, 2013 in Simple Stories

Today we have a special guest post from Melissa. A super fun family who have figured out how to live the life they want. So fun!

Simple Stories – Melissa

Two years ago my husband and I decided to sell almost everything we owned and move into an RV to travel fulltime. So you may be wondering why… Why would we sell it all to live in a tiny space?

Well, almost two years ago, our little family of four moved into my sister’s house while they moved overseas for three years. We were coming from the tiniest of tiny houses and their’s was…well, lets just say we didn’t even need to use the rooms upstairs!

My husband had just started his own business, which was going great, and I had just relaunched mine. We were excited and life was good.

…Until one day when my husband heard a “pop” in his back while helping my brother-in-law move a very heavy filing cabinet. Read the rest of this entry →

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Home Organization.. what if you didn’t need it?

June 5, 2013 in Creating Simple Living

Home Organization and Minimalist Living Image:John Kasawa FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What if you didn’t need home organization?

Last weekend, as I lay around relaxing, I was able to finish a book I have been working on for a while. The first 2/3rds of the was really good and I learned a lot.

Then the last part was an add-on part about home organization.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against home organization. A home without it is really stressful.

It was just that, as I was skimming the pages, none of it applied to me.

I don’t have an elaborate plan for what day I clean the bathrooms/kitchens/bedrooms during the week. I don’t have forgotten areas in the house that collect junk and need to be labeled. I don’t have problems with enough space for shoes, kitchen appliances, toys, or tools… and I don’t have any cute ‘Pinterest inspired’ plastic sorting schemes.

… and I still have no trouble keeping things clean or finding what I want.

Just skimming through these last few pages of the book made me tired. I am so glad I don’t need to worry about fancy home organization any more. Read the rest of this entry →

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Simple Challenge – Week 1

June 3, 2013 in Simple Living Weekly Challenges

Image: by ohn Kasawa FreeDigitalPhotos.net

After doing some space thinking last week I wanted to hit an… issue.

One of those things that we all know goes on, but we think it isn’t that big of a deal

…but it is

…it is a ‘deal’, and it makes so little sense.

So this week the Simple Challenge is to fix it.

Ready to do some cleaning out and simplifying? Read the rest of this entry →

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Simple Stories – Stephanie

May 31, 2013 in Simple Stories

Special thanks to Stephanie for sharing her story with us today!

Enough! Starting Our Simple Journey

Life’s pretty simple. That’s right, I’ve got it all figured out. Love God, love others, and you’re done.

Yeah, right…the devil’s in the details…

Sometimes I THINK I have it all figured out. Then I wake up.

It’s true that life can be simple. But it’s so easy for me to make it complicated when it doesn’t have to be. It’s so easy to make things hard…

Which is why I’ve decided to become a monk.

Just kidding… Read the rest of this entry →

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Life Changes… in the last 25 months

May 29, 2013 in Creating Simple Living

25 months ago was the end of April 2011 and we were making some big life changes.

25 months ago we were at the edge of huge change. It was pretty scary and we were definitely questioning our decision.

25 months ago we were ready to step into minimalist living.

25 months ago we knew we wanted a simpler life but we weren’t sure how it would work for our family.

25 months ago my kids were only 4 and 7.

25 months ago we had just finished getting rid of most of our household belongings and were taking the leap to move… to leave our house… to drastically reduce our living space… to go from homeowners to renters. These are big life changes!

25 months ago we were taking steps toward the life we wanted, but we knew it wasn’t common or normal. We were both confident and scared at the same time.

Now, 25 months later, we own enough belongings to fit in 2 suitcases and 4 carry on bags as well as a few tubs of our memory items stored with family. We are living in China and are so glad for the changes we made to make this life possible. Read the rest of this entry →

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