I am on a time kick lately Really, for me, applying minimalism to my time is much harder than my house. That is why I write about it… I write about the things I stress about, over think about, try to figure out…instead of the things that I have figured out (because if I stuck to that list I wouldn’t have much to write)
You know those books and planners that talk about managing your time? They make it sound like when you write out how you are spending all your time you realize how many hours are wasted (my book goes here a bit too). I don’t know about you, but I would love to find 4 or 5 hours spent on TV or 3 hours on Facebook that I could have an ‘ah-ha’ moment with and cut out. Imagine what I could do with another chunk of time like that! If you can find time this easy good for you, but if you are like me you have don’t have enough time in the day because you have too many good things you are trying to put into it. Read the rest of this entry →
I have started reading Inside-Out Simplicity by Joshua Becker as part of my May reading list and early in the book he talks about defining success. This isn’t a new concept and I talk about in my book also, but it is a very important thing to figure out.
I sat in the library with my kindle (while the kids were looking for books) yesterday thinking about this for a while. When it is all said and done (hopefully after more than 100 healthy years:)) what do I want to be able to say that I have accomplished. I am sure my list will change, but this is what I think at the young age of 32. Read the rest of this entry →
I am not a marriage counselor and never thought I would do much writing about marriage. However, in seeing and talking to some people in the last few months I have wanted to write up some of the wisdom that I have learned. I am terrible at verbally sharing things…that probably why I blog Not sure it is earth shaking or will fix everything but it is what I have learned.
Marriage is such a beautiful gift. This is a perfect example of:
‘The whole is greater then the sum of it’s parts’ – Aristotle
Sure life can be fun alone, but the beauty and benefit of marriage is so much better. …sorry to those of you who aren’t married. I totally recommend marriage.
However, just being married doesn’t mean it is a benefit or a great marriage. I don’t know that I completely agree with the idea that ‘a great marriage takes work’, it might, but a great marriage should be the goal instead of just a legal document and someone to live with. Read the rest of this entry →
The word ‘Entitlement’ has gotten a pretty bad rap lately. There are lots of complaints of people, lots of times kids, having a sense of entitlement that somehow makes them think they deserve everything. I agree with this and want to make sure my kids don’t grow up with this special sense of entitlement that is becoming so common in our society.
So I was surprised, when listening to the audio version of Donny Deutsch’s book ‘The Big Idea: How to Make Your Entrepreneurial Dreams Come True, From the Aha Moment to Your First Million,’ that about half way through when he went into a section on what we are entitled to. He went through a whole list of ‘You are entitled to…..’. Since I was on the road fighting through highway traffic I wasn’t able to write down his list but the word stuck in my head. Entitled had such a negative meaning in my mind, but what if it was also an empowering and motivating word?
What if I really am entitled to some things and can go out and take them from life without feeling guilty? Read the rest of this entry →
Lots of truly loving simple living and living an intentional life in the present is living a thankful life with gratitude. One thing I hate is the negativity about the present and the fear of the future. The world isn’t and won’t ever be a perfect place, but I am pretty excited to be alive right now. Here are some reasons I have come up with. Feel free to add some of your own in the comments. Read the rest of this entry →
Welcome to Loving Simple Living! Life gets crazy so easily and it is hard to enjoy a crazy life.
I talk a bunch about minimalism on this blog because that is where I am passionate about. I have got to meet several other people who are starting the process and excited for change. Minimalism is exciting! It represents a freedom from lots of stress, work, and commitments that are weighing us down. We talk about liberating, exciting, freedom, passion, priorities, and dreams. These are all such fun words.
However, minimalism is only a tool.
Life is hard to figure out. Lots of the big questions, I believe, come down to:
Last year at this time I was clearing out stuff in a big way. End of March 2011 was our huge garage sale where we sold most of what we couldn’t donate. The house was more and more empty and we were signing contracts with a sweet couple who were planning on renting it beginning of May.
It wasn’t until much later that I even heard the term minimalism and was able to find like minded (similarly crazy) people on line. Back then all I knew was that I wanted less space, less stuff, and more living for my family. Now that I have read a bunch more on the topic and have been living the lifestyle for a while I wanted to do up a list of what I define a minimalist as.
A Minimalist is:
An intentional person. They see where they are going in life as something they can plan or affect. They do not just accept what life throws at them as their fate. Sure, they don’t have control over the world, but they choose how they will respond to what is out of their control and steer their life in a direction they have decided on.
A driven and focused person. Similar to #1 they are making things happen. They can still be laid back fun people to be around, but typically a minimalist isn’t just sitting back and watching the world. They are actively taking part in life and the world around them.
Un-Attached materially. Probably the most visible is the understanding that a minimalist has less stuff. They are intentional about what they own and have only the things they want. This can range from 50 or less things (the crazy, hard-core) to much more. Many minimalists don’t count things but the number is often countable (vs the typical person or family in a first world country). The idea is to not be limited or distracted by material possessions.
Quality loving. Goes with having less stuff. The stuff minimalists do have is higher quality. Less stuff means more money for the few things that are needed. Also, the things a minimalist owns are often used much more often and need to be able to handle it.
Priority Centered. Minimalists know or are trying to find out what is most important to them and live their life based on that information.
Society Questioning. Just the idea of having less stuff is a little crazy when society as a whole is always looking for more, bigger, and fancier. A minimalist has questioned this and disagreed with it and will often question other parts of society as well.
Being a minimalist isn’t a ticket into an elite group or defined by a number of possessions. Being a minimalist is something that starts in the mind and is driven by intangibles (#1). The visible and tangible is only a byproduct of intentional living decisions.
Anything I missed? How else would you define minimalist?
Today is the big release day for my first book. I can’t put into words how excited I am.
‘321 Stop – stop running and start living‘ is a book that combines story from our simplification process with real practical tips on how you can simplify also. The book is comical as well as practical. 321 Stop answers the questions of:
How do I know if I have too much stuff?
How do I get rid of stuff?
Why do I have so much?
How can I find time?
How can I have enough money?
How can I figure out my priorities and actually live them?
Truthfully I believe everyone can learn and pull practical tips from this book. If you ever feel stressed, behind, overwhelmed, short of time or money, or love reading ‘life make-over’ stories I know you will get something from it. Unlike some other books, the perspective of this book is from a mom with 2 young kids and it includes tangible and practical ways of applying simple living in a family situations. More than just grand sounding ideals and principles, 321 Stop was written to be a friend or coach to talk you through the process.
How can I get a copy?
321 Stop is available in PDF (for viewing on any computer or e-reader or for printing) as well as in the Kindle and Nook format.
New to the Loving Simple Living site?
First off, I am so glad you have come by! Learn more about me (Lorilee) on the about page. Check out some of the best posts from the last few months in the free Loving Simple Living ebook. I would love to get to know you! Really, the best part of writing is hearing from people reading. You can e-mail me (I promise to read and write you back), or connect with me on any of the social media accounts listed on the side.
Also, I really would love it if I could get you to share this post or the book on your social media. It makes a huge difference and I would really really appreciate it Thanks! Have a super simple day! and enjoy the book
Picture Bryon Lippincott (hubby) took a few weeks ago on a walk we took with friends.
Today we are talking again about creating minimalist simple living and some of the struggles we face. Last week I found a YouTube video of a talk Larry Smith did last November at a Ted Conference. I have watched a bunch of talks from the conference and they are all so good. Each talk/video is like a book presented in a 20 minute talk.
I have wanted to do a bit of a follow up post of my post from a few weeks ago “No Well Worn Easy Path To Follow“. In that post I talked about how it is hard to change, hard to part with things, hard to do anything differently. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what to do in life, but it is even harder to do it. The hard I meant in that post was an internal hard, a breaking the habit hard.
What I want to talk about today is fear. It is so hard to change to minimalism, or any other counter-cultural area that we believe in because we are afraid of what other people think. I found this quote in my reading this week that pointed it out rather painfully:
We choose not to be remarkable because we’re worried about criticism. We hesitate to create innovative movies, launch new human resource initiatives, design a menu that makes dinners take notice, or give an audacious sermon because we’re worried, deep down, that someone will hate it and call us on it.
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” “What a waste of money.”‘ ” Who’s responsible for this?”
Sometimes the criticism doesn’t even have to be that obvious. The fear of hearing “I’m surprised you launched this without doing more research” is enough to get many people to do a lot more research, to study something to death and then kill it. Hey, at least you didn’t get criticized. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin page 46
This really hit me. I am not scared of any of these changes in my life getting me killed or fired or sick or anything else really bad. I am scared of people questioning my judgement. I am scared of someone saying I am wrong or that I am not thinking things through enough. That, when given the facts, I came to the wrong conclusion. That is scary to me.
Pulled out in the open to look at and given a name, this is a stupid thing to be scared of. When I look back on my life I can explain out the decisions I didn’t make for safety or major economic reasons, but how am I going to explain to myself why I didn’t make life changes that I knew were right for me because I was scared someone else would think it was dumb.
You and me, we are not going to fail. We are here (writing, reading, talking) and we are winning. (thanks to Charley Sheen for making the word funny as well as powerful). We are winning because we are facing the fear of social questioning and making our life ‘our life’, the one we want to have.
I think it would be good to put a nice list for confronting the fear here. A step by step approach, but I don’t think there is one. ’See the fear and do it anyways’ is all I can come up with. I think this kind of fear and action is where lots of personal growth happens.
I think it is easy to look at people who accomplish exciting things or make big changes and think that it is different for them. I don’t believe it is. Lots of those same people are quoted for being very afraid as well but believing and moving forward. I want to be someone who can move through the fear and act…it’s the practicing that is hard.
Here is the video of Larry Smiths talk. It is well presented, funny, and really gets you thinking. Enjoy!
Book Update: (this has been a scary project for me)
321 Stop – stop running and start living is coming out in 1 week, 7 days (March 21)
“This is a deeply personal book that shares the story of a family taking back control of their home and life. I was fascinated by Lori’s description of her journey to less stuff and the lessons she shares from it. This is a great resource for those new to the idea of minimalism and looking for a practical way to apply it to their home and life.” Rachel Jonat of The Minimalist Mom
Blog Friends 321 Stop – Book Giveaways:
Enso Journey – starting today. Posting an interview with me, check it out.
Really, for me, applying minimalism to my time is much harder than my house. That is why I write about it… I write about the things I stress about, over think about, try to figure out…instead of the things that I have figured out (because if I stuck to that list I wouldn’t have much to write)
by 
,’ that about half way through when he went into a section on what we are entitled to. He went through a whole list of ‘You are entitled to…..’. Since I was on the road fighting through highway traffic I wasn’t able to write down his list but the word stuck in my head. Entitled had such a negative meaning in my mind, but what if it was also an empowering and motivating word?
by Seth Godin page 46
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