I just have to write my heart and soul out to you today about my disappointment.  It is probably going against my own web rules, but writing and this blog are a growth and therapy for me.  Read the rest of this entry →

Between April 3 and 9 I participated in The Big Unplug started by The Minimalist Mom.  I am all about simple living and believe that electronics can get in the way.  I believe it is good to take a good look at the addiction ever once and awhile to evaluate what and how much electronics  is benefiting me.

• Is it giving me more value than it is taking in time?
• Do I know how much time it is really taking? Read the rest of this entry →

Starting tomorrow I will be unplugged for a week with:

I found this on The Minimalist Mom’s website several weeks ago and it sounded like something I needed do.  I have been spending more and more time online building my blog and working on getting my book out and it is becoming more of my life than I want it to be.  Don’t get me wrong, I love writing and working on these projects.  The problem comes when technology becomes a habit instead of a tool.  Does that happen to you sometimes?  Do you find yourself wandering around your inbox or social networking looking for loose ends to work on instead of other ‘real life’ places?  Sitting on my bed with my warm laptop on my knee is becoming more of a habit than I want it to be.

So,

I am unplugging for the next week.  (don’t worry, I have scheduled posts ahead so you shouldn’t miss me too much )  The rules are:

Read the rest of this entry →

Image: David Castillo Dominici

Last Sunday I made a tough decision.  I have been really trying to live this simple minimalist life and make sure that my time is spent the way I want it to be. Focusing on quality of time and not hording time wasting habits. There are only 24 hours in a day.  I believe time is a more important resource than money because of this limit.  There is no way to get a promotion or a side job to produce more time.  It is also the resource we don’t know the amount of.  We know our bank account balance but we don’t know how many days we will get.

So last Sunday I cut my smart phone and went back to my old phone.  It calls and texts (has the nice keyboard with real buttons and doesn’t auto fill the wrong word on me).  It wasn’t easy.  I liked my smart phone and what it could do.

Last November I upgraded to a Samsung Charge smart phone.  It was a cheap piece of junk and it, or its replacement didn’t work more than a week or two without having trouble.  (There is my honest review ) Beyond that it stole so much time.  First I had all the notifications on so every time I got an e-mail or someone mentioned me in a tweet or anything else I got notified.  I figured out how to stop that quick and it helped me get all my notifications turn off.  Even after turning all those off and turning down all the volumes except the phone ring I still found myself messing with it all the time.  Every time there was a second during the day I would check it.  Every time I sat down at a park or riding in the car I could whip it out and play with it.  It was my spare second filler.  Something for my fingers and brain to do if they needed filled with something else.

My kids wanted to play with it all the time too. I hated what I was teaching my kids.  ’Look to a little box to entertain you every second‘.  I knew that wasn’t good for them, but how was I supposed to say ‘no’ when I did it all the time too?  Sure it makes kids sit still, but do they need to play phone games (or hand held games) in the car, the waiting room and even church?  It is getting us all hooked on external entertainment every waking second of the day.  That’s got to be worse for the brain than smoking is for the lungs.

I have been 1 week without the entertaining toy.  I replaced it with my March reading book and I am over half done already.  I miss not having the weather, Facebook, e-mail, internet, maps, and all the other features at my finger tips.  It is great to have all that some of the time, but overall it was not an asset to my life.

This is a post about me.  A post about my phone, my relationship to it, and my technology needs.  I am not trying to say that they are bad or that other people shouldn’t have them (though, I hope yours works better than mine for the price).  I am sharing with you my choice to get rid of it and why, hopefully adding to the dialog already out there that is questioning if all of us need all the technology out there.

Remember when we just had home phones for $25 a month and no contract?  And phones cost like $10 bucks for something simple that didn’t break or need upgraded every year or two?  I’m not quite ready to go back there, I love my cell phone, but it is a thought.

I have some big news to share with you…in 4 days!

Thanks for coming by Loving Simple Living. Like this post or this blog?  Please help me get the word out by sharing on social media.  Thanks!

It was another beautiful day in Nebraska today and we took the kids to the park for some pictures.  I am loving the winter so far, hoping it will stay nice…

Hey,

How’s it going?

I wanted to write up a post and update you with what is going on in our minimalist simple living.   For those of you who are new around here (I am so excited so many new people are coming!!) we started simplifying almost exactly a year ago.  We had a 2000 square foot house and it was ‘properly filled’.  Last January we decided to start getting rid of stuff, lots of stuff, and move into a smaller place so that we could spend our time and money on our priorities instead of on material upkeep.

Last May we moved into a 2 bedroom apartment and have been here ever since.  We are still cutting down materially and now have plenty of space in our little apartment.  This is our ninth month living here as a minimalist now, and it seems like the time has flown by.

Apartment living was one thing with children in the summer, but the winter is a bit different.  I wanted to share with you what we have learned so far.

Here is an interesting shot up Ian’s nose .  I loved the lighting and colors.

Here are some challenges:

1. We are far away from our car
2. Our car is cold and frost covered
3. My son has lots of energy that is not contained well in our small space
4. The snow is pee covered within hours of falling, and the kids can’t play in it.
5. The windows leak just as well as they did in our house
6. The roof leaks in two rooms

But the perks of apartment living in the winter:

1. No shoveling
2. Warm floors (we are on third floor)
3. Lower electrical bills (and a happy green feeling for making a smaller footprint)
4. We have very patient neighbors around us
5. I am really glad we are south facing, third floor and have no windows facing other colder directions. The sun is great!
6. We have had lots of extra time in the last few months to work on photography and writing and we are having so much fun!

One morning last week Bryon reminded me, as he was leaving for work, that the maintenance guys were going to come over first thing and fix some stuff (not the roof as mentioned above ).  I don’t wake up well, and the several days before I had spent more time on writing and less time on cleaning.  The apartment was a disaster.  However, as a woman, it is way too embarrassing to have anyone show up to my ‘nest’, no matter who they are, and find it anything less than a beautiful picture of bliss.

I rolled out of bed and I cleaned, and I cleaned, and I cleaned.  Dishes, laundry, toys, books, and much more.  And about 30 minutes later it was all clean.   It hit me, as I sat down for breakfast, that this is a huge difference from our life a year ago. Back then, to clean the house from top to bottom and just pick up clutter would take hours.  I still feel overwhelmed by the messy apartment and procrastinate, but a half an hour or an hour to clean… really is amazing.  If I really get crazy I can throw in another 15 minutes and wash all 5 windows.

That, my friends, is a beautiful perk of minimalist living

He really wanted spiky hair like his friend Ryan, but then he really wanted me to take the spikes off. He hopped in the tub soon after we got home to get his soft hair back.  :)

Being in an apartment this year has both settled us down, less to do in the house, as well as gotten us out to explore more places and let the kids burn off energy.  Both have been nice.  Everything seems more settled.  Both my husband and I are happy about the changes we have made and the amount of time it has given us for working on our passions, and we do more intentional activities with the kids. Beyond that we have been learning to be content with what we have, and where we are.  We are practicing living in the present.

With these changes both materially and mentally our world has changed so much in the last year.  I am so happy to say that we made the changes we wanted to, even though it felt crazy at the time, and are doing what we want with our time.

Money doesn’t buy happiness.  Bigger houses, more stuff, and fancy vacations, don’t do it either.  Consumerism makes one a slave to money, and as a slave, no one can be happy.  Living on less, and needing less, gives so much more freedom.  And that freedom is empowering.

Happy Monday!

We have reached the sad time of year when I am to big of a baby to go outside for pictures.  Outside pictures are so much better… but, since I don’t have any…here are some inside ones. 

Sung to the tune of Santa Clause is coming to town:

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Mom and Dad will take you round town
We’re making a list, checking it twice
For our kids who are only nice
Mom and dad will take you round town
They talk when you are sleeping
They don’t when your awake
They know that you’ve been super good
… but keep it up, for goodness sake

Sorry… this isn’t one of my talents… pardon the cheesiness ;)

Such a simple thing, and they had a blast. … might have had something to do with the fact that they were cutting up their old school papers

We have been working on our Minimalist Christmas plan and I think we have it figured out.  For those of you who didn’t read our other article a few weeks ago we are experimenting with a minimalist Christmas with our kids where we create an experience instead of focus on gifts.

The plan is to have 7 days of Christmas from Dec 25 till Dec 31, where we will plan an activity, a small gift and a edible treat for each day.

I posted our original plan the beginning of the month (because I knew we would modify it a bunch), but now it is much more figured out and nailed down.   The kids know what you know… but that is it.  It is a surprise for them, and it is a surprise for you (I don’t like posting about where and when we will be places…. probably bad internet practices with kids).

I will be posting the following morning a recap of our day from Dec 26 through Jan 1, stay tuned!

We are really getting addicted to the minimalist lifestyle.  Last year at this time we were cold and wanting change, but we didn’t know what.  This year, we are still in Omaha and cold, but we own only a small fraction of what we had last year.

Originally, I thought we would go through everything this spring and cut back and move.  We did that and now we are in an apartment that we love.  What I didn’t realize was that I would really get addicted to the ‘getting rid of stuff’.  It is so fun!

I am sure I sound crazy.  But it is my little piece of the internet here   We have gone through stuff several times since we moved and gotten rid of tons more.  Just last week we cleaned out the garage.  We moved some extra tools, a few boxes of memories, and our camping gear to my in-laws house and the rest we touched for the last time (donated it to goodwill, or sold, or gave away somehow).

Some stuff we got rid of this past week:

• end table
• extra chairs
• TV, DVD/Video player, videos — we are now a TV free house! (more on that next week)
• bunch of cloths that I cut out when I did my wardrobe post
• and a bunch more

I go back and forth about how to write my minimalism posts/updates.  Really, it doesn’t sound all that exciting, and I want my content to be interesting and helpful.  Most of my posts are thoughts and ideas because that is how I think, but I want to share notes about how it is working out in our life.

So there you are, we are getting smaller and smaller.  Dreaming of traveling this winter (but nothing has worked out yet), and loving and recommending simple living.

I think we might be to the point where we could actually count our belongings!  This seems like quite a fad in the minimalism world.  I haven’t counted… cause it is still a bunch.  But I feel like we are down to the point where I actually could… if I had the time on my hands

Few notes on the real side of our minimalism life:

1. The neighbor below us has taken up some kind of video gaming that has, at times, shaken the whole building
2. I managed to get rid of both my irons to Goodwill instead of just one like I intended… now I am iron-less, and even though I don’t iron as much as I should… I don’t want to live that simple, opps.

Ha, so this post might just be for your amusement.  Enjoy!

So, this spring with our cleaning out and simplifying we got rid of most of our Christmas decorations.  I love the holiday, but I don’t like the fact that it takes a bunch of space to store as well as lots of time to unpack, decorate, and then pack up again.  This isn’t where the joy of the season is.

Because I wanted the kids to have a tree, but didn’t want to store one, or chop down a perfectly good one living out side (and then clean up after it) I came to my next best option…. hangers.

I have been accused of being a little weird… and I am okay with it.  I have told Bryon that he is my bridge to the real world   He was never sure of this idea and several times asked me … if I really wanted to keep doing this or if we should ‘just give it up now’.  …. I have also been mocked by friends for this jewel.

All things considered, I like our tree this year.  Made out of 31 hangers.  It creates the shape, and holds the lights and decorations.

Do you have a simple or minimalist tree idea you would like to share?  … cause I don’t know if Bryon will for this one again

So it is kind of hard to have pictures with a post about stuff I have gotten rid of   Here is a barn pic my hubby took that I liked.

I have been told, and now believe, that after becoming a minimalist or simplifying stuff and space that you really can’t remember all the stuff you got rid of.  So I wanted to do a post and see if I could remember 10 things that I got rid of.

(if you are new to the site we sold most of our stuff this spring and moved from a 2000 sq ft packed house to a sparsely furnished apartment.  The idea was with the 80/20 rule that says you use 20% of your stuff 80% of the time.)

1. Pool – not sure why I remember this one.  It is always the first thing I think of.  Probably because I was upset I spent the money and then sold it a year later…. and when we decided to sell it I was really scared we wouldn’t find a buyer.
2. Books – I don’t remember very many titles but I used to have a full bookshelf in my bedroom and several boxes in the basement.  Now I have only a few reference type books, and get rid of books after I read them.  … I haven’t missed any of them yet and we are much closer to a bigger library that I have been loving.  Oh and the kids books!  Can’t forget them.  We had 4 bookshelves of them and now we are down to only a small pile.  The kids haven’t complained yet because they always have a huge pile of library books every week.
3. Extra measuring cups and mixing bowls.  Now I have to wash stuff if I want to make more than a few things at once.
4. Exercise equipment in the basement.  Maybe it was nice to have there so that I felt more fit….. I have much less exercise guilt now.  Don’t have it, can’t do it   … I still have a few things and videos that collect dust in our apartment, haven’t given up on the fitness thing entirely yet.                   Here is a random pic of the kids in the pool I caught this week
5. Huge solid wood dresser that went in 5 minutes on craigslist and was full…. of random junk.  (kids videos, tones of gift bags, several table cloths that never seemed to get ironed and used).
6. Half way…. this is getting harder.  Upstairs… in the bathroom our cupboard was full of extra drug store stuff like shampoo, soap, lotions, etc.  I got them when they were on great sales, but I was buying faster than I was using.  I sold quite a collection of unused bottles at our garage sale.
7. Kids toys, the kids sold a bunch of their toys and used the money to buy a kindle.  Huge little people collection, store with plastic food, train set.  I really was excited about the train set, but Ian was determined to get rid of it.  Toys have been missed less than the extra books.  Now they can ‘trash’ their room and it still just takes 5 minutes to pick up.
8. Extra towels.  Not sure how, but I had managed to get a pretty good collection, it was embarrasing really….  We have 6 now.  4 to use and 2 extra.  … as long as I don’t forget them in the washer, we haven’t had any problems.
9. Tones of food.  I was a non-perishable, bulk, sale, food shopper.  At one time we had like 20 boxes of cereal and 20 bags of corn chips.  I got them for $1 a piece!  It was too good to pass up.
10. Tones of craft supplies.  I had quite a garage sale/gifted collection of craft stuff for the kids.  I kept 2 boxes of the best stuff and we have made a point of using them since we moved.  It starts as collecting for a ‘rainy’ day in home school and ends up being a huge mess of …. junk.

There you have it.  Made it to 10  It is true that it is hard to remember all the stuff that has been ‘simplified’ out.

On another unrelated note

With the help of Grandma getting us started, we made little sock hampsters this past weekend.  The kids had a blast.  I am not really that crafty and my sewing maching and I have some terrible moments, but this book was really fun.  Socks Appeal: 16 Fun & Funky Friends Sewn from Socksis full of a bunch of (much more exciting) sock animal creations.  (I went for the easiest…)

This is simplicity toys to the tee.  Recycled single socks and some stuffing with a bunch of love turns into hours of fun and memories.