Simple Living

It has been awhile since I updated you on our home life..or much of anything really. My blogging has been pretty sporadic for awhile now but I will get to that another day. Our journey towards simplicity has brought us so much peace and happiness. This last year and a half has taught us a lot about what is really important to us and what direction we want our lives to take. 

We started by leaving the city and my husband's management job so that we could move near to his hometown in a small farming community. He took a job as a welder and while he doesn't necessarily enjoy every aspect of his job (you would be amazed by how much manly welders act like high school girls) he does love being able to come home at the end of the day and not have to think about work again until the next morning. No more being on call 24/7 or taking long trips out of town. 

We have continued downsizing our possessions since moving here and had another HUGE yard sale just a couple of months ago and I already have a huge pile of stuff for next year's sale. I'm always amazed by how we can get rid of so much stuff and still have so much left. Every time I go through stuff to de-clutter, I find things that are completely unnecessary but for some reason I just couldn't imagine getting rid of it the last time that I de-cluttered.

Along with downsizing our possessions, we have also been downsizing our time commitments. We are still active and enjoy going out and doing things but we deliberately limit our scheduled activities. Instead of having everyday planned out, we have been enjoying the freedom that allows us to have spontaneous get togethers with friends or help people out if they need something or even just to take a family bike ride around town. It also gave us the freedom to spend every single night last week at the 4-H fair - hanging out with family and friends and enjoying the festivities. As you can see in the photo above, my little redneck fits right in. He had a blast and he is very excited that he will be old enough to show next year. Keeping our schedule clear hasn't always been easy and the number of commitments that we have quickly sneaks up on us but it is getting easier for us to realize when we are doing too much and to say "no" to new demands for our time.

Our latest downsizing adventure had to do with electronics. We never got cable when we moved but we still had Netflix, Facebook, the internet, and hand-held devices calling for our attention. Just yesterday Shelby and I were talking and without even realizing it, we had both become fed up with technology in the same week. We aren't going to become Luddites or anything but we do want to limit the number of technological time-sucks that don't add any value to our lives but instead take time away from the things that really matter to us. My husband and I each have a laptop to check email and work online but we are getting rid of all of our handheld devices. We just bought a used iPod Nano last night so that we can have something for music but one that won't allow us to add any apps. By taking away the temptation to fill our downtime with mindless activities like video games and surfing facebook we hope to have more time for reading, bike riding, gardening, and playing actual card and board games together.

When we began this simplification adventure I intended to continue working at home through my Etsy shop and blogging. However, the vision for both of these business ventures has changed over time. When trying to prioritize our time commitments I came to the realization that the Etsy shop no longer makes the cut. Sales have dropped significantly this year and even if they had stayed as high as last year, once I did the math and factored in things like taxes, time spent preparing paperwork, maintaining inventory, shipping orders, listing items, etc. I realized that the amount of money that I was adding to the family budget wasn't significant enough to justify the time commitment. So...after thinking about it for a long time, I have decided to sell off my inventory and close down the shop. 

It wasn't an easy decision but now that it has been made I feel really good about it. I am excited about putting more of that time into the blog. I have a ton of ideas for new posts and I can't wait to share with you about some of the new topics that I will be covering but that is another post for another day. For now I just want to encourage you to head over to my Etsy shop and order your favorite items before they are gone!

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