Creating the Simple Life

A year ago if you would have asked if I love my house, my answer would have been a resounding "No!". For many reasons: it's old it needs work done to it it's always messy the basement is unfinished...  the list goes on and on.  I was still clinging to my childish dreams of the perfect home (that self cleanes itself) and it was inhibiting me from feeling anything other than stuck. Stuck in a house I didn't love. And that really weighed on me. I can't tell you exactly what my turning point was, but I remember waking up one day and thinking that if I hated it so much there were two options. Move Do something about it Not really keen on moving (while I didn't love my house, I'm beyond in love with the yard) I decided to do something about it. First step was to declutter. I threw a lot of things out. It was hard. And I resisted the process, but once it was done I felt so much better! Remember how I stress shop? All that adds up!  So I got rid of things.  An...

June Focus: To help keep things simple, I'm trying to create an over-arching theme each month. May was a no frivolous spend month, and June is going to be movement (specifically, 100 kettlebell swings / day). My husband and I have decided to help keep each other accountable on this and so far so good! They take less than 5 minutes to complete, and are easy to do in our small home gym. (And when I say small, I mean small! It's pretty much just an 8'x6' platform that my husband constructed tucked into the corner of the mostly unfinished basement. But you know what? It's more than enough for 2 people to do some yoga or cross-fit style workouts!) And that's that. June is above movement. And for only 5 minutes a day, it's going to be a hard one to say that I don't quite have enough time to do! May Focus Recap: I stress shop. A lot.  And it's rarely for things that I need immediately. So, needless to say, I've accumulated a lot of stuff. My goal for Ma...

COVID has been a mixed blessing for me. It really caused things to slow down, plans to be changed, and a lot more focus to be placed at home and on my family. I was (and am) still going to work every day, so that didn't change. But that routine has changed for others in my family, which ended up causing a routine change for myself when I'm home from work. Everything felt super out of control, and so dialed it back to what I felt like I could control and started there. What I felt like I could control: Social media consumption My attitude My fitness The food we were eating And that's it. I backed away from social media as I found it very emotionally triggering. Every morning I would write down 3 things I was grateful for, and 3 things I wanted to accomplish that day. I took advantage of free yoga classes every day. I went into meal planning mode. So, in a nutshell, I went back to basic needs and I think I'm going to stay here for a bit. Our province is cautiously startin...

Do you ever crave a simpler life? I know I have been. Even more so now with all the social distancing / voluntary isolation. Less has become more. Here's one mom's journey to buying less stuff, using what she has, and enjoying life more. Also, what I've found to work for me in regards to: Gardening Re-decorating and renovating the family home Living with a high energy 4 year old My art journey  and any other topic that I think might bring value