Hello there friend.

Living with less is a passion of mine. When I became a single mom at 19, I dove deep into the minimalism rabbit hole. I needed to get intentional in all areas of my life, and I geeked out on the Minimalist’s podcast and books. I used simple living as a tool to give myself time to heal and create a game plan for myself and my son. This was the catalyst to be introduced to so many other incredible healing techniques, books, outlooks on life and ultimately online business (another HUGE passion of mine!).

However, I will warn you when you make a conscious decision to choose a life on your terms, there is no going back. You begin to see society and this world for what it is, beautifully broken. We truly have CHOICE in the way that we live and show up in the world, and so much of what does not serve us deeply can be left behind.

I personally divided simple living/minimalism into three areas: Possessions, Finances and Commitments.

I will break down those three areas further in the paragraphs below.

Come join me down the rabbit hole friends!

1) Possessions.

This was the easiest one for me. I had held on to ALOT of things, especially clothes. As mentioned above, I began this full on life change process shortly after becoming a single mom at 19. I knew the less clutter we had to deal with, the better! I remember our very first apartment, a basement apartment with blue carpet. I would listen to The Minimalist podcast while little guy crawled around in his cloth diapers. I made MANY goodwill trips that year, and even created a capsule wardrobe of things that I loved to wear (versus the hundred of shirts I would have kept previously). I was healing from an incredibly controlling and physically abusive relationship, and the peace of having a clean, organized and uncluttered space allowed my nervous system to slowly ease out of constant survival mode.

Regardless of what scenerio you are experiencing, a less cluttered and more peaceful environment will serve you well. I chose to begin in an area I knew I struggled with, my clothes. I knew I could easily choose 20+ items to take to goodwill within a week. I chose the items I wore most often and hung them in my closet, it was wonderful to know I was wearing my FAVORITE clothes each day, instead of settling for whatever I could find in a messy jam-packed closet. I also focused on buying used items so I could easily let go of anything I no longer truly enjoyed. I loved the cycle of finding something wonderful to wear at goodwill that I was unlikely to find elsewhere, and donating something else of mine to goodwill. I imagined the journey these clothes and items were able to go on, beautiful well loved and lived lives of their own.

Clothes are where I began, and I took baby steps to continue the progress. Next I tackled my kitchen, I got rid of extra cups, plates, plastic bags and other knick knacks I didn’t need. I had my absolute favorite dish set a beautiful blue and red floral set I had my eyes on for MONTHS before buying when I was pregnant. I used my favoite bowls and coffee cup each day. Why SAVE something you love for a special occassion anyway? Each day is such a gift.

And, as you might expect over time I would chip my special bowls, break my favorite plates, as we do. But, I can guarentee the experience of those dishes each day felt like a small reward. A choice I made to choose small bits of happiness at each turn. Sitting in my little apartment with my baby eating yummy pasta in our floral bowl is one of those memories that always comes back to me.

So where will you begin? Is it your closet, your garage, or the babies room? I reccomend choosing one place to begin that doesn’t feel overwhelming and you KNOW you can handle. One step at a time.

2) Finances

Just so ya know- I am in no way a financial advisor or am I giving you financial advice. This is just a process of streamlining life by eliminating what does not serve us in order to make room for what truly matters.

Finances were an area that truly allowed me a significant amount of freedom. I cut back on literally every possible expense to the bare minimum. I knew that I could add back anything at any time, but I wanted the space to understand what we truly needed versus what I was doing on auto pilot.

At the time I cut back all subscriptions and unnecessary expenses. Our fun trips were to the local library, we would literally check out 30+ books and read them all within a day or two. Our library had a play area that little guy would play in for hours. I brought snacks and my homework from my online classes at University. The workers knew little dude by name, and I read MANY books on healing, meditation and self-love. We found all of the best local parks and would walk around the small on colder days. Used book stores became another safe haven for us, and much like my goodwill cycle for clothes, we could turn in books for store credit.

This slow living allowed my nervous system to calm further, and made me realize so much of the things I thought were necessesities were actually distractions.

3)Commitments

This area of simple living totally changed the way that I viewed my time, especially as a single parent.

What things do we sign up for, sign our kids up for, or do out of obligation?

When I allowed myself to focus inwardly for a period of time on our unique needs, I began to shape our life around US rather than expectations of those around us, or of what would fit into a typical schedule. Kiddo often stayed up until 10 pm even as a toddler, but would sleep for 12+ hours each night. Because I did not put any expectations on where we should be, I was able to sleep well AND complete my homework assignments while little man was peacefully sleeping.

During this season I was a bit of a recluse. We did not DO as much as I would have and did in other seasons of life, but we prioritized our needs over participating in activities. I began to undo the social programming of needing to be somewhere or be productive at all times. I began to understand I have choice on what comes into my reality, and what I decide is worthy of my precious time and attention. I switched up my work schedule to be minimal hours that fit our unique needs, and my request was accepted immediately. Something I would never known if I hadn’t been willing to ask.

What does this look like for you? What is one area where you KNOW you are wearing yourself too thin? What can you choose to let go of for this season of your life?

It makes a world of difference to lessen the noise to hear what you really WANT underneath all of the “shoulds”.

Are you on the journey of simple living? What do you commit to do to further your peace? Comment below!