In our effort to raise more socially aware children in hopes they will be global citizens who make choices for the betterment of all… we have started the journey to tiny living. Is it a necessary component to making the next generation better than us? No. Of course not. It’s just the path we’ve chosen to facilitate that future in the strongest way we see.
The logic behind it is this:
Stuff wants more stuff.
Buying more stuff means less money for experiences.
Experiences (in daily life but also global travel and immersion), is how we truly learn to be better humans.
Experiences behind a screen (if too frequent or prolonged) make my kids NUTS!
So if we limit stuff (to necessities and a few special things) and we limit ‘boob tube’ moments, we increase our ability to afford more adventure and the (screen free) time to do so.
So I began first looking for ways to simplify what we have, organize it into manageable piles, contain it somehow.
I quickly found it wasn’t enough. I needed to purge with reckless abandon. And I do, regularly.
I especially like this one. I started the method (on instinct, we'll call it ;) without knowing and now need to read the book.
I started with my closet. I revisited my closet every month or so for the last six months. With my closet in constant flux of purge, I started throwing out toys that were left in places they didn’t belong. I warned the kids first… in case you’re thinking that I’m the heartless mom ;) And even still I will through away things that I know they don’t care about or need, the rest I will try to assist them in remembering to clean it up. Or I may take it, hide it away and then 3 days later, when they go looking for it… say ‘Oh, that was left out so I threw it away.’ This seems like a mean trick, I know. But hear me out. If they respond with sadness or even justified anger at having lost something dear to them, I’ll return it with a conversation about cleaning up what we care about. Many times though? They don’t even bat an eye. So I toss it. I just did the second to final purge on my closet (the final purge being when we leave the island and I toss my million flip flops, swimsuits, and few other things that are only used daily in Hawaii).
We have a move coming up. I’m using it as a ‘fresh start’ kind of thing for everything else we own. Anything not completely joyous to us, stays here (sold, given away, donated, etc.). This includes, our hodge podge collection of plates, the million old pillow cases that no longer have matching (or even coordinating) sheets, old wash clothes that we’ve kept as ‘car washing’ clothes… seriously, there’s a ton of them! We DON’T wash our cars that much ;)
As we saw the amount of stuff we can leave behind without batting an eye, and coupled that with a TON of research and brilliant options and solutions for minimalistic living, we naturally ended up at tiny houses. Now, that’s just what we’re planning to DO next.
What else are we planning to leave? Guest furniture… any furniture actually, that we’re not FULLY in LOVE with. And?! Two pieces we ARE in LOVE with but know our tiny house will not have room for simply because they are SO ginormous. We had to be realistic when we realized that we do NOT want to be stuck buying a house that’s too big for us simply because it needs to fit a bookshelf. We may even leave it ALL here. We're contemplating moving into the RV before retirement, using the last few years in service to prep, upgrade and learn the RV life.
Right now we live in a 5 bedroom… mansion. It’s just over 2,000 square feet spread over two stories, in the main house. Yes. You read that correctly, main house. We also have an Ohana Hale attached to our garage. It’s just a room with bathroom and closet, no kitchen. But it’s another 200 sqft. Don't believe me? We're in the process of selling it to prepare for leaving the island... check it out. And please! Let me know if you wanna buy it ;) Cause, while I may think it's ridiculously big... someone, somewhere wants or even needs this much space ;)
For the record, we bought a giant house because when we moved in we had extended family living with us and it was nice for a time that everyone had their own space. We now know that we could have easily gotten away with half the square footage and taken our “own space” in trips and excursions. We’ve also since realized the power of a bed as being a private space. It’s all about how you use it and how you organize it.
This blog post gives GREAT ideas on privacy!
And this fabulous post written by a 12 year old rv'ing, roadschooler!
I truely marvel at what people are able to do with such minimal space. Wish us luck!
ING
!jen
No comments:
Post a Comment