thedailysimplelife

[thedailysimplelife]

First Steps

Moving Forward

After spending nearly 7 months in our RV and then moving into a townhome, I thought that we had done a great job of simplifying our life. The amount of stuff we’d gotten rid of was amazing, and I felt we’d done well at not gaining it all back. What I’ve realized recently, though, is that we can totally do better. Boxes that we had placed in storage during our RV adventures are now stacked in the garage, having not been opened in almost 4 years. They hold a variety of things such as dishes, cookbooks, and sentimental items that belonged to my husband’s grandparents. We were of the thought process that if we bought another house one day, we would unpack it all then.

I think a lot of it is simply a mental thing. Getting past the mental block of thinking we need so much is the biggest part of the process. The eye opener for me has been that we haven’t even looked through those boxes in 4 years, and we haven’t missed anything in them. I think it’s safe to say we don’t need most of it. Other than the sentimental items, why do we hang onto things we don’t miss for so many years?

My latest inspiration has come from Marie Kondo. If you’ve watched her Netflix show, you can understand why I’m intrigued by not just her organization skills, but primarily her perspective on appreciating your home. She teaches her clients to thank their homes for providing them with shelter and to treat their houses with respect by maintaining organization. She also uses a phrase that I love... “spark joy”. This means holding each item and deciding if it sparks joy for you. If it doesn’t, you get rid of it. It teaches you to focus on what brings you joy, rather than meaningless items. I think unopened 4-year-old boxes are a good place to start with this concept!

I’m excited for the first phase of simplifying my life this year by implementing the “spark joy” process throughout my home. I’ll keep you posted on my progress as well as my feelings. Let the cleanse begin!

[thedailysimplelife]

Wanderlust

How it all began

Four years ago, I, my boyfriend Chad, and our 10-year-old daughter made a decision that changed our outlook on conventional living forever. We owned our first home...a new house that we had built in an up and coming neighborhood in St. Augustine, Florida. We were biking distance from the elementary school, had good friends, and were regulars at the neighborhood functions. We were established. In society’s eyes, we were where we should be, aside from a bigger house, more money, and more toys. We were far from unhappy, but the itch for adventure was there and finally got the best of us.

We decided to take a trip out West. The 3 of us spent Christmas 2014 in Arizona and fell in love. The desert landscape was breathtaking, unlike anything we’d ever seen. We split our time between Scottsdale and Sedona, 2 places so unlike each other but equally charming. A week spent exploring new surroundings flew by, and by the time we headed home to Florida, our minds were full of new possibilities in new places.

After much thought and discussion, we agreed to sell our house, give up our life in Florida, and travel to Arizona to build a new life. Our initial plan was to rent a house until we figured out what part of Arizona we wanted to settle in permanently. It’s funny, though, how when 2 people seeking adventure start talking about options, new ideas start to form, and things get really interesting! As we prepared our house to go on the market and began the process of closing my art business, the excitement of our new adventure began to sink in, and we started questioning if going right back into a conventional lifestyle was really what we wanted. We dreamed about how fun it would be to make the drive from Florida to Arizona a leisurely one, staying different places in between. With plans to hit the road as soon as school let out in June and no immediate commitments in Arizona, we knew we had the summer to play with. Our minds went a completely different direction, and we toyed with the idea of purchasing an RV to make the journey with. Not only was this option going to allow for a slow, enjoyable trip out West, it was also going to take the pressure of quickly finding a rental property off our plates. We decided to take the leap and do something we’d never done before. We sold most of our furniture, put the rest of our belongings in storage, and downsized from 1600 square feet to approximately 400 square feet. We purchased a brand new fifth wheel, closed on our house on June 4th, and hit the road June 5, 2015. 

You may wonder what this story has to do with living a simple life. For me, this is where it all began. We had consolidated our life in terms of what we owned and were enjoying a mobile lifestyle, seeing countryside that we hadn’t seen before, and meeting amazing people. This was when the concept of truly living a simple life began to take shape in my mind, as we got to feel how rewarding it was. I will write more about this experience later and share the developments of our journey. Today, our warmest memories are of those days where we had less materialistically but had so much more than we’d ever had before. These memories are now my goal. I want to get back to that place of simply living. Living the deepest, richest life of all. Shifting my focus to the greatness of the experience. And in the process, discovering myself.