The road to a simpler life can be daunting. Where do I start, what do I do, how can I become more self-sufficient? I have found the best way to begin the journey is to start small. Just like any new adventure, whether it be learning a new skill, training your body for a marathon, etc you must take baby steps first. Here are a few of my first steps:
1) Get rid of all the excess.
This is one of the easiest things to do, and many of us do it already. Think of it as Spring Cleaning, but for anytime during the year.
After my husband and I bought our first home, two sets of in-laws sold their houses which meant we inherited a lot of things they didn't want. And although we were grateful for all of these new treasures, a lot of them weren't practical things to use everyday so they sat boxed up in our basement. Then we got married and we acquired even more boxes of treasures. These too were destined for the basement. Before long the basement was over flowing and I had had enough, time to sort through it all. It took me a few evenings over the course of a week to decide what we needed to keep, what we wanted to keep, what could be donated and what could be recycled or thrown away. One truck load to the dump, One truck load to the local free store and 8 empty boxes later I was done and it felt awesome, so awesome in fact I have now moved on to other rooms in our house to declutter further! It was even kind of fun, coming across old photos and trinkets and reminiscing the memories. Even if you only start with that one junk drawer in the house that everyone has, the feeling is so refreshing that it will lead to the second drawer and then the closet! Happy sorting.
This is one of the easiest things to do, and many of us do it already. Think of it as Spring Cleaning, but for anytime during the year.
After my husband and I bought our first home, two sets of in-laws sold their houses which meant we inherited a lot of things they didn't want. And although we were grateful for all of these new treasures, a lot of them weren't practical things to use everyday so they sat boxed up in our basement. Then we got married and we acquired even more boxes of treasures. These too were destined for the basement. Before long the basement was over flowing and I had had enough, time to sort through it all. It took me a few evenings over the course of a week to decide what we needed to keep, what we wanted to keep, what could be donated and what could be recycled or thrown away. One truck load to the dump, One truck load to the local free store and 8 empty boxes later I was done and it felt awesome, so awesome in fact I have now moved on to other rooms in our house to declutter further! It was even kind of fun, coming across old photos and trinkets and reminiscing the memories. Even if you only start with that one junk drawer in the house that everyone has, the feeling is so refreshing that it will lead to the second drawer and then the closet! Happy sorting.
2) Make a "staple" from scratch.
This has been on of the most liberating things I have done so far on our road to simpler living. We go through a lot of bread in our house, toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, bread and butter with dinner. Although it may not be the healthiest of things to eat, we do and we love it. So as you can imagine we spend a lot of money on bread every week from the grocery store and worst of all, if we happen to go a few days without eating any it goes stale or gets moldy and we have to throw it away! Well not anymore, I make our bread myself and the greatest part about it is you don't even need a bread maker. Just 7 simple ingredients and a few hours will yield you at least two wonderful loaves of homemade bread and make your kitchen smell wonderful! Nothing beats flipping through the pages of an old dog earred recipe book but there are many great recipes to be found online, my go to site is Pinterest where there are 1000s of recipes for anything your little heart could desire. This has been the best recipe I have found so far ... http://stories.savvymom.ca/jCd9 but part of the fun is experimenting with recipes and creating what you and your family enjoy most!
The next "staple" from scratch I'm going to try is butter!
This has been on of the most liberating things I have done so far on our road to simpler living. We go through a lot of bread in our house, toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, bread and butter with dinner. Although it may not be the healthiest of things to eat, we do and we love it. So as you can imagine we spend a lot of money on bread every week from the grocery store and worst of all, if we happen to go a few days without eating any it goes stale or gets moldy and we have to throw it away! Well not anymore, I make our bread myself and the greatest part about it is you don't even need a bread maker. Just 7 simple ingredients and a few hours will yield you at least two wonderful loaves of homemade bread and make your kitchen smell wonderful! Nothing beats flipping through the pages of an old dog earred recipe book but there are many great recipes to be found online, my go to site is Pinterest where there are 1000s of recipes for anything your little heart could desire. This has been the best recipe I have found so far ... http://stories.savvymom.ca/jCd9 but part of the fun is experimenting with recipes and creating what you and your family enjoy most!
The next "staple" from scratch I'm going to try is butter!
3) Learn a new skill.
Whether it be something as simple as knitting or as complex as small engine repair, learn a new skill. The results can be rewarding and sometimes even help to make a little extra pocket money. My Oma taught me how to knit when I was very young and since I've forgotten how I've decided that I am going to re-learn how to knit and crochet too! It will be so wonderful to look at a finished product and know that your time and effort went in to creating it, and with things such as knitting, baking, canning, etc they also make wonderful gifts for the Holidays. You just can't buy that kind of thoughtfulness!