The Start.

Hey guys! Thanks for stopping in! I have been pretty excited lately about diving into a world of consuming less and living more, so I thought I would start this blog to talk about the process, how it has changed my finances, relationships, and overall happiness.

It all started simply enough for me, I happened to be scrolling mindlessly through my facebook feed and saw a post from the blogger www.minimalisetomaximise.com. I checked out her blog and realized immediately that Elisha's words really hit home for me on so many levels. She was somebody that I envied, in a way. I had never realized how much the things that I was buying were essentially drowning me, I had never made the connection before. But I see now that all of the things that I had bought in an attempt to be happy, were actually the very things holding me back from my goals.

Elisha mentioned other bloggers such as www.theminimalists.com and a book called "Spark Joy: The life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing." I immediately bought the book on my iphone (because I really shouldn't add another book to my bookcase, right? If the goal is to de-clutter, then that seemed counter-productive. But take my advice, if after looking into minimalism, if you give her book a shot, buy a hard copy. I have had countless friends interested in reading it and I can't share my iBooks!) The book is short and usually to the point. I will say that the author, Marie, gets a little out there with her line of thinking. She talks about socks like they have feelings, which maybe they do, but it did always throw me off a little. Marie brings up excellent points in WHY we feel the need to buy/keep things and how we need to let those ideas go. She would often read my mind while I was reading it. I would read a sentence and think "I could never do that" and the next line in the book would be "I know you are going to think you can't do it, but you can."

I was H O O K E D.

 The idea just really sank in for me and I jumped right in. I wasn't even done with the book when I started to go through my closet to purge all of the clothes that I hadn't worn in YEARS or at all. It was mindblowing to see how much stuff I had. No person needs THAT much clothes. I even found myself angry, looking at the countless shirts that still had tags on them. Ones I bought simply because it was a "good deal."



I plan to really go into depth about my journey in later posts. And also share a little history on what my house was like before deciding to make this change, and the reasons why I think it ended up the way it did. I have lots of ideas for you guys and I am very excited to share in this lifestyle. I am by no means a true minimalist, and I am not sure that I ever will be, but just in the past few weeks of knowing the difference between wants and needs, I have saved SO much time and money (I realize I might be somewhat of an extreme case).  It has honestly changed my life in a lot of amazing ways! So I hope you check in and get inspired!

If this is something that at all interests you, I encourage you to look at the blogs I mentioned or pick up the book...or even just google ways to live minimally. It isn't just about the stuff in our house, it's also about the planet we leave for our kids! (more on that later!)

Thanks for reading!
Chyleina