Dipping my foot in the Minimalist world.....

Have you seen this show on Netflix?  The minimalist?    I watched it since I have been trying to be more like this in our home and lives.   It was so interesting to watch.  I don't know that I could go that minimal.  They have like 8 shirts and two pants and one pair of shoes, I love my shoes way to much.

There was one lady in the show that they lived in a tiny house.  I like having my space in my house because we have kids that like to run around and play.   There were quite a few other people in this movie that have their own lifestyles.  Like the 33 challenge where you have 33 items of clothing and that is all you wear for 3 months.  She said that people didn't even notice because she had things like a scarf and a jacket.  She just switched it up by what she wore together.  I don't know that I could ever go down to 33 items.  I have gotten rid of quite a few shirts I have been hanging onto, thinking oh one day I will fit into this again.  I also have clothes that I would only wear on special occasions, and even then I didn't look forward to wearing it.  It was more like I should really wear this it has been a long time since I wore it.   I got rid of those clothes.  I took  them to a consignment shop that will give me a percent of what they sell it for.  So it works out nice.  I get the clothes out of my closet and get a little money back.   

Shoes are my weakness, I love shoes.  I know I have talked about this before where my sisters and I have this rule that you can't have more than 40 pairs of shoes.  Well I dont think  I'm close anymore.  I got rid of some that I just didn't wear anymore.  I don't need a closet full of shoes.  I did keep plenty though, since this is my favorite.

I loved the idea in the movie of just having less and not being caught up in the buying of things to satisfy that "need"  I am a impulse buyer and an emotional spender for sure.  I think that buying something new will bring me something.   I know it doesn't but it does give me pleasure for a minute.  That isn't what I really want though.  Since the beginning of the year I have tried to be a lot more careful with my spending.  I think about my purchases for a while before actually buying it.  I have stopped myself quite a few times to think do I really need this?  Why do I want this?   It has helped.  I can't say I haven't bought things that I really didn't need but I have been better and that is what its all about.  Slowly getting better,  it takes some work to break habits and patterns.   So I am just glad that I am slowly becoming more aware of things that I would normally spend money on. 

I did post about cleaning up the toys and boxing some up and even selling a bunch.  Well it has been
so much easier to keep the house clean.  We only have to clean up the toys that fit in the toy box.  It makes it so much less stressful and the kids still have plenty to play with.  It has made moms life so much better so far, and the kids haven't noticed the "missing" toys.

I really like this idea of be more with less, I feel like it makes me value what I do have more.  I also feel like if we have less then I won't want to buy stuff to fill back up my home.  I like my clean spaces now.  So in turn we will spend less as well which is always good.  We can save even more money.   There are so many ways to be a minimalist and one thing that I liked about one of the blogs I read was this quote "Take the practices that work for you and help you live a happier life"  I don't have to take the 33 item idea and use it.... I can keep those shoes if I want..   I just take the ideas and principles that I like from it and make it my own minimalist life.  I have loved the feeling so far, and I know I'm just getting started on cleaning out.