During pregnancy and the early stages of motherhood, we all get giddy and excited to purchase a lot of new things. Same goes during different stages in our life that many of us are buried under piles of sentimental material stuff. I have been reading about the joys of living with less and how a person can feel literally burdened with the amount of clutter in their lives.
I have taken baby steps from the beginning like welcoming hand me downs for Ashton’s use like most of his bibs, toys, and the trusty old high chair from my sister. This doesn’t mean though that we have not purchased anything new, the temptation is sometimes too hard to resist especially for new parents like us. Some of our purchases include a gigantic inflatable pool (now stocked somewhere in the house after being used about 4 times). Did we really need that?
Surely you have similar experiences and thoughts. We complain that life is expensive and how our accounts receivable collection vanish in a blink of an eye. But when we re-evaluate and step back, we discover a lot of unnecessary expenses. Living with less has been my goal for about 2 months now in the hopes that it will make my family life even more enjoyable and qualitative. Doing so will mean even bigger savings for more that will lead me to worrying less about my child’s future.
Below are some actionable thoughts and steps on living with less:
1. Go over the house once more and sort items that can now be passed on or sold
2. Avoid unnecessary trips to the grocer or send someone else to buy from a list because I confess, I get out of hand when given a shopping cart (it’s in the genes?)
3. Always check the refrigerator for leftovers and cook more instead of phoning for food
4. Focus on what we have and enjoy in the moment
5. Think more than thrice when buying something and delay purchase when necessary
How about you? I am tagging all of my blog posts of this nature with “living with less” and you can do the same if you would like to share your thoughts and progress in living a happier simpler life.
