Silence We were out recently with some friends we don’t see very often when it hit me just how out of the ordinary our family must seem, especially during the holidays. As we drove to dinner the conversation turned to how much holiday shopping they’d done yet how much they still had to do. My response that we haven’t really shopped for Christmas in a couple of years, opting instead to make donations or gift experiences or … Read More
This has always been among my favorite days of the year. The day we turn the clocks back an hour is the day that gives me more of what I value most ~ TIME. At the risk of sounding weird, the old time-starved me always looked forward to this day with the same anticipation as a kid looks forward to Christmas morning. While other people accepted this gifted hour as an opportunity to get some extra sleep, … Read More
We recently started what we hope will be our last round of home renovations. As you know, the first stage of any renovation project is clearing everything out of the spaces being renovated. I’m noticing that clearing out the master bath, guest room and my office is giving me a great opportunity to continue Phase Three of our minimizing process. You may recall that during Phases One and Two my husband and I whittled down our belongings by … Read More
I was lucky enough to wake up twice this morning. The first time, when the alarm went off and the second around 6:30 AM when I completed a short but impactful mindfulness meditation. No, I’m not someone who diligently practices mindfulness every morning. (If you are, I have a great deal of regard for you and the amazing self-care you’re demonstrating.) Instead I am someone who has read a lot about benefits of mindfulness, never really developed … Read More
I need to buy a new computer this year. I have a six-year-old Mac with a 512K hard drive and it’s not long for this world. I was planning to upgrade to a terabyte of memory, but was shocked to learn that doubling the memory would cost me $400! This quickly made me wonder how much storage space I really needed. If you’ve been reading for a while you know that I’m minimizing the rest of my … Read More
It seems everyone I’m coming in contact with lately is adding one more task to their list or one more activity to their calendar. There’s even a commercial on tv that challenges us, “Who wouldn’t want more?” As someone who is actively minimizing I’m paying close attention to the idea of “more.” We’ve been conditioned to believe that more is better. My husband and I often joke about one of our college accounting professors instilling in us … Read More
We all experience unfortunate situations that throw a big old wrench in our plans. For me recently, the wrench was a power outage on a Friday morning in December. Whatever its nature, the wrench is almost guaranteed to create internal dialogue like mine when the power went out at 8AM: “Ugh! How am I going to shower and get dressed in the dark before the painters arrive?“ “Oh no, the painters! They can’t possibly finish … Read More
It’s been almost a year (September 2015) since I shared with you in this blog. In September 2015 my husband and I were on the verge of minimizing our world by moving to a smaller house nearer the city center and closer to my husband’s office and our favorite activities. It was a move that would allow us to experiment with living a life more closely aligned with our emerging values of a healthier lifestyle, simplicity, a smaller … Read More
My husband and I aren’t big on exchanging gifts of tangible things, so Mother’s Day at our house has historically been about gifting time and attention. It’s a day where we typically do what I feel like doing. As such, I probably could have lounged in bed this morning reading, while my dear husband cleaned up and braced himself for a trip to the nursery to go flower shopping, which is something that he doesn’t enjoy, but … Read More
I’d like to share a comment from a reader who played the #MinsGame in February. She was excited to report the release of a significant number items and sent me the following message: Hi, Andrea – week one of the challenge – Collected things throughout the week and escorted them out of the house today. 28 items and 40 more pounds gone – YAY!!! Items included blouses/shirts, a mini trampoline, my cross-country skis (I used to have so much fun … Read More