Cozy Cottage Christmas

After a full year of downsizing, and our second Christmas, I feel like we are getting the hang of things. This Christmas was simple, Credit free! and home based. We were so busy this past semester that being home as a family was so precious.

The new year will be another purging opportunity. Donating old, outgrown toys and organizing the rooms for more efficiency for the growing kids.

The only down side is that now, before New Years, we have already taken down Christmas. It quickly feels tight and does interrupt our daily activities. The tree goes where the dog's bed usually is.  I am not sad though, it looks so much cleaner now! Fresh start for the new year.

 Next year we will try to arrange Christmas in a way that is less intrusive and maybe can stay up longer.

 Happy New Year! Keep it simple.

Watercolour greeting cards, painted rocks and zombie teddies.

So sometimes benefits are slow. Sometimes you don't know they are even there but I assure you they are. After reading an article on how hard it is to find good rental opportunities in our area I find myself extremely grateful for our current situation, despite the minimal/slow growing financial benefits. It could always be worse!

Sample of our craft sale table

We have upsized our income now that I have found two awesome flexible jobs. And in a bid to teach the kids about entrepreneurism (not necessarily profit) we held our first table at the local craft fair.

So we almost broke even. And that is if all my labour was free. But the kids showed initiative, and learned about sales and how it all works. I like to hope my hours of free labour lent some lessons to them. If nothing else maybe one of our gifts brought someone some joy! Good times, making it work, ready for another cozy xmas in the cottage. Life it good, spread the love.

Cancelling cable TV...just after the BB finale!

It wasn't too long ago that I panicked at the loss of my pvr. I was really worried because between the kids and work and my husband's schedule, there was little time for me. The pvr gave me the freedom to save things I like and catch up on my time. It's been a while now and I can say we do not miss it. We probably watch 80% less tv now. No point of watching an episode if we've missed 3 episode prior. We cheat a little. On demand functions allow us to view certain shows and if I really want something I can find it on the internet. But overall there are few things worth making the time for or hunting down.
So why bring this up now? I don't know if it's my age or my awareness but I am getting really tired of being spoon fed cultural garbage. I have become hyper aware of how hard society is trying to influence us every second of everyday. I feel an even greater pull to "drop off the grid" than I have before.

So what's next in our downsize? I think we are going to drop cable TV. I would love to drop internet too but it is almost impossible to live and work in today's age without being connected. So for that I will wait until we don't need to work in "connected" jobs to pay the bills. Somewhere off grid in our tiny home, sitting on the porch and watching the cars go by. That's the dream.

The TV cancellation will save us $55/month and countless hours of time! We will do it, just after the last episode of my favourite reality show next week ;)

Upsizing the yard

Have you ever returned to a place of childhood memory only to find the space so small now that you've grown? I imagine this is how my kids will reflect on our current yard. But even in the largest homes we have lived in, our yards have been too small or inconvenient to enjoy. For the first time our kids have independent accessibly to the outdoors and the freedom that it creates. It is not ideal, two decks and a sloping dirt hill with old concrete stairs but it is heavily treed and filled with disovery. Bird, bugs and even racoons! So in a bid to enjoy our beautiful summer and free up our interior space we are upsizing the kids outdoor play area by building them a treehouse. A nice safe flat clean place where they can watch movies or play games. They have the best view of the ocean on our property! Throw in a couple of tree swings and it's the closest I have felt to paradise. 

Back to basics

My hope is to have one plant yield something edible. I do not have a green thumb but I am trying to make friends with plant life. I am doing my best to get back to basics and learn some old fashioned mad skills. The more stuff we strip away and the less we depend on things and the more we want to depend on ourselves. It's really an issue of control and ownership of our life. These baby cucumber seedlings represent a new beginning for us, a return to our roots and a lesson to our children.  They are a metaphor for our new beginning. The more I learn about how to keep these delicate little seeds alive and growing the more I appreciate how vulnerable our minds and bodies are to our environment. I feel at times as though I am weaning myself off of a hand-feed, preprogrammed materialistic lifestyle. I feel closer to home than I have before. Not in my space but in my head.

Once upon a deck

We've been so blessed to have such a mild winter and beautiful spring. One thing for sure is that we will be using our deck as an outdoor living space this summer. We splurged a little with some patio lanterns and a very small deck heater on clearance. We even build an old fashion tree swing for the kids. The outdoor space, although small, has proven invaluable. Luckily we have lovely neighbours through the back gate and our kids can share adventures across the yards.
As sunny as things are it has not been nearly as fruitful or progressive as we had hoped. Our gains are minimal so far. We are behind schedule on our debt free plan but we are learning patience and perseverance and maintaining hope. I know we are not the only family with unexpected expenses derailing our dreams. We are just grateful for so much of what we have gained and staying the course on our way to success.

Need for Clean

Another interesting requirement for those of you who are considering a downsize. Spring cleaning actually needs to happen, meaning you can not just shove things in boxes anymore and store them in the garage. Spring has come and our usually daily assessment of "too many things" has been growing. We are not just cleaning away the winter but we are about to tackle another massive purge. It disturbs me a little at how much can go. I can attribute 80% of it to the kids growth. Clothes are too small and they are outgrowing some of their toys. Regardless, there is no room to sweep it under the rug. Accumulation becomes quickly evident and must be dealt with swiftly. It's nice because we are reminded to control our spending as we begin to donate another load of stuff.

Downsize everything but your goals.

So my PVR broke. I'm not going to lie, I panicked for a split second. Part of my security blanket was missing. Part of something I could depend on, a staple, the one consistent thing I could rely on was now gone. When the rest of the world was crazy I could count on this little box to capture my most favourite pastime. PASTIME. What a horrible term. Why do I want to pass time? I don't know how much time I have left. Then a day passed and another day passed and I didn't miss it. Do you know I had over 20 shows recording throughout the week. I miss maybe 2 of them and speaking frankly I don't know if I "miss" them.

Now I do still have a T.V. I have only lost the HD channels but I still get every show. I just have to decide in that moment what the most important thing is for me to do. Like the old days. "We need to have supper early and get the kids bathed cuz our show is on at 7pm."  This channel downsize forces me to evaluate the priorities in my life. This unexpected change has freed up hours of my time. Time I use to pass.

So it brings me to wonder, what do I need to do with this time? It occurs to me that for every wasteful night in front of the television feeling exhausted or helpless, I could have been doing anything more productive. I could have done yoga to feel less tired, or walked the dog. I could have been working towards important goals or at least discovering which goals are important for me. I begin to wonder, do I need TV at all. I can watch the two shows I like on the computer if I must. How much money would we save?

The real issue at hand, well there are two, is our plan of action for financial freedom and the distractions therein that threaten this goal. So this is the year where we hope to see gains from our downsize. Enough to dig out of the mess we created. It's not pretty and there is no quick fix. So month one, I propose we put a dent in something. Now our rental property is also threatening to delay our denting process but I propose we take it in stride, baby steps. It took years to make the mess, it'll take years to clean it up. There's a storm coming but this time I vow to be the one causing it.

You can't just simplify your space.

Sometimes the first step feels like the biggest. You may think you only have one step left but inevitably in life, there is always one more step. So where do I go from here? The realization that living "smaller" is easier tends to bleed into other outlets in your life. And although the benefits of such have not come on fast and furious they are starting to poke their head up here and there.

But now I want more, now that I have given up and and given away I realize that there is so much more I can do to simplify our life. I want to pay for less, I want to eat less junk, I want to have less obligations. The only "more" I want is Freedom. It is not enough to simplify your space.

What does a simple life look like? I think it is different for everyone. Defining this for me and my family will become a new part of my journey.