3 Years of Progress

It has been FAR too long since I've posted anything on the blog.   It's been even longer since I've actually worked on my original goal of writing about our 'Little House Lifestyle' (i.e. modeling loosely from the Little House on the Prairie series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder).

Though I haven't blogged about it recently, we are still very much at work making our home a more simple style of living.  Here's a quick list of what we've done since I last wrote in 2013:

• Attempted 'Clean Eating' for 3 months--- felt great!!!  And then Thanksgiving 2013 came....I've been off the wagon ever since.  Ha!  Do I want to pick it up again one day?  Sure!  But first I need to get a few other things in order-- as I'll explain later.
• We still avoid added sugars in most things that we buy (unless we're blatantly buying cookies or ice cream or things like that) and we also make our own spice mixes instead of buying pre-packaged.  That's also a cost savings! 
• We still tend to buy grass-fed beef and try for nitrate free hot-dogs, etc.  Just can't bring myself to buy the cheap stuff anymore!

• Had 2 more kids-- a little boy and a little girl.  They are such blessings and we love them.  They round out our family to a nice 6 people.  
• Does having more kids make life simpler?  Yes and no.  I've had to learn to let go of a lot of things-- making life simpler and more satisfying-- but has the process getting to that point been easy or simple?  Nope.  Is it quiet at our house? Not at all. Worth it? 100%!

• Started simplifying and getting control of our finances.  
• My husband will say we do not "do Dave Ramsey," but I will say that we have been applying some of those Dave Ramsey-esque principles and it has been an effective and very gratifying financial transition period for us.  
• We've also been using YNAB budgeting software for a year plus and I love it.  Those two powerhouse resources have made life so much simpler!  

• The drive to gain better financial control also led me down the road of finding ways to save money.  The result became trying to live without disposable products.  I wish I could say that it was motivated by environmentalism...but it's not.  I'm glad it also helps the environment, which I love being out in, but I definitely was more motivated by wanting to keep those pennies in our bank account rather than in the trash can.   
• So-- on that score, we switched to cloth napkins and hand towels instead of paper towels, microfiber cloths instead of lysol wipes (for wiping tables, etc), cloth snack bags instead of throw-away ziplocs, reusable lady things (TMI) instead of disposable, cloth diapers and wipes instead of disposable diapers, wool balls instead of fabric softener, etc.  The savings has been significant!  If you just compare the amount of trash bags we set out each week, you can tell a big difference.  Fewer trash bags also => more money in the bank account, incidentally!
• Generally, all these things require more work.  There's the initial research on what to buy/ use, there's the transition in actually going from disposable to non-disposable, there's also the work of keeping it going-- you have to wash lots more.  But, the additional cost to our utilities has actually been really negligible.  As in, I'm sure it must have affected it somehow, but we haven't noticed it at all if it did.

• Dejunking!  We periodically go through all our stuff and try to declutter.  This tends to go in waves. Right now, we probably have a decent equilibrium between clutter and useful items, but we might need another de-junking session soon. Having less "STUFF" does definitely seem to make life simpler.

• I guess we have also been a little more eco-friendly--- we switched from using as many chemicals to doing things as naturally as possible.  
• We started making our own hand soap with castille soap.  Super simple and effective.  We've been doing it for about a year and I really can't remember a time in the last year that we've gotten sick!  
• We pay a little extra to get free & clear laundry soap as well.  
• I also would love, one day, to own a Tesla car-- a Model X would be nice! Again, this is very much more from the cost savings and an internal drive to be self-reliant than it is from any super environmental leanings.  I just dream of the day when we have solar panels on our roof and a battery reserve of energy and we can charge super safe car (that will seat all 6 of us) for just a fraction of what it costs to get it filled with gas. 

• We have tried many summers of back-yard gardening.  Our first year was definitely our best year.  This year, due to lack of time, we have a garden bed of weeds/ grass.  Next year, I tell myself, I'll take care of the garden.  When we do, it's awesome to get our own produce from backyard.  And the kids love it!

• I am constantly on the look-out for a good piece of land that we can stake a claim on.  I'd love to buy a tract of a few acres (like 5 or more would be so lovely) where we can enjoy quiet and trees and some feeling of space.  We'll find it one day!

• And last, but not least, is our latest and biggest adventure: homeschooling! More on that in the next post!

So there you have a semi-brief update on the tangible things we have been doing in the last few years towards living a simpler lifestyle!