Our Thrifty Experiment

My husband and I decided to pick a theme to lead us through 2016. We chose the word THRIFTY. This word has so much meaning for us. 

First, my husband launched a thrifty system this year that allows you to track all your spending. You can categorize your expenses and compare months. This makes it easy to see how you spend your money so you can make changes, helping you reach financial freedom. Check it out here. We have been using my husband's system since August 2015. It has been eye opening to see how much we spend in a given month.

Second, I've read a few articles about people who didn't buy anything new for a year (With a few predetermined exceptions - hello, underwear). This seemed like a fun experiment. 

Having bought a few things from resale shops in the past year I am more comfortable with not buying new. I know that I am a bit of an impulse buyer (hello pretty smelling candle at the grocery store that costs $13) If I bought this candle once a week that's $676 dollars on candles in a single year. And now I ask myself - Do I need the candles? Can I hold off on buying a candle this week? 

So to help us take our minimalist lifestyle to the next level we decided to be thrifty this year. Here are the rules we are following:

1. If we don't need it. Don't buy it!
2. If we need it. Can we buy it resale?
3. If we can't find it resale, can we hold off and keep looking?

We do have a list of exceptions. Here they are:

1. If we need underwear - we will buy new. Same for running shoes.
2. Vacations don't count (souvenirs: one/child)
3. Remodeling our home - there are some things that we won't be doing resale on.

There are two things that my husband and I want to be able to do financially - vacations and remodeling our home. And that is why they are on our exceptions list. By becoming more thrifty in other areas of our life, we will be able to save more money for these exciting adventures.

Over this year I'll share the things we bought resale, decided not to buy, and decided to sell. This is a big experiment. Before we make any financial decision we will be asking - is this thrifty? I'm excited to see what this year brings!

Have you ever spent a year being thrifty? Share your experience with me! How did it benefit/change your life? What did you learn? And did you keep it up the next year?

Loving The Results

I started this blog as a fun way to document the changes we were making (or experimenting with) in our home. About two years ago I was introduced to the idea of minimalism. My brain about exploded with excitement.

THAT'S ME! 

THAT'S WHAT I WANT! 

I'M NOT WEIRD! 

IT'S A THING

Before minimalism entered my life, I would spend weekly trips at Target and bi-weekly trips at Goodwill donating the stuff I had spent our money on. I was constantly trying to declutter and never truly making any progress. I had joined in the partaking of shopping as a fun activity, but my brain couldn't handle the influx of stuff when I got home. Once I heard about minimal living, I knew it was my answer. I didn't have to join the masses at Target, I could move my life in a different direction, and I did.

Our Changes

I stepped in my kitchen and said - What do we need? I ended up getting rid of a lot of stuff. We kept half of our plates, bowls, coffee cups, water glasses and silverware. We got rid of all specialty appliances, keeping only the toaster, crockpot, and blender. We gave away all our specialty glassware (margarita, martini, beer, wine). We aren't big drinkers so this didn't mean much to us. We drink beer from a bottle and wine in our cups that double a stemless wine glasses. In the end, we eliminated the use of a bottom corner cabinet, and five upper cabinets. 

After the kitchen came a lot of other changes. We got rid of a full set of living room furniture, two TVs, and five dressers. We kept only our favorite clothes and favorite toys (a keyboard, barbies, legos, dress-up/make believe items, stuffed animals and dolls, and a few games). We got rid of our fake Christmas tree and replaced that with a norfolk pine that stays in our living room year round. Our girls named our tree Elsa!

Our minimalist journey has also led me to discover Zero Waste living. I am buying as much food as I can in bulk. I wear my hair with my God given waves instead of straightening it. I wear no make-up most days, we got a worm composter, and traded our 96 gallon trash and recycling containers for the small 36 gallon ones!

But Why????

This is the big question we get. Why are you doing this? This is a big question, but I have learned I don't have to defend our changes. My answer is simple.

I Enjoy Living With Less

I really do. It makes me happy. I am less focused on my material goods and keeping my home organized. I still have to to clean up and put things away, but I don't have to dedicate days to doing this anymore. With these changes I have found more free time to discover my passions.

Two years ago I was asked - What do you like to do? What are your hobbies? I didn't have anything. I couldn't think of a single thing. 

But today this is different. I love painting, not canvas, but homes. I have spent a lot of time this past year doing something I only wished I could do - paint our woodwork white and repaint our walls a light gray color. My husband gave me his support and I slowly and with some growing pains grew a talent for painting. I am so proud of my accomplishments - that's a good feeling. 

I also spend a lot more time reading. I wake up every day excited to make a cup of coffee and sit down with a good book. I usually get a chapter in before my girls are hungry and then in the afternoon I take time to relax on the couch and dive further into my book. I have read 62 books this year. My favorites include:

Favorite Series

Stephanie Plum Series: Janet Evanovich
Lizzy and Diesel Series: Janet Evanovich
Crossfire: Sylvia Day

Favorite Books

The Fringe Hours: Jessica Turner

Jesus Feminist: Sarah Bessey

The Power of Habit: Charles Duhigg

Zero Waste Home: Bea Johnson

Notes From A Blue Bike: Tsh Oxenreider

My Year With Eleanor: Nicole Hancock

The Marriage of Opposites: Alice Hoffman

Walkable City: Jeff Speck

The Life- Changing Magic of Tidying Up: Marie Kondo

The other thing I have found is freedom for family time. Freeing up our finances and time has led to a lot of adventures. We now go on a Family Summer Road Trip each year.  Two years ago we traveled to Arizona for my sisters wedding. We loved our special bonding time on the road so much that we decided to make this an annual thing. This past summer we road tripped to Florida and next year we plan to road trip to the West Coast. Our fun goal is to make it to all 50 states with our girls. And then, hello Europe! Creating these memories has been so fun and fills my heart with joy.

I simply enjoy living with less. I started with experiments - pull out half the dinnerware and see if we don't use it, empty a dresser and see if we miss it, etc. The idea of living with less sometimes seems weird, against the norm, or impossible; but I have found that starting with an experiment allows you to give it a try. To say - this is temporary and if it doesn't work we can go back to the way it was and try again at a later time.

Now that I have experimented and followed through on most experiments, I feel confident in our changes and have seen the blessings that have grown from minimalist living.  

I can't wait to continue this journey next year. While I spent most of this year documenting my experiments, I will be transitioning to sharing more fruits of our lifestyle next year. The things I am enjoying - my new hobbies and more fun family times - mixed in with experiments or changes in our minimalist and zero waste journey. I am loving the results of all my experiments and I'm looking forward to continuing this journey in 2016.

I invite you to follow our journey and to share your journey with me. I love hearing how others are embracing and enjoying minimalist living as well!