Becoming a minimalist of sorts.

                                               

The last year or so for my family some could argue has been lapped in luxury. No I don't drive a BMW or eat caviar and drink fine wines, but as a simple middle class family we enjoy eating out 2-3x a week, buying hoards of junk food, candy bars and expensive cuts of meat, I buy a minimum of 3 bags of chips to sustain my family of 5 weekly and personally drink about 3 sodas daily. If I want chocolate cake, or Mexican food for dinner, well I get what I want. These last few weeks The Lord has been working on me and my so-called lavish lifestyle and my ever growing debt and insistent need for "things"... Then I read about a minimalist mother who inspired me and make me take a closer look. I took this excerpt from www.frugal-living.yoexpert.com

"Minimalism is more of a process of living than a destination in life. It is something that must continually be worked on in order to maintain an uncomplicated, clutter-free existence and live a minimalistic lifestyle. Because the vast majority of the world seems to believe that wealth and happiness is attained with material possessions, there are constantly a number of influences that will complicate things for the person trying to live a minimalistic lifestyle. "

That pretty much hits the nail on the head. From food to clothing, to fancy cars, to obsessive career paths that we let consume who we are. All to achieve a better way of life, a better tomorrow when in actuality I feel like we are just sucking the value out of tomorrow because we are too worried about what we can gain today. So my family, our journey begins. Our first step, we are cutting back on is our eating out and obsessive junk food spend binging and putting it towards credit cards until our bills are paid down. We will spend a set amount on groceries each month around $20-$30 a week cutting back to an occasional bag of chips, as that's definitely not a necessity. I'm excited about my minimalist journey. I'm not expecting it to be perfectly easy but I'm expecting it to be easily perfecting! I realized today though I'd rather be a poor poor minimalist eating beans and rice than a rich person unhappy and self absorbed or a person intent and content on freeloading. There are families all over the globe living off of $1 a day. Im shooting around $5 a day. So I raise this can of diet coke and the crumbs left In my last bag of cheetohs and say, cheers!!! I'm off to find a better more inspired me. 

Until Next time, 

Amanda

The modest mom