Minimalism is the fashion forward way to say living simply.
Some of the parts of living simply has always come naturally to me.
I have never been one to want the new "thing". Whether it be the newest phone, TV, clothing item, or fad.
I also have never been one to enjoy spending my money.
When I got my first job, I started saving and saving for a senior trip that me and some of my friends at the time were going to go on together. After some time, my mom had to literally tell me that I should go and spend some of my money on some nice clothes or something.
So as you can see, living simply with my money is not something that I have a hard time doing. ;)
For some time, my husband and I practiced minimalism without even realizing it. We were living in our own 3 bedroom two bath house on just his income alone. Things were tight, but we went without most of the time, and we were okay with that.
But then something happened that challenged the way I viewed life in general. We ended up loosing our home.
Loosing your home is something that you never plan to do, and you always think that it could happen to someone else, and not to you. But I'm here to tell you, no one's immune to anything. My husband had to step down from one of his working positions causing us a loss of income, and even though we prayed and did everything in our power to stay on top of our mortgage, we ended up falling behind and inevitably losing our home.
We are currently living in a two bedroom two bath town house in a quiet town.
At this point you may be feeling sorry for me.
Don't.
For a while I felt sorry for myself. I felt as though we were failing our three children because we were no longer living the “American Dream.” They no longer had their own yard to play in, their own rooms, and Mommy and Daddy couldn't tell them that yes, this is our forever home.
In our society, the pressure to provide your children that type of lifestlye is HUGE!!
But God is good, and God is ALWAYS teaching me things.
What makes a house a home??
I can tell you first hand that it is not the square footage.
It is not big organized playrooms.
It is not a huge yard.
You can honestly make a home anywhere because what makes a house a home is the people in it. The love, laugher, cuddles, growing, learning, playing, tickle fights, sharing meals, and talking about God that you do and share with those people.
The Bible is very specific about material things. Nothing on this earth lasts forever, including what house we live in. But the memories that you make with your family will. The goldy impact that you have on your children wherever you "set up camp" lasts forever too.
I personally grew up in a church parsonage. Because of that, I probably won't be able to easily go and revisit it anytime that I want to.
But you know what I do have? All of the memories of the good times with my family and friends there. Watching old movies with my parents, playing euchre, sledding down the hill, My dad giving us Bible trivia during dinner, slumber parties with childhood friends, smelling my Mom cooking something AMAMZING in the kitchen... the list goes on and on.
Looking back, I feel incredibly blessed with my childhood, and it happened in a home that my parents didn't technically own either.
One of my favorite memories of me and my Dad happened sitting outside on our porch. I asked him if the fact that he didn't own his own home bothered him. He said, "Sometimes it does. But then I remember that nothing really "belongs" to us. Everything belongs to God anyways."
So as far as I'm concerned, the "American Dream" can take a hike!! While it does, I'll be making memories to cherish with my family in our home.
Stay tuned for upcoming posts about minimalism
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