Have you ever thought to yourself, how did I get here? This was a thought I had about a month ago before I took a break from blogging. I believe that this thought that ran through my mind was so powerful that I needed time to process exactly what was going. Today I will attempt to share my process.
Over the past several months I have been working part time, which is not the norm for me, but that's how my position worked out, and what we as a couple decided I would do during this time. It gave me more time to focus on the house, our new puppy (who has behavioral issues- really!) and on my health.
A couple of months ago, I looked around at our house, our yard, the amount of time I spend cleaning and re-organizing, and said to my husband as he came home from work one day. "I've been thinking and I think our house is too big." Of course shocked he said, "What do you mean?" I continued on by saying "I feel like I'm constantly cleaning and re-organizing on my days off and it never feels like it's done." He listened and said, "What do you think we should do?" and I answered with "I have no idea, but it's been bothering me and I thought you should know." The conversation ended, but continued to weigh on my heart.
Of course I realize cleaning and lawn maintenance is part of home ownership, but this is not the first house we've owned, but it is the first house of this size and with a large yard with usable lawn space (ie. lawn that needs to be mowed). Please hear me, I love our house, it is an incredible blessing. I know there are tons of people out there who would love to have a home in our community and can't for one reason or another, or who would like to own a home, and can't. I'm so blessed to live here. I live one mile from my workplace, and we love our neighbors and the neighborhood we live in. I have two vegetable gardens and a few flower gardens that I will enjoy getting my hands dirty in once the weather warms up. That being said I do think we could be better stewards of our time and money.
To our defense, when we purchased this house we thought our lives would be in a different place than we are now. God has taught us so many things in the past 2 + years in this home. Our plans are not God's plans (i.e. we thought we would have 1-2 children by now, and we don't.) Our values have shifted, we've learned that we would prefer to not spend hours on a Saturday mowing and raking our lawn and instead spend time together (not doing yard work!) or with friends & family. Although we enjoy taking care of a yard and appreciate the space, 1 acre is a bit too much for us to manage.
Aside from the time aspect, we are spending too much money to live in this house. We both work very hard and get paid reasonable salaries, but we have some other priorities that are getting pushed aside due to our decision to live in this house. Mostly ridding ourselves of student loan debt. Our ultimate goal is to live a simpler lifestyle than we are now. We think it's feasible over time, but are not sure exactly what this will look like.
So, now what? That's the question we are asking ourselves. For now we can simplify and de-clutter our belongings. We can take good care of the house and yard that God has provided to us and patiently listen.
We continued our de-cluttering process yesterday by going through our bedroom closet and a few other random spaces, and brought our first car load of stuff to the local Goodwill. I'm proud of our first big de-clutter!
Over the past several months I have been working part time, which is not the norm for me, but that's how my position worked out, and what we as a couple decided I would do during this time. It gave me more time to focus on the house, our new puppy (who has behavioral issues- really!) and on my health.
A couple of months ago, I looked around at our house, our yard, the amount of time I spend cleaning and re-organizing, and said to my husband as he came home from work one day. "I've been thinking and I think our house is too big." Of course shocked he said, "What do you mean?" I continued on by saying "I feel like I'm constantly cleaning and re-organizing on my days off and it never feels like it's done." He listened and said, "What do you think we should do?" and I answered with "I have no idea, but it's been bothering me and I thought you should know." The conversation ended, but continued to weigh on my heart.
Of course I realize cleaning and lawn maintenance is part of home ownership, but this is not the first house we've owned, but it is the first house of this size and with a large yard with usable lawn space (ie. lawn that needs to be mowed). Please hear me, I love our house, it is an incredible blessing. I know there are tons of people out there who would love to have a home in our community and can't for one reason or another, or who would like to own a home, and can't. I'm so blessed to live here. I live one mile from my workplace, and we love our neighbors and the neighborhood we live in. I have two vegetable gardens and a few flower gardens that I will enjoy getting my hands dirty in once the weather warms up. That being said I do think we could be better stewards of our time and money.
To our defense, when we purchased this house we thought our lives would be in a different place than we are now. God has taught us so many things in the past 2 + years in this home. Our plans are not God's plans (i.e. we thought we would have 1-2 children by now, and we don't.) Our values have shifted, we've learned that we would prefer to not spend hours on a Saturday mowing and raking our lawn and instead spend time together (not doing yard work!) or with friends & family. Although we enjoy taking care of a yard and appreciate the space, 1 acre is a bit too much for us to manage.
Aside from the time aspect, we are spending too much money to live in this house. We both work very hard and get paid reasonable salaries, but we have some other priorities that are getting pushed aside due to our decision to live in this house. Mostly ridding ourselves of student loan debt. Our ultimate goal is to live a simpler lifestyle than we are now. We think it's feasible over time, but are not sure exactly what this will look like.
So, now what? That's the question we are asking ourselves. For now we can simplify and de-clutter our belongings. We can take good care of the house and yard that God has provided to us and patiently listen.
We continued our de-cluttering process yesterday by going through our bedroom closet and a few other random spaces, and brought our first car load of stuff to the local Goodwill. I'm proud of our first big de-clutter!
Have you ever felt like you have too much space, too much stuff, and too much yard/ property to take care of? What have you done to simplify? I'd love to hear your thoughts!