Positive Downsizing Part II

Sometimes change happens fast. When you're ready for it, that swiftness is just what you need to follow through with your idea's momentum and not grow complacent with the status quo.

We visited an apartment near downtown Sioux Falls yesterday morning, just a few days since the idea of downsizing to save and pay off debt became a live option for us. Walking into this tiny, outdated, almost-one-bedroom, we immediately knew it would be a great fit for our needs. And CHEAP. God moves in mysterious ways.

Counter-cultural, frugal, spartan, and  anti-materialistic could all describe why this place is perfect, because honestly, it's by no means any normal person's ideal, let alone two people. We don't want it for normal people reasons. It's not updated or stylish, spacious or charming. Perhaps cozy, but that word can be interchanged for any number of descriptions not polite to say about the humility of someone's home. And we are both aware and intentional about moving into such a small and uncool place.

I can already feel the pity of well-meaning friends and family when they find out our plan and see the tininess of the place. Especially the bedroom; we will just have room for a bed and lamp, and that's about it.  "Look, it has a closet!" Dave said when we saw it, with genuine approbation for such a luxury. That gives you some idea of how low we set our expectations for this place.

When we are finished with our sort/purge and garage sale this month, our goal is to have only bare essentials and important heirlooms left in our possession. The big items we can't bare to part with will go into storage, hopefully free, considering David's ability to get in the good graces of folks who have extra attic or shed space. We don't have a ton of decor at this point, and we can easily decorate our new place with what we have and it will probably fill up the new place better than our current place.

I can't say this will be easy. The next month of our life will be more work than we've ever undertaken as a couple. I anticipate stress, doubt, nostalgic sadness to leave the first home we shared as husband and wife, and probably some logistical hiccups we didn't foresee. But it's all part of life, and no excuse to abandon the more important value of living below our means.

Why? Because debt is a heavy load to bear, but we are not powerless. We are free. Free to live in a lifestyle standard that makes no sense to the ideals of comfort and having cool stuff, but makes total sense to the ideals of what's truly important and worthwhile, and economical to boot.

Bonus: if we can find contentment with the bare minimum, and even make it comfortable and attractive, with a little creativity, elbow grease, and the right arrangement of our existing decor, we will more easily be able to live below our means later when we have much more to live on.

I'm actually really excited to decorate our tiny place. The galley kitchen is adorably small, but with plenty of storage and counter space, and A KITCHEN WINDOW! Seriously, I am willing to downgrade to half our square footage just for that one feature.  A kitchen window with pots of growing herbs is one of the most warming sights to my heart.

We'll have to sell quite a bit of our furniture, but since we didn't buy much of it in the first place, that's pure gain. Fewer shelves and tables on which dust can gather. And the few pieces we'll bring with us will be those we really like and use often. Sorry Mom, but the couch we own that's an exact replica of your living room sofa from 1999 doesn't make the cut.

On the list so far of items we will be selling: two large TVs and one mini TV,  a stationary rower, a laminate stand-alone cupboard, a shower curtain, two printers, a camera, some knickknacks I collected during my "antique" phase as a preteen (think pictures of porcelain white ladies with dresses that have the Victorian equivalent of the "Booty Pop,") a side table, a coffee table, a 1970s projector in need of repair, and some kitchenware we never use.

David already recruited some friends of ours, two or three other couples, to collaborate with us to throw one huge rummage sale. That's going to be a fun time, but the prep work and post-sale cleaning and donating, probably not so much. 
 
So, we've put in our application, made the plan, and now the gears are set in motion for a pretty revolutionary venture for David and I to undertake. I guess if I didn't have frugal cred before, I'll have it now.

Positive Downsizing

I have discovered that not everyone can relate to the way my brain works. I am ever and always a learner. The more I delve into a topic in which my fascination is sparked, the more I realize I still have to learn, which fuels this mental occupation until it becomes a bottomless pit of information absorption.

And then there’s the fact that I’m a verbal processor. My poor husband. Yesterday we drove to Sioux City to watch a football game with some friends, and he had to listen to me for the whole hour-long drive home verbally process everything I learned today in my internet research on the latest sub-categories of frugal and healthy living. (Because let’s face it, football doesn’t engage my brain very much and if I have internet access, I can feed my brain monster and not die of boredom.) Various topics I blabbed about ranged from the benefits and methods of fermenting vegetables, what I plan to ferment next, and what a sourdough starter is and why I’m going to start one and begin the learning process of sourdough everything (sourdough pancakes are at the top of the list right now. I’ve missed pancakes.)

 (Here's the sauerkraut I'm fermenting this week. Isn't it gorgeous?)

Then I had one of my radical frugal thoughts, and since there was nothing better to do while we drove home (the Packers lost, so Dave was more inclined to talk about something besides the game—lucky me) I verbally processed this crazy plan with him.

It is basically this:
Let's downsize. We live in an apartment that has more space than we need or use. We have two bedrooms and tons of storage space, which encourages us in our subconscious collecting of useless stuff. Our guest bedroom, for instance, has become such a catch-all clutter collector that it has been nicknamed “The Room of Requirement,” a reference to a pretty popular children’s series you may have read. 

When I read Freedom through Frugality this spring, it led to a Gung Ho passion to simplify and reduce our stuff… at least for me. David has been wonderful though, because I know he has more hoarding tendencies than I do, but he’s been gradually and surely joining me in my imperative need to simplify our lifestyle for the sake of paying off debt and reducing the stress that comes with too much clutter. So my rather extreme idea shared last night was thankfully very well-received. (David is the best husband, I just can’t stop bragging about him.) What we plan to do, simply put, is have a rummage sale and get rid of everything we don’t need, use, love, or must keep for other reasons, and take the bare-bones essentials we have left and move into a tiny, economical apartment.

When we first got married, that would have been a bad idea. We were newlyweds in the traditional fashion, not like is common today—we never lived together until we got married. So that first year, it was good to have a big place, and see how we each were accustomed to using a living space. But now that we know and are used to each other’s habits and idiosyncrasies, we know that we could very happily share a small space. How often do we ever use our dining room or spare bedroom anyway? We’re paying about $250 more per month for space we don’t need or use, than we would pay to live in a smaller space that’s just as “nice.”

The other reason we’re opting for minimal living, is we’ve both been through Dave Ramsey’s FinancialPeace University. We highly, highly recommend it for anyone with financial difficulty of any kind or debt, or engaged couples before they get married. We actually took the course twice, once when we were engaged, and again after we were married and had joint finances with which to apply the homework assigned in the course.

Now, starting tonight, Dave and I are hosting Financial Peace University at our church. We’re excited to be open and honest with the folks that come to the class about our current financial situation. We’re not out of debt, we’re not buying a house anytime soon, and we won’t ever have one of those custom license plates that has a clever way to say “Look how wealthy we are because we have a nice car and God likes us more than you.” Instead, what we have is peace, and the freedom to look at our lifestyle without being held by a standard that is artificial. Do we need to live in a big place? Not right now. Do we need to have all the modern decor and comforts of the people we see on TV or our neighbors? Nope. And nobody is going to be our friend because we have a lot of cool stuff. What we need right now is to pursue downsizing for the greater good of beating debt. And you know what? We’re really excited.

And since this blog isn't called "The Frugal Unattractive," I want to end with some visual inspiration for how minimalism + frugality + a good aesthetic sense of space / balance / color can make a small living space quite a cozy, appealing idea:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/wallpaper-designer-kimberly-le-153870#gallery/31390/0

http://lamaisondannag.blogspot.mx/2010/06/compact-living.html?m=1

http://www.stadshem.se/ViewAllImages.aspx?gid=OBJ24162_1226897858&Ref=True

http://www.stadshem.se/ViewAllImages.aspx?gid=OBJ24162_1226897858&Ref=True

http://www.ijustmightexplode.com/2012/09/studio-apartment-tour/

http://freshome.com/2012/06/14/small-apartment-in-gothenburg-showcasing-an-ingenious-layout/swedish-apartment-14-3/

So now I am basically addicted to finding blogs and websites that feature tiny, well-designed apartments like the ones above. And as I've been working on this post, Dave called and told me he found a lead on a little one bedroom in downtown Sioux Falls we're going to check out tomorrow. Sometimes change happens fast.

If you also enjoy the aesthetic of tiny living quarters, check out my Pinterest board Studios / Small Spaces

End of Summer Lemonade

The end of summer is upon us. That means I have a fairly matured thyme plant on my front porch, and summer berries are relatively inexpensive. So of course, if summer gives you thyme and berries, you make lemonade. Everyone knows that.

Labor Day is over, but until the end of September, it is still technically summer. Let's enjoy it while we can and not get too excited for Fall yet. Because when it arrives, I'll be the most enthusiastic participant in the season, believe me.

This is an easy refreshment for these last hot days of summer. 

Ingredients:

3-4 lemons, sliced in half

1 pint blueberries

4-6 sprigs of fresh thyme

Sweetener of choice: I used stevia extract to keep it sugar-free for Dave, but honey or maple syrup would be delicious (melt it and mix it with the lemon juice before adding any ice, to ensure the sugar crystals have incorporated with the liquid)

Water and ice

A mesh strainer

Directions: 

Get your pitcher ready. I used a vintage glass pitcher I found at a thrift store. So cute, and only $1. 

Squeeze the lemons into the pitcher through the mesh strainer, to catch any seeds.

Add 10-16 drops of stevia extract, or to taste. If using maple syrup, honey, or other natural sweetener, melt it and stir it in with the lemon juice now.

Add water at the ratio of 2:1 water to lemon juice.

Take a few sprigs of your thyme and pull the leaves from the stem, crushing or mincing them with a knife before adding them into the sweetened lemon juice, along with the remaining whole sprigs. (I actually skipped the crushing and just added he thyme whole, but the flavor would have been better incorporated had I allowed the essential oils to be release by crushing/mincing.)

Now just add your blueberries: all whole, or some whole and some crushed for more color/flavor incorporation, and ice. Stir, taste, and adjust lemon juice / sweetener / water as needed.

Serve immediately or chill in the fridge for a few hours and the flavors will meld and be even more vibrant.

Relish the last of summer. If you make this, be sure to sit outside somewhere when there's a light breeze and nice view and be thankful for the time and place you're in.