reduce :: my longest post yet!

Since my corner is my little place to share stuff,  I felt it was time to start doing that, more than my weekly self portraits, my reading or gardening adventures.

Here is a little background, but I wasn't sure how much I should share, so let me know if I seemed to have missed something major.

I am the home learning mama of 3 kids, wife to a very patient husband, and mama to 4 pets. We have lived in several places over the years, actually we have moved 8 times in the last 15 years. This last move, two years ago, was one that we thought would be a great one. We were moving closer to a lot of family and moving to a less expensive real estate area. We did cut down on our mortgage which was nice, but the family thing didn't turn out as nice. My husband ended up changing jobs, resulting in a substantial pay cut, but in a much better suited company for him, which is essential.

We don't follow the rat race. We own one car. Our girls share one bedroom. Our children don't attend organized sports, ballet classes, or music lessons. There ísn't money in our budget for those and we also don't agree with rushing here and there for all these activities. We instead spent time together, bike or walk together around our neighborhood or in nature, play games together, talk, basically hang out. We watch what we spend on groceries, clothing, etc. We reuse when we can and buy used as much as possible. It's been that way for many years. It's just the way we are and what allows our family to have one parent at home. We also recycle a lot, donate what we don't need anymore, or reuse. It breaks my heart to see the amount of garbage bags on our street every week for collection. There is no limit in our area, recycling only every two weeks and no green recycling.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a pact of not buying anything that is not essential from now to the end of this year. I told my children about it. We don't buy much already, but we sometimes purchase a video game or a movie, or I will pick up some special snacks, a book, magazine or a small toy. I just felt that we could do more or in this case, less spending and also simplifying our lives even more in the process. I also believe that it is a good lesson to teach to our children by simply doing.  

There are some very simple "rules" to follow when trying to reduce spending:

• ask yourself "do we really need this?"
• do not buy on impulse, wait a certain amount of time, days preferably before purchasing the item
• think about the effect and cost on the environment (production, use, disposal?)
• the cost to you "can we truly afford this?"

Pretty simple. I have been and will continue to follow these. The purchases that we will continue on making will be for food, household necessities, and basic clothing. My girls often receive hand me downs from relatives and I have saved my oldest daughter's clothes for my youngest. The only one that I usually have to buy for is my son, and I know he will be needing running shoes for this fall, and probably snow shoes for the winter. Those I call essentials and will likely be new (along with socks and underwear), but his other clothes won't. We usually are able to find most of his pants and shirts at thrift stores. 

I have found a few websites about this topic, and there are many about simplifying our lives as well. Decluttering, donating, passing things on, all those things help us live a simpler life.

The compact: to go beyond recycling, to reduce clutter and waste in our homes, to simplify our lives. (also has a yahoo group).

Step 1: reduce from the Global Stewards site ; all environmental tips here.

I love this post. I save all our out of season clothes in rubbermaid bins and go through it all every change of season, but I really like the idea of doing this with our closets once a week. The giveaway drawer is also wonderful.

I have found many others that are taking on a challenge of living with less, simplifying, de-clutter, or even selling it all and hitting the road! Are you? What are your goals?