Less is More

"Less is more" has sort of been the motto around our house this summer, in so many ways. It all started when I finished reading a book about a celebrity I like.  In the book, she talked about meditation and what it does for her life.  I thought this sounded like something I wanted to look into further...so, I did.  I joined a meditation class and it's one thing I will never regret doing. I only wish I would have done it sooner.

While I was going through the class and practicing mindfulness at home, James started to notice how much calmer I was and thus, how much calmer the whole house was.  He decided to give meditation a try as well, and he joined the class too. We have both seen some pretty big benefits to this new practice. Mostly, we have both just chosen to live a simpler, calmer life.  Here are some ways we have been doing this.

Less Clutter.
Remember when I was really into minimalism??  Well, James decided to read my favorite minimalism book, and guess what??  He started decluttering like a mad man!  He is on board with me now and we both appreciate having as few items in the house as possible (okay, we aren't that extreme...but definitely making a big dent in our unnecessary items).

Less Television.
It has been several months since James or I have watched any T.V.  In fact, we got rid of the television in our room.  I've had a t.v. in my room since I was 14 or 15.  We are down to just one tv in our house, and it's in the basement, a place James and I rarely go. I have to say, I wasn't an ounce nervous about getting rid of the bedroom tv and neither of us have missed it.  We were barely watching it before that anyway...it was more of a mindless wind down thing at the end of the day.  Now, we both read books or meditate instead.  Speaking of reading books....James hadn't read a book in YEARS, but since April, he has read 4!

Less Food.
Guys.....James has lost over SIXTY lbs since January!!!  Yes, 60!  Since the beginning of this year!  It started with an unfortunate health issue.  He was having some intestinal issues and was put on a liquid diet for several weeks.  This jump started his weight loss.  Once the weight started falling off and he was feeling better, he decided to stay away from all the unhealthy foods. I'd been pushing for us to eliminate processed foods and sugar anyway, so now that he is on board too, our house is eating much healthier (well, the adults are anyway). We have been enjoying meal planning and James shares in the grocery shopping...I think he even does a better job of it actually.....and I used to HATE when he went to the store.  We have found so many new delicious foods we didn't even know existed! Not only is it easier to eat healthy, it's fun too!  We buy less food than we did before and grocery shopping is a breeze. We basically only hit a couple areas of the store. We are filling our fridge now, and not our cupboards. We also don't have to do much cooking as we eat a lot of salads and other foods that don't take much prep time.

Less Spending.
This has been a big thing for us this month. We've tried budgeting in the past, with little success.  We have been fortunate to be able to buy what we want, so we never felt much of a need to budget. However, one or both of us really likes to spend money and always has and we decided it was time to rein it in :)  After decluttering so many items from our house, we just don't need to bring more in. Last month, for fun, we tracked all of our spending. We had a ridiculous amount of receipts. 19 days into this month, with a budget and a goal, we have WAY less of them. I cannot believe how much money we will save at the end of this month....and why the heck did we not do this sooner?? I have always enjoyed Dave Ramsey's books and following his Facebook page.  James finally read 2 of his books and we have had fun discussing them together, as well as ways we can save money. We also have friends in their early 30's who followed Dave's plan and are DEBT FREE, including their mortgage!!  That's motivating....  

Less Activities.
Neither James nor I enjoy being busy.  Especially now that we have a new found joy of calmness. We have been keeping a shared calendar on our phones where we keep EVERYTHING going on in our lives.  We are trying to keep it as empty as possible.  If there is one thing on the calendar for a morning, we try not to plan anything for the afternoon or evening, even though we have time for them.  Keeping our time open has allowed us the freedom to do what we want when we feel like it, as well as keep us from getting that stressful busy feeling and our house getting out of order because we weren't home enough to tend to it. We don't like to make plans for the weekend if we can help it.  We prefer to let the weekend come and then we can decide what we feel like doing.  It's so much more relaxing for us and makes the things we do feel more enjoyable rather than like a chore.  That being said, many things we plan, we really do enjoy and look forward to.

Less Judging.
This one may sound odd.  One of the biggest things we've been learning in our meditation class (as well as the Yoga classes I've been taking), is not to judge.  This doesn't just mean judging others, as most of us tend to do, but judging ourselves as well. Whether it's judging our body or our thoughts, we spend a lot of time deciding if something is good or bad.  The reality is, if we just let it be what it is and be content with it, we feel a lot more calm. This is a hard thing to control, but we are both working on just accepting.  We also notice now more than ever when others are being judgy (either of themselves or others). It's such a new concept for us to be so in tune with our feelings and feelings of others, but it's helped us in many ways.

Less Parenting.
Don't worry, I'm not saying we let our kids go crazy.  Through our meditation practice, we've learned the value of letting the kids be their own people.  I have a tendency to try to control everything my kids do....make sure their clothes match, make sure their room is always clean, etc.  Rylee, my super messy child, has been trying to tell me "it doesn't matter" for a long time now.  I finally decided to roll with that attitude, and guess what??  She might be right.  I fought her for 5 minutes last weekend over a swimsuit issue....she wanted to wear mismatched swimsuit pieces to the pool and I kept telling her "no".  She said, "But it's MY swimsuit".....I let down my guard and let her wear it the way she wanted to .....and you know what happened???  Nothing. I didn't even notice she didn't match while we were swimming :)  Letting them have more independence, while definitely testing my patience, has actually been a good thing.  In fact, just a second ago, Ry asked if she could "not wear a shirt to bed".....whatever.

So, there's my brief little summary of what's been going on since the last time I wrote. Trying out some positive life changes. It's fun :)

Hope you're having a great summer too!