Finding Happiness in Money, Habits, and Home
Regardless of where you live and what “small” means to you, I’m here to tell you that if you’ve considered downsizing, or are in the market for a first-time home, there are absolutely some BIG benefits to living in a SMALLER home.
When Jesse and I bought our house in 2012, we did not view it as a “starter home”. We also did not go into it thinking about whether or not it would be our forever home.
I’m not sure I can fully claim to be a minimalist, but I do enjoy our small house, love a good de-clutter/purge, and try to stick to a “less is more” attitude. With most of our purchases, we do our research, find deals when we can, and buy fewer (high quality) items that will be well worth the price. Putting together a baby registry with the sheer amount of STUFF on the baby market is an exciting… and slightly overwhelming task for a minimalist mom-to-be. So I’ve put together a list of my very favorite products from our first year with Henry that are big on functionality and relatively small on space.
I haven’t always had a green thumb. In all honesty, I still don’t. But I’m making progress.
One time, when I was still newish to Wyoming and still bacheloretting it up, one of my older and wiser friends casually asked if my hyper-ass dog Reagan tries to eat plants.
I responded: “I don’t know, I don’t have any plants.”
At which point, my friend enlightened me to the fact that I was living as some kind of plantless MONSTER (little did I know).
Ah, to be young and dumb.
But look at me now! All married, and mature, and owner of houseplants. I’m a regular old housewife. Or so I would have you think.
Not all of the plants that I’ve owned in my robust adult life have survived. BUT. Some have. They really do make a home feel more cozy, and they clean the air! So here are some of my tried-and-true, hard-to-kill favorites!
I hate to be the bearer of bad news. BUT. My “30 day” (ha… ha) Spring Cleaning challenge has kind of fallen by the wayside. I have not been able to make it my top priority on a daily basis, because as you know from weeks 1-3, most of the tasks from the original list take waaaaayyyyyyy longer than the 20ish minutes that I was hoping would be doable. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve made some good progress and am glad I’ve done some deep cleaning that I’ve never done in the 2.5 years that we’ve had our house. Then again, as it turns out, cleaning is not that fun or interesting! So. This will be the last time I torture you with the details of what I’ve been doing to freshen up the house. I’ll make it quick.
Ah, week three… The most exciting week yet!? Or not. All I did was clean the bathroom, which is the opposite of exciting. But I did learn at least one new trick along the way. SO. There’s that.
If you’re just jumping in, I am working my way through a “30 Day (more like 45 day for me) Spring Cleaning Challenge”. I found my inspiration here. This week, I’m sharing some before and afters. GET EXCITED.
Day 15 – Monday: Organize/clean storage cabinets
Total time: 35 minutes
I’ll be honest, I went into this expecting it to be cake. One benefit to having a small single bathroom in your house is that it’s quick to clean. I bought an under cabinet organizer several months ago, similar to the one I have for the kitchen sink, like this