Inspired.
I’ve been spending my time before work today drinking coffee, doing laundry (downsizing along the way, of course!), and watching a Netflix documentary on The Minimalists. Again.
Sometimes we feel like people don’t take our dream seriously. We’ve had a lot of conversations about why people scoff at our goal of living with less. I think that the size of the house is not the only baffling factor for others. It’s also the downsize. It’s the willingness to get rid of ALL THAT STUFF. It goes against what we’ve been fed our entire lives.
I truly recommend this documentary for anyone interested in minimalism, or even for those who don’t really understand why we’re doing this. I spend a lot of time trying to come up with blogs that highlight the benefits of tiny living financially and environmentally. I want to come away from that right now.
Are you happy? I’m sure you are. I’m sure that you love your job and your home and your family. But are you really? Do you love your job MORE than your home, or your family? Do you love it enough that you are TRULY happy to spend more time with your coworkers than you do in your home, with your family? Speaking of your home, are you happy you borrowed 150,000 dollars to live in it? Yes? Okay, but do you REALLy live in it? Because generally speaking, most people spend more time at work than really using the space that they’re borrowing but hope to someday own.
Look, we don’t talk about our goals constantly to try to convince you to live in a tiny space. It’s not for everyone, and we know that. We talk about our goals and our journey constantly because we hope that you can take something, anything from us. We know that there are people out there who feel lost in the rat race, just like us. We talk about our journey constantly because if we could just find one more person, help one more person realize there’s another way, we’ve done what we set out to do that day.
We both love our jobs. We love each other more. Right now, I get to see my future husband for approximately 2 hours a day. 2 hours before one of us is asleep. I am with my work family 8 hours five days a week. I love my work family! But to be honest, I’d rather spend 3 days at work, and five with my family. I’d rather choose to work more to save up for another trip than have to work more just to pay for our basic living requirements. And so, we have reevaluated what our “Basic living requirements” are. What do WE really NEED to be happy together? What do we really need to be happy with ourselves, individually. Downsizing looks different for both of us, and that’s okay.
This is how we came to the decision to live in a tiny house. It’s about OUR needs and OUR goals. We’re not here to make you feel guilty for having a lot of stuff. If you like your stuff that’s fine! If it makes you happy, by all means, keep it! I’m not getting rid of things that someone else would easily part with. We’re here to help those who want it. We’re here to show others that it can be done and that if you want to live more simply you just have to decide to do so.
Watch the documentary. It might bring you something of value, even if that value is just a more clear picture of why we’re choosing to do what we’re doing.
