Getting what you want by doing things you love

We all have things we want and strive to achieve; we all have things that we love with a passion that leaves us so immersed we lose track of time. So, think about the possibilities of actually getting what we want if we used what we love?

To start, you have to know what you really want. For me, I want to make money while still staying home with my kids. I want to be a lot more involved in my church. I want to make wonderful meals for my husband more consistently. I want to get into better shape. I want a cleaner house. I want to homeschool. 

Find the things in your life that you want. Not really need, but want. That trip to Disney. A better car. A better education. Write them down and then think of ways you can achieve them that maybe aren't the normal ways.

Ask yourself “how can I LOVE doing all those things?” Getting to the finish line is usually time consuming, sometimes tedious, often tiring, sometimes unfulfilling. So how can I love striving to achieve what I want? By being intentional.

Figure out what you truly love. Then turn what you love into ways of getting what you want. Take some risks. Be creative. What really makes you tick? What were you doing the last time you got so lost in something you completely lost track of time for several hours? How can you recreate that feeling while achieving something you want?

If need be, hire a babysitter or set aside a few hours so that you can sit down and write out what you really want. Don't get stuck on the little things. Rather, think bigger. A LOT bigger. Because what you want isn't to drink 8 glasses of water, it's to improve your total health. You don't want to spend 30 minutes a day in the Bible, but to have a more intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father.

Now, how can you really love the process of achieving those things? Do you love lemonade more than water? Drink 8 glasses of lemonade per day. How about tea? I love iced tea and could easily drink 8 glasses a day. Or go crazy and have 8 Arnold Palmers every day (for those unfamiliar, it's half lemonade, half iced tea). All the while you're doing something you love and getting something you want.

Do you want to spend more time with God? Do you love seeing God in nature? Instead of feeling guilty you forgot your devotional again, spend 30 minutes praying and reading your Bible while sitting by your favorite tree or feeling the grass between your toes. Or sit at your window and watch the snow fall and really appreciate all the beautiful things God puts on this earth purely for our enjoyment. Or start a garden so you can spend time in nature appreciating God's gifts to us while also improving your total health.

You will find that by intentionally putting yourself in situations of doing something you love, rather than doing what you’ve been told should be done to get what you want, you will wake up with a sense of eagerness and desire. You will intentionally fill your life with achieving what you want and loving it all the way to the finish line.

Of course, if we are to be realistic, then there are some things we want which must be set aside in order to get the things that are most important. We are finite beings and cannot do everything. You will have to let some of your wants go. So, give those wants to God and He can keep them for you for later.

What are the things you want? How can you love doing them?

My quest for simpler living

Today, it begins.

All my hours of research and seeking inspiration are finally bearing fruit.

I am officially a minimalist. A rational minimalist to be exact.

I am tired of having piles of clutter around my house. I am tired of stepping over my purse and a box of random stuff to sit at my desk. I am tired of not being able to use my desk because the piles of who knows what multiply and expand and cover it edge to edge. I want to have dinner with my family or sip a cup of tea with a friend or read a good book at the kitchen table without having to clear 50 lbs of clutter. I want my bedroom to be a sanctuary of rest, not a catch-all for everything I want to keep out of my kid’s reach. I want to quit having to use and store baby gates to keep my kid away from the more cluttery parts of my house.

That's a lot to want, but as they say: minimalism is thinking big and being happy. The way I see it, I've lived 28 years, 2 months and 24 days old being someone I’m not. I didn't know it, but I've been in the closet all these years. No more.

I've always been known as a pack rat, a collector of things, a messy person. Not filthy, just messy. My mom and dad always used to joke about how I would cut up a piece of paper into miniscule bits and store them in an envelope in a bag in a box in a bigger box. And it was true. I liked my things. I liked making things; I liked keeping them in bags and boxes. My natural habitat was one so covered with things that it was generally inaccessible, unless you knew the route. It must have been some deeply rooted instinct to keep predators at bay. If they couldn't reach me, then they couldn’t hurt me.

But no more. Today, I'm setting myself free from clutter. I’m setting myself and my family free from over stuffed closets, from unusable surfaces, from weekends and late nights spent organizing stuff. This is freedom from over consumption and going over budget. I'm getting free from all the little bits and bobs of things I've stored over the years but never used. This is it; I have decided. It'll be a long road, and I've taken a few baby steps, but I have a long ways to go yet.

Would you like to come with me? If you could minimize your house, what would it look like? Where would you start?

Negative Income

As a stay-at-home-mom, I have the best job in the world. I mean, really, how can you not love this face???

I get to spend all day, every day, with this little bundle of joy.

However, no one pays me to do this job so I have to pay myself. With what money, you ask...my own money. How can you pay yourself with your own money, you say? I’m glad you asked!

See, I spend my time making what I call 'negative income.' This is money not spent because I spent the time to keep it in my pocketses. Hence, because I'm intentionally saving money, I essentially make an hourly wage. Sometimes it's $0.50/hour; sometimes it's $10/hour. Recently, I spent an hour to plan out my trip which allowed me to save over 50% off my purchase at CVS, about $60. That's $60 for one hour of work! That's also $60 I would have spent if I just walked in the doors and bought what I needed.

What’s the secret? (You’re so inquisitive! I like that…)

I generate this ‘negative income’ by spending time clipping coupons, using apps and visiting websites to get free or discounted stuff. (Get a few ideas here.)

I spend time making homemade alternatives so I'm not spending exorbitant prices on fancy smelly products to keep my house, clothes and self clean. (Check out my obsession here.)

I changed my habits so I’m using less electricity in my daily life and less products as I do chores, etc. You would be amazed how little dish soap it takes to wash a whole sink full of dishes.

I go all nerd-tastic on CVS's Extra Bucks program and get tons of stuff at extreme discounts.

I seek out people who want to trade for things.

I go to clothing swaps. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

I sell stuff on eBay, craigslist and Facebook.

I find creative ways to feed my family and I don’t buy convenience foods.

I do all this to keep money in the bank, making 'negative income'. Is the hourly rate worth it? Well, not always. But considering the benefits and flexibility of my job, I'm ok with making $0.50/hour sometimes.

I know you're dying to know the ins and outs of all those things I mentioned. Don't worry, I'll tell you all my secrets and how I do everything in detail. But not today. That would be a reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaallllllllly long post, and I wouldn't want to bore you. :)

Hello world!

I started this blog on a whim. About 10 minutes ago.
That's the wonderful thing about the internet, isn't it? Ten minutes of research and filling forms and voila! You're speaking to the whole world!
So, world, here I am.

This is a place for me to talk about what I'm doing to save pennies and nickels and dimes to help my family continue to live with plumbing indoors and clothes on our backs. I'm a stay at home mom, my amazing husband works to bring home the bacon and my son (ten months old tomorrow) is the light of my life and mostly the reason I do the things I do. Though not always for the reasons you're probably thinking.
This is also a place for me to talk about my contentment and intention. I believe time is too often wasted and minutes are more precious than gold. Sowing time and effort into intentional and simple living reaps time and memories often lost in the hustle of the American Dream. I also believe in being debt free and living within your means. I believe contentment is the best exit from over-consumerism and financial crises. I believe in God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I know He gives me the strength to face any hardship and I praise him for that. I could not exist on this planet except for the grace and love He showers on me every day.

I am going to post a few times a week. I'll post homemade recipes I've concocted or tested, thoughts I've had on homemaking, processes I've developed to help me manage life's details, pictures if I feel like it and really anything I want because this is my blog.

Welcome. I can't wait to do this again. :)