Editor’s Note: This is a post in the series, Simplicity in Action.

Ally

Our story of simplicity began in 2007 when our world as we knew it started to unravel. Poor financial planning (or lack thereof), the underlying mental illness of more/bigger is better, and the infamous real estate bubble all collided to create the perfect storm.

It was a huge wake up call. We rented our house out and moved in with my parents in order to get back on our feet. Humbled to say the least, we were forced to face the questions that had been chasing us for a while:

Questions like …

• Why did we think we needed such a big house?
• Why were we compelled to buy stuff we couldn’t afford?
• Why have we avoided talking about our financial situation?
• Why did we always feel like we needed more?

My money personality as an “avoider” plus his as a “spender” equaled a big mess. I avoided sticky conversations about how we handled our money and left all the decisions to my husband. The “spender” in him took it and ran. But, little by little we learned how to turn things around.

We took classes, went to seminars and had the difficult, sometimes painful discussions.

Once we transformed our old beliefs about money and success, we were able to start decluttering and simplifying our home. Reduce, reuse and recycle has become our new mantra.

At the core of our transformation was cultivating a sense of gratitude and always asking ourselves, “How can we simplify?”.

Over the years we made changes in how we lived, among them are:

• Started talking more about our finances and working together as a team
• Started using the free budgeting tool mint.com
• Started Composting
• Started decluttering
• Repurposed things we already had instead of buying something new
• My husband learned how to fix things
• Focused more on simple food instead of processed
• Stopped letting what others think influence our decisions

Our journey has often times not felt so simple. But when you focus on what’s important in life, such as peace of mind and quality instead of quantity, decisions get easier. We are of course still learning, but at least we’re headed in the right direction.

Ally is a creative introvert seeking and sharing quiet inspiration in a chaotic world. Read more from her at Find Your Flow and connect with her on Twitter.

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