So, what IS Livin' La Vida Simple all about? That is probably your first question.
Well, simply put...it is about our journey (or continuing journey, really) towards living a more simple life. In this world we live in now in the US it seems that everyone is on a hamster wheel, constantly running and striving towards the "American Dream".
We were not going to be sucked in...we talked before marriage of a nebulous someday where we would live a simple life in a Mexican beach town, with a house just big enough for us, our future kiddos, and a few hammocks strung up for those sleepy afternoon siestas...and within walking distance of an outdoor market and the beach. Sounds awesome and far-fetched, doesn't it?
But the "American Dream" caught us and sucked us in!! We started planning for a family and decided we NEEDED a house...so we set out to find the perfect house. Our house really IS a great one...three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a home office behind french doors, open living, fruit trees in the backyard that we planted our first summer...all in a quiet neighborhood with a single entrance and a gorgeous pond behind our house that reflects the sunrise!! We moved in on Valentine's Day 2009 and had our little boy exactly five months later. It is the only home our children have known. There are many memories here...some awesome, some heartbreaking, and plenty of silly ones (like barefoot dance parties in the kitchen)!!
But it did come with a price. To have that perfect house in that perfect neighborhood with two cars and two kids my husband is up before dawn to drive to work and sometimes barely makes it home for dinner and to get kiddos settled for the night. We have never REALLY let it suck us in completely as I do aspire to simplicity...so I've done a lot of resale and outlet shopping and have learned to coupon. We decided to homeschool our kiddos and have rejected consumerism as a general rule.
But there is still the big thing looming over our heads of medical bills and thirty year mortgages. Of being locked into a life because we have tied ourselves down to it!! For me at least, even as I have enjoyed the little "luxuries" my life now affords...such as central heat/AC, a clothes dryer, a microwave, and a dishwasher...and even those things most consider necessities that I had done without at times like a washer and fridge...I've still had this weight hanging over my head of "what have we gotten ourselves into?" We signed our lives away with those mortgage papers...essentially committing ourselves to the rat race of constant work and never getting ahead. When would we ever have time to travel with our kids and introduce them to the wonders of the world outside our hometown and neighboring metropolis when my husband needs to work 50+ hours a week just to pay for our home and daily expenses?
A change needed to be made...and this is our journey towards that change!!
Well, simply put...it is about our journey (or continuing journey, really) towards living a more simple life. In this world we live in now in the US it seems that everyone is on a hamster wheel, constantly running and striving towards the "American Dream".
We were not going to be sucked in...we talked before marriage of a nebulous someday where we would live a simple life in a Mexican beach town, with a house just big enough for us, our future kiddos, and a few hammocks strung up for those sleepy afternoon siestas...and within walking distance of an outdoor market and the beach. Sounds awesome and far-fetched, doesn't it?
But the "American Dream" caught us and sucked us in!! We started planning for a family and decided we NEEDED a house...so we set out to find the perfect house. Our house really IS a great one...three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a home office behind french doors, open living, fruit trees in the backyard that we planted our first summer...all in a quiet neighborhood with a single entrance and a gorgeous pond behind our house that reflects the sunrise!! We moved in on Valentine's Day 2009 and had our little boy exactly five months later. It is the only home our children have known. There are many memories here...some awesome, some heartbreaking, and plenty of silly ones (like barefoot dance parties in the kitchen)!!
But it did come with a price. To have that perfect house in that perfect neighborhood with two cars and two kids my husband is up before dawn to drive to work and sometimes barely makes it home for dinner and to get kiddos settled for the night. We have never REALLY let it suck us in completely as I do aspire to simplicity...so I've done a lot of resale and outlet shopping and have learned to coupon. We decided to homeschool our kiddos and have rejected consumerism as a general rule.
But there is still the big thing looming over our heads of medical bills and thirty year mortgages. Of being locked into a life because we have tied ourselves down to it!! For me at least, even as I have enjoyed the little "luxuries" my life now affords...such as central heat/AC, a clothes dryer, a microwave, and a dishwasher...and even those things most consider necessities that I had done without at times like a washer and fridge...I've still had this weight hanging over my head of "what have we gotten ourselves into?" We signed our lives away with those mortgage papers...essentially committing ourselves to the rat race of constant work and never getting ahead. When would we ever have time to travel with our kids and introduce them to the wonders of the world outside our hometown and neighboring metropolis when my husband needs to work 50+ hours a week just to pay for our home and daily expenses?
A change needed to be made...and this is our journey towards that change!!
