Less house. More fun.

I caught up with a good friend recently. He asked me about tiny houses. Apparently I'd mentioned it a bit the last time we talked.

It's not so much about the tiny house itself. I do like seeing them, and the tiny house TV shows, but it's more about the lifestyle. Part of that is just having fewer possessions. Especially after moving house this year, it seems pointless to have things we never use. We spend more time moving them than using them.

But my friend probably summed it up better than I did. He's talking to his young daughters about money - explaining how that things cost money and that's why daddy goes to work. That's a key part of it for me. Having an enormous house and lots of possessions means more time spent at the office and less time enjoying life with those we love.

One of the people on the tiny house TV show summed it up even quicker. "Less house. More fun."

PS. A guy I used to work with calculated that he spent more time with us at work that he did with his wife and son. Though that's probably the case for many people, I found it slightly depressing.

Comments

My October challenge

Decluttering can be overwhelming. I've been stuck. Shelves and boxes and drawers full of stuff I should go through but not sure where to start. Aaagh - there's so much of it. The solution? So for myself (and for you if you want) I've developed a strategy. I've picked 31 categories in advance. I plan to tackle one item per day of October. If I miss a few that's OK. The point is to overcome overwhelm. To focus on one thing at a time. To move forward instead of being stuck. My favourite way to declutter is to sell online . (I even wrote a free ebook of tips for selling online). I also like to recycle or upcycle things. Wanna join in? I've chosen categories where I think most people would have excess. If there's a category you have already dealt with, that's cool. Have a rest day - or go even further in one of the previous areas. The list Ok so here's my plan for this October. Bookmark this post or download the picture of my notes. For each category I ...

4 Reasons to sell unwanted items

Here's a question that came my way: "I plan on parting with a lot of things. But do I attempt to sell or just pass my belongings onto an op-shop? It feels overwhelming that I could be drawing out the length of the process by trying to sell." It's a good question. Here are four reasons why selling is great - and really helps you declutter. 1. You know it goes to someone who'll use it. There's something reassuring about an item you once loved going to a "good home". My wife sold her old money box to a mum and daughter for a small amount. It's nice to imagine the kid cheerfully saving up her pocket money in it - and makes it so much easier to part with. She'll get far enjoyment from it than we ever did. 2. Selling makes saying goodbye easier. My once-beloved jacket had not been worn for years and was an obvious candidate to be given away. Still, to see it go was difficult. Thirty dollars made it a whole lot easier. Many other items are in th...

Go Fund Yourself

Go Fund Yourself is a basic money guide. Written for younger adults and usable for all, it covers many aspects of money - jobs, businesses, spending and investing. It's British, so some information is UK-specific. But this is far outweighed by helpful information that transcends national borders. Reason for being The Japanese word Ikigai means reason for being. It originates in Okinawa, where they view work not so much as a necessary chore that we retire from, but something that is innate to us as individuals. Ikigai is about fulfilling work by finding a combination of work we love doing something the world needs, while earning money and doing something we're good at. It's about finding the centre of the diagram where all the circles overlap. Ideal income It's easy to think that an ideal income is the highest one possible. Perhaps that's why we don't consider Ikigai as much as we could; why we sometimes just take the job or career with the highest pay. ...

But wait... there's less!

Search This Blog