minimalist

Embracing the Minimalist Life

Screen Shot 2019-10-28 at 1.23.59 PM

“The things you own end up owning you.” – Name that movie!?

In 2010, pre-kids, Big Beard and I (just two of us!) lived in a five bedroom house in Portland. At the time, it actually felt kinda small! Now we’ve flip flopped. There are five of us in a two bedroom condo, and I seriously think we could downsize! I’m just loving the simplicity, organization, and freedom that owning less crap has brought.

Last week when we were out of town we were stoked to host our first Airbnb guests in our home. A friend asked, “when you have renters, what are you going to do with all your stuff?”

Ummm, what stuff? If it’s not something you need in the home for a renter, and if it’s not something you’d bring with you when you travel, do you really even need it?

We have a new motto in our house… “When in doubt, toss it out!” So far, we have not regretted one single thing we’ve gotten rid of!!

I’d love to hear from you. Are you sentimental about things? What are some things you store away that are super important (what am I going to regret not keeping down the road?!!)? Are there things you are storing away that should probably be recycled?

Screen Shot 2019-10-28 at 1.24.10 PM

Advertisement
0 CommentsLeave a comment

Less Stuff. More Life.

Screen Shot 2019-10-28 at 12.39.01 PM

We’re staying in a hotel (basically) for a few months and our kids have one small suitcase of stuff right now. Though when we’re in our “real house,” as they call it, they don’t have much more.

Don’t feel bad for them.

They’ve been pretending to travel and get on trains and head off to college with their suitcases. It was pretty dang cute actually, when our 2 year old rolled that suitcase out the front door last night and slurred her words with a mouthful of pacifier, “off to college.”

But I’m not talking ‘bout college today. (Thank God! We still have more time before that!) I’m talking ‘bout how less stuff can lead to more life.

At least that’s what I’m experiencing.

If you know our story you know @bigbeardcreative and I had approximately 5 hours to prep for parenthood. Becoming parents overnight isn’t even accurate, because we were called at about noon on a Saturday and our precious @solanagilbertadventures was in our arms at 5pm that day. An “over”night heads up would have been nice, but I think then we would have “over”thought it. Best it happened how it did. We lived in a 1 bedroom apartment attached to a church @snowmasschapel and had exactly nothing one needs to take care of a baby. Or so we thought. We soon realized we actually had exactly everything one needs to take care of a baby. We had a tiny home to keep her warm and we had tons and tons of love to give. (I blogged a lot about all of this when Ana first melted our hearts in 2013 / 2014.)

It’s so easy for me to go down the rabbit hole of thinking we need this next thing or that. At the ❤️ of it, there’s only one thing most of us really need more of… It starts with an “L”. Oh yeah, and, if you wanna have a lot of fun, a cardboard box.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Mountain Culture

Screen Shot 2019-10-26 at 3.32.41 PM
Mixing up the topics a bit with this one…
Yes, that is a mountain bike, on the wall, in a bedroom. When it’s summer the bike comes down and the cute little baby skis go in its place.

Luckily only one of our kids is old enough to mountain bike at the moment. I’m not sure what we’re going to do when we’re three deep of these things.

But this isn’t a post about mountain biking, or even what ya gotta do to make living in a tiny house work, per say… it’s a post about mountain lifestyle and culture. You see, it did not for even one second dawn on me that putting a bike, on the wall, in a bedroom, isn’t normal. It’s kinda just something people around here do. (Um, right guys?? 😬)

And then we Face Timed with my mom in Phoenix.
“Is that a bike, on the wall, in their bedroom?” she asked, astounded.

I wasn’t sure if I should be proud or embarrassed, because why yes, yes it was.

I would not call our family crunchy by any stretch of the imagination. If they still sold Twinkies we would buy them. (Because that’s the measure for whether or not you’re crunchy, you know: Twinkies 😉). But when it comes to mountain gear, and you live nestled in a mountain town, it’s kinda imperative to own all the things that make this mountain life so fun. I’m talking crunchy things… like Tevas sandals and such. 😁

And we happen to not have a garage. So yes, mom, (and now all my friends in the web world too), that is a bike, on the wall, in a bedroom. And I think it’s 👌.
#mountain #mountainbike #mountainlife #mountainkids #mountainbiking #tinyhouse #adventure #optoutside #getoutside #aspen #snowmass #aspensnowmass #tinyhouselife #adventurelife #childhoodunplugged #play #summer #playoutside
0 CommentsLeave a comment