Simplify

Recently it has become my goal to simplify as much as possible in my life.  Whether it is for stress reduction or cost savings, it has become clear to me that simplification is key.  One of the biggest challenges, being my house, embodies all the elements of my life that needs to be reduced to its basest forms.

Renting sucks because at the end of your lease you move on to another place with nothing to be said for all the money and effort you invested in your last one.  Owning a home gives you a tangible return with the unfortunate side effect of requiring you to invest more effort and money than you would normally experience in the leasing scenario. Compound the cost of home ownership with 3 kids and the ever-growing collection of stuff and you have transitioned from home ownership to the home owning you.  I am regrettably a victim of the latter and am committing myself to turning the tables and making what I have work for me.

I have a few goals that I’m planning on accomplishing in 2012 (before the world ends hopefully) that should cut costs and reduce stress in my life and hopefully my wife’s.  I have always wanted minimalism in my surroundings but like everything else, if you don’t remove the old to make room for the new the stuff overtakes everything.  I have been actively pursuing the less is more goal but kids collect stuff and wives buy stuff. I am working on a compromise plan that should work for everyone but I have to work on pitching my ideas so I can have buy-in from the rest of the family.

Part of reducing the stuff factor is not buying things for a purpose when something else we have can be re-purposed to do the same thing.  This is a cost saving feature that should eliminate the stockpiles of junk that families inevitably amass.  Websites like Lifehacker and Instructables are great resources for this and I have always loved the ideas I get from those sites.  I would like to get a plan up and running before the end of the year but for the interim I do what I can with the time and tools I have.