Embarking on Our Year of Less

    Every year I tend to make a short list of resolutions that sometimes I accomplish, and often times I forget about. It's hard to completely change a lifestyle in one regard or another, overnight! Habits die hard, and sometimes I've picked habits to alter or discontinue that turned out to be 'too hard' to change. 

    Last year I began finding myself attracted to the idea of minimalism. I think I've always been interested in a life that was more simple and clutter-free, but I never thought to actually pursue it. Then we abruptly changed our plans, I accepted a job in California, and we found ourself with a two bedroom apartment that needed to be boxed up and loaded into a Penske in just under 30 days. I found myself with the opportunity to really give minimalism a try. I didn't want to pack up and haul items to a new home that weren't going to be of any use to me, or that wouldn't have a place in our new, smaller apartment.

    I estimate a good 20% of our things were sold or donated before our move, and I felt awesome. So much LESS! Look! I only own three glass measuring cups now! I got rid of all the old clothes I hate wearing! All the socks with holes are gone! (threw those suckers in the trash) We arrived at our new apartment, unloaded our belongings, hung the art on the walls, and made it our home.

    And a week later, I drove to HomeGoods and bought some decor for the bare spaces around the house. And then to Target, just to browse, And the many tourist shops in the area that sell such cute beach-themed stuff. It all just accumulated and filled the gaps left by the donated items back in Utah.  Consumerism is real, friends, and I was a continual consumer. 

    So there's part one of the story, here's part two.

    I am debt-free. No car loans, no student loans, no outstanding debt. Same with my husband. He's been blessed with very generous parents who paid for his undergraduate degree, even after we married. But now we are solely responsible for his upcoming graduate program tuition, and it is not an inexpensive program at that. I, being a planner, have been considering our options for paying his tuition since the day he was accepted... two Decembers ago. Every way I looked at it, it seemed a student loan was our only way to afford his schooling. But in late November I had a thought: would the Institute allow for a payment plan?!

    Turns out, they will! 

    The Institute has divided up his semester's tuition into 4 equal payments, and each payment turns out to be roughly the same amount that I make in one paycheck. This means we have a way to stay out of debt in 2019! Of course, this does mean we've decided to dedicate HALF of our monthly income to tuition. We will also be allocating just under half of our remaining monthly income to rent... which brings us to our resolution to embark on a Year of Less in 2019. 

    So what that means for us... really what it means for me, because Jake isn't much of a shopper, is a self-imposed shopping ban! And, oddly enough, I'm really excited about it!And I hope to get back into blogging so I can stay accountable to myself, Jake, and the occasional person who may stumble past this blog. My shopping ban is hard to list out item by item, but there is a chance a more structured list may arise over the next few months. Jake and I have determined a few changes we will implement to the way we shop. 

  

    Firstly, I will be avoiding Target altogether. Yep. No Target. This also applies to HomeGoods and T.J.Maxx, my two favorite home decor stores. If I don't walk in, I can't buy anything. 

    From now on, Jake will be doing most of the Costco shopping for us, because, as he puts it, he "shops like a man" going in the the store for "only whats on the list and getting the heck outta there".  I fall prey to all the 'sweet deals' that can be found in that cavernous warehouse, like Camelbacks we don't need, or clothes that I'll buy and forget about. If Jake's doing the shopping, chances are better he will walk out of there with only the items he went in for.

    We will be meal planning every Sunday, which I hope will help us avoid eating out too regularly. I am interested in using the 'order online pick up in the parking lot' service a lot of grocery stores are using, because, similar to my Target ban, if we don't enter the store, we can't buy unplanned add-ons. We also hope to utilize the plentiful farmer's markets in the area to get produce much cheaper than we'd find in stores. 

    I have unsubscribed from most of the marketing emails I get from stores I've shopped at online. If I'm not seeing the sale ads, I'm not going to go check out their website in the first place. I hope to avoid any and all clothing purchases this year. If anything, I hope to make a few bucks from selling any clothes in my closet I no longer wear. 

     Things we can shop for include cleaning and shower products (as long as it's to replace an empty bottle), school items like textbooks and computer programs, gifts for family and friends, car maintenance, and any unexpected items that are an absolute must-buy. 

     I will not be buying any makeup or beauty products, candles and home decor, books, movies, gardening supplies, linens, craft items, and fun, random things I find online. I just don't need this stuff!

    Because we are lucky to live in such a beautiful area, we aren't limiting ourselves on what we can do around town. There are so many cool places to see and fun activities to do around Monterey. We also really enjoy going to the movies, typically on $5 Tuesday, and there's a lot of delicious restaurants around town that we will continue to eat at. We aren't going to be spending hundreds a month on movies and restaurants, but we also aren't putting a specific cap on that one category.

    We will be keeping close track of our spending week to week so we can always be evaluating how we are doing. The success of this Year of Less is so important to me, and I hope everything goes well! Dave Ramsey says "If you live like no one else now, you can live like no one else later." That will be the thing that runs through my head when I inevitably see something cute I want but don't need. 

 Here's to 2019, our Year of Less!