A Simplified Life
My "Buzz Words" in 2005 were Simplifying and Downsizing.
My DH and I lived in a two story, four bedroom home with two living areas, a yard, a pool, yada, yada, yada. Well, you get the picture! All of our children are grown and have homes and families of their own so why were we in this house? Ugh! I'd been doing a lot of thinking about how to make things easier for us. We sat down and had a heart to heart talk and decided that it was time to sell the house, eliminate the "stuff" and seek a much simpler way of life. My DH was approaching retirement age and staying in that house meant that he might not be able to retire as soon as he wanted.
In 2004 we looked at some homes in a retirement community and decided that it wasn't the right time and would revisit that later. Well, my DH remembered this community and suggested that I take a look again and see what they had available. The model we had fallen in love with had some improved changes and I fell in love with the house all over again. And, they had a Spec House available and we could move in within 45 days. The house we were in was not ready to be put on the market but I was determined. The next day my DD and I were standing in the garage and my neighbor asked if we were planning to sell our house and if so he was very, very interested. He brought his family over and bought the house! I'm a firm believer in things happening for a reason. BTW, this was mid-May and we were in our new home July 4th week end. As we were preparing to move I got rid of so much "stuff" - eliminated the clutter. The relief I felt as I was doing that was incredible.
Our life has changed in so many ways - ways I'm not sure I could describe. Some would say that we have no life; to some we're probably boring but if that's the case then we're happy, boring people. LOL My DH retired on April 15 and now has a more relaxed and content look on his face. A decision like this might not be the right decision for some but for us it was!!!!
That's the story of my simplified and downsized life!
Gratitudes:
A happier and healthier DH
A simpler way of life
Less clutter and "stuff"
Thought for today: Follow your heart!!!
18 comments:
I love to hear people's insights on decluttering and simple living. I'm doing ok with kitchen, clothes, books and general life stuff... but my quilting room is a whole 'nother story! Love having stash to play with. :)
But in our 2-bedroom, 650 square feet apartment, we're pretty happy and comfortable.
What a lovely happy post :-) I am happy for you that you took the step and followed your hear.
Your weekend quilt looks very nice and not to busy. It gave me a summery feeling.
Things happens always for a reason, thats what I always have believed. I am sure you took the right decision. I feel I did right when I bought a new apartment at ester time. I know it will be rough economic, but I love it and I will proove to my x that I can manage this. I have been divorced since -97 and still he do not believe I can make it. But I do much better now !!!
Follow your heart - thats a quote with meaning.
What a nice post! I too am a firm believer in things happening for a reason. What relief it must have been to sell your home so easily and quickly.
I also find that by simplifying my daily life I can eliminate a lot of unnecessary stress.
You certainly were lucky to sell your home so easily. It must have been the right decision to down size and live a simpler life as you and your husband are now happy and content.
It's tough to down-size, but in the end it is all worth it. I laugh now, but when I moved and down-sized I could have gotten the whole house squared away in a weekend - but for the quilty stuff. Still trying to figure all that out over a year later! LOL!
You SOUND happy - definitely the right decision for you!
(Hugs)
Ahhh, here's to the dull people *s* My hubby and I are boring to most, but we entertain ourselves quite nicely.
It is amamzing how much stuff we can collect over time. Spring of '05 we had a massive decluttering and clean up attack. Yet here in Summer of '06, it probably wouldn't hurt to do it again.
how great that you were both in such agreement on this issue and he was able to retire sooner, rather than later! here's to living the happy life.
Ah, who cares what the others think if you two are happy with the way things are? I'll take "boring" anyday--well, most days, LOL.
I am a firm believer in following your heart...when the time is right, the right things happen.
I'm so happy that things have worked out for you. We are facing an unexpected move and have both our house and condo for sale. I'm afraid the market has slowed down just in time to be a problem for us but I know things will work out in the end so I'm not going to worry for now.
Yeah, I understand. That's the way I felt when we sold our huge house and moved into the 5th wheel.
How good that you and DH are enjoying a Quality life.
The CarGuy and I are probably boring too. We have two 180 degree interests: he has cars, I have quilts. Unless you are into those interests then we can bore you silly. It's nice to declutter and downsize. I've been doing that for the last year. Mainly because I hate to dust. /paula
I'm a firm believer in simplifying! I even have a big folk arty type sign in my dining room that has simply the word "simplify". It's so freeing, isn't it? We, as humans, can make things so darn difficult at times! :oP I'm happy for you both!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me! We live a pretty small lif4e now and we actually want a biot bigger house but not really a more involved house, if that makes sense. Just an outside area and yard. I guess for me I need to have a connection with the outside. I could keep my very small mortgage payment but I need a bit more than the condo in the city suburbs we have now. Sounds like you found the perfect thing!
I'm so glad that you guys found what you were looking for and everything fell into place!
This is a great story. Thank youf or sharing it with us. I think it would be really hard to clear up enough stuff to move from a big space to a smaller space, especially in that short a period of time.
I see how it can make life simpler and much better to do so. I've been trying to clear up clutter day by day, and it is taking forever.
I would say that was meant to be! No doubt about it! And all so fast. I'm sure that you have lifted a big burden of a large house to clean and all that "stuff". that truly can be a burden. And now your hubby can start a new chapter in his life anew.
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