We heard about kids being separated from their parents at our nation's border in 2018 and ached to do something to stop it. When we found out we could host a family in our home so that they could be together after a year apart, we said an emphatic "YES!" It didn't dawn on us that we are a family of five in a 3 BR, 1300 sq. ft. townhouse and shouldn't have space to share.
My parents teased that when our guests arrive and see how simply we live, they will wonder if we can afford to support our own family let alone theirs. I argue that it's because of our simple living that we're able to support both families with both our time and resources. No, we don't have a TV, tablet, or a video game console to provide entertainment or even a big back yard to get lost in, but we do have books borrowed from the library, toys handed down from friends, 3 parks we can walk to, and a stack of board games and cards to play. We don't have a pantry and our cupboards aren't full of ready-to-eat snacks, but we have plenty of healthy fresh produce to eat and an abundance of ingredients to cook and bake with.
We live simply for two reasons. First, it frees up our time and energy so that we can choose where we spend it. Rather than having to do all the chores that come with owning more things (using, cleaning, organizing, repairing, sharing, replacing), we can take a family walk and stay at the park as long as we like. The second reason we live simply is probably the bigger factor of the two and it's not what you're going to expect. The real reason we live simply is because we're misers. We pinch every penny for as long as we can. Usually, we pinch those pennies for so long that we realize we don't need to spend them at all. But after doing this for a while, we realized that there are many benefits to living simply beyond growing our bank accounts. Living simply is: environmentally friendly, psychologically liberating, time saving.
Here's what Living Simply means to us:
Cutting Costs
Because we live significantly below our means, we have extra to share. Right now one of the ways we are sharing is hosting an asylum-seeking family, but there are so many ways to be generous!
We're a one car family. It takes planning, but it's possible. You may sit and wait for your ride from time to time, but it beats paying the increased insurance and maintenance fees of a second vehicle. We intentionally chose to live within walking distance of our most frequented places to help make this possible.
We rarely eat out. I meal plan around what is on sale and completely avoid the expensive, unhealthy snack aisles at the grocery store.
We don't pay for any kind of TV or streaming service (but we do freeload Netflix from siblings, thanks guys). Did you know you can watch most current shows directly from the TV station's website?
We put out 1 bag of trash every other week. You might not even know that this is a cheaper option your trash service offers. It certainly was not publicized. People often ask us how this is possible for a family of 5 with a kid in diapers. My question: What in the world are ya'll throwing away every week?!
We don't pay for both unlimited data on our phones as well as home internet. That's doubling up unnecessarily. I could write a whole post on our cheap phone bill hacks, but most of the companies we've used have gone out of business (I wonder why!? 😂) and I can't find much for under $15-$20/month.
We looked up where there is natural gas available in our area and bought a house there. We actually enjoy getting our monthly heating bill in the winter!
We have a standard buying procedure in which we must strongly desire the new item in question for close to a month before I permitting ourselves to purchase it. We generally don't care about the latest fads and trends or newest gadgets and devices. We try to repair before we replace. We rarely buy new rather than used.
Simple Schedules
Because we're not busy running around all over the place with our own agenda, there's room to add this family's regular immigration check-ins and growing social and work schedules.
We keep our margins wide while filling in our calendar so that even a busy week has more than one quiet night at home. This pertains to my days with the kids too (I'm a stay-at-home mom). One "thing" a day is plenty. We use this free time to invest in our nuclear family and our marriage. Sometimes inviting friends over for games is more relaxing than a quiet evening at home. It's a balancing act.
Protect sleep. Put it on your calendar. Make sure you get your 8 hours (or whatever your body requires to feel well).
Find things to participate in together rather than each person having their own hobby, event, activity, job.
Serve Others, Not Your Possessions
We picked out a house that would require minimal upkeep so that we could be free to spend our time doing other things. We don't spend hours mowing every week. We don't have house projects - correction: our son just stuck his chubby fist through the screen and it's beyond repair, so I guess we have one house project, but it should be a quick fix. Instead, we're able to help friends with their projects, which is ever so much more fun, less stressful, and less expensive!
What if you didn't spend hours doing laundry each week? This is an area we still need to improve slightly because we still have more clothes than we use. However, we don't have a spare set of sheets for each bed. We often share towels, but don't worry, we have our own toothbrushes!
When you have things, you have to spend time with your things. We prefer to spend our time with people. We have an extra table and chairs in our house to facilitate this. Minimalism doesn't mean living with next-to-nothing. Minimalism means only having what you use.
-- --
Living simply is one of our family values, spreading peace is another. Hosting a family of asylum-seekers encompasses both of those things and it has become our family mission for now. Because our life is uncluttered, there is room for others. We love that our kids get to see us living out the lessons we teach them - share and care! They're also learning life lessons beyond their years - that when governments make bad choices that hurt people, it's our job to jump in and help make it right! Taking care of this family is a family affair and we've had help from our youngest members as well as from extended family and friends reaching out to offer support in various ways. We never would have been able to take this on without a deep community of support. Nor would we have attempted to help a family in this way if we did not have our lives set up so simply.
My parents teased that when our guests arrive and see how simply we live, they will wonder if we can afford to support our own family let alone theirs. I argue that it's because of our simple living that we're able to support both families with both our time and resources. No, we don't have a TV, tablet, or a video game console to provide entertainment or even a big back yard to get lost in, but we do have books borrowed from the library, toys handed down from friends, 3 parks we can walk to, and a stack of board games and cards to play. We don't have a pantry and our cupboards aren't full of ready-to-eat snacks, but we have plenty of healthy fresh produce to eat and an abundance of ingredients to cook and bake with.
We live simply for two reasons. First, it frees up our time and energy so that we can choose where we spend it. Rather than having to do all the chores that come with owning more things (using, cleaning, organizing, repairing, sharing, replacing), we can take a family walk and stay at the park as long as we like. The second reason we live simply is probably the bigger factor of the two and it's not what you're going to expect. The real reason we live simply is because we're misers. We pinch every penny for as long as we can. Usually, we pinch those pennies for so long that we realize we don't need to spend them at all. But after doing this for a while, we realized that there are many benefits to living simply beyond growing our bank accounts. Living simply is: environmentally friendly, psychologically liberating, time saving.
Here's what Living Simply means to us:
Cutting Costs
Because we live significantly below our means, we have extra to share. Right now one of the ways we are sharing is hosting an asylum-seeking family, but there are so many ways to be generous!
We're a one car family. It takes planning, but it's possible. You may sit and wait for your ride from time to time, but it beats paying the increased insurance and maintenance fees of a second vehicle. We intentionally chose to live within walking distance of our most frequented places to help make this possible.
We rarely eat out. I meal plan around what is on sale and completely avoid the expensive, unhealthy snack aisles at the grocery store.
We don't pay for any kind of TV or streaming service (but we do freeload Netflix from siblings, thanks guys). Did you know you can watch most current shows directly from the TV station's website?
We put out 1 bag of trash every other week. You might not even know that this is a cheaper option your trash service offers. It certainly was not publicized. People often ask us how this is possible for a family of 5 with a kid in diapers. My question: What in the world are ya'll throwing away every week?!
We don't pay for both unlimited data on our phones as well as home internet. That's doubling up unnecessarily. I could write a whole post on our cheap phone bill hacks, but most of the companies we've used have gone out of business (I wonder why!? 😂) and I can't find much for under $15-$20/month.
We looked up where there is natural gas available in our area and bought a house there. We actually enjoy getting our monthly heating bill in the winter!
We have a standard buying procedure in which we must strongly desire the new item in question for close to a month before I permitting ourselves to purchase it. We generally don't care about the latest fads and trends or newest gadgets and devices. We try to repair before we replace. We rarely buy new rather than used.
Simple Schedules
Because we're not busy running around all over the place with our own agenda, there's room to add this family's regular immigration check-ins and growing social and work schedules.
We keep our margins wide while filling in our calendar so that even a busy week has more than one quiet night at home. This pertains to my days with the kids too (I'm a stay-at-home mom). One "thing" a day is plenty. We use this free time to invest in our nuclear family and our marriage. Sometimes inviting friends over for games is more relaxing than a quiet evening at home. It's a balancing act.
Protect sleep. Put it on your calendar. Make sure you get your 8 hours (or whatever your body requires to feel well).
Find things to participate in together rather than each person having their own hobby, event, activity, job.
Serve Others, Not Your Possessions
We picked out a house that would require minimal upkeep so that we could be free to spend our time doing other things. We don't spend hours mowing every week. We don't have house projects - correction: our son just stuck his chubby fist through the screen and it's beyond repair, so I guess we have one house project, but it should be a quick fix. Instead, we're able to help friends with their projects, which is ever so much more fun, less stressful, and less expensive!
What if you didn't spend hours doing laundry each week? This is an area we still need to improve slightly because we still have more clothes than we use. However, we don't have a spare set of sheets for each bed. We often share towels, but don't worry, we have our own toothbrushes!
When you have things, you have to spend time with your things. We prefer to spend our time with people. We have an extra table and chairs in our house to facilitate this. Minimalism doesn't mean living with next-to-nothing. Minimalism means only having what you use.
-- --
Living simply is one of our family values, spreading peace is another. Hosting a family of asylum-seekers encompasses both of those things and it has become our family mission for now. Because our life is uncluttered, there is room for others. We love that our kids get to see us living out the lessons we teach them - share and care! They're also learning life lessons beyond their years - that when governments make bad choices that hurt people, it's our job to jump in and help make it right! Taking care of this family is a family affair and we've had help from our youngest members as well as from extended family and friends reaching out to offer support in various ways. We never would have been able to take this on without a deep community of support. Nor would we have attempted to help a family in this way if we did not have our lives set up so simply.
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