It’s been a while since I’ve sat down with this little blog. 2017 was a pretty full on year with a number of other business occurrences and family events taking much of my creative powers. I love writing and I really missed it. Each time I felt the desire to sit down and write, I never had the time or space, so just kept jotting little things down in my phone to remember to share when the time was right.

And now it is.

I feel the time is right to come back to this little corner of the web; to keep blogging and sharing my journey into simple living, peaceful parenting and intentional business. I love these 3 things so much and it really makes me happy to be able to document and share my experience of them.

This whole life/motherhood/business thing is a constantly evolving experience which makes for fun adventures but difficult moments too. I hope you find something in my musings that helps you simplify your life, peace-ify your motherhood or hone the intention in your small biz.

I’m kicking off a new year of weekly blogging with a reflection on new year resolutions. If you feel up for sharing, I’d love know what’s on your goal’s list for 2018.

New Year Minimalist Resolutions

Whenever I set new year’s resolutions, I generally break them down into various aspects of life, for example, family, financial, health, business, etc.

This year I also have a “minimalist” set of resolutions which centre around helping me continue a constant slow-march towards minimalism in my life and home.

I like plain, simple, effective. I don’t do lots of ‘stuff’. In fact, my favourite part about cleaning the house is that I always find something I haven’t used in months that I can guiltlessly rehome.

While the following resolutions are about creating a minimalist lifestyle, they also impact our financial resolutions because purchasing less = more money in the bank = more money to pay down the home loan (which is one of our 2018 goals).

Here is my short, thoroughly achievable (with a bit of discipline), list of new year minimalist resolutions.

1. Do not purchase anything on impulse. It has to be something I’ve considered purchasing before I actually get to the shops.
2. Reassess my attitude towards and definition of key terms, including ‘need’ and ‘want’.
3. For my birthday, accept only phone calls, good company and good food. And a beer 🙂
4. Choose 4 months in the next 12 and set them aside as months to purchase consumables only. Note to self: For this to work, I need to be organised for birthdays well ahead of time.
5. Before purchasing non-consumable products, make the item pass a 3-question test:
   
   a. Do I need this now?
   b. Will I use this in the future?
   c. Do I actually need this at all?

Birthday presents and immediate necessities (like gumboots, because mine leak and I need gumboots around the farm) are things which would fall into category a.

A dress for an upcoming event is something that might fit into category b, but it must first pass the burning question in c.

A quick look through my closet will reveal that c is actually going to be a pretty hard question to satisfy. Which is fine. That’s why it’s there.

I really want to pull away from the fast fashion and fast homewares culture that is pervading malls at the moment. Being armed with a resolution before I hit the shops will hopefully help to ensure I don’t walk out with a $5 shirt I didn’t need and a $10 canvas that would look great on my dining room wall but is certainly not required and doesn’t get me any closer to my larger financial goals.

It’s also hugely important to me that I give our children a good example of spending our money wisely. After all, we pay for stuff with hours from our lives, and I want my kids to grow up knowing that they don’t have to spend money on compulsion.

Will you join me in setting some new year resolutions for a healthier financial outcome at the end of the year?