We're really loving our new apartment. We moved from a 750+ sq.ft. place to a 430 sq.ft. studio. We really don't need more space than that. In fact, we could get along with less.
Thomas found some minimalist blogs and an anti-consumer documentary and the content really struck a chord with both of us. The months leading up to the move we started selling and giving away our stuff on Craigslist. Before we signed our new lease we decided that we wanted to rid our lives of the material clutter that was surrounding us. To our delight we ended up with a pile of cash and a more serene space and mind.
We're carrying the minimalist philosophy over into all areas of our life, slowly but surely. We've downsized our wardrobe, furniture, dishes, and even sold over half of the books we own and pitched the TV and telephone. It's already apparent that this is the right thing for us right now. Minimalism means something different to every person; to us it's about saving money, breaking attachments to inanimate, material possessions, reducing our carbon footprint, and most importantly, thinking outside the conventional box.
For example, about two weeks ago, while I was packing up the old apartment, Dylan was chewing on the phone cord and to my dismay, my insistent "Drop it! That's dangerous." only elicited giggles. I had been trying to convince Thomas that we should get rid of the phone for awhile at this point, so naturally that thought was in the back of my mind but it wasn't my first thought. My first thought had to do with baby-proofing something or other and why we hadn't bothered to do it yet. Anyway, I thought about hanging the phone on the wall at the new place but the cord would still hang down a little so the point would have been moot. After some thought and several more unheeded warnings I decided to look into other options for long-distance communication with our family and friends in other states.
Of course, unlimited video chats via Skype for free was the best option, but unfortunately, not everyone we need to talk to has access to a web cam. The second best option was to buy a Skype subscription that would enable us to place outgoing calls as well as to receive calls from landlines and mobile. At first, I thought the plan was too good to be true. For the total price of $5.18 per month after ALL taxes and fees, we would get unlimited calls to/from any and all landlines and mobiles in the U.S. and Canada, free voicemail, caller ID, speed dial, and an online telephone number that we could pick the area code for. Plus, since we don't have or want a regular cell phone, we could just take the computer with us on road trips and use it as a mobile at any restaurant, coffee shop, library, etc with a WiFi signal. Yes, please! On top of getting rid of another useless possession (el teléfono), the Skype subscription will save us in the ballpark of $350 this year. Win, win.
There's still one big part of our lives that needs tweaking if we really want to save big. FOOD. And grocery shopping and impulse buying. Can anyone say 99 cent organic head-sized ciabatta cinnamon roll? We've been picking up these bad boys at least a couple times per week and the empty calories and buck a pop really add up. Not to mention we're total Virgil's root beer lushes, that's another $1.69 per bottle. And we're also complete Whole Foods Market snobs which is just the kind of branding we'd like to move away from. We're on the road to recovery, however. The word around town is that the local farmer's market stocks organic produce and the farmers are willing to bargain. Downtown, here we come!
Finally, and totally off topic, I took Dylan to a local park the other day with one of my mom groups, and he rode his first swing, fed the ducks, and went down one of the slides.
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