Ok, so maybe I am being a little melodramatic, but after living in our basement suite for almost a year, the wood paneling was graining on me (ha- graining). So, I painted the walls. Well, we are in the midst of painting the walls. What I am trying to say is, I bought white paint. So, technically, we never said anything about not buying paint, but it wasn’t a necessity. I am happy to report that I bought used outlet covers though- now, that is something to be proud of.

I will show you the before picture now of the living room area of our basement home, and you can decide for yourself if it was an emergency or not:

There you have it. I will upload the new improved pics when we are finished.

I find that this year I have a deep pull inside myself to take something and renew it. I am very happy where we live, but it is not super trendy and beautiful to look at. It looks like a reject from 1972. We have made a decision to be content with less, not strive for more and more. But at the same time, I don’t think that means that you can’t take something that you already have and renew it. I find a lot of joy in that process. I think that Christ has that same kind of joy when he can take our out of date, delapitated life, and make it beautiful and new.

I have been making some bread lately. Some friends of ours heard what we were doing and thought they would give us some of their stuff they don’t use anymore(smile). One awesome thing in the pile was a bread maker. I thought at first it was too huge to keep (b/c I have all of two cupboards in my kitchen) but once I used it I was hooked. It is so easy and wonderful to use and the results are fabulous. Even though I don’t eat bread, the boys really enjoy it and the smell is enough for me. I also feel a lot better giving my family food that I know exactly what is in it, because I put everything in it!

Here is the bounty from our garden today:

Man I love living in the country!

In other news, I have been cleaning and purging like nobody’s business. We have this area in our living space that is all of our storage covered by a curtain. I loath that area. I hate not having storage. But, it got me to thinking today, what is the point of having a whole bunch of stuff piled up in a corner that you just don’t use? I mean, there are some things that I use occasionally, but most was just sitting there collecting dust. It drives me nutters. So, I purged. Tom hates it when I do this, but he has become used to it in the five years that we have been married! So, not only am I buying nothing, I am also giving stuff away! Happy day.

We got back from holidays in Colorado and I got a little more than I bargained for as far as the garden is concerned. It looks good now, but when I first got back, dill had overtaken everything! There were no little rows, it was just a mass of green, two feet tall at least. So, I guess it doesn’t work so well to leave a garden unattended for three weeks.  After a couple hours with my Mom, Tom and I weeding, it is looking fabulous if I do say so myself!

We picked some baby carrots today for a little snack. I am attempting to thin out the mass of carrots, and pretty much everything that I planted. I planted everything really close together. My radishes didn’t turn out too well b/c they needed more room to grow, I guess. Live and learn. It was so fun today to sit outside and eat some carrots that we planted and God grew in our very own little garden! Super cool!

We are more then half way through our year long experiencement of not shopping and I am very proud of how far we have come in the past year. Even though there have been times when we have been very tempted to buy new (a dress Malora found in a Nepali import store) we have held off. We have not cheated too much and I feel like the desire to consume is growing fainter with each month. That desire is still there though. It has just changed.

Even though we are not shopping any more there is still a growing desire within us to keep up with the people around us. It seems like everyone we know owns their own home, has more then one car, and has a bunch of kids. We are renting the basement suite we live in, our car has a rusty bum and sputters out on us, and we only have one amazing son. There is a constant pressure for us to keep up with the people around us. We often put this pressure on ourselves, but many times it is put on us by well meaning people - with well meaning questions:

“When are you guys going to move into a bigger house?”

“You guys should really have more kids”

“I can’t believe you only have one car…wow. How do you do it?”

I think everyone feels the pressure to keep up with the Jones Family (whoever that is), and once you start it is a non stop spiral of wanting more and more. We want the freedom to be unencumbered by debt or possessions. We are living that reality now and if we can continue that for the rest of our lives that would be amazing. To live a life that is not about consuming and paying off debt and instead is about living with the freedom to respond to the needs around you.

I think that true wealth has to do with having the freedom to be generous to the needs of the people around you. A debt free life is one step in that direction. So, we made the decision to stop worrying and thinking about all of the maybes. Maybe we will get a house, maybe we should get a new car, maybe we should have a bunch more kids, and instead to allow life to happen and enjoy it in the process. Focusing on enjoying life in the present is essential to living a truly rewarding life.

We are on a much needed vacation in Colorado. Visiting family, lighting off firecrackers for the 4th of July with my brother, and relaxing. I even got to go tubing on a lake and flew 4 feet in the air when I hit a wave the sent me flying. It has been really relaxing and I am so glad that we came.

However, the desire to shop is so much worse when you are on vacation. You are going to new places and the common thing to do is commemorate these experiences by buying something to remember your pleasant time there. A cheezy shirt with a place name on it, a little plaster molding, a teeny little spoon the a crest at the end, or any other touristy thing. I once bought a beaver in a can because I couldn’t find anything else (the beaver was a stuffed animal).

It makes me wonder how much money we waste on trinkets that we eventually give to thrift stores because we have no use for them. Instead of shopping for souvenirs on vacation maybe we should learn to enjoy relaxation without consuming useless junk. It is hard not to shop when you are away from home and all the rules, but we wont fall for Rocky Mountain snow globe.

bonus: We saw an earthship in Ft. Collins, Colorado. We are going to try to visit it somehow.

I have been doing not so good on the “not buying”. I have been doing really good at the “buying only second hand”. As far as not consuming goes,  I have such a weakness with clothing. Spring is here and I have bought some new cute springy things. I am very impressed with what I have found at thrift stores, but that is not the point. I didn’t need all that I bought.

It has become second nature to look for things that we need second hand. Tom’s razor broke (that is how he gives himself “haircuts” - let’s be honest buzz cuts). So he found one used on kijiji.com. We don’t even really think about buying new things anymore, but the thrift store has become so inviting and thrilling.

 I think I need to get a bit more of a life.

I get so excited about the things I get and the prices I get for them. then I go about telling others about the amazing deal I found and how the item looks as though it has never been used. Although that is thrilling, I am still consuming. I am still being consumed by consuming.

I think we are all consumed with something. It is so easy to lose focus and bend the rules with this compact. yikes.

My garden is starting to sprout. This is the start of little radishes! We have had a lot of rain mixed with warm weather. I guess I picked a pretty good year to become a gardener. Soon I will not even have to buy food! I will never have to go to the grocery store again! (ha ha, just jokes).

Speaking of being self sufficient. Tom and I watched a documentary called “Garbage Warrior”

It was really, really fabulous and interesting! It is about this guy who makes these awesome houses called earthships. They are made from recycled materials (old tires and bottles, ect.) They are totally off the grid (there is no electricity going into them, no sewer, no heat) They are powered by solar and wind energy. Plants and food grow in the house. It is just the coolest thing. I really reccomend watching the documentary. You can learn more about it here.

In my continual quest to get rid of plastic, I have set up a new system. I am trying to reuse empty glass jars, that I would just normally recycle, to put bulk items in. When I buy the bulk items I am going to use my little bags I made and then transfer the food into the jars. I think that will reduce our plastic a lot.

Notice the plastic in behind the jars… my enemies! I have to find a good place to get organic bulk food. The little place I go to right now is SO expensive. I spent $17 on raw almonds the other day (I didn’t even get that many!) NO THANK YOU!

So I have been slightly obsessed with decorating, arranging, nesting- call it what you like. This is mostly because I have been looking at this  website everyday. It is so inspiring and lovely (thanks Jamie!) So I decided to post some things that I have found at thrift stores (I know this is not a need, ok…) and things that I have been given lately that I like in my house (basement suite).

I got the lamp base for $3.00 and the shade given to me by a friend! It is dark down here and any extra light is MUCH appreciated.

$1.99 thank you very much.

This was given to me by a friend (same friend actually). She found it at a thrift store. I painted it.

This I found at a thrift store for $5- I kid you not.

So, I think that it is very possible to have a nicely decorated home and not buy new. Almost everything in our home is second hand and I think it looks nice. I have found that it brings me so much joy to find a little gently used treasure for my home lately. You can find such unique additions in thrift stores. I feel like I am slowly losing interest in shopping at stores for new things. I think this is mostly because a lot of the items that we go to buy in stores are made in other countries that do not pay their workers fairly. The more I learn, the less places I can go!

On a completly different note, here is the site for our garden. Tom and I hacked away at the ground yesterday (and we are feeling it today let-me-tell-you!) It may not look like much now, but soon, a multitude of produce will be shooting out of the earth!

We have received many emails and comments from people that we do not know from all over the place. From Calgary to Tennessee! Emails of encouragement, questions, and stories about how our experience has impacted people.

It is encouraging to know that there are people throughout the web reading our blog and being encouraged and challenged by it. I have been really bad at responding to emails and comments. So it is my goal to respond to every email or comment that we get…if a response is needed. Sorry if you have sent an email and not heard from us. We will do better.

I will be speaking at Calgary Christian School on May 20th about our compact life. I am really excited to share what we are doing with the high schoolers there and challenge them to rethink their consumption. Hopefully we get more chances to share experiences like this in the future.