Simplifying – Week 1

I’ve been even more delinquent on blogging as we were in the process of selling our house, selling a lot of our possessions, packing and moving to a rental.

We’ve been entertaining the idea of downsizing and moving more central to where we spend most of our time.  Earlier this year, with the San Diego housing market doing well, we thought we would see if we could get a good price for our house and finally take action on the dream of minimizing and getting closer to our FI (financial independence) goal.  We are minimalists, tiny house dwellers and dirt bag dreamers so this is the first step in dipping our toes in their realities.  I’m pretty certain I was a hippie in another life!

Fast forward to last week where we started moving on Tuesday, moved furniture on Saturday and we closed on our house on Thursday.  As my husband keeps on saying, “we are doing this!”

2500 sq ft

Under 1000 sq ft

As with any move there is an adjustment period but I thought I would note the pros and cons I’ve seen so far with our move towards minimalism and simplifying:

Pros

• Between .5 miles ~ 1.5 miles from the places we frequent weekly (YMCA, Rancho Coastal Humane Society, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s to name a few)
• Up to 40 minutes less work commute per day for my husband when he bike commutes (equates to more sleep, more days bike commuting and more time together)
• Great cross breezes in our apartment from balconies on both sides of the unit (didn’t have this in our house)
• Less than 1.5 hours to clean the apartment and do two loads of laundry
• Quiet (this place is unbelievably quiet for a multi unit dwelling!)
• Cats have outdoor living space on one of our balconies in a catio
• Less bills (now we only pay rent, electricity and internet; no more trash, gas, water, home owner’s association fees or property taxes)

Cons (these aren’t first world problems and things I will get used to)

• Food prep and cooking in small kitchen but as a wise friend and chef said women have been making family meals in galley kitchens for centuries and I can do it too!  I also got great tips from a friend that has always lived in small space living in NYC and now DC.
• Not using kitchen appliances such as Vitamix and food processor before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. to be conscious of our neighbors
• Hauling things: to and from car parking space, detached garage and garbage
• Community laundry (however my husband came up with a great way for us to wash our daily work out clothes without having to go to the laundry room every day)
• Having things out on counters.  This is an OCD behavior and one I can get over.  I was just taught everything is to be put away but now I guess this is put away as they are in their place!

Great to see the pros are outweighing the cons!

Well it is only 10:30 a.m. and I have already gotten in a bike ride, cleaned the apartment, done laundry and blogged.  Off to see what the rest of my day brings in our new simplified lifestyle!  Hopefully more Craigslist inquires on some other things we decided to sell that we don’t need.

I have started following blogs about minimalism but I’d love to hear any tips you have on things you have done to simply your life!