Welcome to another week of Claiming Simplicity
Are you wanting to pursue more simplicity in your life?  Many years ago, I realized  I wanted to spend my days with more meaning and not consuming and competing.
 
Pursuing a simplified life can be just as exhausting at times as pursuing the fast one because it doesn’t just happen on its own.  You still have to manage balancing family life, work life, and personal life—while trying to maintain a slower life.  You may have to learn new skills from budgeting differently to learning how to cook from scratch or preserving food and there is a learning curve if you don’t know how to do these things. It is so very rewarding though!
In my current season, serving my husband, children and grandchildren calls for most of my energy, so my business is often secondary. There’s a lot of No in my vocabulary right now because we say yes to better things, but with each new season, that will always be changing.  
I have 2 daughters still at home that homeschool and are in sports year round, so that takes much of my focus because I know that season will be over in 6 years and I want them to know they are my priority right now.  I also work my businesses early in the morning and free hours that we are not running with kids.  Kids are only young for so long and I don’t want to miss it.  I don’t want you to miss out either!
So what are you doing to make a change?  If you don’t make a plan and start, you will be exactly where you were last year!  Please please please make a plan to learn something new and begin to move forward so when you look at your goals for this year, you can look back and be proud of yourself!
I want to give you some skills because this is what my brand is all about!  
Decide what a slower life and simpler living looks like to you.  How many hours will you spend at a job?  Will you raise your own food or preserve your own food? Do you want to get some animals to become more self-sufficient?  Do you want to spend more quality time with your family? Do you want to live on less money and stop over consuming?  This is the most important step because living a simple life looks very different for each person and if you don’t know what it looks like to you, you will never be able to attain this lifestyle.
Research and application.  Like I always say….it is not a race, so you have to start slow so that you do not get overwhelmed.  This is an amazing journey and it doesn’t happen instantly~there are skills to learn, research, and testing as to what works and you need to figure out what you enjoy.  It is definitely a different lifestyle than than the fast pace the main stream is used to and there is a totally different mindset when you live this enjoyable life.  You don’t feel the need to have everything the next person has and it is so much easier to go without things and not feel bad about it.  There is so much support as simple living is becoming more popular and you will notice that more people want to save money and learn how to be more frugal.  There are so many more resources than there ever used to be!
Work on getting out of debt because it will be hard to live slower and enjoy the things you value if you have alot of debt.  First, stop buying unnecessary items and think about each purchase.  Do you really need it or is there a different option that is cheaper?  You also need to know why you want to get out of debt.  Start by seeing if there is anything you have that you don’t really need and that you can sell.  Can you have a cheaper vehicle so you don’t have a payment?  Do you need the camper you have if you owe money on it?  Think about all the extra snowmobiles, boats or items that you could do without or go a cheaper route.  After that, start with your smallest bill to largest debt amount and pay extra on the smallest amount until it is paid off and then go to the next debt tacking on the amount from the debt you paid off until all debt is paid.
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