There are so many reasons to simplify. But one very lucrative reason to simplify is to increase the sale price of your home and set the stage for a quick sale. So, let’s talk a little about simplifying to sell your home.

To do that, we’re going to share some of our experiences with doing exactly that over the last couple of months, so if you’re selling your home…or know someone else who is…or if you’re simply looking for a fresh start in your current home, maybe we can shed some light on things that worked for us. Read More…

Topic:  4 Key Points To Keep In Mind When Simplifying To Sell Your Home

Topic

We recently had a fantastic sales experience when selling our home in preparation to move to East Aurora, NY.

Our home went up for sale the evening of the 15th of May…and before our realtor was even able to put a sign up in the yard, it sold on the morning of 16May! The first 3 couples that looked at the home all put in solid offers. The first 2 for $10k over asking price! We accepted both and had a back-up offer throughout the entire closing period (yeah)! In the end, it sold for about $35K more than we had originally even hoped for!

Background

So as we mentioned in the last episode, we’re moving from the suburbs of San Antonio, Texas to the little village of East Aurora, NY, home of America’s simplicity movement back in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Well, back in December of 2014, I was doing some backwards planning and realized that in order to build our new home on schedule, the right thing to do was sell our house in San Antonio in the Spring of 2015. So, we planned on listing at the start of the real estate season…1 May.

But in the mean time, all through Jan, Feb, March and April, I had been working out all the curriculum, scripts, testing the right platform, etc, for Vanessa’s soon to be released training product, Get Organized SOS, which is an intensive online course that teaches her proven system to organize any space. All this while prepping our house for sale. Vanessa and I planned to work on things in the background during this busy time, and launch a beta or test program in the late summer.

But while meeting with my marketing coach in April, he challenged me to launch the beta NOW. I insisted that now wasn’t the time…

Vanessa was actually in the middle of attending her week long annual professional organizers conference…

Plus we were prepping a house, listing a house, selling a house, packing to move and moving into a new place over the course of the next 6 weeks.

And, while Vanessa and I had all the material ready, we had exactly NO videos done! Plus, some of the video conferencing platforms were new to us. We needed more prep time!

No…now was not the time to launch!

But as any good coach does, he gently nudged me (actually, it felt more like my old paratrooper days as he kicked my butt out the jump door of the plane)! I called Vanessa and she said “Let’s go for it!!” No guts, no glory, right? So we launched the beta, shot the videos, and…it was awesome!

But, man, it was hectic!!! The beta lasted all of May, and all the while we were prepping our home and the World Shedquarters for sale. Our home went up for sale, sold…done!

Trouble was, now we had to find a place to live.

So Here’s How It All Went Down…

There were 4 key simplicity points that led to that great sale experience, our ability to to juggle a “crazy busy” schedule and still stay sane. And candidly, you could glean something from each one of these points even if you’re not simplifying to sell your home, but just looking for a fresh start or some positive change in your life.

So here goes!

Key Point #1: Make sure your desires are in line with your life plan, your goals are in line with your desires, and your actions are in line with your goals.

Way back in Episode 32, we talked about how the choices we make impact everything in our lives.

If you’ve been listening to the show for a while, you’ve heard about the start of our journey and you were with us through the sale of our land out in the Texas Hill Country, scrapping the idea of the big house in the middle of nowhere, etc. If you’re a new listener you can check out our About Us video and you’ll hear all about our decision to pursue a path toward more simplicity in our lives.

So since then, we’ve taken consistent action. To a large extent, we shaped our own little world and how we live our lives in it. The world loves a self-made man or woman, but I love the saying from Earl Nightingale that “We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.”

You know we’ve been on this journey for a couple years now, and we’ve been taking all the steps necessary to shape our world. And you can shape yours, too! You may have a lifestyle you want to live someday and by staying true to that you can achieve it. Make sure you’re living your Now in a way that supports your tomorrow.

So again, key point #1…make sure your actions are in line with your goals. Stay focused. You can do this…but you have to be consistent. It’s the little things we do every day that keep us consistent and on path toward our goals.

Alright…if you’re simplifying to sell your home, take heed. Key Point #2 is: Planning is a must!

We followed our own advice from Episode 42, The Upside of Downsizing. We also took steps to make the 1800sf  home we had, live like it was much larger.

Long before we planned to move, we made improvements to the house using what we call organization-based design. It’s our perspective of how we design simplicity and organization into our spaces. Our remodeling projects in the kitchen and bathrooms had a great return. And the World Shedquarters was apparently a hit, too! Improvements like cubbies, built in storage, the Elfa shelving system in the pantry, the new kitchen cabinets with slide outs, etc, all tied in to our organization-based design concept. And trust me…people know organized and simple when they see. They’re drawn to it. Nobody “wants” to live a cluttered life. So, show people a little calm and they’re drawn right in.

On the tech side, we used Trello as a planning tool to manage, share, and track our To Dos. Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. We had a “Get House Ready for Sale” board that had lists for Inside, Outside, and Done. As we finished tasks, we’d move the from the Inside or Outside board, over to the Done board. I like it because it’s very visual, as opposed to standard “list” based. I’ve been using it since. You can find out more at Trello.com. Steve Dotto has some great videos on Trello over at DottoTech.com. I’ll put a link in the shownotes.

So again, Key Point #2 is to make your plan. This will go a long way in helping to ensure you stay on track with Key Point 1, too, making sure your actions are in line with your goals.

OK…Key Point #3 is: Understand the value of margin.

Remember our definition of margin is “Uncommitted time and space in your life.” In this case, I’m referring to the ‘unused space’ portion of our definition. In the real estate world, nothing (meaning empty space and square footage) is worth a whole lot more than your “stuff” that takes up that space!

There were so many things we could have kept “just in case” but as we were going through this I kept reminding myself that “just in case” things do nothing but get in the way. When you really need something, you can find, rent, or borrow it. As a worst case scenario, yes…you may have to buy it again. So forget about the just in case stuff. It’s just getting in your way. If you need something, you’re smart and can find it when you need it. Trust yourself and your resourcefulness.

Tying in with that…our Edit & Forget It Challenge in 2013 and 2014 was key! It set the stage for truly decluttering our home and our day to day lifestyle. That said, we still got rid of well over 3000 more things in 2015 as we were simplifying to sell your home just before the move! We intend to live even more “light and lean” in our year in the apartment and in our new home in East Aurora.

We’ve just really embraced the idea of incorporating margin in our home and appreciating the openness and empty spaces in it. As we’ve decluttered our home over the past couple of years or so, we’ve really come to love the increased peacefulness that having less stuff has given us.

So again…Key Point #3 is to understand the value of margin. Free space. Both the Census Bureau and the National Assoc’n of Home builders list the number one reason for moving, as the pursuit of a better home. And one thing that consistently ranks at the top of desires for home attributes, is space. Living space and storage space. Show them the margin, they’ll show you the money. Or, give yourself some margin and gain a little more peace.

And finally…Key Point #4 for us was: Get past the mentality that you’re selling YOUR house. It’s far more about the buyers buying THEIR future home!

They need to see themselves there…the possibilities, the opportunities, and the wonderful memories they’ll make there. It’s not about you. If they walk into a messy, poorly maintained, or cluttered home, it becomes about you and how you live, and not about them. It needs to be about them!

So again…key point #4 is you’re not selling your house, they’re buying their home. It’s kind of like gift giving… If I’m looking to give you a gift, I look for a gift that you’ll want and appreciate, not necessarily one that I want to give. Same goes for selling your house.

Wrap Up:

So if you’re simplifying to sell your home, here’s a quick recap:

Key Point 1: Make sure your actions are in line with your goals
Key Point 2: Planning is a must!
Key Point 3: Understand the value of margin. Free space.
Key Point 4: You’re not selling your house, they’re buying their home.

So…there is no way we could have gotten more than our asking price, had such a great sale experience, and wrapped things up so quickly if we hadn’t simplified our lives and our home.

Vanessa was able to keep an influx of clients happy, and we were able to prep, list, and sell the house, move, and develop and launch a 3-week, multimedia and coaching product all over the course of 6 weeks! (More on Vanessa’s product in later shows).

And boy…were we ready for our road trip!!!

Question:

So, are you planning on simplifying to sell your home or do you want to make a positive change in your life? Do you think some of the key points we mentioned could help? If so, we’d love to hear about it and what tools or strategies you’re using that are helping you. Leave us a comment below!

Announcements:

Feedback:

Special thanks to Jodialgara, Suea626 , Whitephone, and Ja-Ro-El-Sha for your reviews on iTunes!

Shownotes:

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

Resources and Links:

• You can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!
• The Pursuit of Perfect by Tal Ben-Shahar
• Our Realtor Kim McCullough
• Supermom vs Super Mom
• Website Guide
• Comprehensive list of past SLT Episodes

Photo Credit MarkMoz12

The post SLT076: Simplifying to Sell Your Home appeared first on Simple Life Together.

Note: Our new book Supermom vs Super Mom is digital and will help you eliminate clutter in your life, too!

Buy Supermom vs Supermom

Topic:  Strategic Simple Living

Ok, so what is “systematic ideation” and how can you use it? Well, I’m sure there’s lots of different ways to systematically come up with ideas. I’m a bit of a tinkerer…kind of a MacGyver type and enjoy product design. I even recently had a company put one of my ideas into production and they’re getting ready to release it. But years ago, I read a book (I can’t for the life of me remember or find the title) that sparked my interest in systematic ideation.

But today we’re going to share one ideation tool with you that you might be able to use on your simplicity journey. We adapted this from a post we saw on Governing.com that had absolutely nothing to do with strategic simple living. Still, the tool was intriguing, so we adapted it for our use.

The 4 Direction Ideation Tool

So here you go: A good way to be more systematic about your ideation is by looking in all four “directions”. By that we mean, Outward, Inward, Backward and Forward. It’ll help if we give an example, so we’ll show you how we used this tool in our search for the “perfect” town or place for us to live. Of course, you can use it for any ideation exercise you wish!

• So first we have Look Outward: We’re going to look at the local, regional, and national possibilities. We could even look internationally if we wanted.
• Next we have Look Inward: What do we really want? What are our “must haves”, and what are the “deal breakers?” Vanessa will break this down a bit in a minute and share some things we consider.
• Look Backward: Doing a candid review of what has and hasn’t worked in the past. What did we like about it, what did we dislike.
• Finally, we have Look Forward: What do we want it to look like, feel like, be like?

Our Search for the Perfect Place to Live

Back in Episode 49, Live the Life of Your Dreams, we talked about our “Freedoms From” and our “Freedoms To.” One of those freedoms to was “Freedom To Choose Where & How We Live.” So, again, just to give you an example of using the tool on our quest for strategic simple living, let’s look at our search for the “ideal” place for us to live.

So, before we start the 4 directions, here are some qualities we know our dream location will have:

• A quality grocery store within walking distance
• Close to downtown shops; coffee shops, bookstores, diners, local shops, etc…oh and free wi-fi is always nice…
• We’d like to live near water. Not ocean…preferably a creek or river…or even a lake
• Small acreage to maintain; ¼ – 1 acre max!
• Good schools…or good home-school co-ops if needed
• We’d prefer an empty lot to build to our exact liking
• No size restrictions on home…for us that means small, not big
• No Home Owner’s Association (HOA) would be ideal
• If HOA…hopefully open to green/sustainable building techniques or upgrades
• Reasonable tax rates…Military retirement not taxed…state taxes
• Local farmers markets
• Outdoor activities easily accessible…fishing, camping, hiking, biking, etc.
• Local attitudes and atmosphere…not too stuffy…easy going where the community cares about taking care of and maintaining a safe and healthy place to live.

So Looking Outward:

• We’re not tied to a specific geographic location like where our families live.
• Visiting family and friends is already a part of our plan, and one of the main reasons we want to live small is so we can travel large!
• Although we could live internationally if we desired, at this point we are more grounded here in the US. Again, we’ll scratch our international itch through travels abroad.
• We want 4 seasons…with relatively mild winters ;o)

Looking Inward:

• Keeping our 5 pillars in mind (Faith, Family, Fitness, Finances, and Freedom), we want a place and lifestyle that can support all of them in fair balance. For example, we don’t want to live in a place with a high cost of living that would restrict our freedom to travel and visit/spend time with family.
• Additional must haves…safe environment, access to the recreational activities we love, the outdoors, ability to live small, high walkability rating (walkscore.com) and 4 mild seasons. The reason these things are so important to us is because these things fulfill us.
• Deal breakers…restricting our freedom to live in a small, environmentally conscious home….too much traffic…high taxes, intolerance, etc!
• Bottom line, we want a place with personality!

Looking Backward:

• We actually miss apartment-style living! No yard maintenance, small space with a home for everything, little home maintenance and access to fitness and pool facilities.
• Yet we like having our own home and a yard to chill and play…BBQs, darts, playing catch, gardening, fires, bird-watching ;o)
• We also like designing and creating our own unique home.
• Don’t like cookie-cutter “suburbia” homes. Although many are incredibly beautiful and offer tons of amenities, in our experience and the suburban homes we lived in, they lacked a sense of community.

Looking Forward:

• What will it look, feel, be like?
• For our example of our ideal location, what does a day there look like?
• What does a week there look like (routines, shopping, weekend, etc).
• What do the seasons look like?
• While these are cyclical, what does it look like in a linear sense, from now to a point in the future?

Major Takeaway

So the major takeaway here is this: By all means, DREAM. Dream Big! But when it comes to getting serious about strategic simple living, be systematic about your ideation. Look Outward, Look Inward, Look Backward, and then look Forward.

By going through this process of ideation, you may come up with more questions than answers initially. But in the end, you’ll probably be a lot closer to what you want and be able to formulate a real plan of action.

Question:

So, what is one of your long-term simplicity or other life goals where you could use this ideation process? Is it your home, your career, a business opportunity, a passion, or even a relationship? We’d love to know.

 Be sure to leave a comment below.

Thing Segment

Vanessa: I just turned 40 years old and feel great!

Dan:  Recently we had to do some document faxing. We usually bug Dan’s ex and send faxes from her office, but this time I just used the HelloFax extension for the Chrome browser. HelloFax makes it easy to sign documents and send faxes online. You’ll never need to print, sign and scan documents again! You can get 50 free fax pages each month, for 6 months! If you want to check out Hello Fax just go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/hellofax.

Qs and Comments, iTunes Reviews

We just wanted to say thanks to Genevieve Parker Hill for including us in her post, 9 Websites To Help You Live Simply. She lists some fantastic simplicity blogs and we’re honored to make the cut!

And also to Sheryl and Dave Balthrop for mentioning us in their post The 7 Phases of Your Heroic Journey to Margin and Simplicity.

 Announcements:

• SimpleRev Tickets:

  • Early Bird tickets are now available for SimpleRev! Only 50 tickets will be offered at the Early Bird pricing so make sure you lock yours in today.
  • SimpleRev is being held on Oct 3-4, 2014, in beautiful downtown Minneapolis on the University of St Thomas campus. To get your tickets at the lowest price that will ever be offered, just go to SimpleRev.com/tickets. I’ll also put a link in the shownote to the SimpleRev podcast in iTunes, as well. Or just search iTunes for SimpleRev, all one word.

• Project 333

  • Don’t forget if you have questions or just want to learn more about Project 333 or Courtney Carver’s Dress With Less microcourse. You can learn more about that at SimpleLifeTogether.com/dress.

• Edit & Forget It Challenge

  • Finally, sign up for the Edit & Forget It Challenge!If you’re already on our Edit & Forget It Challenge email list, that’s great. If not, you can sign up here.

 Shownotes:

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

Resources and Links:

• You can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!

• Dress With Less
• Evernote Essentials
• Automate Evernote
• SimpleRev Tickets
• Supermom vs Super Mom
• PackingLust.com
• SimpleLifeReboot.com

 Photo Credit: Marina del Castell

The post SLT065: Strategic Simple Living appeared first on Simple Life Together.

Well first off, simple living with kids doesn’t have to be an oxymoron. Like simplifying the rest of your life, simple living with kids will take some planning, work, and positive change, but it will be well worth it. Read more…

Note: Our new book Supermom vs Super Mom will be free on Amazon all day Friday, 21 March 2014 from midnight PST to midnight PST.

Topic: Simple Living With Kids

Well worth it, yes…but notice I didn’t say “well worth it in the end.” That’s because there really isn’t an end when it comes to simplicity…that’s why we call it a journey.

The “Stuff” Cycle:

Before we get into the different stages of our kids’ lives and how that effects simplicity, there’s something that needs to be addressed first. I call it the “Stuff Cycle”…for lack of a better term. If you don’t realize you operate in a stuff cycle before you have kids, you will as soon as you’re expecting. Here’s how it goes:

Perceived Need Phase:

• All the things advertisements tell you you need
• All the things you ‘think’ you need
• All the things everyone else ‘thinks’ you need and don’t hesitate to tell you

Acquire Phase:

• Purchase, gift, rent or borrow

Utilization Phase:

• You figure out what you really need and use

Replacement Phase

• You fill those needs with things that actually work

Edit Phase:

• You take action to get the things you don’t need, don’t use, and don’t work out of your life

Refine Phase:

• Continuously evaluate, acquire, replace or upgrade as necessary, edit as required.

Simplicity Issues at Different Stages of Our Kids’ Lives

Babies:

• Just making sure they are cared for requires so much (or we think it does)
• Amount of stuff required at home…but babies grow up so fast that it’s impossible to use every toy or clothing item 
• Amount of stuff required on the road
• Time and attention required

Toddlers:

• First steps of independence
• Just trying to stay ahead or just keep up parents feel they need to buy every learning gadget or tool so they are ahead when they start kindergarten

Kids:

• Starting to understand commercials and get a taste for consumerism and wanting more
  • Brand name toys
  • Brand name clothes
  • Even exposure to peer pressure

Teens:

• Consumerism: clothing, gadgets, food
• More time commitments with extracurricular activity, work, etc.
• As parents now it’s crunch time to teach them the life skills to be successful adults.

Adults:

• Are you responsible or do you hang on to your grown kids’ “stuff” as they start their adult life?
• Do they feel “entitled” to things beyond their income?
• What’s your comfort level or threshold for monetary support?

Ways to Keep Simple Living With Kids, Simple!

• Toys and Gifts
  • Family members go overboard (time for a talk)
  • Birthday parties (manage expectations)
  • Holidays (manage expectations)

• Boundaries
  • Not every room is the play room (CELF study, Episode 14)
  • Don’t buy more storage for more toys…edit the old to make room for the new…create a boundaries or limit of how many toys your kids can have
  • Limit screen time
  • Personal chores (clean up after self)
  • Family chores (team building, contributing)

• Routines and Rituals are key to simple living with kids
  • They make kids comfortable and let them know what’s expected of them
  • We’re creatures of habit…good or bad
  • Morning
  • After school routines
    • Snack
    • Homework
    • Dinner clean up and declutter
  • Holidays
    • Again, managing expectations of your kids and relatives
    • Edit before big gift-giving events

• Having constant communication with your kids
  • Reinforcing ideas
    • Talk about your values regularly
    • Try to instill valuing experiences over things
  • Set the example:
  • • Pick up after yourself
    • Limit your own TV and Internet exposure
    • Play with your kids
    • Read to them
    • Give away and donate things (bring your kids along)
  • Stick to your guns on your rules, boundaries and routines. You’ve got to use them and hold everyone including yourself accountable

Major Takeaway

Yes, kids provide their own unique spin on simplicity, but just like us it has a lot to do with how you establish norms in your home, how you manage expectations, the example you set, the boundaries you establish, and how effective you are at using the Laws of Learning (Vanessa covered the laws in Episode 13 in the segment called First Steps on the Road to Simplicity). Just like simplifying the rest of your life, simple living with kids will take lots of planning, work, and positive change. But it will be well worth it for you and serve them well in their life too.

Question:

So, how do you simplify life with your kids? What tips or techniques do you use that could help the rest of us? We’d love to know.

 Be sure to leave a comment below.

Thing Segment

Vanessa: Attending the Minimalists meetup, and seeing our friend,  SLT listener and Edit & Forget It member Robin. My main takeaway from Ryan and Joshua was that minimalism looks different for all of us. I also like their take on what they allow or edit in their lives; basically they don’t keep anything that doesn’t add value to their lives (kind of like our “use it, need it, love it” questions we ask when deciding what to edit from our lives).

Dan: The new Add-Ons function in Google Docs. Provides additional functionality right inside Google Documents and Spreadsheets. In your Drive menu bar you’ll notice a new menu option title Add-ons. Click Get Add-ons and explore…you can do mail merge, Avery labels, bibliographies, etc…FREE. For more on Google Docs, check out out our tutorial.

Qs and Comments

Kerry emailed us his story…

Dan and Vanessa,

I couldn’t decide whether to write and tell you how much I appreciate your podcast or to share a little bit of my cluttered story… so I will do both.

I am an Air Force officer, having served for 13 years so far. While I haven’t moved around as much as you did in your careers, moving forced me to take stock of what I owned and what owned me. I grew up with a lot. My dad was a successful doctor and business owner. When I say we had a lot, that might be understating. Christmas morning was like walking into a Toys R Us. While I certainly appreciated the fact that I was lucky, I never took it for granted and shared a lot with my big family that didn’t have as much.

It wasn’t until I joined the Air Force and got married that I began to considered how “stuff” made me feel. I realized that I had hoarding tendencies (from my mother) and a desire to simplify (probably from my dad). From the perspective of having moved away, I realized that my Mom was a hoarder with means. That is, she could afford to keep everything. We had multiple vacation homes and each one had a basement or attic packed full. In addition, she had three 20×40′ storage units, all neatly organized but full! My parents divorced around the time I finished college and joined the AF and my mom continued to spend, collect and store. As a few examples, we had every Dept 56 Christmas Village, Halloween Village, Snow Baby, etc ever made. She also framed EVERYTHING! And you don’t throw away framed things so she now has, in storage, somewhere between 500 and 1000 framed prints.

The longer I was away from home, the more uncomfortable I was going home. While everything in my mother’s home is nice and clean, it’s everywhere. I realized she had a problem when I went home for my sister’s funeral and actually couldn’t set a drink down because every horizontal surface is covered. In the past few years, she has spent and collected herself into near bankruptcy and I still can’t get through to her. But… I started my own journey of self-reflection and consideration. I began to realize that it felt good to divest myself of clutter. I am no where near where I hope to end up, but my awareness of “stuff” has been amazing. I was always a person who collected “just because”. I had 39 bottles of Marylin Merlot wines because people kept buying them and I didn’t know what to do with them. I had every knick knack from childhood stuffed into boxes all over. Most of this stuff (and lots more) is gone. But what I really wanted to do is share with others is that the family aspect can be really hard. My mom and lots of other family members attach so much meaning to stuff that it comes between relationships often. When she visits me and my family, she will load my kids up with toys from the Goodwill. I have asked her not to do this and specifically told her that it makes me stressed and unhappy. But the message isn’t received. When she finds out that I get rid of a lot of the things she buys she is upset. In my mind that means stuff is affecting our relationship.

As for my life, I am inspired by what you guys do and say. I connected with Dan’s story for a few reasons. I am very techie and a mac guy to boot. I am also into home improvement and woodworking. While you guys have your teardrop, I grew up flying hot air balloons (fourth generation pilot). So I own a balloon and that certainly comes with a lot of stuff. But I do my best to keep things simple. I drive a pickup because the balloon fits in the back, but that means I don’t have to own a separate vehicle. Ballooning is my passion and I really enjoy doing it with my family. But if it ever started detracting from life, I would give it up.

So, I have a long way to go, but I am enjoying it. My wife is naturally not a clutterer, but she isn’t sold yet on my journey. I choose to share the important lessons that make my life better. Maybe they will sink in. I learned a long time ago that I can’t force her to do anything she isn’t ready for. Thanks for what you do. I believe it works.

– Kerry

 Announcements:

• Folks, we need some help over there on Amazon reviewing the book. Again, just go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/supermom to to review the book.As a special incentive, Supermom vs Super Mom will be available for free all day Friday, 21 March 2014 from midnight PST to midnight PST.

• I’m working with our friend Joel Zaslofsky of Value of Simple on the SimpleRev simplicity summit.  SimpleRev will be 200+ passionate simple-living advocates. Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist will be there, too! To learn more, just go to SimpleRev.com or SimpleLifeTogether.com/rev.
  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Date: October 3-4, 2014
  • Venue: University of St. Thomas Downtown Campus
• Joel put together a fantastic page on SimpleRev.com where you can find all your transportation options, lodging, what to do, how to get around…everything a conference attendee would like ask about the area at SimpleRev.com/allittakes.

• Special thanks to Chauddog, Turtletruth, and Robinvb1 for the reviews you left for us on iTunes. It really does help people find the show.

• If you’d like to leave a review, just go here on iTunes and click “View in iTunes”, launch iTunes, and then click “Write a Review.”

• Don’t forget if you have questions or just want to learn more about Project 333 or Courtney Carver’s Dress With Less microcourse. You can learn more about that at SimpleLifeTogether.com/dress.

Finally, sign up for the Edit & Forget It Challenge! If you’re already on our Edit & Forget It Challenge email list, that’s great. If not, you can sign up here.

 Shownotes:

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

Resources and Links:

• You can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!
• Dress With Less

 Photo Credit: Theo B

The post SLT061: Simple Living With Kids appeared first on Simple Life Together.

But, it sure is nice to have a general idea in mind, isn’t it? So, we wanted this show to serve as a sort of a Simplicity Quick Start Guide for your journey. You know how when you’re working on a puzzle you check the cover of the box from time to time to see if you’re on track? Well, that’s what we hope you do with the episodes listed here. Check them and gauge your progress once in a while. Read more…

Simplicity Quick Start Guide

So we broke our Simplicity Quick Start Guide down into 5 categories and listed some of our most popular topics in each. This way, you can go back and listen to those shows you may have missed, or re-listen to them based upon your simplicity goals. So here are the 5 categories we used:

• Starting Out…The Decision to Simplify
• Simplifying Everyday Life
• Organizing What You Have
• Designing Your Lifestyle
• Your Digital Life, Simplified

Part 1: Starting Out…The Decision to Simplify

• Beginning Our Simple Journey
• Edit & Forget It Challenge
• Becoming Minimalist
• First Steps on the Road to Simplicity
• How Typical is Your Home?

Part 2: Simplifying Everyday Life:

• How Clutter Effects Your Life
• Power of Saying No
• Simplicity for a Lifetime
• It’s All About the Choices We Make
• Your House is on Fire! What 5 Things Would You Save?
• How Routines Can Simplify Your Life
• Things to Eliminate in the Coming Year

Part 3: Organizing What You Have:

• The Benefits of Organizing and Having Less
• How To Organize Any Space
• Organizing Your Clothes Closet
• Helping Others Edit & Organize
• Why We Can’t Let Go of Our Clutter
• How to Organize Your Photos
• Organizing Important Document

Part 4: Designing Your Lifestyle:

• Creating Your Morning Routine
• Difference Between Being Frugal and Being Cheap
• Juicing with Farnoosh Brock
• Life’s Spam Filter
• Busy is the new “I’m fine”
• Live the Life of Your Dreams

Part 5: Your Digital Life, Simplified:

• Sun Tzu and the Art of Inbox Warfare
• Gateway Gadgets
• Living Without a Printer:
• Evernote Simplified, Part 1 and Part 2
• Menu Bar Apps & Browser Extensions
• Going Paperless
• Managing passwords with 1Password
• Backing Up Your Digital Information

Takeaway:

So, there you have it! A great Simplicity Quick Start Guide and the perfect resource to help you get a head start on simplifying your life in the coming year. Why wait for the New Year to make a resolution? Start now and get ahead of the pack.

Question:

So, are you going to get a jump on the New Year and start simplifying now? What are some of your favorite episodes? What did we miss that would make our Simplicity Quick Start Guide more complete?

THING Segment:

Dan’s Thing: Road time! Sleeping in the truck & teardrop, Hudson Bay Point blanket, Thoreau’s Walden (Librivox.org for..free) , seeds, lemon water and the occasional Tabasco Slim Jim! Had a great 2558 mile road trip so far! Made new friends, visited family, saw old friends (some after 25 years). Enjoyed seeing more of this beautiful country.

Vanessa’s Thing: Free kid’s Kindle Books from Amazon.com! All the joy of reading for our little girl but none of the clutter…woo hoo!

Announcements:

We’ll be taking the month of December off to concentrate on some writing projects! So, you’ll have PLENTY of time to catch up on previous episodes of Simple Life Together! Enjoy the holidays!

Consider signing  up on our email list!  If you’re not on our email list you’re missing out on one or two blog posts we do per week, and the occasional video, too. You can subscribe right here on SimpleLifeTogether.com over on the right side.

 Shownotes:

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

Resources and Links:

• You can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!
• Free Amazon Kindle Kid’s Books
• Librivox.org for free audiobooks
• Hudson Bay Point blanket

Photo Credit hmomoy

The post SLT051: Simplicity Quick Start Guide appeared first on Simple Life Together.

It’s nice to have one source that you can go to in whatever interest category you have. So, we wanted to put together an episode and talk about some of our favorite websites and blogs that helped us on our journey, and still do…our Top 20 websites!

Main Topic:

We’ve talked about many of these before and even had some of the authors on the show, but we want this show to be a tribute to them and a resource for you. We decided to break them down into 4 different categories to simplify things (go figure…that’s what we do here): Minimalism, Simplicity, Lifestyle, and  Lifehacking/Productivity/Tech…and we threw in a couple of bonus blogs too! So here they are, our Top 20 simplicity websites:

Minimalism:

• Becoming Minimalist: Joshua Becker (listen to our interview with Joshua on Episode 11)
• Zen Habits: Leo Babauta
• The Minimalists: Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus

Simplicity:

• Midway Simplicity: Mohamed Tohami (Tohami interviewed us! You can see it here)
• Value of Simple: Joel Zaslofsky (we talk with Joel in Episode 33)
• Be More With Less: Courtney Carver learn more about Dress With Less)
• Simple Life Reboot: Sheryl and Dave Balthrop
• Slow Your Home: Brooke McAlary
• Unclutterer: Erin Doland and staff
• iHeart Organizing: Jen Jones

Lifestyle:

• The Simple Year: Kerry Reifel and now Kandice Bridges (listen to our interview with Kerry in Episode 25)
• Prolific Living: Farnoosh Brock (hear our conversation with Farnoosh in Episode 19)
• Tiny House: Alex Pino
• Rowdy Kittens: Tammy Strobel
• Apartment Therapy: They did a story about our office, aka the World Shedquarters)
• 48 Days: Dan Miller

Lifehacking/Productivity/Tech:

• DocumentSnap: Brooks Duncan (Brooks talked about going digital in Episode 6)
• 4 Hour Work Week: Tim Ferriss
• Lifehacker: Staff Lifehacker had Vanessa on TWICE for the ASK An Expert series. Check out Part 1 and Part 2)
• Digitwirl: Carley Knobloch and staff

Bonus Sites:

• (Tech) MichaelHyatt.com Mike Hyatt and team
• Real Simple: Staff
• On the Green Road: Cece Reinhardt + Brenda Daugherty

Takeaway:

So, there you have, the Top 20 simplicity websites and blogs that have helped shape our journey so far and that we still look to for information, inspiration and motivation.

Question:

So what are some of your favorite websites and how do you follow them? Do you subscribe to email lists, RSS feeds, etc? How often do you share content from your favorite websites, blogs or podcasts with a friend? Maybe it’s time to spread the love, huh?

—————————–

THING Segment:

Dan’s Thing: Community…especially the Simple Life Together and Edit and Forget It Facebook communities.  We learn so much and appreciate how everyone supports one another in their pursuits to simplify.

Vanessa’s “THING”: Dymo LabelWriter.  This label maker has made life so much easier for Vanessa, especially when it comes to labeling file folders! It’s fast, easy to use and very versatile with its many different sizes of labels.

Announcements:

We still have a couple slots open for Washington DC area meetup. We’d love to have you come join us for some great conversation, pay as you go snacks and drinks, and the chance to connect with others who are looking to lead a simple life in the modern world. We’ll be at La Tasca in Rockville Town Square at 7:00 PM on Sunday, 24 November. There are just a few spaces left. It’s a free event and really just a chance for us to meet you and get to know you face to face, so make sure you grab a seat before they’re gone! Just go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/dc to sign up or search for Simple Life Together at Eventbrite.com

Consider signing  up on our email list!  If you’re not on our email list you’re missing out on one or two blog posts we do per week, and the occasional video, too. You can subscribe right here on SimpleLifeTogether.com over on the right side.

 Shownotes:

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

Resources and Links:

• How to Peel a Hardboiled Egg (our nephew filmed this while we were visiting them in Florida…such a fun trick)!
• Joshua Becker books
• Dymo Label Writer

As always, you can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!

The post SLT050: Our Top 20 Simplicity Websites appeared first on Simple Life Together.

Best viewed in HD, so click the little gear on the bottom/right of the video and select HD.

May want to turn up your volume, too!

But wait, there’s more! Read more…

Skitch is a great tool for lots of actions, including:

• Fast feedback
• Perfect screenshots
• Snap your screen, a portion of the screen
• Image editing
• Simple sharing

Skitch even works better when you’re signed into Evernote because it lets you sync all your images, documents and annotations so they’re available on all your devices. Since Evernote does Optical Character Recognition (OCR), your annotations will be searchable…even text inside pictures! Besides, Skitch is free and maybe by using pictures and graphics to tell your story you can save a thousand words. And it makes things more, well, simple!  Enjoy!

The post How to Use Evernote Skitch (Video) appeared first on Simple Life Together.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Cathi Nelson, Founder and President of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) to help answer one of the most asked questions here on Simple Life Together: “How do I organize my photos?”

The interview was fantastic! Cathi offered up a wealth of information on how to organize your photos, both your physical and digital photos. We highly, highly recommend listening to the interview!  Before you do, here is little more information about Cathi and some of the questions we asked her on the show: Continue reading…

How To Organize Your Photos: An Interview With Cathi Nelson:

About Cathi Nelson:

Cathi Nelson is the founder and president of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO), and her own photo organizing business, Photo Simplified. Cathi Nelson has been helping people organize their photos for over 17 years. Through Appo, Cathi is now teaching others to do the same. Appo provides support and education for entrepreneurs looking to build a photo organizing business, and educates the public on the need for photo organizing services. Cathi is also member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).  She was a speaker at the 2011 NAPO annual conference and the Independent Photo Imagers Annual Conference, and frequently speaks on photo organizing at libraries, continuing adult education classes, and photo organizing retreats. If you want to know how to organize your photos, you won’t find better answers than from Cathi Nelson!

Interview Questions:

1. Tell us a little more about who you are and how you make people’s lives simpler.

2. What is the biggest challenge you see with folks and organizing their photos? (Lack of routines…taking too many pictures…not letting go or deleting bad ones…unclear idea of how you want to store and enjoy them?)

3. Organizing hard copy photos can be a daunting task.  For those with hundreds or even thousands of physical/hard copy photos, do you have a recommended process of how they can organize them?

4. How do you recommend people categorize their photos?  Chronologically or by person, place, event?

5. What are some ways and products people can use to store their printed photos and negatives? Any special considerations for storing old, fragile, sentimental, or historical photos?

6. With mobile devices, it’s so easy to take hundreds and even thousands of photos before we even think to download them. Do you have any recommended strategies for managing our mobile device photos?

7. I heard you say on one of your tutorials: “Don’t let your kids grow up to be JPEGS.” Can you explain what you meant when you said this?

8. Do you have any preferred software to organize digital photos? What about creating photo books?

9. How can one alleviate their fears of losing hard copy or digital photos?

10. What types of habits or routines can people adopt to manage and keep their photos organized and prevent it from becoming a big task in the future?

11. For the do-it-yourselfers or those looking for help, what are some online resources to help people learn about organizing their photos?

Additional Photo Organizing Resources and Information:

Other popular services:

• Picasa/Google+ auto backup on iPhone
• Flickr
• Snapfish
• Photobucket
• Shutterfly

There is a great comparison of these services on CNET

Main things to consider:

• Pricing
• Storage capacity
• File types
• File size
• Bandwidth limits
• Resolution of pictures

Announcements:

Michael Hyatts’ Platform Conference 3 – 5 November 2013, in Dallas TX at the Omni Dallas Hotel at Park West:

• We’re both attending this top-notch conference to help you build your online presence/platform.
• Michael and his team have given us a discount code just for Simple Life Together listeners that you can even use on top of the special Early Bird Pricing.
• To register for the event or to just learn more, go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/Platform, use Coupon Code SIMPLE to save $100 off your registration!

Starting your own podcast:

• If you’re interested in starting your own podcast, you can get started the same way Dan did.
• Go to SimpleLifeTogether.com/Cliff and watch the video at the top of the page to find out what the course is all about.
• If you’re interested, Cliff has given us a discount code for $500 off of the course for Simple Life Together listeners.
• Use the discount code SIMPLE in the shopping cart, pocket your $500, and get signed up for the world of podcasting.

The Google Drive/Google Docs tutorial is now FREE!

• Why?  We just want to put out good content that’s helpful.
• You can get the tutorial by clicking the Tutorials tab above.
• If you feel compelled to contribute there’s a “Buy Us a Coffee” button when you click on the link!
• Thanks and we hope it helps.

And the Side Gig Website Guide is now open without passwords, sign-ups or anything!

THING Segment:

Dan’s Thing: An article by Ally Vesterfelt on her blog at allisonvesterfelt.com called Is There Room for Sentimental Attachment In Packing Light?

Vanessa’s Thing: Simple fun on the Slip’n Slide! Sometimes just being “present” with your kids is all you need!

Resources and Links:

Picture Keeper Photo Backup

APPO video: explains what personal photo organizers can do…or how to become one!

APPO website

Photo Simplified: Cathi Nelson

Cathi on LinkedIn

Cathi on Twitter

Reach Cathi by phone: (United States) 1-860-904-5365

Photo Keeper: simple and small photo backup device

NY Times Article with Cathi

Linea App:  photo sharing program that syncs across your devices: iPad, iPhone, or desktop

Archival Methods storage and presentation products

CNET comparison of online photo services

Map iPhoto Library to External Drive

Charity:  SLT donated $50 to Women to Women International on behalf of Cathi Nelson for spending  time with us on our show and sharing her expertise

Ally Vesterfelt’s post Is There Room for Sentimental Attachment In Packing Light?

Ally Vesterfelt’s book Packing Light and her accompanying blog for the book at PackingLightBook.com/blog.

Platform Conference: Coupon Code for $100 Off: SIMPLE

The Book: Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World

Podcasting A to Z course Discount Code : SIMPLE for $500 off!

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

Photo Credit: ohsohappytogether

The post SLT040: How To Organize Your Photos appeared first on Simple Life Together.

While ‘preparation meets opportunity’ is a great tool to guide our lives and how we live them, sometimes its simple things that make the day to day more enjoyable. One area we’re trying to make strides is through eating more “simple foods.” Read more…

Preparation Meets Opportunity and Making Food Simple

Dan’s Topic: Preparation Meets Opportunity

Dan’s History with Afghanistan: 

• When I was a young man working in DC, the Soviet-Afghan War was going on.  This was the mid-1980s so the Cold War was still in full swing. I became interested in Afghanistan and its people, so I studied up on this remote place.

• My Afghan interest was renewed in 1997 during a briefing I attended about the status of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the devastation that was occurring. My job back then was essentially doing antiterrorism work & training. 

• Following 9/11, I quickly found myself leading my men as part of the initial US forces in Afghanistan, and working with the Northern Alliance. 

• For me it was the ultimate in Preparation meets Opportunity. I was where I was meant to be, leading men who I was meant to be with, doing what I trained mind, body, and soul to do. It was an amazing season of my life’s journey, with a feeling of fulfillment that I bet most people never have the chance to feel in their own life.

• Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not talking about the war or conflict or glorifying any of that. I’m talking about doing what you are meant to do.

Another personal example of Preparation Meets Opportunity for me was being a panelists on a Social Media board:

• About 3 years ago, the local chapter of professional organizers was hosting a panel on the importance of social media for small business. One of the panelists was forced to cancel and they had a hole in the panel they needed to fill. At the last minute Vanessa offered me up for slaughter!

•  So what the heck does a newly retired Air Force guy know about social media for small business?  In my mind, these business ladies where a whole new, but still very real, threat!  But, reading and studying about social media and technology had become a principle hobby for me for the last couple of years up until then.

• I devoured thousands of blog posts, articles, podcasts, and books about these subjects because it was something I was interested and wanted to do as a “side gig” some day.

• But when put on the spot I thought, “Not now…I’m not ready, what do I know, what qualifies me?”

• I just counted on all the hobby reading I’d done in the last two years and went with it.  And if the feedback I got was honest, I think I did pretty damn good on that panel!

• And that’s another example of Preparation Meets Opportunity. On a much different scale, but still a solid example.

So recently we’ve gotten a lot of feedback, and a common theme of much of it falls along the same lines. People, like you and me, who are becoming the change they want to see, and preparing for opportunities. So here are some examples:

• Maria who after living a life of simplicity was inspired to start a blog called  ‘Minimal Author‘ (www.minimalauthor.com) that has been very rewarding.

• Dayis, who along with her husband have decided to live a simpler life and travel.  They too had been setting the stage for a simpler life and decided to seize their opportunity (and maybe after getting some inspiration from Episode 35) to put their home on the market to pursue their dreams.

•  Emily, who also was inspired by Episode 35 shared with us how she and her family are putting their 2100+ sq ft home on the market to live in 21 ft travel trailer while they build small, simple and eco-friendly earthbag domes as their new home!

And that’s just a taste of the things people just like you are doing. It’s kind of amazing isn’t it? And that’s just from the last few days and doesn’t include some of the private emails we’ve gotten.

The thing I want to leave you with is this: When you’re working on that Life Plan, or your dreams and goals, prepare for those opportunities you want to come along.

I’m a firm believer that you can determine your own destiny if you make your own future. Shape it yourself. You’ll have obstacles along the way for sure, but you’ll also find encouragement and inspiration, too.

There will be times when you need to take a break and do a personal review to make sure you’re on track. You’ll find encouragement in that, as well as from friends and family, co-workers, or others who are doing what you want to do…maybe from podcasters too ;o)

Stay true to YOUR dreams and prepare for them. It will all be worth it when you find yourself at the intersection of Preparation and Opportunity.

Vanessa’s Topic: Making Food Simple

Back in Episode 35 we talked about our vacation and living in 50 square feet.  We absolutely loved our camping trip but I have to admit…I’m paying a heavy toll for eating like crap.  I’m still recovering a bit from eating all the deliciously unhealthy food in and around Buffalo New York.

So all that bad eating has caused me to refocus and try to get back on track to healthy eating.  And since it’s been on my mind every day, I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on how we eat and why.

Just before we went on vacation I felt amazing!  I finally found a way of eating that was easy and worked for me. I based my way of eating off of the Wheat Belly diet.

But then I went on vacation and fell off the gluten-free/grain-free bandwagon for about a month.  And I’ve been paying the price trying to get back on!

I wondered, why do we struggle so much with food?  I really don’t know…but I think it may have something to do with our relationship to it…and how creative we’ve become with it.

I guess you could say I’m a little schizophrenic when it comes to food and what I eat.  On one hand, I can be so good and disciplined…yet on the other hand when I’m in a really good mood,  I’m like, “Woo-hoo!!!!  “Let’s go celebrate….and eating some greasy, fried, processed bar food !”

Over the years I’ve been able to transform my body through fitness which I talked about in Episode 5. But it’s only been recently that I’ve taken my diet a little more seriously.

Whenever I have a problem or challenge with any aspect of my life I think..”How can I make this process simple.” Because simple usually means less stress, less headaches and less pressure.

So when it comes to jumping back on the healthy eating bandwagon I’m going to share with you some ways I keep things simple…and perhaps you can keep these things in mind too if you’re struggling with food:

• Pick a simple diet plan.  One that works for you. I’ve tried several in the past and the ones that didn’t work were ones where I had to count every single fat gram and calorie…or one where I had to eliminate so many types of foods…or ones that required too much planning and preparation.  Those didn’t work because they were too complicated.

• Another thing I do is get back to simple foods. Raw nuts, fruits and veggies.  Raw foods are extremely healthy and the simplest foods to eat!  If you don’t like them totally raw…try dehydrating them or better yet…Juice them!  We talk all about juicing back in Episode 19.

• Get back to single-ingredient foods:  I heard John Bukenas of Let’s Reverse Obesity mention this and I thought it was brilliant.   A carrot is a carrot…an apple is an apple…no matter which way you slice it.  You can blanch or broil it and it’s still pretty simple. But if you decide to caramelize that apple or shred and cook that carrot in cake full of flour, sugar, eggs and oil, then it’s no longer a simple food…and usually requires a lot more work to prepare (not to mention a lot more work to take off).

• As for meals…keep them simple too.  There are two things I like to do: 1) create simple meals that require little prep and 2) Repeat the same meals to make shopping and prepping a lot easier.

• Create a simple meal plan and shopping schedule.  I recommend setting up a routine to plan your meals and go grocery shopping on a set schedule. I talk about routines in Episode 2.

• It’s simple math.  Diets and fads come and go but the one thing that seems to be consistently agreed upon is that if you take in more calories than you burn…well then you’re gonna gain weight. You’ve gotta burn more than you consume….it’s really that simple.

• And lastly…ask two simple questions: “Am I worth it?” and “Am I willing to work for it? “ I usually find myself saying yes and before I know it…I’m back on the healthy eating bandwagon!

THING Segment:

Dan’s Thing: Auto backup for your photos using Google+. You can find more info on that here.

Vanessa’s Thing: Re-discovering our Excalibur food dehydrator

Announcements:

The Google Drive/Google Docs tutorial is now FREE!  Why?  We just want to put out good content that’s helpful. You can get the tutorial by clicking the Tutorials tab.  If you feel compelled to contribute there’s a “Buy Us a Coffee” button when you click on the link! Thanks and we hope it helps.

And the Side Gig Website Guide is now open without passwords, sign-ups or anything!  Just use it and get inspired to start your own side gig!

Resources and Links:

Photo Auto Upload for Google+

Wake Up Productive

Excalibur food dehydrator

Wheat Belly

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

Photo courtesy of Stemack Street

The post SLT038: Preparation Meets Opportunity, and Making Food Simple appeared first on Simple Life Together.

We’ve had a standing dream: More time with family, and way more time to enjoy the outdoors!  We’ve mentioned on the show that have been trying to sell our 4 acres overlooking State Natural Area in the Texas Hill Country.  Well, we sold it, and it freed us from other debts and allowed us to pursue 2 of the pillars we live by, Family and Future.

Background:

• Before we started podcast…last year around this time we decided to simplify our lives
• Commitment to simplify and live with less
• Reshaped our life plan and lifestyle
• First decided we didn’t need big dream house…but then we started looking at Class A RVs to build this new life plan and lifestyle
• Actually had one picked out…35 ft Bounder  Classic..with 4 TVs…everything gadget and accessory you could imagine…that cost more than our current house and gets about the same miles per gallon!!!!
• What were we thinking?  We even started planning our new 900sq ft home around storing this monster!

Decision on getting the CampInn:

• Forget the Class A motorhome
• Dan started looking around…and stumbled across the teardrop community…Dan explain
• Talk about the trailer
• Talk about trip to Austin to visit Tim and Cindy’s camper
• Decision to buy dictated by selling the land
• Land sold…next day we put our order in!
• So…we planned our first big trip

Trip forced us to simplify:

• 3 week road trip
• Most of our family in NY has downsized or didn’t have room for us…and we didn’t want to impose
• Decided to rent a Camp Inn camper
• Got to rent it for free!
• Forced us to simplify our packing because we didn’t have our camper  to store stuff in…we had to pick it up in Wisconsin

Things we did to simplify camping: Yeah, we bought stuff…but we’re going to be doing a LOT of camping and we wanted it to be (you guessed it)…simple! (links to all these are below)

• Set of 4 metal plates and utensils: pizza tins…trying to keep down on waste with plastic cups and utensils
• Berkey…will come in handy next time
• Quick dry and small thin towels
• Crank and USB LED lanterns
• Toiletry squeeze bottles…great for camping and flying for TSA regulations
• Packed light clothing…Van: Merino Wool Clothes
• Dan…NMX/washing ranger panties (SOFFE shorts)
• Table with benches that tuck under it
• Self inflating Thermarest mattresses instead of a blow up mattress that doesn’t hold its shape or bulky cots
• Aeropress
• Pop up trash can that can fold flat
• Camper pros:
• Well designed…we love efficient design
• Easy to tow…little effect on gas mileage on highway
• Compact…can have access in practically any campground or an off-grid location.
• Can fit in our garage at home
• Serves as a separate room/guest bedroom
• Can be a great Bug-out van ;o)
• Weather proof!  Huge/severe thunderstorms didn’t put a damper on us!
• Kitchen galley was awesome…and acted much like a kitchen at home…it was the “hub”
• Keeps it’s value better than many other campers/RV
• Able to let go of other items no longer needed for camping: sleeping bags…big tents…big air mattresses…big cots…extra coolers…separate camping stove and propane tanks
• No more hotel rates….
• No more big packing jobs…everything will be stored in the camper.  Hook up and go!
• Even in remote campsites with no electrical hook ups…we didn’t use up the battery.

Camper cons/challenges:

• No shower…which made for tedious trips to common shower facilities (Van seriously considering no-poo and going “au naturale” instead of hauling toiletries around)
• Can’t bring our juicer! Well we could…but it would be a hassle.

Pros of living in a small space/camping:

• We don’t miss a lot about our home and material things (juicer)
• We’ve been able to disconnect and unplug most of the time!
• We’ve slept better!
• Small space forces you to “live” outdoors (screen house, alcove, fire pit…protect you from sun and provide a gathering place/social space)

 Take Aways:

• Developing a Plan and sticking to it
• Identifying obstacles and temptations that may deviate from your plan: big RV…all the coolest gadgets…having the financial resources to buy camper but not    getting it until the land sold
• Patience: Selling the land was key…even though it took 2 months longer than expected.
• Realizing that new paths sometimes will reveal themselves…the small teardrop

THING Segment:

Dan: Day on the lake with family!!!!

Vanessa: Same as Dan! But, but since we want to be different, the the Food Crawl…Taste of Buffalo (Mighty Taco, John and Mary’s, Mammoser’s, Fran ‘n Ceils, Bella’s Pizza

Resources and Links:

Camp Inn Campers (use discount code “SIMPLE” to save on your purchase!)

Microfiber towels (we loved these!)

USB/Crank Mini Lanterns (awesome…lots of ways to charge, no batteries!)

Marino cool clothes (pricey, but I only need a few and I absolutely won’t go back to cotton)

– Icebreaker Merino Wool

– Ibex Merino Wool

Stainless Percolator (we added a probe thermometer to ours…you can email Dan if you want more info on that)

Pop Up Trash can

Edwin Jagger Safety Razor (beautiful, very functional and cheap blades)

Shaving oil (Dan won’t go back to creams…this will last over a year!)

Thermarest Mattresses (we loved these when we tent camped, now the kids use them!)

Berkey Water Filtration System (we use at home and on the road for pure water)

3 ounce Silicone Squeeze Bottles (love, love love these!)

Fuch’s Travel Toothbrushes (the best travel toothbrush for us…and cheap!)

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

The post SLT035 Living in 50 Square Feet…Vacation Simplified appeared first on Simple Life Together.

Whether we like it or not, many things in life boil down to relationships.  We all have a relationships with money and we all have relationships with the “stuff” in our lives. Again, just like many other things in life, our relationships can be positive or negative experiences. But often it just depends on how we frame them.

So, let’s take a look at our relationship with money and our relationship with “stuff”. To help us look at money, we’re going to discuss a recent article by Seth Godin, one of our favorite bloggers. To help us look at the things we surround ourselves with in life, we’ll talk to Bonnie Dewkett, Certified Professional Organizer from The Joy of Organizing podcast. Read more…

Combined Topic: Let’s Talk Money With Seth Godin    

In this episode, we talk about an article by Seth Godin.  If you haven’t heard of Seth Godin, he’s written fourteen books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. And every single one has been a bestseller. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything. Candidly, his blog post is typically the first thing in my Inbox in the morning. Seth is also a fellow Buffalo boy, like me.

So, Seth recently wrote a post titled Thinking About Money. He said, “Many marketers work overtime to confuse us about money. They take advantage of our misunderstanding of the time value of money, of our aversion to reading the fine print, of our childish need for instant gratification and most of all, our conflicted emotional connection to money. Confusing customers about money can be quite profitable if that’s the sort of work you’re willing to do”

He makes a few interesting observations about money that we thought was interesting and so we picked a few of them and discussed our thoughts:

1. The amount of money you have has nothing to do with whether or not you’re a good person. Being good with money is a little like being good with cards. People who are good at playing cards aren’t better or worse than anyone else, they’re just better at playing crazy eights.

2. Money spent on one thing is still the same as money spent on something else. A $500 needless fee on a million-dollar mortgage closing is just as much money as a $500 tip at McDonalds.

3. If you borrow money to make money, you’ve done something magical. On the other hand, if you go into debt to pay your bills or buy something you want but don’t need, you’ve done something stupid. Stupid and short-sighted and ultimately life-changing for the worse.

4. To go along with #3: getting out of debt as fast as you possibly can is the smartest thing you can do with your money. If you need proof to confirm this, ask anyone with money to show you the math. Hint: credit card companies make more profit than just about any other companies in the world.

5. There’s no difference (in terms of the money you have) between spending money and not earning money, no difference between not-spending money and getting a raise (actually, because of taxes, you’re even better off not-spending). If you’ve got cable TV and a cell phone, you’re spending $4,000 a year. $6,000 before taxes.

6. If money is an emotional issue for you, you’ve just put your finger on a big part of the problem. No one who is good at building houses has an emotional problem with hammers. Place your emotional problems where they belong, and focus on seeing money as a tool.

7. Like many important, professional endeavors, money has its own vocabulary. It won’t take you long to learn what opportunity cost, investment, debt, leverage, basis points and sunk costs mean, but it’ll be worth your time.

8. Never sign a contract or make an investment that you don’t understand at least as well as the person on the other side of the transaction.

9. If you’ve got a job, a steady day job, now’s the time to figure out a way to earn extra income in your spare time. Freelancing, selling items on Etsy, building a side business–two hundred extra dollars every week for the next twenty years can create peace of mind for a lifetime.

10. The way you feel about giving money to good causes has a lot to do with the way you feel about money.

11. Don’t get caught confusing money with security. There are lots of ways to build a life that’s more secure, starting with the stories you tell yourself, the people you surround yourself with and the cost of living you embrace. Money is one way to feel more secure, but money alone won’t deliver this.

12. Within very wide bands, more money doesn’t make people happier. Learning how to think about money, though, usually does.

13. In the long run, doing work that’s important leads to more happiness than doing work that’s merely profitable.

Interview with Bonnie Dewkett, The Joyful Organizer

We had an amazing interview with Bonnie Dewkett of the Joyful Organizer and the Joy of Organizing Podcast. Here are the questions we asked during the interview:

– So Bonnie, who are you and how do you make lives simpler?

– We’ve found, and I’m sure you have too, that when someone “discovers” simplicity and really works to attain a higher level of simplicity, it can have a tremendous impact on their life. Can you share an example of two of how you’ve witnessed that impact or help enable that change in someone’s life?

– In one of your recent blog posts titled “Why Do We Own” you touch on a couple of reasons why we tend to own things and want more.  Can yo0u tap about what those reasons are and how knowing “why we own” we might be better able to control the clutter we let into our lives?

– One of your specialty services is photo management. that is one area where we’re working on developing a good Standing Operating Procedure (SOP) for ourselves and it’s also an area we’re often asked about from our listeners.  What tips can you share for others who’d like to “rein in the horses” and get control of their photo memories?  Maybe some tips for digital and physical photos?

– Another very popular question we get from our listeners is, how do you get others in your life, let’s say a spouse or loved one, to jump on  the simplicity or clutter-free bandwagon?  It can be a sticky situation…can you share some tips on how folks can work together towards living a simple life?

– So Bonnie, like us, you and your husband Matt work together, and you transitioned from the corporate world to start your own business together.  How has that changed your life together?

– Can you tell us a little bit more about your coaching services?

Thing Segment:

OK…for the first time every we have a “combined thing” which was spending time with old friends and new friends at the World Domination Summit over the 4th of July holiday weekend in Portland. Chris Guillebeau and his crew put on a fantastic event once again, and I think they did a pretty good job of scaling from 1000 people to 3000. So, we’ll see what next year holds in store.

Links:

Support Charity Water Through Your Amazon.com Purchases

The Joyful Organizer

The Joy of Organizing Podcast in iTunes

Bonnie’s Books on Amazon

Thinking About Money

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The post SLT034: Let’s Talk Money, & An Interview with Bonnie Dewkett appeared first on Simple Life Together.