I feel like I’ve accumulated more stuff, simply because all those around me have and because it’s something I’m supposed to do as I get older.  I still sometimes feel like my house is less ‘grown up’ compared to others since I prefer to keep ours more basic and sparse.

Even typing that though I feel like a phony when I compare our life now and the amount of stuff we have compared to when we lived in Australia.

We lived in a two bedroom (one was more like a half bedroom since only a single bed would fit in there), one bath, furnished flat.  You want to talk about some ugly furniture!?  But, we didn’t really care.  It came with the flat.  We bought a desk and a computer and a bookshelf.  I think that’s it.  My husband’s family gave us some kitchenware, but nothing fancy by any stretch.  There was one closet in our bedroom for the whole unit.  And we didn’t need anything more either.  We just didn’t have a lot of stuff.

And I really don’t even remember cleaning that place.  I know I did, mind you.  I just think the time it took was so negligible that I don’t remember doing it.

Hence we had a lot of time just to do whatever!  Of course, we didn’t have kids either.  But, that’s a whole other level of stuff that just needs a separate post!

Whether you are de-cluttering or downsizing or cutting out more extra-curricular activities or dumping debt, everybody seems to be wanting “the simple life”.

However, ‘simple life’ means something different to each person.

To some people is means getting back to basics like baking your own own bread and making your own cleaners.  Vinegar and baking soda anyone?

To some people or families it means selling (or at least storing) most everything to live in an RV.  Or to some it means paring down to the bare essentials!

There are those who create household management notebooks, which seem like a fabulous idea if I ever actually did it or followed it.

Some are slowing getting rid of childhood collections or selling nearly everything for a new adventure.

For me, being a stay at home Mom keeps our routine simpler.  Also being debt-free as we have less to worry about.  And finally, our attempt to get rid of extraneous stuff is starting to pay off.  The house is slowly but surely becoming easier to manage and to clean

Sometimes I fantasize about moving back to Australia simply so I will be forced to get rid of stuff and start over.  Weird, I know.

What kinds of things do you do to create a simpler life?

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And here is the part where I give you my excuse.  Frankly (and sorry if this is too much information), I was having boob issues.  Mastitis to be exact.  And, if you are a breastfeeding mother and have never had this, trust me, you don’t want to…ever.  I started to get on Friday for the second time this month as I’m trying to wean my almost 11 month old who has insisted on only eating off one side for months.  He was starting to wean himself, which is how I got it the first time, but then on Thursday I must have skipped one too many feedings because on Friday I felt like total shit.  Like I had the flu.  Friday night was even worse.  I finally fell asleep after lying there for HOURS in misery, only to wake up drenched in sweat at about 4am to Little C’s cries.  Lovely.

But, then Saturday morning I felt pretty good.  My body does really well (knock on wood) to fight off illness.  Took it easy though just the same.  I think I’ve got him down to two feedings now, in the morning and before bed.  All of the other times he had started to bite me, so those were taken away.  Sorry baby…no biting allowed!

Hence my not posting since Thursday, or whenever it was.

But, I have a couple of articles that I think are pretty cool that I wanted to share.

Veggie Terrain has a great post all about smoothies.  My son loves it when I make smoothies and I always have to share mine with him.  So, I’m always looking for new ways to make them super healthy to get some extra vitamins and nutrients into his picky little stomach.  She has a lot of other great veggie recipes too, so have a look around her blog.

Yesterday my hubby and I were talking about how well we do minimizing our garbage, but we’ve got nothing on this couple at Rubbish Free Year, who limit theirs to only one very small rubbish bag per year!  Granted, we are convinced they can do it because they don’t have kids, but it’s still amazing and we could all learn a thing or two for sure!

On another note, we took our oldest son to see Up this weekend.  It’s a lovely movie with some very valuable life lessons.  I just loved it.  After all of my travels and my desire to see so much more of the world, it’s a good reminder for me that I don’t need to leave my city or even my backyard to make wonderful memories for my children.  Some of my most wonderful memories are, just like Russell said in the movie, the “boring” ones.  So sweet.

It was a sad week too, with the passing of Michael Jackson and don’t let’s forget Farrah Fawcett.  I feel she sort of got lost in the shuffle and shadow of Michael Jackson even though so many had been following her illness and documentary.  I had a Farrah Fawcett glamor head as a girl that I put makeup on and did her hair.  Hilarious.  She was as much of an icon to me as MJ was, for sure.  Although I have been singing, Wanna Be Startin’ Something all weekend.

Did you read anything great over the last week or weekend?  If so, tell me about it.  Or maybe you have tips on weaning…hey, I’ll take it all.

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There has been a lot of Q&A happening around the blogosphere in the realm of Location Independence Living.

This has always been an interest of mine.  I love travel and feel cheated compared to the rest of the world with the measly of amount time off each year that US employees blindly accept.

I used to think about this a lot when I was working and how “there must be something better” than what seemed like the drudgery of the same thing day in and day out.  Just waiting until I could get the time off for a vacation or dreaming about a possible early retirement if I saved my pennies.

I realize now after reading, Free Pursuits’ article on the 5 Categories of Life Plans, that I was a ‘Deferred Lifer’ though I didn’t want to be.

The article states that the, “characteristics of this plan include a job with a modest salary or hourly wage, little vacation time and little control over how, when and where you work.”  He goes on to say that, “people who follow this plan focus quite a bit on their retirement options and look forward to that magic age (usually somewhere between 55 and 68) when they can enjoy life without working.”

I know that not everyone views their days and their work this way, but I always did.  It’s not to say that I hated my jobs, because I didn’t.  I always looked to find something to enjoy about my job and my days.  But, working the 9-5 grind was never a dream of mine and it still isn’t.  I love to work and even more so, to earn money.  I just prefer it to be more on my own terms.

Since our family is a dual nation one, it’s a dream of mine to become more location independent in terms of how we earn our living so we will have more flexibility with visiting family.

At my husband’s workplace, where he works in IT, they are about to launch a new work-from-home program where certain employees can choose to work 1 or 2 (or even more) days from home.  You are supposed to have a dedicated office in order to do this, of which we do not.

So, a dedicated office space (with a closed door) is now something that we are adding to our list of considerations when deciding whether or not to move or renovate in the next 2 to 3 years, in order to foster our working towards a more location independent lifestyle.   Once you can prove to your employer that you can successfully do your work outside of the office, it is much easier to then take it on the road with you as well.

Does all of this sound interesting to you too?  Here are some GREAT blogs with all sorts of things to get your thinking….or dreaming.

Location Independant has a great Q&A article with advice from all sorts of Location Independent People (LIP).  The article also mentions some great LIP who have families.  And, since we have two boys, this is of great interest to me.

There is a lot more to consider when you have kids.  The blogs they mention are Tumblewagon and Soultravelers3 (read their great Q&A post as well).  Soultravelers3 also has a great list of blogs of traveling families in their links section, though many seem to be done with their journeys.

Their seem to be quite a few families who save up financially to travel for a fixed period of time, but not as many who are more nomadic and work as they travel.

I would like to read more about those who work as they travel and how exactly they do this.   More about what type of work they are doing.  I like to read what others are doing because it helps me to think outside the box and stretch my idea of what is possible for us.

For a good start, Free Pursuits has a great list from the survey they conducted listing 64 Ways Location Independent People Earn A Living.  Fantastic list, though I don’t know what some of the jobs are.  I believe he’s planning on writing more about his survey results and go more in depth, which should be interesting.

For those who don’t really want to be nomadic, but who just long for more flexibility in where they do their job (ie don’t want to be tied to an office), Muselife has an article about helping to arrange this within your current job that is quite good.

Then of course, one of the masters of Location Independence, Tim Ferris, and his book and website, The 4-Hour Workweek, is also a great read.  Not practical for most of us, but a lot of good tips in there for efficiency.

You can also find even more info by following the #LIP tag on Twitter.

Do you dream of being location independent?  If so, what are you doing to get there?  Or maybe you already are?  If so, share your secrets!

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Travel full-time for less than $14,000 per year at I Will Teach You To Be Rich – a TON of great tips.  A lot easier to do if you are childless, for sure, but there are a lot of families who do it.  I would love to do it for six months to a year and maybe one day when the boys get older we will.  I will definitely be revisiting this post for some great reminders if we do!

Baker at Man vs. Debt, who I’m pretty sure is either in, or on his way, to Australia now wrote 27 Last Minute Considerations Before Moving Across the World.  This family has guts and I love it.  They have ditched most of what they own and are taking a couple of backpacks and their little daughter and moving to Australia, without a work visa.   He’s written a great list of what to consider when you make a move like this.  I wish you luck, mate.

Travel around your own city and your kids  (age 5-12) can earn a prize (if you state participates) with REI’s Passport to Adventure!  Even if your state/town doesn’t participate, you could download their online journal and create your own passport to adventure and your own rules and prizes for your kids.  What a great way to kill boredom this summer!

I like this post asking readers what their dream lifestyle is on Moving To Portugal.  It’s an old post, but since I’m always thinking about what “my dream” is and trying to get my husband to figure out what his is (how can you not know??!!), it resonated with me.  My dream lifestyle is to have our mortgage paid off and to have employment flexibility to be able to travel more and visit Australia for longer periods (or vice versa if we moved back to Oz).  But I would love to take our boys to Edinburgh, where my hubby and I met and loads of other places.

Do you know of a great expat blog that I should check out?  Or seen a great post on travel lately?  Please let me know so I can check it out.

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1. Family Visits

Saturday afternoon we went to a party at a friend’s house.  It was pretty fun.  Though parties where you take your kids are just not quite the same as parties in our younger days, are they?

You can’t drink too much, always have to keep an eye on where your kid is, make sure they eat something decent so they don’t have a total meltdown because of all the sugary drinks and snacks your host has on offer, and leave to put them to bed before the real partying starts.  Oh well, I can’t party like I used to anyway.  I get tired and want to get into my pajamas and watch a movie.  How sad am I?

Sunday I went to lunch and on a garden tour of 9 beautiful gardens with my Mom…my Mother’s Day gift to her.  We had a lovely time.  Some of the gardens had little treats, like strawberries and champagne, tea punch and cookies, a plant sale, and several had music.  It was a beautiful day and I got loads of new ideas for my own landscaping.

I managed to get a bit of reading in too, but mostly this is what I liked from last week.  Enjoy!

First of all, Christian PF is running a contest giving away a Nintendo Wii and an Ipod Nano.  You blog about the contest to get in the running for the Wii and twitter about the Ipod Nano.  Well, I twittered…and now I’ve blogged.  Fingers crossed!  I would LOVE to win the Wii so I could get the Wii Fit package to help with goal to get back in shape.

The Happiness Project has a great interview with Alex Fayle from another of my fave blogs, Someday Syndrome, titled Decide To Be Happier NOW, Not Someday.  This post really resonated with me.  I had recently read a quote somewhere about this very thing.  About how if you can’t be happy where you are NOW, what makes you think you will be happy somewhere else.

I am very guilty of this…thinking, “I will be happier when…”.  This is something I have been working on for the last few years actually and I have found myself to be more content and happier than I have ever been.

I love food blogs too.  I don’t ever really cook much of what I find on them, but reading them and looking at the food photos is pure eye candy.  I love Cookie Madness.  She has a lot of yummy recipes on her blog!

She just posted her version of a Wheat Free, Vegan, Chocolate Chip Cookie that looks pretty darn good.  I have a soft spot for allergen-free recipes, so I like to post good looking ones when I see them.  Although for true allergen free, I would leave out the nuts, use Smart Balance butter and Enjoy Life chocolate chips.

I have also recently stumbled onto another expat blog that I’m having a lot of fun looking around.  It’s called Making This Home.  Katie (American) and Martin (German) live between America and Germany.  They are currently living in the US in this cool tire house.  Katie writes about all sorts of cool things pertaining to green living, which I love.  She is very crafty at being green too!!

I was also honored to be listed in two roundups this week.  Both Man vs. Debt and The Centsible Life featured two of my articles in their weekend reading round-ups! I read both of these blogs, so I was really pleased to find they enjoyed my articles.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now.  I’m still looking for some new blogs to read, so feel free to leave any ideas of great stuff you’ve read lately.

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1. Great Quotes, Great Books and Gratitude

We went to her parent’s house for a BBQ and I had the BEST time!  It was so much fun and we all caught up and relived old memories and I laughed harder than I have in ages.

My friend and her husband have been hit with downsizing from the economy and I so wish they would find jobs back here.  My oldest son had a wonderful time playing with her son and it would be so great to have her back here.

I love new friends, but there is definitely something special about old friends you grew up with.

On Sunday, it was pretty rainy, so I caught up on some blog reading in the morning.  Here are some of my faves.

How to Organize A Working Party at The Simple Dollar – I would love to do this for when we buy a wooden swingset for our backyard and need to put it together.  I’ve read they are pretty time consuming, so it would be great to have some extra hands!

Whole Foods Deals 5/20 – 5/26 at Bargain Briana – I just started following this blog since I’m a big fan of Whole Foods and even bigger fan of saving money!  I LOVE that a blog has finally started posting ways to save at Whole Foods!

An Experiment in Cheap Living (from 1872) at Get Rich Slowly – this article was just so fascinating.  It’s an excerpt from a book from 1872 about how he spends 54 1/4 cents a week on food.  It read very similarly to a modern day frugal living/personal finance blog, which I found quite funny.

Happy News from the Recession:  5 Good Things About Hard Times at Gimundo – Here it is…the silver lining!  If you’ve never read this blog, you should.  It’s all GOOD NEWS!  And who doesn’t love to hear something positive nowadays!

Enjoy the last day of your long weekend!

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I used to make earrings.  I made them for myself and friends.  One of my friends still wears the ones I gave her.  They look better on her than they ever did on me anyway.  I love seeing her wearing them.

It’s much like with this blog.  I love to get comments and see that people are enjoying what I write or relating to it on some level.  It’s very satisfying.

But, it started to consume me, so I needed to take a step back.  So, I decided not to post on the weekends.  I still read blogs and do some writing on the weekends, but I don’t stress over getting a post written every day.  I knew that if I kept that up that I would get burnt out before I really even got started, since my blog is pretty new.  It’s really addicting though and hard to just ‘leave it’.

I did read some great stuff over the weekend and yesterday though.  I usually like to post my link love on Mondays, but since yesterday I posted about my husband’s accident, I’m posting it today instead.

Here is a few of what I have enjoyed recently:

Fiscal Fizzle presented a question about whether it’s better for one or both parents to work.  I had made a few comments on this and he featured my comments.

Zen Habits yesterday listed 55 Ways To Get More Energy.  I think there are a few on this list I could definately use, although getting to bed earlier would be a great start!  Think I’ll have a blueberry-banana smoothie for lunch to keep me going.

I have to mow the lawn today since hubby is out of commission.  Gag.  I detest mowing the lawn.

Someday Syndrome says to Take On More Projects and Get More Done.  I mean, I can get what he’s saying, and it’s a very interesting concept, but my ‘To Do” list is so overwhelming long right now that I just can’t imagine.

I can barely stay above water as it is and have crap all over my dining room table (again) and laundry piled up waiting to be washed, folded, and put away (again).  You name it, it’s probably on my list.  And yes, I am a procrastinator.  I big one.  But I am not so sure that adding to my list is going to help any.

Speaking of, I need to finish doing this so I can go and mow the lawn, and do laundry, and clean the kitchen, and follow up on life insurance, and complete my refinance paperwork, and make a hair cutting appointment, and a dentist appointment, and water my plants….oh Lord…maybe I will just have one more coffee….

What do you think?  Do you think adding to your to do list will help you to complete it?

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1. Flying Away

To kick off the Mother’s Day Weekend, on Friday night, I drank margaritas with a couple of girlfriends on the front porch.  We chatted and laughed and had a great time.  My head hurt on Saturday morning.  I don’t do hangovers well any more.  Damn sneaky tequila.

Saturday, the kids went to my parents and I spent the day with my husband.  We saw Wolverine (loved it) and ate delicious Thai food for lunch and spent too much money at Target.

It was a good day though.  I long and long for a break from the kids, then spend the whole time, wondering how they are and what they are doing and missing them.  Breaks are good.  Helps you to realize how much the little time suckers mean to you.

On Sunday (aka Mother’s Day), I slept in.  I woke up feeling the best I had in I can’t remember when.  And, since it was sunny after nearly two weeks of straight rain, we finally got to work on our square foot garden and plant the stuff we bought 2 weeks ago.

We planted tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, capsicum, strawberries (hope it’s not too late, but it might be), carrots, and radishes (upon my son’s insistence though we don’t eat them…guess we will soon though).

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend.  My oldest son made me beautiful things both at pre-school and with my Mom on Saturday and my husband (and boys) brought me flowers.  It was wonderful.

As I’ve said before, I will spending a day in June on a garden tour with my Mom for Mother’s Day, so she had other things planned for Sunday.

All in all, a great weekend.  Relaxing and re-charging.

Some articles I did read, that I really liked were Treehugger’s about the largest Ikea in the southern hemisphere being built in Sydney, next to the largest Salvation Army in the southern hemisphere no less.

And, the link love article at Fiscal Fizzle about frugal Mother’s Day gift ideas, which could also translate into ideas for birthdays or Christmas.  Always great to have lots of ideas of how to shower Mama with love, I say!!

I love this video that Get Rich Slowly posted and although I’m a bit late to the party, I got lost on Marc and Angel Hack Life blog.  There are just so many great articles, but I did especially love the What Money Can’t Buy post…it hit a chord on this lovely Mother’s Day weekend.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

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60 Free Children’s Books at Suburban Dollar – this is a great program and one that we participate in for both of our boys.  I had no idea how far reaching it is though.  Definitely check to see if you are in an area that participates and get your kids some free books!

The 5 Million Frequent Flier Mile Challenge at The Art of Nonconformity – we’ve played the credit card for miles game before for free tickets and will again.  This is a great breakdown of what you can do (warning though, it’s definitely not for everyone).  I have noted three cards that he applied for that would work for us and get us a free flight to Australia.  Woot!   I love this guy’s blog.  His personal goal is to travel to every country in the world.  He’s on track to achieve this in the next four years…amazing.

Live in our Skinz at The Happy Housewife – May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month and after living in Australia where skin safety is a big time issue and people get skin checks every year, I’m very aware of what damage the sun can do.   My oldest is due for a new rash top, so I think I will order one from here.  In May they are giving a free baby rash top with every order  in the hopes it will be passed along to keep more and more babies protected.

The Secret Ingredient For A Better Marraige at Zen Habits – I really like the suggestions for switching up the ordinary, routine habits.  My husband and I are really guilty of this (she types sheepishly as her husband sits in the other room watching TV…think I will go join him).

Rothbury Rock Fest Raises Green Bar at Treehugger – back in the day when I wasn’t old, with kids (she says only slightly sarcastically) I used to actually go to music shows and festivals.  I still go to outdoor festivals occasionally and HATE all the waste that they generally produce.  The Rothbury Festival in Michigan has a commitment “to throw a party with a purpose” and does what all festivals should be doing!  Rock on!

Hope everyone had a lovely and relaxing weekend and is ready for a great first week of May!

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I am on a kick of dreaming and setting goals and figuring out some things about myself and The Buried Life is one of those blogs with the type of energy that makes you want to jump up off the couch and do something.

I like this post at The Happiness Project, talking about not trying to be something or someone that you are not.  Be who you are.  And this one about how money can buy happiness, provided it’s spent in the right vein.  Actually, this blog has so many wonderful posts, it’s hard to pick.  I heart this blog.

As I still struggle with the benefits of being on twitter, I stumbled across Zen Habits’s post on How To Get Things Done With Twitter….I guess opposed to it just being one more thing on my to do list, which is where I am with it right now.  Will have to delve into this a bit more maybe.

And for those of you who, like me, are going to participate in Simple Mom’s Spring Cleaning Party on May 4-15 (to finish what I started!), you might want to check out GuyNamedDave and his 100 Thing Challenge.

Maybe he will motivate you to get rid of some stuff before the cleaning begins!  He got rid of everything except 100 things and is living with only those things for a period of a year.  This blog tracks his progress and gives his list.

I also just found the Man Vs Debt blog, which is fun for me since they are moving to Australia in June.  I can’t wait to read how that adventure unfolds.  Admittedly, I’m more than a tiny bit jealous.  I get very itchy feet when I read about others starting new adventures.  I want to go too!!

If you’ve found any great blogs (or maybe you have one!), leave a comment so I can check it out.

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