This was a great reminder to me of all I learned last year and brought up the idea of leading a simpler life in general, not only in relation to acquiring and discarding of belongings. This is what most of the books I read in 2018 focused on, to live a simpler life and to pay off debt. I spent last year very focused on ‘stuff’, not acquiring more and drastically reducing what I kept. The main purpose of this, for me, was working towards financial freedom.

What I didn’t realize after My Year of Less, was I would end up down a person and a dog with an entire house to fill (and pay for) alone. Naturally, as one might do after a breakup, I threw out most of my prior year’s learnings, spending my hard-earned money eating out, ordering delivery chicken shawarma sandwiches like they were going out of style and buying fancy cocktails at happy hour. I did not want to be home alone, so I ramped my social life up to 11. I was still fairly successful not buying clothes, shoes, handbags or jewelry per the rules of 2018’s shopping ban. I did have to buy a few things because I lost weight over the last year (yay!) and needed new jeans, etc. I was off the spending fast wagon and how.

Being nearly five months post-breakup and with Spring in the air, I feel I am ready to buckle down again. soulful simplicity reminded me of where I felt best spending my time, in addition to my money. The night I finished the book I deleted Facebook, Instagram and Uber eats (no more chicken shawarma!) from my phone. I realized I was using Facebook and Instagram in place of writing on this blog, which is not how I want to spend my time. I want to spend it researching and writing.

I ended my Netflix subscription and plan to do the same with HBO and Amazon Prime (after Game of Thrones, of course. I’m not a total barbarian.). It has become important to me to go to the gym and when I go out for dinner or happy hour (things I truly enjoying doing!) I come home and watch TV and do not make it to the gym. I have decided to slow down on the amount of plans I am making and am going to request as many social activities as possible come in the form of a hike or a walk in the park.

Normally, I would set some sort of rule for myself like I only get to go out once a month for dinner and drinks. Instead, I’m going to stick to my budget and allow myself to enjoy those activities within reason. I am glad the weather is changing because I love to be in my backyard and guess what…it is free to be there! I am already planning a dinner party…complete with Shibori dyed tablecloths and napkins and flower arrangements by my sister.

Speaking of my sister, she and I created our capsule wardrobes today. I ended up going two pieces over because I found two pairs of my favorite summer shoes shoved in the back of my organizer. Hopefully, as this goes on, I’ll be able to remove two other items that I’m not wearing as much as the others and then I will be at thirty-three pieces fair and square. I was surprised by how hard shoes were for me. I ended up with shoes being nine of my thirty-three pieces! Oh well. This is all an experiment. Progress, not perfection. Right?

*I like how the title and her name are in lower case on her book cover so I kept it that way here!

PS I used this to fill the category Self-Help for the 2019 reading challenge.

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