Simply Living...

So, I know one of my recent posts was about living a simpler life.

I'm about to take it to a whole new level.  I mean starting from scratch...

Many of you know me from the college days, and I will admit I was high maintenance.  That might even be putting it nicely.  I don't know if I didn't realize it at the time or if I was just okay with it because I had a standard of life that I wanted.

Enter the real world, a mortgage, jobs, cars, kids etc. Not only did I realize how I was living wasn't making me feel better it has actually done the opposite.  A while back we did Dave Ramsey...twice.  We follow some of his stuff still, but really have lost sight of what we were initially going after.

Four years and two kids later, we've done a lot of reflecting, talking, praying and now taking action.  As most of you know, our house is on the market, today was the last day of 'for sale by owner,' tomorrow it's going to an agent.  We've been talking with him throughout the whole process and we've finally decided after a lot of talks that its time to take the plunge.  Maybe we were just taking our time with the listing self consciously because we weren't sure if it was the right thing, now we are fired up and ready for the big leap.  We are crossing our fingers it goes FAST!

I know the big question everyone has for us..."Where are you going."  Right now, honestly, we have no idea.  And it doesn't really bother us either.  We have a lot of things we want to accomplish in a short amount of time.  We've talked about the idea of moving South (as in southern states, not southern Iowa.)  It's always been a dream to live down South and we aren't ruling it out, just adding it to the bottom of list for now. Lucky for us, Dan loves his job and team here but if he did decide to go with another team, we do know his company has locations in Georgia and Alabama (two of our top choices!)

Our list is long, first and foremost, concurring those pesky student loans (AND FAST.) Second, we've always talked about building...but doing it DEBT FREE.  Building has turned in to me wanting an acreage, where I can work the land, have some pets, maybe some big kids toys ;) and be out of the suburbs. I know some of you are re-reading that saying, "is this the same girl?"  Yes, still me, I still like cute clothes and all things girlie.  But, I've also seen how peaceful a simple life can be.

So, if you are curious about what things are going to be happening with us you will have to keep up with the blog.  We won't be posting much on FB about our new journey and the changes we're making, but I'll try to update the blog with all the changes: budgeting like crazy, everything from scratch, going green, simplifying the closet, decluttering, and decorating our new place. This is the short list.  We are so excited to be stepping closer to our dream life!

This is going to be a long, exciting journey and we are excited to see what God has in store for it all.

Are you living simply? Have you given up the "American Dream," of material must haves and debt? I'd love your tips!

Love,
The Buchholz's