What LESS Isn't.

So it's been close to a month since I was feeling inspired to make some changes with our lifestyle. Feeling like we just have too much stuff, too many choices, too much waste, too much distraction. Too much.

So, how's it going?

This is what is working and where I feel like we're really doing something:

-We've donated a TON of stuff. J & I literally did one of those "if we haven't worn it or used it since we've been married, why are we keeping it" sort of clean outs which resulted in bags and bags and bags of clothes. Would you believe he had even more clothes in his closet to donate than me?

-J & T pulled every single item out of T's bedroom last weekend and went through everything. First of all, T's room has never looked cleaner. Second of all, there was so much stuff that he didn't need, use or want that all can be used by others. {Though I am seriously questioning why he donated his alarm clock? Not a wise move, dear thirteen year old.}

Next up will be M's room, then H's, E's, the playroom, baby stuff we're keeping. There's still much that needs to go.

-Shopping with a list. I think one of my biggest issues in the past has been showing up at the store and randomly shopping for whatever strikes my mind in the hour I'm there. This doesn't work because many times I then forget what I actually did need prompting a second, third, sometimes fourth trip, each of which results in additional purchases that aren't necessary. It also causes me to do the "oh I'll just see what's on sale" walk through the store. I've been a lot better at making a list before we leave the house {not in the car in the parking lot and not in the Target Starbucks} and actually sticking to it and not grabbing a random 3T shirt for E since it's only $2.80.

-Speaking of shopping, literally a week after the initial LESS post I started feeling this overwhelming urge to SHOP. FOR MYSELF. Like I have no clothes, I need to get a whole new wardrobe sort of thing. I resisted thus far.

-Unplugging and Using Less Technology. I thought this would be a lot harder than it has been so far. But I am making choices each day to really "unplug". Monday, after having been unplugged all weekend at camp with M, I literally turned the ringer on my cell phone off for several hours to just get caught up on life without the distraction of a text or an email or even phone calls. Obviously for several reasons that doesn't work every day but making choices like do I need to answer the phone right now or do I need to finish helping H with his homework. At Hearts at Home this past November, one suggestion was to decide what's urgent and what's important. The important stuff should win. Working on this and trying to remember the balance component. Balance is still needed because on one hand technology is wonderful at keeping up with far away friends/family but it can also be a very large distraction.

Things that haven't worked:

-Completing cutting myself off from the option to get a coffee or grab the kids lunch if I needed to. I spent a week NOT getting coffee and not doing any fast food and that was good except I was obsessing about not getting a coffee or fast food. And then I hit my breaking point, furnace issues, sick kid, having to wait on an antibiotic at Target and I just threw in the towel bought a coffee and fed my kids lunch.

And that's when I decided that depriving myself of things I enjoy is not the way to do LESS.

My friend, Melissa, who's much more eloquent than me reminded me that I must couple LESS with grace. LESS isn't a laundry list of self inflicted rules everyone needs to follow, it's more about living intentionally with what we need, with awareness to what others need and realizing how much less that is.

So that's where I'm at with things, where are you at? What's working or not working? What are you doing or not doing to live a life towards LESS? Please share.