Hello!

How are you? I'm glad you stopped by. I've been thinking a lot lately about getting back to the basics of life. I know it was probably instigated by listening to financial advisor Dave Ramsey, who has sparked a burning desire in both me and my husband to become debt free as quickly as possible, but we both have a natural bent toward wanting to live the Little House on the Prairie-type lifestyle. Somewhere along the way we've gotten away from that simple life and now we find ourselves drowning in "stuff" we were convinced we had to have to be comfortable.

Reading through Dave's Financial Peace books and listening to his advice to others on how to get out of debt so you can be a greater blessing to others has really brought it home for us that we just own way too much "stuff" and we need to clear it out. It makes me acutely aware of everything around me and I have to ask myself, "how much do we really need in life?" We have stepped away from our frugal pioneering heritage and chosen to live above our means in able to afford some of the comforts of life as laid out in our present day culture.

I wouldn't call us materialistic.....well, maybe a tiny bit. We don't have a $450,000 house (with a matching inflated mortgage) or two brand new cars sitting in the driveway. We don't own any big toys like boats or ATVs. But we do have a nice 2004 Honda Odyssey van that does well at transporting our family of 6 wherever we go and we have a house big enough for everyone to have their own room ($207,000 with an only moderately inflated mortgage). We own a flat screen TV, but it's not an HDTV....much to my husband's chagrin. My husband has a great job repairing alloy wheels and he is making more money than either of us ever thought he would, but we still live paycheck to paycheck because of poor money management skills and a lack of discipline to delay gratification. If we want it and there is a way to manipulate the money to get it.....we usually do.

Unfortunately, that leads to piles of "stuff" accumulated everywhere and the hovering threat of one major disaster bringing financial ruin. It's ridiculous and we are accepting all the blame for it, but now is the time to change our behavior. We need to get back to living simply, frugally and wisely within our means. I suppose that is what birthed this blog. It's a sort of online diary for me to help keep me encouraged in the pursuit of this basic lifestyle. I am open to advice and recipes and ideas for saving money, eating and living healthy and anything else you might like to share with me. Please leave comments. I love them.

And now.............the journey begins.