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Minimalism & Money: 3 Secrets of How I Cut Our Budget by 2/3rds But Why I don't Recommend It

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We had 4 pennies left one February exactly 13 years ago, and I was excited because we were in the black!! We hadn’t been in the positive budget-wise for months after I left my corporate job. Plus, my husband’s dream job had ended, our new baby was sick, and we were broke.

It’s a quiet snowy early morning here in our little log home, and I want to share all my frugal secrets but with one huge warning - I don’t necessarily recommend doing any of it. Our journey from completely broke to being financially free is not for the faint of heart. It’s been a crazy ride, with tons of complete miracles, and I’ve done insane things to save money. My husband calls me a professional “tight-wad” and he’s actually kinda right. I’m a professional financial coach in “real life” and work with private clients coordinating their personal and business finances with tax, insurance, and automation strategy. However, I’m also a minimalist mom of 6 children and I know what it’s like to have 6 little ones and a grocery bill to match! Let’s talk about ways to save those pennies!! But hang on to the end of the post for why I don’t necessarily recommend it.

Secret #1 Know where your money is going. This goes without saying, and of course isn’t a huge secret, but you need to follow the path of your money in order to make any serious adjustments. Whether you have a detailed spreadsheet or a vague feeling of what your numbers “might” be, you need to start where you are at. Now is the time to look! Check all the places those sneaky expenses and debits could be hiding in secondary bank accounts, cash purchases, minor credit cards only used for occasion items, a HELOC or line of credit, withdraws from life insurance or retirement accounts. Count it all! And be ready when you go digging - at least for me when we first began our journey to freedom - the numbers were brutal, but I knew I had to face the honest facts in order to create a plan to get out of the impossible situation we were in.

Secret # 2 Look for ways to save money in hidden spaces. I found a tiny health food store where I could buy in bulk and asked the grocery for a discount on over-ripe bananas and everything else I could. I switched to cloth rags instead of paper towels and made my own diaper wipes. We actually still use the same cloth diapers my cousin gave me - six kids later they are a bit thinner but still going strong. I saved soap shavings and melted it into new soap. Look everywhere and in each step of your day to find ways to save and better allocate your resources. It’s possible to see wealth in hidden spaces and make it a game to find ways to cut the expenses.

Secret #3 Get in unity with your family in terms of money. This is the hardest step, I’ll be completely honest, but the most worthy. We all have different money views when it comes to financial decisions. Every household has multiple viewpoints likely represented between partners, children, aging parents, and even co-parents not in the same house. It’s time to have those hard conversations and even harder moments of truly listening and valuing the other person more than the money involved. Full disclosure, I wasn’t good at this in the beginning. I thought I was always right and that my way was the only way to view numbers. Isn’t that silly? Of course, I quickly learned that not everyone agreed with me. Through those fiery “conversations,” I learned that numbers are about communication. How we understand the story they tell can either draw us closer together with those we love or drive a wedge between us. It’s up to us to choose how to use those numbers! Choose unity. Agreed to disagree sometimes, but set boundaries and a common vision, goal, and reward.

Why I don’t Necessarily Recommend Any Of This! Even though this is wisdom and is what I needed to do in order to be able to cut our budget dramatically, I don’t recommend it to everyone because it will lead you to serious and scary changes.

When we took an honest look at our numbers, cut our expenses by 2/3rds, and came into unity, we knew were doing something radical and against anything we’d ever seen done before. In those years, my husband landed another job, advanced quickly, and I started using my professional certifications to help business owners with their insurance strategy and finances on the side. We learned to live on “less” as a way of life and donated 560+ bags to charity to minimize our household.

And then we decided to make a change again. We took another honest look at our numbers, and we knew we had to choose a completely new life. Our kids needed their daddy to be home and not working 24/7. I needed to stop being a happily-married solo parent. We were sobered, o.k. terrified at the prospect of what financial freedom could mean for our growing family.

The process of growing in faith and letting go of past money views literally hurt deep inside my chest, and I could only breathe whispered prayers about the choices we were making. We had to learn to trust God and each other like never before. My husband risked everything and walked away from his job while I was pregnant with baby # 6 to build our businesses. By this point he had seniority, full benefits, and a high paying job with a international company, which was rare for our area. Because we had practiced minimalism in our home and our finances, we knew how low we could go budget-wise and still eat beans and rice! We tested it completely that first year living so far below the poverty level, we were looking up at being poor.

Yet, we were able to replace his income in a relatively short time and build a life that we love. We are grateful for all the incredible support from our family and our professional circles during those hard months of newborn diaper changes and business meetings and a ton of hard work. Please hear my heart; I don’t recommend this to everyone! It will take every last ounce of strength you have and then some. I woke up every day to face the impossible, conquer it, stay up all night with the newborn, and do it all again the next day. With a good attitude. Homeschooling six kids. Processing complex financial documents at 6 am before the children got up.

Staying in unity was a challenge, although my incredible man was working even harder than me to keep us going in the right direction. I had to change my bad attitude towards spending money and learn to invest large amounts strategically into our business. I had to look at different perspectives and consider other’s points of view. I had to believe deep down that I could do the impossible and then actually have the self-discipline to do it - and that’s how I know it’s possible for you, my dear friend, to change everything in your life. Because if you’ve read this far, you know that you are that kind of person, too. The kind who loves so deeply it hurts. The kind who hopes for something better, something radical and has the grit and determination to actually take the steps to do it.

So now you’ve been lovingly warned! If you want to cut your budget and decide to change your money, know that it will change more than just your finances. When you decide to pursue financial freedom, you will become a completely different person than you ever dreamed and it’s excruciating and exhilarating and freeing all at the same time. Anything is possible for you and you can begin right now!

If you’d like to read more about minimalism, you’re welcome to check out my book Minimalism Room by Room available now on Amazon. If you’d like to read more of our crazy story, check out this blog post.

Blessings for your journey,

Elizabeth

Announcing My New Book!!

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Available January 14, 2020 on Amazon

It’s been a little quiet around here - o.k. that’s a lie as with 6 kids our log home is NEVER quiet - but my blog has been resting while I worked on my latest project - Minimalism Room by Room! I’m excited to share all the sweet, minimalist, money-saving goodness with you!!

As a financial coach for entrepreneurs in real life, I found that my clients kept asking me about our minimalist journey. You know, “why did you give away 2/3rds of everything to charity?” kind of questions. At the same time, I realized that I could help households eliminate debt and build residual income in their business, but if the household was still consuming and spending at break-neck speed, the solutions wouldn’t work long-term. I had to bring both minimalist principles and financial wisdom together. When I integrated minimalism into my private financial coaching practice, the results were dramatic for my clients!! (Read More Here).

However, I am still a homeschooling mom and I do also work with my husband in real estate, so there was only so much of me to go around. The next thing I knew, I was contacted by a publisher out of New York to write a book. Even though it’s never easy to write a book, I realized that I needed to help more people. I remember trying to decide if I should take on yet another project and I closed my eyes, remembered when I was alone crying in my basement sorting box after box of stuff. And I thought of you.

I thought of you, as you feel exhausted at the end of another long day, wondering if tomorrow it will get any better (it will!!) and I knew I had to write to you the “HOW!” that I had been crying for. I thought of you when you feel alone at Christmas time and if you have to deal with one more battery-operated toy migraine maker, you’re going to scream (no judgment, I think I did scream at least once at my precious family and had lots of apologizing to do). I want you to know how to handle over gifting family members! It’s all in the book.

When, I remembered all the amazing transformations my clients have had, I knew I had to write this book, for you dear friend. I want you to have HOPE. When you clear away all that is tripping you, literally, and away all that is frustrating you, I know that you will find a way to hear that still, small voice behind you saying, “this is the way, walk in it!” Your best life is just one choice away, and it begins with saying “Yes, it’s possible.”

May you hear in these pages of Minimalism Room by Room practical money saving steps, sustainable lifestyle hacks, positive affirmations to change your thinking, and stories of past clients to encourage you along your way.

Blessings dear friend,

Elizabeth

Lessons Learned

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While we build our homes, we build our lives.

Most days, this little log home is filled with giggles and running feet. Some days our high cathedral ceilings echo with stomping feet and angry voices. With eight strong personalities in 1400 sq feet, the sparks fly. We love fiercely!

I knew when we chose the open layout that it simultaneously allowed for large gatherings and loud echos.

What we didn't know, but suspected, was how much a home would define and refine us. We had grown to identify with our 100-year old duplex. We had people ask in condemning tones if we “still lived in that duplex?”  dripping with heavy shame.

I struggled and allowed that shame to define me until the day I decided to seriously love where we were and trust God with my whole house. That moment was a huge turning point. As I donated bag after bag to charity, I started to see my home with new eyes. The burden lifted and I could see how grateful I was for the lesson learned in that 100-year old duplex, where we lived for almost 9 years.

Then, we moved.

Again, we were shamed by our house choice. “You don’t live in a log home, do you? Isn’t that expensive?” we were asked. “I could never afford to live in a log home,” we were told again and left speechless by people who knew nothing of our journey. This home was a gift and an answered prayer on so many levels. We had asked for it to OPEN it to others and share the goodness, which we did in spite of the shaming comments. Through lots of help and support plus a crazy turn of events, we received an amazing price on this little log house and are deeply grateful each day for the small square footage and large amounts of grace in our home.

Which brought me to understand that the concept of home DOES matter. It’s not “just” a house. It shapes us. The concept and the physical floor-plan, the location and especially what we do with it. Most importantly, how we fill it. Do we make memories and share wisdom? Do we fill it with forgiveness for the days when angry voices storm? Are we quick to read books and snuggle on the couch? Is this the kind of life we want to be the foundation for the precious lives we love? Regardless of what other people say?!

Our homes should be intertwined with our lives and serve as the canvas from which we work to create our best lives.

Freedom comes when we embrace in faith the daily calling to create a haven in our homes.

And, we also have the freedom to change it all - move, renovate, re-create, renew, restore, and build anew. If your home is not serving you or even the items in it, you have the great responsibility and joy to CHANGE without apology, no matter who might be offended or what others may say. This is your life and your home and your lessons learned.

Blessings for your journey,

Elizabeth


The Power of "Home"

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Today we are getting snowed in here in our little corner of the world, and it has me thinking, again.

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Preparing in the simple ways as the snow falls quietly on our woods, we find truths beyond us. My boys cut this cherry tree with their daddy working hard all day long. In their fun and romping play, they are building something more than just firewood.

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Cooking simple, healing foods in the kitchen means that we need it. Healing. Quietness. Soul-rest. So much in our world is sick, broken, and dirty in the past days. Even in our own homes, even in our faith. I believe that as we slow down and look at what is already in our hands, we can hear whispers of redemption if we will only listen.

In the quietness and beauty of the daily, woven in these moments both hard and beautiful, grows the truth that we so deeply need. Or perhaps it has been here all along - waiting.

Knowing.

We will find His hand even here.

Especially here.

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The Power of Home is this - it is here where God leads us to simple paths.

To work out the hard, ugly places, one step at a time.

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Snuggled in - building faith and memories, one step at a time.

I See The Beauty in Chaos

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Today I welcome a GUEST BLOGGER and fantastic coach, Kendra Brodin to share her insight on minimalism. Kendra is a highly accomplished coach, attorney, mother to three amazing children, and wife to her incredible husband Ryan. Kendra’s insight is deeply authentic and raw as she shares part of her journey with you. Enjoy and Blessings, Elizabeth

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Kendra Brodin

I have had the pleasure of working with Kendra, in real life and online, on several projects. She highly professional and extremely fun all at the same time!


If we want to embrace life, we also have to embrace chaos. -Susan E. Phillips, Breathing Room

Life can feel chaotic. Okay, more than a feeling — life can truly be chaotic and unpredictable.

On Monday, everything might run smoothly – my kids get along. No one loses their homework. Everyone is on the bus on time. I get (most) of my work done at the office, and I leave feeling energized and productive. I make supper and get it on the table at a reasonable hour. Homework gets done. Baths get taken. Bedtime is at an almost reasonable hour for all five of us. It’s a good day. Gold stars all around.

But then — Tuesday. On Tuesday, I feel like need a nap before I’ve left home in the morning, This kids are fighting in the morning, and we have to chase the bus. I can’t find my car keys. I forget my computer bag at home. Even more than a large coffee with an extra shot, what I really need is a do-over.

Some days I feel like I’m organized, brave, and brilliant.

Other days, I feel like a hot mess.

Maybe both are true. But this doesn’t disqualify me from an amazing life.

We can shift our focus and scan for the beauty hidden in amidst the chaos.

Life can be so hard and heart wrenching and messy and amazing all at once. Everything changes when I shift my focus to see the incredible beauty in chaos.

Minimalism & Business – A Different Way of Thinking

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Minimalism & Business – A Different Way of Thinking

I'm excited to welcome a series of Guest Bloggers to CREATE:minimalism. Each person has a unique perspective on minimalism - each journey is a precious story. We become deeply rooted in the truth of the stories we tell.

Enjoy this 2nd in the series by Kat Luckock, from the UK. She is the go-to Impact Strategist & Business Coach for Social Entrepreneurs. Kat and I share a similar vision to help others make intentional (and profitable) choices in life and business that support environmental stewardship. https://shareimpact.org/

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Minimal me, Maximum God

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Minimal me, Maximum God

I'm excited to welcome a series of Guest Bloggers to CREATE:minimalism. Each person has a unique perspective on minimalism - each journey is a precious story. These are stories that need to be told, as we become deeply rooted in the truth of the stories we tell. Enjoy the first in this series, by author, coach, and wellness expert Dawn Hall. 

Read More