Living my dream at 30 years old
For the longest time, I had it stuck in my mind that I needed to have "things" In order to feel successful.
Its been almost a month now that we have made this life changing move and boy have I learned alot! For one... during the process of moving out of our huge 2000 sq foot mill apartment- I came to the realization that I collected a bunch of useless junk! I also realised that my home was just way too big for our lifestyle.
I honestly look back at my life in that apartment and feel upset that we didnt leave there sooner. I noticed that even though I was home alot of the time, I didn't spend nearly enough time with my children. With all of the chores- laundry, cleaning, cooking, dishes, groceries on top of work, edits and all my other time spent on my computer doing what I needed to do to run a successful business. I was just so stressed out, in a rut and just was sick of the same old routine every single day.
The reactions from others when I tell them what we are doing are priceless. There are some people who think its the coolest thing ever! BUT there are just some people who wouldn't want to do what we are doing. I totally understand and accept that its not for everyone!
The one big thing is you really need to NOT CARE what others think
whenever you life this type of lifestyle. Some people think you are homeless others will think you did it because you are poor, which is not the case!
Here are some reasons why I love the way we live.
1. Family time! With limited space- There's not much cleaning that has to be done. We literately have enough plates and silverware for each of us so the dishes are finished quickly, Which leaves us time to just enjoy our time together. With the limited amount of space we have for clothes we head to our storage unit which is conveniently only about 3 miles from where we are living- to pick out our clothes for each week. (We were never this organised with our larger home!) With a smaller apartment sized fridge I buy less than I need when it comes to groceries, I don't leave the store with any extra items (aka Junk) that I don't need because I simply do not have the room!
2. Financial Freedom!!! - No we are not poor! We are living at a seasonal campground right now so we put down a lump sum for 6 months to live here on a beautiful waterfront property. I want you to do me a favor and Think about HOW it would feel to not have to pay every month for your mortgage/rent, cable- tv, Wifi OR electricity for a whole 6 months *which is all included*. Now how would that change your life? We are not tied down to ANY contracts and we can basically LIVE free of stress and monthly bills.
3. My kids can just be KIDS!- Other than when its yucky outside my kids are simply off of all their tablets, video games and we hardly watch any TV. We just enjoy our beautiful home on the lake, swim, take rides on our canoe, play basketball, tennis, go for hikes, have campfires and there a ton of different playgrounds here as well. Oh and starting this memorial day weekend we will have all of the fun activities the campground has to offer as well!
Who else can say they have a picture of their kids playing with wood swords in a canoe in their underwear?
4. Close to NATURE- A normal day (when I'm free of sessions or weddings) goes as follows
Wake up brew my coffee, Sit outside and watch the sun rise.. There's a really beautiful blue hereon who always flies down and perches himself on the island across the way from our campsite. (I will defiantly get a photo of him soon! he always flies off before I can grab my camera from the airstream) I listen to the ducks, geese and birds chirping and Just take a second to take it all in and collect my thoughts before my day starts.
I'll drink my shakeology for breakfast and then wake the kids to get ready for school. Its so much less hectic than it use to be! Clothes are already planned out, everything's all in place for the day before (may I add this was NEVER the case with my old apartment... We are not organised people BUT we are pretty much forced to be organised here)
Once we bring them to school we head back home, clean up make the beds and set up our work space to get to work! Aka- Get back to emails- Get any edits done I need to get done, create new advertisements, Social media posts- blog or work on my website.
Once all my work is finished Lately, now that its warm I'll take a swim in the lake to get my workout in! Just logged almost two miles today! Its really starting to become a passion of mine.
Next I pick up the kids and we do whatever the heck we want for the rest of the day!
5. Freedom to TRAVEL- Eventually because both Justin and I have separate Jobs where we can make money anywhere that we go. We will be traveling with our home! I have a Wedding booked next year in Arizona and I promised I would take Abel (my oldest son) to the grand canyon- Which he is fascinated with! No Packing we just Pick up and GO!
I don't write this blog and I don't post these pictures to sit here and express how awesome I feel my life is...
I write this to maybe Open some of my readers eyes and realize that
You don't need to retire in order to live the life you love.
I don't hold any judgment against others who work corporate lifestyles have huge homes and own beautiful things. I think its wonderful if your happy and it suits your lifestyle! My main objective in life is to be Happy! and this is what makes my family happy. I feel like so many young adults or even older adults for that matter have the mindset that we just HAVE to do what is expected and what everyone else is doing. Go to college- get hired- buy a home- find a partner have children. There is NOTHING wrong in my eyes with just chasing your dreams and doing whatever it takes for you to be HAPPY with your life.
When all if this is said and done, when you are happy- your kids are happy! I do this for my children because I want them to know that you can do anything you set your mind to, I do this because my youngest child Liam is my last child. (I keep telling him to stop growing... but he just doesn't listen) I tell you straight from my heart that I would rather work the rest of my life and never retire in order to be able to make sure that I'm home and I have enough time to be able to soak up all of my children's hugs, kisses and cuddles while they are still little, because we all know how fast they grow.
I end this blog with just saying this.
You only have one life, don't let ANYTHING stop you from living it.
