Tiny Improvements

*This is one part in a series of posts about what I’m doing to improve our lives this year. Not New Year’s Resolutions, just a few Tiny Improvements!


As we mentioned before, Mike and I are taking this year to start making some positive improvements in our lives. 2011 feels like a year of changes- Mike is beginning an adventurous new career. I'm returning to school in September. We're transitioning from the easy "newlywed" phase of our marriage to the "yep, we're married alright" phase. 

Not to mention, getting ready buy a house. Saving every penny we can to make our dream of owning a little place of our own- hence the whole "Tiny Wallet" thing.  

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Sticking to a budget is tough when you're a stuff person. As we learn and tweak how we budget, we both realize how easy it is to justify buying a bunch of stuff you don't need. We look around our tiny apartment and realize that the stuff is taking over. Yet, we buy. We buy and buy and buy. 

It's time for a stuff detox. A stuff intervention. No. more.stuff.


You may ask why i'm putting stuff in bold letters. Well, it's because part of this whole detox is realizing and understanding that that's all it is...stuff. After reading the stories of fellow bloggers who lost it all- Edie and Erika whose beautiful homes were lost in fires- we are realizing that it's not the stuff that matters. 

photo credit: Mikael Damkier/istock via

It's the sun streaming through a kitchen window at dawn. The home cooked meals shared with friends. The long summer evenings on the back porch, just sitting there enjoying each other. 

We don't need all of the stuff. We need space to breathe, room to appreciate our blessings and more time to just be.