Yearning for Simplicity

I have not blogged much lately and I really have no excuse for it.  It is not that I have nothing to say, I always have something to say and I actually have a long list of topics I wish to blog about that have been left unsaid.  It is not that I don't want to blog, I do want to blog and do so to document my life and share my thoughts.  It is not that I am too busy, while life is busy there is always time to squeeze in some writing.  So I am done with excuses and decided to start writing!

The problem arises then what should I write about?  I have so many topics I could possibly blog about but none seem to be too vitally important.  So instead I am blogging about the topic of no topic....make sense?  Likely not! 

So as my blog title suggests lately I have been yearning for simplicity.  I have almost grown a full blown obsession with the newest trend homesteading and living simple.  My husband and I have had multiple late night talks laying in bed about selling everything and moving to the middle of nowhere and starting a family and life of simplicity.  Simplicity though is not very simply done and that is the problem.  Being a young starting out one-income (by choice) family (Family of 2, well 5 if you count our two dogs Levi and Meeko and our tree frog Jaxon!) it does not seem plausible that we could do such a thing.  We have little to no assets and no extra change on the side to do something so drastic.  A girl can still dream right?!?!  We are blessed to have a home, the one income, and everything and more we could possibly want, yet I want less.  Make sense?  Of course not to most.  I just yearn to purge out the excess we live with.  I wanto to get rid of all the extra "distractions" in our lives and all the clutter that fills our closets and hearts and just be "free" from everything.  Getting rid of those material distractions would put more of our thoughts on one another and God and that I simply wish for!  We are huge camping people so simple liviing could be a real possibility for much of camping is just being simple with nature and we love it.  It sounds crazy, but I would give up just about everything to build a homestead in the middle of nowhere on about 10 acres.  I find myself looking at raising chickens, alpacas, and a giant garden and just find meaning in our lives.  I envision a small country home or log cabin off-grid with a large wrap around porch doting a porch swing that I could just sit and enjoy the open views around me.  Or maybe we should just start living out of our camper in the middle of nowhere and build up from there?  Again, a girl can dream can't she?!?!

Realistically we have been trying to apply living simply to our daily lives we are living now.  We are no longer impulse buying but rather watching our finances and trying to cut down on any costs where we can.  I have been finding ways to save money and make every day cleaning supplies naturally.  Our first adventure into laundry detergent making ended in a great success and I never see us going back to store bought detergenct.  We have also found the amazing capabilities of white vinegar. Our next plan is to make dishwashing detergent and disinfectant spray/Febreeze in the coming weeks once we run out.  We even cut down on our cable bill and are questioning cutting cable all together as it is nothing but a distraction.  Since we can't make such drastic changes we are trying to make changes little by little where we can.  For us we are working on becoming content and happy with everything we have been blessed with and embracing a life of simplicity.